That 17-year-old shooter and the Kenosha militias are precisely why the @nytimes running that Tom Cotton op-Ed promoting the use of “overwhelming force” to subdue protestors was so dangerous.

Most of white journalism twitter was a flutter about the @nytopinion Tom Cotton Op-Ed becuase they saw it as an embarrassing PR crisis that cost an editor his job.

Many Black people saw the piece for what it was: A dangerous incitement to violence against black protestors.

Here’s how putting black lives at risk becomes normalized:

@nytopinion platforms a politician who called for overwhelming violence against black protestors = “Gotta have both sides!”

RNC platforms a couple famous for threatening black protesters with firearms = “Shock value!”

The problem with the overwhelming whiteness of American media is the constant failure to deeply grapple with the unspeakable violence that white people have historically wielded against non-whites.

And that white violence is a force that still shapes America.