Yesterday a Facebook Live video recounting the violent beating of a disabled young man went viral and four people are facing possible criminal charges for a hate crime. The 2.5-minute video posted on Facebook Live and then reported on The Chicago Tribune is disturbing, and the violence, surprisingly, taken “lightly” by the Commanding Police Chief Kevin Duffin. 

We don’t know if any of the four involved in the violence, are in fact, supporters of the Black Lives Matter Movement. But just like clockwork, the reverse racism theorists, and Trump supporters have seized their moment to spread their ministry. In short, they tried it. Again. 

Let’s make one thing absolutely crystal: Reverse racism is not a thing. It should be classified as an oxymoron, a really awful one. Racism is a power construct and not to be copied and pasted onto every instance where a white person is a victim of violence at the hands of a black person. What happened was hateful, and not in effect, “racist” if we are sticking to the definition. Racially motivated, yes. Hateful, yes. And just like fake news, racial gaslighting sells us an entirely different idea about reality. It isn’t just made up, but taking a real event and making it about something untrue. The reality: America still has a problem with race. The underlying falsehood: Black people don’t deserve to have racial injustice addressed.

This confuses the efforts of an entire movement and quickly negates how history and wait for it…facts has supported the validity of the BLM movement. This is similar to equating Feminism to buying a man a drink at the bar. It is a cheap assessment of a very long and problematic history. And to be honest, the amount of reaching happening on Twitter currently on #BLMKidnapping is yoga-worthy. 

What’s worse? It’s an abusive tactic. An abuse of privilege and an abuse of power. Again, it makes a bold statement that white people’s lives truly do matter more in America and any efforts to dismantle racial oppression will be met with violent opposition–even in situations where a movement and a random act of violence are mutually exclusive. It’s opportunistic. Activists will be attacked online for the work they do and the sentiment is, “ See, you black people are violent and don’t deserve any kind of compassion.” 

To ignore racial gaslighting also makes you a culprit. The assumption is that you don’t care enough or that you are also guilty. As the investigation continues, prepare to see a whole lot of this kind of behavior. 

Move over Mark Zuckerberg, racists are about to give fake news another spin.