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US war and racism -- media denial in overdrive
Among the millions of words that have appeared in the US press since late April about torture at the Abu Ghraib prison, one has been notably missing: Racism.
Among the millions of words that have appeared in the US press since late April about abuse and torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, one has been notably missing:
Racism.
Overall, when it comes to racism, the news coverage is quite PC -- as in Pentagon Correct. The outlook is "apple pie" egalitarian, with the media picture including high-profile officers who are African-American and Latino. Meanwhile, inside the policy arena, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are frequently in front of cameras to personify Uncle Sam in blackface.
The US government doesn't drop bombs on people because of their race. Washington's geopolitical agendas lead to military actions. But racial biases make the war process easier when the people being killed and maimed aren't white people.
An oversize elephant in the American media's living room is a reality that few journalists talk about in public: The USA keeps waging war on countries where the victims resemble people who often experience personal and institutional racism in the United States.
In the American media coverage of the uproar after release of the Abu Ghraib photos, one of the only references to race was fleeting and dismissive, midway through a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on May 3:
