Why the Jussie Smollett hoax is bad for blacks, gays, Democrats, the media and the country
From an article on Thursday: “It’s been roughly 12 hours since the last time we wrote about the racist and homophobic attack launched against Empire star Jussie Smollett on the streets of Chicago last month—i.e., just long enough for this entire story to get thoroughly buried in a wave of confusion, misinformation, and increasingly high-volume competing accounts.”
Fast forward to yesterday, Washington Post Editorial Board assistant Nana Efua Mumford penned a piece titled: “I doubted Jussie Smollett. It breaks my heart that I might be right”:
On Jan. 29, Jussie Smollett, who plays Jamal Lyon, the openly gay heir to the show’s hip-hop record label throne, was allegedly attacked in a baroque hate crime. He told police that his attackers immediately identified him as a gay actor from “Empire,” then proceeded to yell racial and homophobic slurs, shout “this is MAGA country,” pour an unknown chemical on him and place a noose around his neck. The story has since become even more complicated: The Chicago police questioned two Nigerian brothers, one of whom said that he played a small part on “Empire,” about their possible role in the attack. As of this writing, the department is seeking to interview Smollett again; he has hired a criminal defense attorney.
I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did. I know that there is a deep, dark racist history in Chicago and, if proved true, this would be just one more point on the list. I wanted to believe him with every fiber of my being, most of all because the consequences if he were lying were almost too awful to contemplate.
Over the past few hours, there have been speculations that have confirmed my worst fears.Unnamed “police sources” have claimed that Smollett orchestrated the entire thing.
If Smollett’s story is found to be untrue, it will cause irreparable damage to the communities most affected. Smollett would be the first example skeptics cite when they say we should be dubious of victims who step forward to share their experiences of racist hate crimes or sexual violence. The incident would be touted as proof that there is a leftist conspiracy to cast Trump supporters as violent, murderous racists. It would be the very embodiment of “fake news.”
And that reason, more than any other, is why I need this story to be true, despite its ugliness and despite what it would say about the danger of the world I live in. The damage done would be too deep and long-lasting. This could be one tragedy that the Lyon family — and more importantly, the ordinary people who loved the show and invested in Smollett and his character — could never overcome.
The Washington Post NEEDS this story to be true.
We need America to be a racist, bigoted, homophobic country?
There is a ton of truth in Mumford’s fear that this and other types of hoaxes cause harm to the real case, the real victims of crimes, of hate crimes; hence, the outrage from the right-wing, Republicans and conservatives for years over Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the misreporting on the Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin case as well as the myth making surrounding the Matthew Shepard murder.
When news of the “attack” broke last month, Democratic presidential contenders clamored to denounce it as a horrific manifestation of racism and bigotry in America.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called it a “modern-day lynching.”
Yesterday Booker was given some cover to recant his absurd statement: “The information is still coming out. I’m going to withhold until all the information actually comes out from on the record sources,” Booker said.
“No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin,” said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.
This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2019
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called the incident “a sickening and outrageous attack, and horribly, it’s the latest of too many hate crimes against LGBTQ people and people of color.”
“Jussie Smollett put people’s lives at risk and could have created a situation that was much more damaging to those who are African-American and those who do identify with the LGBTQ community. We have many members of the black community and the LGBTQ community who have been the victims of hate crimes. So for Smollett to say that he was a victim of racism and hate crimes — and we believe that is a lie — certainly is an injustice to those true victims of racism and hate crimes,” Ali added.
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[…] the media raced to false presumptions in the assault hoax of Empire actor Jussie Smollett, the irresponsible left-wing press ignored the real hate crime surge in New York: mostly […]