*The National Association of Black Journalists has called out mainstream media for the “unconscious bias” in coverage of the supermarket mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
“The coverage we have seen around this story reveals there is still much work to be done in how newsrooms report on issues affecting the Black community and how unconscious bias still plays a role in the way suspects and victims are portrayed in the media,” the journalism organization said Monday in an official statement on its website.
NABJ noted that the Associated Press referred to “gun violence victim Michael Brown as an ‘18-year-old Black man,’” but white supremacist shooter in Buffalo, Payton Gendron, as an 18-year-old “white teenager.”
READ MORE: Jamie Foxx is ‘Angry AF’ Over Supermarket Mass Shooting
Payton Gendron’s AR-15 rifle had “Here’s your reparations” written on it.
Don’t you DARE ask how someone so young learned to hate like that. He was born in a country that reinforces it every day.
ESPECIALLY on Fox News. pic.twitter.com/i6wiVAxpuv
— Darryn M. Briggs (@darryn_briggs) May 16, 2022
“All too often, white suspects are treated much more carefully in the media than Black victims. This must end now,” NABJ stated.
As we reported earlier, Gendron was heavily armed and wearing body armor when he carried out the deadly attack. Gendron, a resident of Conklin, New York, was detained by authorities without incident.
Gendron traveled from his hometown, located 200 miles from Buffalo, to carry out the deadly attack. Eleven of the victims were Black and two were white, police say. Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the shooting, per CNN. All the victims have been named in a PEOPLE report.
Payton Gendron: murders 10—calmly arrested
Nikolas Cruz: murders 17—calmly arrested
Dylan Roof: murders 9—calmly arrested
Patrick Crusius: murders 23—calmly arrested
Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Eric Garner—all unarmed & innocent—killed immediately pic.twitter.com/rSvlXdGnUb
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) May 15, 2022
Gendron has been remanded without bail, and a felony hearing has been scheduled for Thursday. He has reportedly pleaded not guilty.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the incident is “the worst nightmare that any community can face, and we are hurting and we are seething right now.”
In its statement, the National Association of Black Journalists asked news organizations to offer mental health resources to Black journalists covering the shooting.
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