And just like that…COVID-19 was news of yesterday. Protestors in Atlanta flocked to CNN Headquarters yesterday, defacing the building’s logo with the word “love”.

Protestors torches an American flag outside of the CNN center. They also broke glass near the entrance of the center in protest of the death and possible murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

So, apparently, protestors didn’t think Brooke Baldwin’s tearful “white privilege” lamentation was convincing enough?

There are so many emotions as I’m sitting here listening to you, I’m having my own. I’m surprised at my own emotions on TV with you.

“As a white woman, aware of my own privilege in this country, I’m so angry, I can’t even begin. Forgive me [for crying].”-Brooke Baldwin to Minneapolis City Council President, Andrea Jenkins

And, apparently, they didn’t seem to buy what Don Lemon was selling them, either:

No one wants to hear from the person that they perceive as contributing to situations like this in this society — not directly, but allowing people like that to think they can get away from this. No one wants to hear from the birther-in-chief, from the ‘sons of b—-es’-calling person who says that athletes are kneeling for this very reason.”-Don Lemon referring to President Trump

Is King of the Kneelers Colin Kaepernick putting himself in harm’s way protesting injustices? Nope. But he’ll gladly start a fund that you can contribute to that will help pay the legal fees of those who do and get his girlfriend to promote the endeavor:

Colin Kaepernick Offers to Pay for Lawyers for People Protesting in Minneapolis – WSJ https://t.co/v3tmufM3vy

— NESSA (@nessnitty) May 29, 2020

And while objects are thrown at the CNN building, and law-enforcement officers deal with spit in the face and violence and damage to their vehicles, the very journalists being protected on the inside will continue to crank out the narratives. “Pain And Anger Across America“, read their homepage last night. You think?

What happened to George Floyd is horrific. There is no excuse for what we all saw unfold on that video days ago and those responsible should be investigated and charged accordingly. But our news media is largely responsible for stoking these flames and creating a society full of division and hate-a society that is now turning in on itself.

They will blame the current President because he said “looting leads to shooting“. It was an observation (and a truthful one at that). They will blame the man in The White House for this escalation in violent racism when his eloquent predecessor planted the subtle innuendos of this division in mere rhetoric years before. The pot has been stirred and when he was done, he disappeared into the sunset to occasionally chime in and be the “phenomenal orator” that he is. Yes, Obama is a smart man. He knew exactly the storm he was creating. Despite this, he still makes journalists tingly:

My statement on the death of George Floyd: pic.twitter.com/Hg1k9JHT6R

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 29, 2020

Unequal treatment should not impact our institutions and our hearts. But why does it? Let’s look no further than what we inject on a daily basis. We take what our privileged, never set foot in a ghetto, prep-school “journalists” tell us and attribute it to gospel. If we have an opposing viewpoint, we are mocked for not being on-par with their intelligence or told we need to examine our hearts because they are dirty and soiled. Are there ugly, hateful, racist, dysfunctional people in this world? Yes. But most Americans with any amount of reasoning in their being are NOT these people.

Let’s pile on a story like this with a pandemic. A pandemic that journalists have long frothed at the mouth to report on as “racist”. I nod to CNN for this beauty of a news story. Journalists have weaponized COVID-19 at every single opportunity they could grasp-instilling bitterness, anger and fear. Journalists who, during press briefings, could not seem to get this division out of their heads and actually ask sensible questions of the President. Unequal treatment has impacted our institutions that dispense information to us and CNN’s chickens may have come home to roost. They have been largely instrumental and are responsible in sowing the very division that is unfolding in front of their headquarters.

This can’t be our “new normal”. We’ve got to do better. But despite all of this, the vandalism, their own turning on them, our journalistic community, to include CNN, will still continue to support an old, arguably, racist, white Democrat in November. Because, white privilege, love and humanity.

Photo Credit: FlickR/Creative Commons/Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)