After the Parkland, Fla., shooting much of the conversation, especially from those on the right, has centered around the shooter’s mental illness as the root cause of the problem.
But when the shooter is Muslim or a person of color, “the immediate reaction from those on the right is to try to find a solution...around immigration,” says Francis Maxwell, host of “The Breakdown” on The Young Turks.
Take for example the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. The Muslim shooter used an AR-15, the same gun used in Parkland, but there was no serious discussion about gun control back then.
Fingers quickly pointed at loose immigration policies despite the fact that statistically, “you’re more likely to be killed in a domestic act of terror by a white American on homegrown soil,” says Maxwell.
This difference in treatment is also clearly demonstrated in conversations about the movements that rise from these tragic incidents.
Today, #NeverAgain has turned into an admirable national movement against the NRA but when #BlackLivesMatter asked for the same things, “their message wasn’t given the platform.”
“We need to look at ourselves in this country and think why...is one vilified and looked at as a movement that’s disruptive and disrespectful and the other looked at as empowering?”
Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for McClatchy, joins Cheddar News to discuss all the topics President Biden has to juggle in his State of the Union address.
World Central Kitchen is Ukraine helping to feed people remaining in the country or fleeing from the Russian forces. Nate Mook, CEO for the non-profit, joined Cheddar New to discuss the efforts being made to help those in need in a very tenuous situation and how the invasion disrupted the lives of Ukrainian people."We met a young woman from Kyiv who had crossed into Poland, she had a great job, she just moved into a new apartment. She was really excited about decorating her apartment. You know, things that we all do on a day-to-day basis, and she had to just abandon her life," he said.
Bina Venkataraman, Boston Globe Editorial Page Editor & former White House disaster policy adviser joins Cheddar News to discuss the current state of the pandemic as well as Biden's handling of the crisis
Michael Li senior counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program joins Cheddar News to discuss gerrymandering and how it's impacting American politics
