The BBC Follows Up On Hate Crime In Chicago

I wrote last night about the horrific crime in Chicago, where four young African-Americans kidnapped a mentally challenged white youth and tortured him for somewhere between 24 and 48 hours, while unaccountably documenting a portion of their vicious assault on Facebook Live. On the video the perpetrators can be heard shouting “F*** white people!” and “F*** Trump!.” I pointed out that the Associated Press’s account of the crime completely failed to mention its racial and political angles.

My post got quite a bit of attention, and the Associated Press revised its story to mention, grudgingly, the elements that would have been in the headline if the narrative were different. (Recall the coast-to-coast news stories about incidents, some or all of which turned out to be hoaxes, where whites allegedly tugged on Muslim women’s hijabs while referring to Trump.)

I got a call this morning from BBC Radio, asking me to be on one of their programs today to talk about the incident. I agreed, which may have been a mistake. As the program unfolded, the main topic was Black Lives Matter, a group I didn’t mention in my post. (On twitter, there was much commentary on the crime with the hashtag #BLMKidnapping.) Every other guest–I think there were six others while I was listening–delivered paeans to Black Lives Matter and testified to what a peaceful movement it is. I would place all of the other participants in the conversation on the spectrum between far left and extreme left. Beyond my contribution, there was no discussion of the Chicago crime other than statements that it was dumb to tie it to Black Lives Matter. Dylann Roof also figured prominently in the discussion, as did “systemic racism.” I am afraid that BBC listeners didn’t learn much.

Ann Althouse linked to my post and added intelligent (as always) commentary on how various other news sources handled the racial and political aspects of the Chicago incident.

The newest [New York Times] article — which went up in the last hour — is not linked from the front page or the U.S. page. I found it by searching the archive: “The Latest: Police: Race Not Motive Behind Video Attack.” This is an AP article, with no photograph or video.

Chicago police say they don’t believe a man beaten in an assault broadcast live on Facebook was targeted because he was white.

But the attackers are saying “Fuck white people” as they torture the white man! How did the police arrive at this strange belief?

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