According to one CNN commentator, Hollywood actor Jussie Smollett’s costly, time-consuming hate crime hoax engendered a positive side effect: It focused the public’s attention on the alleged epidemic of hate crimes against “ordinary Black LGBTQ people.”
“The sad thing is that it took the story of a celebrity like Jussie Smollett for America to focus on violence and hate crimes against ordinary Black LGBTQ people. Let’s hope we can finally start talking about those cases now,” Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to former President Bill Clinton, tweeted after Smollett’s arrest Thursday morning.
The sad thing is that it took the story of a celebrity like Jussie Smollett for America to focus on violence and hate crimes against ordinary Black LGBTQ people. Let’s hope we can finally start talking about those cases now. pic.twitter.com/dZ7JwGCA4p
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 21, 2019
Attached to the tweet was a video of him speaking on CNN earlier that morning about the same topic.
“A lot of people in my community are thinking this is not something we want and need. We want attention on the issues of black LGBTQ violence and hate crimes. We want it focused where it should be. We don’t need a distraction like this,” he said.
“There are cases that are happening every day. I hope that people start focusing on those other cases and not just on this one,” he added, echoing the tweet he posted later.
Listen:
The problem with what Boykin wrote and said is that it was backwards. In reality, Smollett’s hate crime hoax benefited nobody but hurt almost everybody, as noted by columnist Leonard Greene:
“Smollett hurt a lot of people. He took money out of the pockets out of his ‘Empire’ co-stars, because the show is bound to suffer from the scandal. He wasted the resources of a busy police department that has far more important matters to investigate. And he hurt the cause of everyone who has ever been the victim of intolerance. Men and women brutalized by bigotry and racism need to be heard and believed. Smollett just made it harder.”
Much harder.
Jussie Smollett’s ‘hoax’ hurts everyone from dedicated police to real hate crime victims https://t.co/0TuFh7I7lj
— Leonard Greene (@LeonardGreene) February 21, 2019
Moreover, Boykin’s insinuation that the public and media barely pay attention to hate crimes against “ordinary Black LGBTQ people” was just outright false. If anything, the public and media tend to focus almost exclusively on certain hate crimes over others, particularly those against gays.
For instance, did you know that there’s been a spate of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Brooklyn as of late? If not, why? Could it because the media never talk about them? It’s almost as if certain groups are more important than others. That’s not a good thing …
I thought the idea is to treat everyone equally. Shouldn’t we just focus on violence and hate crimes, and not identify to which group the victims belong? Aren’t all violent/hate crimes bad, even if they happen to someone not in your particular group? U care only for your own?
— Susan Metzler (@metzler_susan) February 21, 2019
Moreover, statistics show that between 2016 and 2017, hate crimes against the gay community went up by only four percentage points, whereas hate crimes against Jews spiked by 26 percentage points. Yet this spike never gets any mainstream media attention. Why?
It’s because, contrary to what Boykin said, the public and media already focus a great deal of attention on hate crimes against “ordinary Black LGBTQ people,” ergo why the hate crime that Smollett claimed he had suffered was broadcast nonstop over the airways after he reported the attack last month.
When were we not talking about it???? We talk too much and no action or moving forward. We get involved in the emotional hype of the the moment, like Smollett.
— jean Sky (@SkyJean) February 22, 2019
What the media rarely spotlights, as noted by a bevy of social media users, are the veritable hate crimes committed against conservatives and supporters of President Donald Trump, even when it’s caught on video.
When will you report on the rampant violence against Trump supporters?#shill
— Mikey Mike ?? (@Algerwins) February 22, 2019
Not one word about the millions of Americans (and Trump supporters globally) who are the REAL targets and the REAL victims of this hate crime. Or did I miss it? Was there any mention outside of this clip?
— Maria Sederholm (@Wordofbeak) February 22, 2019
This is so warped. He fabricated a hate crime, so that means it’s a wake up call to focus on hate crimes ? How about the hate crimes against trump supporters
— John Hargreaves ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@duncehatman9089) February 22, 2019
Leftists perpetrate hate crime hoaxes to justify physical assaults on Trump supporters by Antifa, the Dems’ brownshirt militia, and nutcases like Hodgkinson, who shot up the GOP softball game.
— TraderMoe (@Trader_Moe) February 22, 2019
But for some reason the media’s demonstrable lack of attention to hate crimes against Trump supporters doesn’t seem to concern Boykin. Hmm …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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