Stop Avoiding The Facts About Waukesha | Opinion

The willful avoidance of facts and deliberate obscuring of what happened in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a low point in American journalism.

It is stunning how much reporting and liberal commentary distorted the massacre at a Christmas parade last week.

Here are the facts: the alleged killer, Darrell Brooks Jr., is an African-American man previously released from jail on an "inappropriately low bail" after reportedly running over the mother of his child with a car. He has openly talked about using a vehicle to kill people and made anti-white racist posts on social media. On Nov. 21, he reportedly used his car to murder six people and maim more than 60 others, including children and senior citizens.

These horrendous facts apparently violate established narratives of inherent white racism and black victimization.

The propaganda media's answer has been to simply avoid the facts. Much reporting has been inadequate at best and maliciously dishonest and misleading at worst.

The amazing thing is that this was not the work of one or two news outlets. Consider this deafening barrage of headlines:

"After SUV slammed into Wis. Parade and killed 5, driver to be charged with homicide" (The Washington Post, Nov. 22)

"A sixth victim has died after the Waukesha Christmas parade crash, prosecutors say" (CNN, Nov. 23)

"Child is 6th death in Waukesha parade crash; suspect charged" (AP, Nov. 24)

"More than a dozen remain hospitalized after deadly Waukesha parade crash" (CNN, Nov. 25)

Read these headlines and ask yourself: was this a "crash" or an intentionally malicious act of violence? Did the SUV drive into the crowd and murder or maim people, or did the person behind the wheel? Is that person a "crash suspect" or a suspected mass murderer?

Left-wing media seem to be on the verge of calling for SUV control akin to gun control. The SUV only did what its homicidal driver wanted it to do. But recognizing that the driver has a criminal history and spouts racism on social media appears politically unacceptable. Saying so would have destroyed years of carefully convincing people of the Left's vision of a "systemically racist" white America preying upon innocent African American victims.

The headlines were just the start. News outlets also took to Twitter.

On Nov. 28, CNN asserted that "a car" drove through the parade as though it weren't being driven by a person: "Waukesha will hold a moment of silence today, marking one week since a car drove through a city Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring scores of others."

Similarly, The Washington Post withdrew an absurd tweet that read, "Here's what we know so far on the sequence of events that led to the Waukesha tragedy caused by a SUV." Again, the newspaper suggested this "tragedy"—not mass murder or a massacre—was "caused by a SUV." It can't be an individual held to account, because that violates the spirit of collective guilt and societal causation at the heart of the Left's worldview.

On television, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow spent an entire segment on the horrific attack without mentioning Brooks once. She only referred to him as "the suspect." MSNBC didn't put his mugshot on screen during the segment.

On the day of the attack, Maddow reported, "A red SUV inexplicably sped into the parade route and then directly into people marching in the parade and people watching on the sidewalk."

Note that she said "inexplicably." What a lie. The vehicle was deliberately driven at high speed by a man who had recently used a car to attack someone. Of course, that is a narrative Maddow could never accept.

The journalists and commentators who avoided the facts should be ashamed of themselves.

The American people should remember this effort to misinform them and protect the narrative of the Left at the expense of the truth, respect for the victims and justice for their families and loved ones.

To read, hear and watch more of Newt's commentary, visit Gingrich360.com.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.