We know some things,
we know that media narratives,
shape social perspective.
We know about some of the media
tricks.
In academia, there are media
theories such as gatekeeper theory,
agenda setting theory.
Let me bring your attention to one
of those theoretical frameworks
in play.
The terrorist, I'm going to call
him exactly what he is.
The terrorist who has been treated
like a child really.
Fox News and CNN did a terrible job
covering the DC bomb threat,
as we all have been talking about.
Fox reported on Thursday, get this,
that there was no apparent motive
for Floyd Ray Roseberry.
No motive whatsoever.
They didn't know it.
The man who threatened to detonate
several bombs in the Washington DC
area, okay?
However, Roseberry live streamed
the event mentioning that he was
willing to and I quote, die for
the cause.
He told you what his motive was
on his own media apparatus, but
it was reported that they could not
figure out what his motive was.
He also said part of his motive
was that he wanted Joe Biden
the President of the United States
to resign,
another indication of motive.
It was definitely political, right?
Let's just go to these videos.
Here's Fox news first.
>> A man claiming to have a bomb in
his truck near the US Capitol
surrendered after an hour's long
standoff.
Law enforcement did not find a bomb
in the vehicle, but
say they collected possible bomb
making materials.
So far no word on a possible
motive.
>> Really?
No word on a possible motive.
Well how about this?
>> If you blow my truck, man,
hey, That's on you, Joe.
I'm ready to die for the cause.
And brother, if you could do
anything to save one life,
one life, you said you'd do it.
When you got a chance,
I want to go home Sunday.
I want to go home and see my wife.
We're living in a free country,
Joe.
Chose yours.
If you want to shoot me, Then take
the chance of blowing up two and
a half city blocks,
because that toolbox's full.
Bomb in my truck is full >> That's
a terrorist ladies and gentlemen.
A terrorist is an individual that
engages in extremism, criminality,
violence, intimidation, in order to
seek and obtain a political goal.
Very clearly that person is
a terrorist.
Now remember, the media narrative
has already said after this, hey,
we don't know we could
not figure out what his motive was.
We don't know.
There's more.
>> This time was like staying in
balance for the last generation.
Or the last generation to still
have to stay in the Bronx to stand.
[INAUDIBLE] And that in summary,
once [INAUDIBLE] democrats are all
set [INAUDIBLE] They all have
appraised has gone way down.
And there is no limit on his part.
He can have a pardon of 10 billion
people, And
they will all say [INAUDIBLE].
I think I'm going to set a timer
[INAUDIBLE].
>> Now listen what a white
supremacist says,
I've been doing some reading
everybody's in trouble, okay?
Now remember, this individual, this
terrorist, is getting the benefit
of the doubt even by CNN, they
don't get away scot free on this.
Let's go to CNN,
here's what they said.
>> The chief shortly after he made
that statement also said that his
understanding was that this suspect
had been dealing with a lot
of personal trauma.
Perhaps deaths in his family,
deaths from people who were
close with him.
There there were personal, I guess
I would say personal burdens
weighing on him in this moment as
you might expect from someone who
is desperate enough to drive up,
onto the sidewalk outside
of the Library of Congress and say
that they have an explosive device.
>> Shame on you.
First of all, I don't
give a damn about the thoughts and
feelings of this terrorist.
And to be quite honest with you if
this person would have been Black,
all their last names would have
been Mohammed, I promise you,
you would not have given a damn
about their thoughts, and
their feelings, and
what they're going through in life.
The bottom line is, everybody's
going through something.
We all have pressures because it's
called life.
The benefit of the narrative ladies
and gentlemen, has been given to
this criminal, why?
Because of his white skin.
That is why,
this is white privilege at work.
Its right in front of you.
Its clearly evident.
Emily G posted.
Let's go to this Twitter post, or
this was a Facebook live post.
Okay, so, listen,
these are the Facebook likes from
the alleged perpetrator of the bomb
threat in DC, okay?
You see it, it's there, it's clear.
We got some more, right?
Gives you
an idea of his background.
Let me go to, because I thought
this was a great highlight.
Steve Marmo, tweeted something
quite interesting.
And Steve says, do those personal
issues involve him being white?
Did they buy him Burger King?
Question mark.
Christopher Reeve says,
who the hell is not dealing with
personal issues?
Just most of us don't, you know,
bomb places.
We just eat too much fast food or
sheet cake.
If everyone with personal
issues bombed places.
#MAGATerrorist, okay?
Let's talk about it.
Let's open it up.
Jake, what are your thoughts here?
>> Yeah, so, a terrorist is someone
who does violence for
political purpose.
And so there is absolutely no
question that that's exactly what
he is here.
And so the fact that it didn't work
doesn't make it any better at all.
And yes, people who are terrorists
are usually not the brightest bulbs
no matter where they come from.
And good thing is, a lot of times
their plans don't work.
Remember Richard Reid,
the shoe bomber,
that didn't go off either.
The underwear bomber that didn't
go off either.
So, thank God.
But what are we doing when it was
a Muslim man from Jamaica?
We've been taking our shoes off for
20 years now.
[CROSSTALK] >> And
you got a white man who says I got
a truck full of bombs and I'm
looking to blow up two city blocks,
we're like, he had a tough day.
Come on, he had a tough day.
And so when Rished calls it white
privilege, I do this every time and
I really if you're white, please,
I'm begging you to think about if
the shoe was
on the other foot, right?
So, it's not that we're saying no,
that guy's perfectly mentally
healthy.
