Why Are Reporters Not Calling Austin Bomber a Terrorist?

Many reporters seem to follow a tragic and miserable cycle of behavior when concerning the race of victims and perpetrators. When the person in the media story is black — especially if he’s a victim — the reporters play up the story that he was “no angel,” finding minor drug charges, or taking the police’s statements at face value when they’re the ones accused of killing the person in question. All of this is a tragedy made worse when the media shows its entire ass and also bias in these matters.

Now, let’s compare this to headlines about the Austin bomber who targeted black families in Texas. What the police said about him, what the media said about him, were all so humanizing. Not just humanizing, but almost excusing his behavior. A tweet from ABC News called a Maryland shooter a lovesick teen, a tweet from the NY Times talked about the bomber’s tight-knit family, and another news source focused on his nerdy demeanor and sense of humor.

It’s impossibly awful when we treat a white terrorist with more respect than we treat a victim of color, and it is up to the media to stop this immediately. It is clear that the bomber was a hateful terrorist — something that after you have killed these many people trumps just how much of a crush you had on someone or how nice your neighbor thought you might have been. And if the media wants to humanize him, the only way to do so right is by humanizing the black victims of racially charged killings first — and even then… it’s still weird.

What do you think of the media’s desire to humanize the Austin terrorist? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.