Tim Graham
Tim Graham is the Executive Editor at NewsBusters, and he is the Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. His career at the MRC began in February 1989 as associate editor of MediaWatch, the monthly newsletter of the MRC before the Internet era.
Hostile media treatment of the Republican convention in July isn’t just national, but local. It’s rude for Donald Trump to tell someone Milwaukee is “horrible,” but it’s not rude for Milwaukee to say the Republicans are horrible. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, a Gannett newspaper sent this email newsletter alert from JR Radcliffe:
For some in communities of color, the RNC can be seen as a looming threat
Are the Republicans bringing guns and bombs? Should be picture Ronna McDaniel in a suicide vest? It looked like this: Get a load of the smear as black and Latino “community organizers” wish the Republicans were not invited to town:
Natalie Eilbert and La Risa R Lynch spoke to people who remain frustrated and concerned that the Republican National Convention will be coming to Milwaukee in July.
“It’s still hard for me to get over the psychological effects of all this, knowing our first Black mayor is rolling out the red carpet for people that hate us,” said Angela Lang, the executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee.
Research has shown far-right violent extremism is rising, and communities of color are feeling it.
Darryl Morin, the national president of Forward Latino, agrees. He said Hispanic and Latino families were already worried that their appearance, their accents, or speaking Spanish in public would make them a target.
“Because I can tell you we have not seen one hate crime victim who has told us they were stopped and asked about their immigration status before they were attacked,” he said. “It just occurs and the assumption is made.”
These are lefties alright. Lang was with the ACLU, and Morin worked for LULAC (think of the Latino NAACP). They represent “communities of color” to lefty newspapers. They’re “some people.” The actual newspaper article carried the headline
‘Rolling out the red carpet for people that hate us’: How some feel about the RNC
Reporters Natalie Eilbert and La Risa Lynch projected that Trump’s sentencing four days before the convention could lead to unrest. Lang worried it could turn the event “into a powder keg.”
“I don’t think I personally, up until a year ago, used the word ‘scared,’” Lang said. “But I had to pause recently and understand that I’m actually scared. And that’s OK. That’s not a sign of weakness.”
Morin talked about local hate crimes and his group’s anti-Trump animus:
The nonprofit supported Milwaukee resident Mahud Villalaz after a man threw acid in his face at a bus stop in 2019. The 2022 trial revealed that Villalaz’s attacker espoused hateful rhetoric against marginalized groups and wrote letters to Trump calling them “parasites” and “predators.”
Inflammatory remarks about immigrants made at national events and spread through campaign advertisements, Morin said, can lead to hate-motivated violence.
“Whenever there are comments made about people of a particular ethnicity or color or look, etc., it’s automatically applied to all that share those physical traits,” Morin said.
The reporters also featured Rhonda Hill, founder of Race and Faith, an “interfaith anti-racist organization” , who “said some Black-led organizations are skipping town during the RNC and some of Hill’s white friends are as well. But Hill is staying put.”
“To take the fearful stance and approach is already kind of conceding,” Hill said. “There is more than one way of allowing people to have their viewpoints, but that doesn’t mean I have to leave my hometown.”
Later in the piece, there’s a little balance. Local Republican Orlando Owens said he was more concerned about leftist and Palestinian protesters near the convention, and RNC spokesman Kush Desai said the GOP has worked with community to leader to insure a safe experience. But they didn’t make the click-click copy of the email.
PS: The web page for “mental health reporter” Eilbert carried these graphics:
This article was originally published at NewsBusters and republished by PA Pundits – International.
