Russian State TV Host Launches Deranged, Racist Attack on Capitol Cop Lt. Michael Byrd
Category: News & Politics
Via: hal-a-lujah • 3 years ago • 19 commentsBy: Julia Davis (The Daily Beast)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A Capitol police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot bravely stepped forward and revealed his identity on Thursday in an interview on NBC Nightly News. After the attempted insurrection, Lt. Michael Leroy Byrd, a 28-year-veteran of the force, had faced threats and intimidation, as his name traveled in various circles. Russian state television besmirched Byrd for months and revealed his ethnicity long before he was publicly identified. State TV hosts and pundits repeatedly described him as a "Black officer" and outrageously attributed his motives for shooting Babbitt to reverse racism against white people.
Thursday's broadcast of the Russian state TV show 60 Minutes went all in on that demented line of attack with a segment entitled "Black Racism." During the episode, host Olga Skabeeva claimed: "Sensation in the case of the Capitol riot! Today, during primetime, the most liberal American television channel will air the interview with the black policeman who shot an unarmed white woman, a follower of [former U.S. President] Donald Trump, Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt. Ashli tried to walk from one room to the next, through the door broken by somebody else, but instead was struck by the bullet."
Skabeeva continued her diatribe: "The American justice system somehow managed to clear the officer of all charges... In case you didn't know, the policeman got away with it because he is Black—and Blacks are permitted to kill white people. I will remind you that when the dark-skinned criminal George Floyd was accidentally choked during his apprehension, a white policeman was sentenced to prison for more than 22 1/2 years."
The comparisons between George Floyd and Ashli Babbitt have been featured on Russian state TV since January, with detailed compilations of bullet points that smeared Floyd and extolled Babbitt. State TV show The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev compared the list of George Floyd's alleged crimes against Ashli Babbitt's achievements. The host, Vladimir Soloviev, described Babbitt as "the icon of neocons" and claimed: "Only white America cares about her death, but not the democratic press."
During a July broadcast of 60 Minutes, Skabeeva repeatedly emphasized that Babbitt was a white woman and claimed that she was suddenly shot at point-blank range for no good reason. Partial footage depicting the events on Jan. 6 was repeatedly played on the screen, but Skabeeva didn't seem to notice the discrepancy between the images of the violence that ensued in the Capitol and her description of what happened. On Aug. 4, Skabeeva described Babbitt's death as an instance of "a negro who offed a white protester." She proceeded to repeat her mantra that the policeman who killed Ashli Babbitt got away with it by virtue of being Black, and ludicrously claimed that in America, "Negroes are starting to lynch the whites."
On Aug. 21, the state TV channel Rossiya-24 also claimed that the case against Byrd was "simply squashed," when in fact Byrd had been cleared of wrongdoing. Three days earlier, U.S. correspondent for the state TV channel Rossiya-1 Valentin Bogdanov condemned the quality of the inquiry into Babbitt's killing and complained that the officer who shot her "is still walking free."
Racism on Russian state television continually raises its ugly head, from the coverage of the Olympics to smearing Capitol officers who testified about the events of Jan. 6. Stoking racial divisions in the United States is one of the Kremlin's favored instruments of influence and the coverage of Ashli Babbitt's case is no exception.
Vladimir Putin personally capitalized on this case by bringing up Babbitt's name and publicly questioning her death, with supportive coverage by Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
In late January, Russian pundits and government officials even pondered how to use the matter to Russia's advantage, as a countermeasure to the Global Magnitsky Act. State TV host Vladimir Soloviev suggested to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: "Americans are constantly making lists. A woman named Babbitt, who was a supporter of Trump, was killed. Should we create a Babbitt list?"
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Good little Russian Trumpsters. This must be where the US right gets their “news”.
I had always suspected that there was a lot of racism in Russia. This confirms it
Russia has about 146 million people. Less than 50,000 are Afro- Russians.
That's like .0003%.
“Russian Trumpsters”
WTF kind of generalization is that and as spoken by a national adversary how is even relevant?
From the article: "Stoking racial divisions in the United States is one of the Kremlin's favored instruments of influence and the coverage of Ashli Babbitt's case is no exception."
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There goes your projection, deflection, and denial - and using Faux 'news' as a source?
yes, stoking racial division is what Russia does.
A social media campaign calling itself "Blacktivist" and linked to the Russian government used both Facebook and Twitter in an apparent attempt to amplify racial tensions during the U.S. presidential election
"We are fed up with police violence, racism, intolerance and injustice that passed down from generation to generation. We are fed up with government ignorance and the system failing black people," the page's description of the march for Freddie Gray read."
Don't hit them with facts. Democrats don't believe in them; unless they manufacture them themselves that is.
See 2.1
Fact: Donald Trump laid praise and envy on Putin and his leadership every day he was POTUS.
Fact: Donald Trump continues to be the single most influential figurehead of the Republican Party.
Yes, the slimy vile piece of shit Russian government is trying to stir up racial divisions and unrest from both sides here in America. The interesting part is how they go about it. They created a "social media campaign" under the name "Blacktivist" attempting to appear like a domestic social media campaign to push anti-racism division among black Americans but used their State controlled Russian TV to reach the bitter white racist Trump supporters with their racist message claiming " Blacks are permitted to kill white people" in America obviously intending to stir up the white supremacist base against their fellow black Americans. They obviously know progressives, liberals and black Americans aren't very likely to be watching State controlled Russian TV, they know that is something only right wing conservatives, many of whom likely harbor deep seated prejudices, would be doing.
I bet those guys are military veterans who fought against the Red forces in South East Asia.
They should be ashamed of themselves for wearing those shirts
The really sad part is you probably believe that.
I'm not sure that right wing conservatives have any shame left.
The really sad part is you don't.
I'm not at all surprised you believe Republicans speak Russian, have access to Russian State TV, and get their news from it. I'd be disappointed if you didn't.
Dog whistles to some people.
BINGO!