I teased this piece in the intro to my Pat Tillman article. There have been a metric shit-ton of bad takes about the Ma’Khia Bryant shooting. We’ll start off with bodycam footage of the shooting. Be forwarned, the video is graphic and a little disturbing.
If you didn’t watch, and frankly I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to, the video shows the police showing up at what appears to be a fight in progress. As the cops approach, a man who I am assuming is Bryant’s father, chases a girl down the driveway and kicks her in the head several times after she falls. Behind that you can see Bryant, who is holding a kitchen knife, go after the “girl in pink”. The cop who winds up shooting Bryant yells for her to get down on the ground as Bryant appears ready to stab the “girl in pink”. It is at this point that the officer opens fire, hitting Bryant with multiple gun shots.
The “girl in pink” had something to say in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Now that we have established the actual facts of the matter, lets take a look at the narrative that the left is running with. First up is Valerie Jarrett. Personally I had hoped to never hear from that particular Obamaite ever again.
It seems it was just teenagers having a knife fight is the preferred narative on this shooting. Nevermind the fact that only Bryant had a knife
BLM activist Bree Newsome argued this is just a thing that teens do, that teens have been having fights including fights with knives “for eons.”
MSLSD’s Joy Reid seems to think that you shouldn’t believe the bodycam footage and that the cop should have let Bryant stab “the girl in pink” because sometimes people survive being stabbed.
“King” James couldn’t wait to weigh in. And then delete once it became clear his response was unacceptable.
To be fair, not all the media reaction has been as grossly misinformed as what is above. Believe it or not, Fredo and Don Lemon had a reasonable discussion of the events on CNN.
Zaid Jilani is a progressive lefty writer. He ranted on twitter about how the media is covering these types of events.
I’m having trouble coming up with a conclusion for this piece. So instead I’ll leave you with an exit question.
Do you think the media will ever get back to reporting facts? Or is the narrative driven media here to stay?