The bottom line of all these stories is denial. There is denial that
black people have any reasons to be angry, which is a denial of our
history. Of course it follows that there is denial of white racist
reaction, too. NBC news says that videos showing racist treatment of
black people “go viral” only because of “Russian linked” twitter
accounts. They don’t say what makes an account Russian-linked or how
they can prove the allegation. More importantly they deny that images of
oppression have any impact on the lives of millions of people. Watching
a gentrifying white woman claim that she was “sexually assaulted by a
nine-year old” black child is enough to make all but the lowest Uncle
Tom very angry.
In the absence of empowerment, social media becomes the vehicle for
redress. Obviously the immediacy of the internet makes it quite easy for
videos to spread quickly. Claiming that foreign individuals or a
government are responsible makes the outrage null and void, erases the
racism that black people face and also the determination to make the
oppression known.
-- Margaret Kimberley, "Freedom Rider: No Racism, Just Russians" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).
Gunnery Sgt. Scott A. Koppenhafer was killed in Iraq on Saturday.
He was Marine Special Operator of the Year in 2018 for his role that ‘directly contributed to the defeat of ISIS forces in northern Iraq'.
The Gunny leaves behind a wife and two children.