Of course not, right?
But what if, when someone else does
it, can you have the same empathy
or lack of empathy?
Just the same standard either way,
is that possible at all?
So have you ever seen a news person
say when it's
a Muslim fundamentalist, well, they
were having some personal issues.
And Mohamed Otto I mean,
I don't know, he might have been
running up a credit card debt,
is having trouble there's, no.
They say understandably if the guy
did 911 they say he's a terrorist,
he's terrible,
he killed all these people, etc.
Whenever it's still in roof and
killed nine people in a Black
church, all of a sudden,
he had a tough day.
Let's go get him some Burger King.
This guy, it's a personal issue.
And then Fox says with the
hilarious, the motive is not clear.
And by the way that works,
that propaganda works, I saw all
day today on social media,
right wingers writing in,
he never mentioned Trump.
You saw the video he's, he says,
not only did he mention Trump,
not only did he say Biden,
the Democrats should be in jail.
He said it's okay because Trump's
going to pardon me.
And to be fair,
Trump has pardoned people who
did things on his behalf,
terrible things on his behalf.
So that's the one thing that he
wasn't crazy about.
But was it political in nature and
right wing?
Of course, he said it himself.
>> Yeah, I mean it's crystal clear.
I mean to me,
listening to him it just reminded
me of January 6th run amok, January
6th remix and you absolutely,
I was thinking listening to you and
to the good Dr. George Floyd,
Brianna Taylor, Eric Gardner,
Sandra Bland, and none of them and
even and I bring up Brianna Taylor
because she was in her own home.
And when people started to tell
the story about why they seized her
house at that time of the day,
they started trying to connect her
to bad things.
Here this guy in his own words,
he's talking about blowing up two
and a half blocks,
double dog daring law enforcement.
They talk to him for an hour.
Most Black people and
Brown people will never get that
kind of benefit of the doubt and
to the point that Dr.
Richie got the text messages that,
or the tweets you were reading.
Yeah, life happens to everybody but
not everybody is walking around
saying I think I'm going to blow up
two and a half blocks today.
>> And look Shannon was quoting
this sheriff,
right, in the beginning.
And so first of all, that's
a problem with the sheriff because
he thinks he sees that guy and
goes, there but for
the grace of God go I.
But when he sees someone Muslim,
he does not think there but for
the grace of God go I,
when he sees a Black person,
he does not necessarily think that.
So when you have empathy for
someone, you treat them differently
than if you don't have empathy
for them.
And so look in a sense, they're
treating him like a human being.
They said, well, okay,
its complicated, he did a terrible
thing, but obviously he's got some
mental health issues.
But when it comes to the rest of
us, >> That's right.
>> They don't treat us as humans.
We're, >> Yeah. >> We're dark,
evil, non human entity that is
a threat to everyone else.
And that's the part that is so
damning.
And then CNN reporter in that case,
follow it up by saying, yeah,
it's understandable, etc.
And to Rishad's point, they say,
this terrorist is having a bad day.
But look, it's not like the KKK
were all mentally well.
It's not like they were well
adjusted people who are living
happy lives and decided, hey,
you know what every once a while we
do a lynching.
They also had deep psychological
problems.
You don't do cross burnings and
lynchings, because you're doing
well in your life, right?
But that doesn't mean you go and
go well, I mean, golly, gee,
maybe the guy who was
having trouble with his life.
No, that guy's doing
a goddamn lynching.
I'm not interested in his life.
That's certainly not relevant when
we're talking about the crime that
he is committing.
And that level of terrorism
has been with us a long time in
America.
>> Yeah. >> I want to make a quick
point before we go to break.
And that is this.
I want to remind everyone,
that a dead man who was murdered by
the police, who should be alive,
George Floyd, received,
the stigma of being a criminal,
of being the villain,
even though he was murdered, and
he was clearly murdered.
Even Breonna Taylor,
there was a spin to suggest
that it was actually her fault,
>> That's right.
>> That this happened.
And we see this time and
time again.
So what I'm doing,
I'm comparing the social narratives
here to make it clear.
A dead Black person is still noted
as a criminal when it is clear they
were murdered.
However, an alive White man who
tells you he's a criminal is
considered human in their
narrative.
>> That's right.
>> Yeah, I'm only going to add
one thing,
because I've never let it go.
I read a story about how Trayvon
Martin had once gotten detention.
They've murdered a young kid,
they murdered a young kid who was
totally defenseless,
had done absolutely nothing wrong.
And what did the press talk about?
They talked about his detention.
>> Or Tamir Rice on the playground
in my home city.
12 year old playing on
the playground with a play gun.
And the officer involved said
he thought he was 20 years old.
I want people to understand that
Black children are often by white
people misrepresenting their age.
Because black children don't get
a chance to just
be children and play.
They all of a sudden have to be
adults and it's exaggerated.
So we're dealing with implicit and
explicit biases here.
And we're also dealing with
something that's bigger
than this man.
It is really about the heart and
the soul of this country that we
are going to have to deal with and
deconstruct our construction.
because Jake, I think you
make a very good point.
To show this man empathy but
then the turn around, and
if you're Black or you Brown you
not get that same kind of empathy.
That is where lies the problem,
especially when you got this man on
recording saying exactly what he
means to do.
He was very clear about what he was
doing and why he wants to do it.
So as a nation,
we have to deconstruct our
construction when it comes to race,
and particularly anti-Blackness.
>> Well said.
>> 100%.