by nezua. written Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 6:10 pm
JUDGING BY THE EGREGIOUS SILENCE on mainstream U.S. infotainment stations, one might assume that the life and premeditated murder of an innocent child is only worth our compassion and outrage if she is white. Because the brutal shooting and home invasion that swallowed up the life of nine year-old Brisenia Flores has had a hard time getting any play on major “news” outlets.
AND SO IT FALLS ON US here at UMX—as well as at other blogs and independent news sites—to spread the word; to remember the name and smile of Brisenia Flores; to make clear that this killing is no isolated event perpetrated by a couple “crazies,” but is woven tightly to the anti-Mexican/anti-immigrant/anti-Latin@ sentiment that festers in so many layers of popular US culture.
From the fearful, punitive talk about immigrants espoused by Republican and Democratic politicians alike, to the video games that posit Mexicans as criminal invaders, to the movies that only present Latinos as gangbangers or cocaine kingpins or street thieves or knife wielding degenerates, to the movements in states like Arizona to wipe out Chican@ culture and history and aim to have us living in fear, to the judicial brutality and disproportionate police punishments meted out to the brownskinned, signals are continually broadcast to the public at large that mark us as less than human and offer us as viable targets for derision, fear, and violence.
Uncovering that—clearly—is far too big a story for any station today to break.
This episode of News With Nezua throws a pointed jeer at the contortions these mainstream news sites must adopt in order to justify turning away from this particular story and stories like this.
Read and watch the original post here.