Race is not central to Rittenhouse case — but the media shout it anyway

Even before the jury in his murder trial returns a verdict, Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty, according to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.):

Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key.

— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) November 10, 2021

The judge presiding over the trial is rooting for Rittenhouse, according to former Obama strategist and political consultant David Axelrod:  

This kid has the great good fortune of a de facto defense attorney on the bench. https://t.co/CZnjqpkpfe

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 15, 2021

Oh, and the judge is also a racist, according to media reports: 

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder has been accused of making racist jokes and being biased towards the 18-year-old defendant. https://t.co/ytrSPmikQB

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 12, 2021

Maybe the judge won’t be racist during the jury instructions.

— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) November 15, 2021

Rittenhouse himself cried “white crocodile tears” during the trial, according to MSNBC’s Joy Reid: 

“The Rittenhouse murder trial has been theater, with characters who are seemingly meant to vindicate conservatives’ violent hero worship. Rittenhouse’s waterworks were an essential part of the act.” #ReidOutBloghttps://t.co/RXtyprSmrT

— Ja’han Jones (@_Jahan) November 11, 2021

And, Reid noted, his white male tears were just like those of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing:

Joy Reid compares #KyleRittennhouse to Brett Kavanaugh.
“In America… there’s a thing for white male tears… as soon as they get caught… they bring waterworks” pic.twitter.com/NnkJvHfl4c

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) November 17, 2021

And Rittenhouse is actually a white supremacist, per then-presidential candidate and now President Joe Biden: 

There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night. pic.twitter.com/Q3VZTW1vUV

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020

It is disturbing that some in the media and in politics – in a case involving a white guy shooting three other white guys – are playing the race card from the bottom of the deck. 

But while disturbing, it’s also not surprising to see race injected in this way, particularly when considering the fairly recent precedents in Virginia. 

In the commonwealth, education is what drove little-known Republican Glenn Youngkin to an improbable victory over Clinton loyalist and former Democratic governor Terry McAullife. The race began to turn in favor of Youngkin when McAuliffe declared that parents should not “be telling schools what they should teach.” 

Terry McAuliffe: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” pic.twitter.com/rs6pSWZw79

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 27, 2021

That statement quickly awoke the momma bears in Virginia’s northern suburbs, which were owned by Joe Biden in 2020 on his way to a 10-point victory in the state. Youngkin went on to capture the suburbs based in part on this issue, which could serve as a preview of the red tsunami expected in the 2022 midterms. 

White female voters put Glenn Youngkin in the governor’s mansion, @IAmSophiaNelson writes in an op-ed.

The data is stunning: https://t.co/G7TEEock3O

— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) November 18, 2021

White Women: Trump 52%
Youngkin: 58%

Suburban: T: 44%
Y: 49%

Rural: T: 60%
Y: 63%

If the GOP is competitive in the suburbs, the D collapse in rural areas is the kiss of death for them as a national party. The D appeal is increasingly urban and liberal. That’s it.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) November 3, 2021

In the process, Democrats are now in danger of being identified as the anti-parent party. But it went further than just siding with teacher unions when it came to media coverage; some media types couldn’t resist injecting race into their explanations of why Youngkin won in a blue state — despite the other big winner there, Republican lieutenant governor-elect Winsome Sears, who became the first Black woman to prevail in a statewide contest there. 

Various reasons for Glenn Youngkin’s “win” in Virginia incl:
1. White supremacy is still very powerful but people want it in coded language while wearing a fleece
2. Media hammered Dems but gave Youngkin a pass on racist “Critical race theory”
3. Dems better counter the CRT BS!

— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) November 3, 2021

NBC Nightly News ignores Youngkin campaigning on kitchen table issues and suggests he was carting to racists by opposing CRT. Reporter @ahylton26 parroted the LIE that CRT was not an influence in Virginia school. They also ignored Winsome Sears winning Lt.-Gov. pic.twitter.com/thcUAAvlDu

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 3, 2021

The argument that white supremacy & racial resentment couldn’t have helped power Youngkin to victory in VA because the Republicans elected a black lieutenant governor – Winsome Sears – is as convincing as saying Trump isn’t a racist because he made Ben Carson his HUD secretary.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 3, 2021

“Here they want white supremacy by ventriloquist effect,” MSNBC’s Michael Eric Dyson said of Sears earlier this month. “There is a black mouth moving but a white idea running on the runway of the tongue of a figure who justifies and legitimates the white supremacist practices.” 

And never mind that Virginia’s next attorney general is Latino, or that Youngkin may have captured more than 50 percent of the Latino vote.  

But, yeah, it was closet KKK members who elected a white businessman, a Black lieutenant governor and a Latino AG. 

You can’t make this stuff up. 

Back to Kenosha: Maybe, just maybe, the story is that eyewitnesses testified during the trial there that Rittenhouse – certainly no hero – was acting in self-defense. Maybe media figures – and the president – should stop taking sides in declaring that defendants such as Rittenhouse are racist or guilty until proven innocent. 

The word “racist” itself has lost much of its impact, after holding such weight for so long. 

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial is a complex one. Was it self-defense? Did Rittenhouse provoke the incident by injecting himself into a dangerous riot by bringing a large gun? Like everything else, the country is divided on these issues. 

Race is not central to the Rittenhouse case. But the media are shouting it anyway. Again. 

Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist for The Hill.