US Racism: El Nuevo Herald’s Mercurochrome

The killings in Charleston, South Carolina, once again show the frivolousness of journalism. On Sunday, the Miami-based newspaper published an editorial that clearly confirms this.

Entitled “Another Crime Again,” the editorial states that homicidal madness has once again plunged the nation into mourning. It recounts the fact that a 21-year-old white man, Dylann Roof, killed nine people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. It further states that we already know what the motive for the killings was: racism.

It then points out that Roof admitted to police that his intention was to set “a race war” in motion throughout the country. The Florida newspaper underscored that the victims were African-American.

It then echoed an editorial published by the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. “We mourn for their husbands and wives,” the newspaper solemnly stated. It made mention of former State Sen. Malcolm Graham, whose sister was among those who died in the church.

It then added that “we mourn like we did with Sandy Hook, with Aurora, with too many other killings that tie us together in sorrow.” The Charlotte Observer alluded to the 20 children and six adults who were murdered three years ago in a U.S. primary school.

It later stated: “Now we ask the questions. Who was Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old who sat among the bowed heads for an hour before deciding the time was right to kill? Why was he reportedly filled with racial hatred? And, of course: Where did his gun come from?”

Immediately after, it dropped one of the particularly delicate issues that dogs the society in question: “We write about the easy availability of weapons.” Even for those who have mental health problems, it further added. And we grieve Washington’s resistance and that of local politicians to enhanced personal background checks.

The editorial additionally states that we naively believed that civil rights laws and electing President Obama twice marked the coming of a post-racial era in the United States; moreover, that discrimination inherited from a long period of slavery had remained behind, and as such, only dwelled in the minds of a few individuals.

“But this is not the case,” as seen by the recent killings in Charleston, where it warned that the monstrous face of racism can appear at any moment. El Nuevo Herald goes on to state that because of this, we must be alert so as to avoid new attacks based on skin color.

It cannot be denied that a part of what was written by this far-right mouthpiece is positive, even if it only scratches the surface, as usual. Why doesn’t it delve into the very well-worn issue of the millions of arms sales in businesses across the United States?

Everyone knows that the powerful National Rifle Association has enormous influence in Washington, D.C., a fact that was even condemned by President Bill Clinton at the end of the 20th century. And everyone knows that the NRA also brings in mountains of money to ensure the election of candidates who will later help them all the way from the bottom up through working with the federal agencies.

Will El Nuevo Herald dare to break out of its usual superficiality and confront the heart of the issue head-on? In this way, it could show its gallant willingness to challenge the norm of minimizing the nature of the process that dominates in the United States.