𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀’𝐒 “𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆” 𝐃𝐂 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐀

A Reuters photo from July 4th shows a Black woman sitting quietly on a D.C. Metro train surrounded by masked members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front, who were riding to a march downtown during America’s 250th celebration. - M.A. Rothman@MichaelARothman
The photo went viral, media outlets called it “𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨,” and CNN’s Dana Bash pressed the Secretary of the Interior on camera to condemn it. 

Carl Higbie wasn’t buying the framing. 

“𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘯.” 

His bigger point: nobody bothered to actually ask the woman in the photo how she felt. 

“𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘕𝘰. 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥? 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵-𝘵𝘰-𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴.” 

The outlet that ran the story never interviewed her...