An assault that occurred at the end of July in Cincinnati is denounced as a “hate crime” in American conservative circles. On videos repeatedly rebroadcast on social networks, you can see a sixty -something surrounded by young men striking it with their feet, in a street. A woman is sent to the ground by a violent punch in the face.
In all, six people would have undergone injuries, not critical. Six people were also accused, especially of assault. The investigation continues.
The incident could have been relegated to the rank of room for the news, which occurred at 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning, while thousands of people completed a festive night – the Cincinnati Reds had won their baseball part, festival -goers had converged towards the city of Ohio for jazz. But he took national proportions, in a slightly more hollow period of summer: media like Fox and the New York Post Carefully followed all the developments in the case. Brokingers and conservative influencers also relayed the videos.
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By insisting on the color of the skin of filmed people: the alleged, white victims. The alleged, black attackers.
Political divisions
A collaborator of Washington Examine saw an example of “anti-white racism” in the event as in its treatment, denouncing a lack of firmness in the reaction of the Democratic mayor, AFTAB Pureval, and the manager of the police service, Teresa Theetge, and the lack of interest of the national liberal media. M. Pureval and Mme Theetge both publicly denounced the violence.
“Normally, that should not be the kind of news for which we expect a long lifespan: a crime has been committed, people have been accused, it is nothing really incredible,” comments on the phone Aj Bauer, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama, who notably studies the culture of conservative media.
The only reason it continues to be covered by these media is that it enters their more global political and racial vision.
AJ Bauer, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama
Politicians in the region have added a layer, while the battle continues between the Democrats in the big cities and the Republicans of the Red States. The republican senator of Ohio Bernie Moreno threatened to suppress federal funds to the city of Cincinnati if it did not present a plan to restore “law and order” within 30 days.
Haine crime?
He also said that an FBI investigation was underway. The deputy general prosecutor of the Department of Justice for the Division of Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, said on X that “federal laws relating to hateful crimes apply to all Americans”, referring to this case, suggesting that people may have been attacked because of their white skin.
Vice-president JD Vance, from the region, also denounced events and their management. Just like his half-brother Cory Bowman, who presents himself to become mayor of Cincinnati, where elections will take place in three months.
“The fact that people on both sides have a different ethnicity does not mean that the incident is motivated by racial hatred,” said Rodney Coates, from Miami University to Oxford, Ohio, some 65 km from Cincinnati. The teacher of global and intercultural studies, joined on the phone, rather sees it as the result of spirits heated after a watered evening. The altercation occurred in front of a bar.
A racist insult against the blacks would have been launched before the climbing of violence, according to a video provided by the lawyer of one of the accused, posted on the site of the Cincinnati enquire. A comment that a municipal councilor, Victoria Parks would have made, indicating that the victims “sought it”, fueled the anger of the commentators.
Coates hopes that the Americans “of good will” will be able to take advantage of the attention given to this story to start a conversation and defuse tensions. “Ok, this incident took place,” he said. Let’s talk about it. Let’s not make the thing political, let’s not give it a racial connotation, but take advantage of it to bring us together. »»
With the BBC, the Cincinnati enquire and Associated Press
