Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
Since news broke of the disturbing killing of Georgia resident Ahmaud Arbery by two men who apparently mistook him for a burglar, some in the liberal media have used the tragic event to invoke the Trayvon Martin killing from 2012 and to bash conservatives for defending George Zimmerman's actions in that case.
MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Joy Reid stand out in burying the facts that were in Zimmerman's favor to suggest the two events were more similar than they actually are.
Reid even suggested conservatives defended Zimmerman just to spite President Barack Obama.
On Monday's Morning Joe show, host Scarborough claimed Martin was shot because he was a black man who had Skittles in his pocket, and suggested that conservatives who defended Zimmernan merely "consider themselves to be conservatives":
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's talk about the tragedy in Georgia, and I find it interesting that I remember that after Trayvon there were many people that considered themselves to be conservative that continued to support George Zimmerman throughout that entire process, shooting Trayvon Martin because he had Skittles in his pocket, and he was basically gunned down for being black in a predominantly white neighborhood.
Referring to the Arbery case, he then turned to MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude and vaguely referred to there being some conservatives defending the killing without noting that mainstream conservative groups have not tried to justify the shooting:
SCARBOROUGH: I've seen a lot of conservatives attack others who are suggesting somehow this young man deserved to be shot because he was walking through a construction project. I'm wondering what your thought is to the reaction that you've seen not only on social media but also what you've seen out of Washington on this?
On Sunday's AM Joy, host Reid recalled that prominent Republicans like former presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich spoke out early on against the killing of Martin, and then fretted that conservatives would start defending the Arbery killing and linked anti-Obama sentiment to those who defended Zimmerman.
JOY REID: Martin's death became more and more politicized by the right-wing commentariat, including Glenn Beck and others. Two months later, the same polling company found that 40 percent believed Zimmerman acted in self-defense, a 25-point increase in people who believed the shooting was therefore justified. Eight years later, the reaction to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia is proceeding along a frighteningly familiar course. For now, even Donald Trump has called the video of the killing "very, very disturbing," even "heartbreaking." But how long will that last?
Reid turned to MSNBC contributor Karine Jean-Pierre and, referring to the Trayvon Martin case, posed:
REID: The atmosphere in the early days of the coverage definitely shifted to where … there was broad sympathy and shock that there had not been arrests,and then, over time, once President Obama specifically spoke out about it, it was almost like a switch was flipped in this country where the right said, "Nope, if he says A, we say X." And I wonder how with Donald Trump in the White House how does that switch work in your view?
In her response, Jean-Pierre absurdly claimed that racism is "something we don't talk about a lot in the mainstream media," and, similar to Scarborough, implicated the bag of Skittles in Martin's death without mentioning that Zimmerman received substantial injuries to his head -- including a broken nose -- in the altercation with Martin.
And, in contrast with the two men arrested in the Arbery case, Zimmerman never claimed he was trying to capture Martin, and, in fact, claimed that he had stopped following him when the 17-year-old attacked him. There were no witnesses or evidence to dispute his account, so an acquittal by the jury made sense.
Relevant transcripts follow:
MSNBC
AM Joy
May 10 2020
11:17 a.m. Eastern
JOY REID: Martin's death became more and more politicized by the right-wing commentariat, including Glenn Beck and others. Two months later, the same polling company found that 40 percent believed Zimmerman acted in self-defense, a 25-point increase in people who believed the shooting was therefore justified. Eight years later, the reaction to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia is proceeding along a frighteningly familiar course. For now, even Donald Trump has called the video of the killing "very, very disturbing," even "heartbreaking." But how long will that last?
(...)
So, having covered this case -- I was at the Grio at the time, and the atmosphere in the early days of the coverage definitely shifted to where there was mass sympathy -- there was broad sympathy and shock that there had not been arrests, and then, over time, once President Obama specifically spoke out about it, it was almost like a switch was flipped in this country where the right said, "Nope, if he says A, we say X." And I wonder how with Donald Trump in the White House how does that switch work in your view?
(...)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: ...We've been talking about the coronavirus and how it is an epidemic in this country, which is true, but another epidemic in this country is racism, and it's something we don't talk about a lot in the mainstream media. And it is the deep-rooted systematic racism that we see in this country over and over and over again. I mean, if you think about the last couple of years, if you think about the amount of innocent black people who have been gunned down, killed, murdered because they were buying Skittles, because they were in their own home, because they were at church, because they had a toy gun and were playing cops and robbers, because they were selling CDs...
MSNBC
Morning Joe
May 11, 2020
7:26 a.m. Eastern
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's talk about the tragedy in Georgia, and I find it interesting that I remember that after Trayvon there were many people that considered themselves to be conservative that continued to support George Zimmerman throughout that entire process, shooting Trayvon Martin because he had Skittles in his pocket, and he was basically gunned down for being black in a predominantly white neighborhood.
I've seen a lot of conservatives attack others who are suggesting somehow this young man deserved to be shot because he was walking through a construction project. I'm wondering what your thought is to the reaction that you've seen not only on social media but also what you've seen out of Washington on this?
