This weekend, Mohammad Anwar, a 66-year-old Uber Eats driver, was killed “when he was thrown from his vehicle after two teenage girls allegedly carjacked him near Nationals Park in southeast Washington, D.C,” according to the Daily Wire.
Police say the two girls, aged 13 and 15, used a stun gun on Anwar and attempted to drive off with him still partially inside the vehicle, before it flipped, according to NBC 4 Washington.
“Graphic video taken by a bystander depicts the violent scene, which shows how Anwar fought with the girls before they drove off while he was still attached to the vehicle. They crash the car, and the video later shows Anwar’s body on the sidewalk as National Guardsmen help the girls out of the flipped vehicle. One of the girls can be heard saying something about her phone,” the Daily Wire report continued.
While many reacted in horror at this act of thoughtless and callous violence, several pointed out the obvious double standard applied by the legacy media when it comes to the condemnation of violence.
CNN, for example, sparked an angry backlash when they reported on the incident, writing “Police said the girls, 13 and 15, assaulted an Uber Eats driver with a Taser while carjacking him, which led to an accident in which he was fatally injured.”
Police said the girls, 13 and 15, assaulted an Uber Eats driver with a Taser while carjacking him, which led to an accident in which he was fatally injured. https://t.co/N6RpLoTu8x
— CNN (@CNN) March 27, 2021
This inane tweet — which attempts to dilute the offense, separating the perpetrators from culpability for Anwar’s murder while conveniently leaving out any racial characteristics of the carjackers — is indicative of a larger pattern.
In simple terms, if the perpetrator is white and plays into a narrative of systemic “white supremacy,” their race is relevant. If they are not white, then their race is irrelevant, with additional effort often spent on obfuscating any mention of race.
For conservatives, race is almost always irrelevant. In this case, the race of the perpetrators in Washington, D.C. should be irrelevant. What matters is that two people murdered an innocent man.
For the Left, however, race is central. It is a defining factor when deciding how much information to provide while “reporting” on crimes.
Take, for example, the recent case in an Atlanta supermarket, when an Instacart shopper alerted police when he “heard what he believed was the sound of someone loading guns in a bathroom stall.”
An Instacart shopper at an Atlanta supermarket told police he heard what he believed was the sound of someone loading guns in a bathroom stall. Then a suspect was arrested as he exited the bathroom — with six guns in his possession. https://t.co/K7qOjy14uI
— CNN (@CNN) March 27, 2021
“The witness rushed out of the bathroom and notified staff at the Publix Supermarket. When police arrived soon after, they arrested a suspect as he was exiting the bathroom — with six loaded guns in his possession,” CNN reported.
“The suspect, identified as 22-year-old Rico Marley, now faces a slew of charges related to the incident, which came just days after 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.”
As reported by a local Fox station, Rico Marley is “facing 11 charges.”
BREAKING: Rico Marley is expected to make his first appearance in court today around 11 AM.
He is facing 11 charges, after carrying at least five guns into Publix at Atlantic Station Wednesday.@FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/GIAQT6xHov
— Emilie Ikeda (@EmilieIkedaFOX5) March 25, 2021
In this case, Marley happened to be a black male. Again, for conservatives this is unimportant. In this case, race seems unimportant too.
Then why is race important when the perpetrator of a real or alleged crime is white? For example, in the aftermath of the Atlanta shooting earlier in March, CNN routinely linked the attack to white supremacy — without evidence. Headlines like “White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans,” actively made the argument that this attack was racially motivated, solely because the perpetrator was white and the majority of the victims were not.
This same attitude is visible in a more general and subtle form when we look at other stories. For example, CNN repeatedly referred to the officers involved in the apparently justified shooting of Jacob Blake as “white,” as if their race attributed further details to the story.
“Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old black man who was shot seven times by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has sued the officer for excessive force in federal court, records show,” CNN tweeted a few days ago.
Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times by a White police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has sued the officer for excessive force in federal court, records showhttps://t.co/DjvIM11XdH
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) March 26, 2021
The Left’s response here is likely to be that these are simply cherry-picked examples, taken in order to promote a “right-wing talking point.” Looking at Twitter posts from CNN and filtering by mentions of “black” or “white,” however, it becomes clear that this pattern is far from anecdotal.
When searching for mentions of the word “white” in tweets from CNN, the only references to “white” in terms of skin color are attributed in a negative context. In addition, some references to “black” in terms of skin color are used to infer a racial divide or sense of victimhood, often juxtaposed with the inclusion of “white.”
“An African American mother says she won’t sit down to talk with two men who came armed with about 13 other white people to her North Carolina home last year looking for a missing teenage girl — and she doesn’t care that a court acquitted them.”
An African American mother says she won't sit down to talk with two men who came armed with about 13 other White people to her North Carolina home last year looking for a missing teenage girl — and she doesn't care that a court acquitted them. https://t.co/cdqixLpU7t
— CNN (@CNN) March 28, 2021
“‘Jim Crow 2.0 is represented in that picture,’ Georgia state Rep. Donna McLeod says about the group of white men surrounding Gov. Brian Kemp as he signed a sweeping elections bill that will restrict voting access for many into law on Thursday.”
“Jim Crow 2.0 is represented in that picture,” Georgia state Rep. Donna McLeod says about the group of White men surrounding Gov. Brian Kemp as he signed a sweeping elections bill that will restrict voting access for many into law on Thursday. https://t.co/zUKnlSJwS6 pic.twitter.com/0yZiYg9ByR
— CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2021
“Republicans in Georgia passed a far-reaching overhaul of the state’s election laws that voting rights groups say will target the black residents who make up roughly a third of the state’s population,” read another tweet.
Many will claim that these examples are innocuous, and this is yet another example of overwrought conservatives “pouncing” on the opportunity to “slam” the media.
This is simply untrue. What is true is that the legacy media constantly add or remove a layer of “race” as required in order to promote the narrative that “white supremacy” is a defining cause of all societal problems. When “white” or “black” can be included to add weight to a story which falls in line with this narrative, these irrelevant characteristics are included without fail.
Conversely, when the inclusion of “white” or “black” could potentially damage this narrative, such characteristics are intentionally ignored — which achieves the result conservatives would want in most cases, but for the wrong reason.
Again, it is entirely irrelevant that the two teenagers who allegedly murdered Mohammad Anwar were black. However, given their pattern of racial focus, it seems likely that CNN would have mentioned their race if they were white.
If this is the case, it is clear that the fight against true racism begins not in America’s streets, but in America’s newsrooms.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.