Less than a week ago, a lunatic named Travis Reinking took off all his clothes, walked into a Tennessee Waffle House, and, because this is ‘Murica, he opened fire with his AR-15, killing four patrons. In the midst of the lethal carnage, a hero named James Shaw, Jr., rose to the occasion and wrested the weapon away from Reinking with his bare hands, saving many lives, including his own, in the process. In the wake of the horrific mass murder, Shaw even went so far as to raise $150,000 for the families of the victims.
Everyone in America should know the name of real life superhero James Shaw. Here’s why we don’t.
In the age of Trump, information, largely imparted in steaming slabs of right wing propaganda to the masses, either by sources like Fox News, Brietbart, or directly from the podium in the White House press room, is heavily manipulated to adhere to a warped and divisive political narrative.
It's complicated, you see. Reinking was a rabid white supremacist—you know, the kind who might be regarded as a “very fine person” by the current occupant of the White House. Reinking also picked a predominantly black restaurant to shoot up, because black people are lazy leaches on American society, from “shithole” countries, and should never be considered truly equal even if they are raised by one parent, bust their ass in school, ace Harvard, organize and advocate for impoverished local communities, serve in a statewide office, serve as a US Senator, only to be looked at as an uppity n--ger from another shithole country that isn’t ‘Murica.
Simply put, Reinking is Trump's slack jawed base.
To make matters more complicated, Shaw, most decidedly the “good guy” in this scenario, happened to stop the “bad guy” without returning fire from his own concealed weapon in classic NRA OK Corral wet dream fashion. In other words: a white guy committing mass murder was stopped by a black guy with his bare hands. Lawdy, lawdy, ain't nobody got time fo' dat!
Is there possibly a more inconvenient narrative for the current Klan rally happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Don’t expect to hear a peep from Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, or any of the other Grand Wizards that comprise the staggeringly racist Trump administration. Shaw's heroism is destined to be swept under the rug.
Flip the story in your head for a moment. Imagine if a naked black dude strolled into a suburban Applebees and opened fire on a white crowd—only to be stopped by a heroic white guy. Holy jumping shitfuckingballs, Adolf Twitler would melt the surface of his Android hate-tweeting in a Cialis-fueled frenzy as he condemned “thugs” (translation: black people) and praised the bravery of the hero (translation: white person) until he finally inspired Sean Hannity to call for he full blown race war they all secretly want during his regular 9 EST time slot on Fox News.
There are two things we know from this story with 100% certainty: James Shaw, Jr. is a hero we should all be celebrating this week. And the President of the United States is a low-life, white supremacist bigot.