One of the problems with "silence = violence" is that we're no longer allowed to be reserved in judgement whenever a story about a heinous hate crime explodes into the national consciousness.

But if anything, it's what we need more than ever. Slow news. Time to gather facts.

Instead, we must rush to condemn, to publicly display rituals of solidarity, to brandish a hashtag here and there, because to not do so is to risk the passing mob's wrath, to be called out as a racist dismissive of injustice, of oppression.

So here we are with yet another Boy Who Cried Noose story, and worse, barely a reckoning from the media that fanned its flames and called it wrong.

Some blue-checked journalists have even insisted on denying the FBI's investigation and doubling down (*cough cough* Jemele Hill).

Whose interest is it to see racism animating every aspect of American life? To see nooses everywhere?

Why would sincere activists want to squander goodwill?
What will it take to acknowledge racial progress?
Are their fundamental claims even falsifiable?

These are tough but important questions.

Silence is not only okay, in fact, it's necessary. Anyone insisting otherwise is not allowing you to make up your own mind.

Anyone insisting on reflexive sloganeering and ritual is only interested in growing their narrative's power.