Imagine if these people were White! It would be the top story all weekend, and you know it. But they are Black, so only in the 22nd paragraph of this New York Times article does the word “Black” appear.

(source)

First paragraph:

Eleven men were taken into custody on Saturday after a lengthy roadside standoff between police officers in Massachusetts and a group of heavily armed men in tactical gear who claimed to be part of a group called Rise of the Moors.

Twenty-second paragraph:

“We do not intend to be hostile, we do not intend to be aggressive,” he added later. “We are not anti-government, we are not anti-police, we are not sovereign citizens and we are not Black identity extremists.”

The New York Post was less obscurantist, but still shy. It took them ten paragraphs to get to B – L – A – C – K.

First paragraph:

Eleven “heavily armed” members of a fringe group called Rise of the Moors were arrested on a Massachusetts highway Saturday following a bizarre nine-hour standoff with law enforcement that included hostage negotiators.

Tenth paragraph:

“We’re not anti-government. We’re not anti-police. We’re not sovereign citizens. We’re not black identity extremists,” the man in the video said. “We haven’t violated any laws.”

Even Jen Psaki couldn’t claim with a straight face that this story wouldn’t dominate the news if this group had been lily white.

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