A few days ago, the front-runner California Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder had an egg thrown at him by a woman wearing a gorilla mask. The conservative talk show host, who has a considerable chance at replacing Governor Gavin Newsom next week in the recall election, was campaigning through the Venice area of Los Angeles when the woman with the gorilla mask threw an egg at Elder. The egg narrowly missed his head, but shortly after, a scuffle broke out with one of Elder’s security team members being punched in the face by the woman. Elder was ushered into an SUV and was forced to cut his campaign in a homeless encampment short

       Following the incident, Elder spoke on the event and condemned the actions of the woman as well as the distinct lack of media coverage. What stuck out the most in his response was him saying that if he had been a Democrat, the story would be the headline on every news station with the attack called an extension of systemic racism or a hate crime. With the Democratic Party seemingly clinging to identity politics as of late, it would seem as though the media would have given this story the importance it had given to touting stories that show that the country is racist.

However, the distinct lack of coverage of this event by the media or any response from prominent Democrats reveals the horrifying conclusion that racism is bad only when it is against its own party-affiliated members.  

          Major news outlets, such as the Washington Post, New York Times, ABC, CBS and more have decided to briefly mention this attack or choose to ignore the story altogether. While I believe that identity politics often leads to race and gender playing a bigger role than qualifications or rationale, it has for better or worse become a staple of American politics due largely to the efforts of the far-left Democrats and the media that seems ever-increasingly biased toward them. Due to this, the lack of outrage about what can be inferred to be a racist act or even coverage of the matter is quite baffling for the party that claims it is in support of racial equality.

          In addition to this already jarring move by most of the mainstream media, Fox News host Jesse Watters made clear that he believed this was a blatant hate crime. He even went further to call for comments from prominent California Democrats, including Gavin Newson, Vice President Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. He had not received a response from any of the three.

          This story may seem insignificant to some people, but my issue lies more in the double standard by the media and much of the Democratic Party. While they push the narrative that the United States is far from where it needs to be to stop racism, they are also refusing to give fair coverage to the attack of an African-American candidate because he is a Republican and has opposing views. This is not to say that the right side of the political spectrum is without fault either, as it certainly could have handled issues better, especially in the past few years. It is also not to say that the issue of racism should not be talked about on the news. 

Putting politics aside, I believe the news media and the party that is in power owe it to the American people to be honest and condemn harmful actions when it is appropriate to do so. This attack on Elder is unacceptable, and the relatively silent media response and lack of any meaningful condemnation afterwards should not be the new standard in news.