White House fails Black folks yet again by refusing to call Austin bombings terrorism

How are a series of explosions that killed two people in Texas not terrorism? In Trump's America, the answer is easy

Mark Anthony Conditt, who police believe was behind a wave of bombings in Austin and south-central Texas, killed himself on Wednesday in a ditch along Interstate 35 after detonating an explosive device in his vehicle upon learning police had tracked him down.

According to CNN, police suspected Conditt, 24, was responsible for the deaths of two people and injuring five others resulting from five explosions in the Austin and San Antonio areas beginning March 2.  An arrest warrant was issued for him on Tuesday and he was tracked to a Round Rock, Tex., hotel before going on the run.

READ MORE: 5 Things to know about Mark Anthony Conditt

Let’s call a spade a spade

Even though Austin residents are undoubtedly relieved by this development, they couldn’t help but notice it took a whopping three weeks after the first incident for President Trump to finally break his silence on the bombings.

Tuesday, Trump told press in the Oval Office, “This is obviously a very, very sick individual, or maybe individuals. These are sick people, and we will get to the bottom of it.”

This vague, late response has become standard fare for the president, but what struck Black Twitter as disrespectful was the statement White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on social media.

In the tweet Sanders “mourns for victims” and officials are “monitoring the situation” – but then adds, “There is no apparent nexus to terrorism at this time.”

Wait, what?!

In what world is a serial bomber who has terrorized a whole city for the better part of a month (and happens to target innocent black people) not a terrorist?

READ MORE: Trump blasted for silence after Austin bombings

For those with a strong grasp of the King’s english, (and are therefore also grappling to understand how these things get categorized), here’s a quick rule of thumb to keep in mind: Unless someone Black, Brown, or Muslim is identified — or links to terrorist networks that are Black, Brown, or Muslim are found — it’s not terrorism fam.

In Trump’s America you can actually blow up innocent private citizens in their own homes, flee from the police once they track you down, then injure a SWAT officer from the blast as you blow yourself up on the side of the road… and the White House will still hesitate to call a spade a spade, simply because you don’t fit the racial profile they need for talking points.

What a time to be alive eh?

The truest irony of all this is that Republicans spent the better part of the Obama years insisting that dealing with security issues properly meant using specific words and phrases when speaking to the public.  They used to scoff at #44 for not using strong enough language.

Clearly what Trump and his staffers aren’t being held to this same standard the GOP tried to hold Obama to.

GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz must not have gotten the memo though, because yesterday he (accidentally perhaps?) tweeted the truth saying, “We need to do everything humanly possible to catch this terrorist.”

Right, because this is terrorism.

 

 

 

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