While Michael Brown’s family and friends gathered for his funeral on Monday, Fox continued down the Reich wing brick road of blaming Michael Brown for his own death.
Linda Chavez was on Fox and Friends to talk about an op-ed she wrote to complain about Eric Holder going to Ferguson. During her appearance, Chavez stretched the parameters of sanity by claiming that Michael Brown was armed because he was an adult male. She also talk about his height (6’4″) and weight (nearly 300 pounds) Then pointed to the convenience store video in which Brown allegedly stole some cigars.
We’re talking about an 18-year-old man who is six foot four and weighs almost three hundred pounds, who is videotaped just moments before the confrontation with a police officer strong arming an employee and robbing a convenience store.
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Basically, Chavez was trying to get around the role that race played in Michael Brown’s death and the deaths of numerous other young black men by claiming adult males are armed by virtue of being adult males, and especially if they are big and tall. She pointed to the video to justify that Darren Wilson shot Brown at least six times and left his body on the street for four hours.
Fox and Chavez hoped people won’t remember Fox’s coverage of the Bundy ranch. They hope we won’t remember the video of showing adult men with automatic weapons.
Unlike Michael Brown, members of the Bundy ranch militia terrorized several communities for a prolonged period, with their armed checkpoints. If one is going to accept that video is enough to “prove” that Michael Brown was dangerous by virtue of being an adult male, certainly video of militia types with their automatic weapons and at armed checkpoints is proof that they are dangerous.
However, Fox wants us to believe it is different because Brown was a black “thug” who “stole” some cigars. They want us to believe the Bundy Ranch militia members were “patriots” standing up for Bundy’s freedom to welsh on a million dollars in grazing fees he owed to taxpayers of America.
One of Bundy’s defenders shot a BLM agent and highway patrol officer in California and two other Bundy defenders shot and killed 3 people (two of them police officers.)
Even then, no one at Fox suggested that law enforcement should use deadly force against the Bundy militia. Everyone at Fox continued to cheer the Bundy ranch on – at least until Cliven Bundy went on record with the NYT as a racist and defender of slavery. Even when Bundy’s views were revealed, Fox did not suggest that the BLM or anyone in law enforcement should use deadly force nor did they describe the Bundy militia as “dangerous” or “thugs”.
With the exception for two factors, the Bundy ranch militia fit Chavez’s criteria for law enforcement to use deadly force. Cliven Bundy and his militia were adult males. I’ll speculate that at least some of them were big, tall or both again like Michael Brown. Fox hopes you will forget that its commentators described the white adult males at the Bundy ranch militia as “patriots“ while portraying the black adult male Michael Brown, as a “thug“.
The reality is Fox continues to stoke fear about young black men among their predominantly old, white and racist audience. Obviously, they don’t believe that being an adult male is reason enough for a police officer to use deadly force. Otherwise, Fox commentators would have made that case when the adult males in question were white “patriots” who terrorized communities.
h/t Media Matters
Image: Peacock Panache
Former contributor.
