CLEVELAND, Ohio — A brutal street fight in downtown Cincinnati made national headlines last week, but not because violence of this kind is rare in America.
The story exploded because the video appeared to show Black people attacking white victims. That’s the only explanation for why Ohio’s MAGA politicians suddenly found their voices, thundering about crime and chaos as though this single incident revealed some deeper truth about American society.
Street brawls happen every day in cities across this country. Videos often circulate — in fact, a quick search on YouTube pulls up an endless menu of options, like one titled “Intense Street Fight Compilation: Unforgettable Knockouts and Raw Brawls,” with a million views. But unless the images fit neatly into a narrative about race, interest in these violent altercations is generally limited to YouTubers, seeking the footage to satisfy their morbid curiosity. Nobody at Fox News spends primetime lamenting “lawless thugs” when viral clips show white kids stomping each other outside a bar. Nobody demands FBI investigations into brawls that don’t come with such racially loaded optics…