On Saturday, Payton Gendron allegedly shot several people at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, killing 10. A racist manifesto from Gendron was discovered, and almost immediately the FBI became involved to categorize the incident as a hate crime and case of violent extremism.
While such news is welcoming when it comes to the FBI taking the situation seriously in this instance, the same cannot be said for how they've treated previous crimes, including those clearly motivated by hate for a certain group of people.
Recall how, on January 15, a man later identified as Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year old citizen, took worshippers hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. He was ultimately killed in a stand-off with the police.
Despite the fact that Akram took people hostage at a house of worship, the FBI boldly, and moronically, claimed that "that he was singularly focused on one issue and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community," but at least they had offered to keep working on it.
As I highlighted in my coverage at the time, the Associated Press went with that narrative, in a tweet that no longer exists. "BREAKING: The FBI says the Texas synagogue hostage taker's demands were specifically focused on issue not connected to the Jewish community," the tweet read, linking to an update on the situation.
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Guy and Professor Max Abrahms were among those who kept receipts of the headline the AP went with.
Synagogue a totally random target?
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 16, 2022
Nobody believes this. Nobody. https://t.co/3BSnH8KWqs
By the early hours of the next morning, the FBI was forced to correct their narrative, as Leah covered.
"This is a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted, and is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force," the FBI said in a subsequent statement. "We never lose sight of the threat extremists pose to the Jewish community and to other religious, racial, and ethnic groups."
So the FBI wants you to believe they "never lose sight of" such a threat, except that they do lose sight of such threats.
NEW @FBI statement on hostage situation in Colleyville, TX.: “This is a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted, and is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) January 17, 2022
Full statement ?? pic.twitter.com/OReWRe02xb
Such is hardly the only way in which another recent incident that occurred under the Biden administration was treated so differently.
Last November, Darrell E. Brooks Jr. allegedly drove his SUV into a crowd of people at a Christmas parade, killing six, including children. The mainstream media really dropped the ball on that one, especially when it came to minimizing Brooks' role and instead blaming the SUV, as if the inanimate object drove itself.
On Sunday night, as "Waukesha" was trending on Twitter, the social media site fell for that same trick. Take a look at how the trend was explained, which was in part to do with how "a car drove through a Christmas parade is discussed..."
W.T.F. Does @Twitter not learn when it comes to what we’ve been saying? Why Waukesha is trending in the first place? The car didn’t drive itself! @elonmusk, I hope you have something to say on this and that trends will do better if/when you’re in charge! pic.twitter.com/JYe9fQ70VW
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) May 16, 2022
It was being "discussed" in part for that very reason, as people are fed up with a narrative. As I covered late last year and earlier this year, outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post, and the AP went with blaming the inanimate object for the deaths of people.
Nick Arama at our sister site of RedState highlighted the trend as well.
Twitter trends is not the only reason why Waukesha is relevant to this conversation. Brooks harbored his own racist views. Also, President Joe Biden could not take the time to make the visit despite how he's going to Buffalo on Tuesday, though First Lady Jill Biden did visit. It was in the puff piece on the first lady where the AP botched the language about the crime.
At the time, Jen Psaki, then the White House Press Secretary, blamed it on logistics. "Obviously, any President going to visit a community requires a lot of assets, requires taking their resources, and it’s not something that I have a trip previewed at this plan- — point in time, but we remain in touch with local officials," she said during a November 29 press conference.
Writing for The Washington Examiner in a piece from December 2, Christopher Tremoglie offered that
"Biden would have visited Waukesha if it could have helped him politically."
On Monday, during her first day on the job, as Katie highlighted, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered further justification. Or, she at least tried to.
DOOCY: "How come the President is visiting Buffalo after a senseless tragedy there, but he couldn't visit Waukesha...?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 16, 2022
KJP: "He's visited many communities...that's not the first one, so, he's been to many others." pic.twitter.com/vx0S0HPOJe
She deflected by offering President Joe Biden has "visited many communities."
The subway shooting that occurred last month in Brooklyn, New York, was also allegedly committed by a suspect, Frank James, who likewise had racist views, expressed in videos that were allowed to remain up on YouTube for some time until the platform finally took them down. Such a story has largely disappeared from mainstream media coverage.
In all likelihood, the name of the game here is about fitting a narrative.
