A couple of days after the violent attacks by a mob in Cincinnati, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon published a post about the incident on X. She said, “Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans. We [at the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division] will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack. Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply.”
However, such assertions, whether from Democrats or Republicans, without evidence, only deepen polarization—and distract from the real issues.
According to reports, the incident occurred outside a nightclub at 3:00 a.m. on July 26. Widely shared videos show a group of black men assaulting a white man. When a white woman intervened, she was viciously attacked by a black woman and a black man, leaving her unconscious with blood in her mouth.
Lesser-known videos of the incident indicate the violence started after the white man slapped one of the attackers. As such, Cincinnati councilwoman Victoria Parks said, “They begged for that beat down! I am grateful for the whole story.” That shameful response exposes the councilwoman’s partiality. The acts of violence are unjustifiable, especially since they led to the vicious assault of an innocent woman.
Fox News reports that a week after the incident, major news outlets still have not covered the story: “Three major broadcast networks [ABC, CBS, NBC] still have not covered the horrific viral brawl in Cincinnati that left a woman unconscious on their main morning and evening news programs as of Thursday [July 31].” It seems unlikely the media would cover the story if the skin colours of the victims and attackers were reversed.
It’s also fair to note inconsistent coverage from news organisations that reported on the story. When violent incidents involving black victims are believed to be racially motivated, the media stresses these perceptions. But mainstream media outlets that have covered this story are swift to say there is no evidence to support claims that the attacks in Cincinnati were racially driven.
However, this does not mean that the media’s coverage is incorrect. So far, claims that racism played a role in the acts of violence are not supported by evidence. The media has recently reported that someone shouted the N-word during the violence. Most assume it was the white man who said it, but it’s currently unconfirmed who said it. But that doesn’t really matter. A vicious assault isn’t the righteous reaction to the N-word. Frustrations about bias shouldn’t cloud our judgment.
This isn’t what a cynical culture wants to hear, but when a horrible incident is perceived as racially motivated—no matter the skin colours of the perpetrators and victims—we should be slow to speak. We should make our reasonableness known to everyone (Philippians 4:5).
The real story about the Cincinnati attacks is not race-related. The real story is that a large group of intoxicated people was gathered together at 3 AM in downtown Cincinnati without police surveillance.
A statement by Mayor Aftab Pureval said, “This incident is horrible. It is inhumane. This does not and cannot represent who we are as a city.” But Cincinnati’s violent crime rate is nearly 50% higher than the national average. Worse, the incident occurred in the central business district area, where violent crime is up 25% from last year.
Therefore, the priority should be on crime, not race. Black Lives Matter’s race-focused response to injustice or perceived inequities increased crime rates. A similar approach from the Right is just as unhelpful. This isn’t a so-called hate crime, it’s a violent crime—one of about a thousand already this year in one of America’s most dangerous cities. We shouldn’t participate in racialist reactions that only deepen polarization and distract from real issues affecting all Cincinnati residents.
In other words, we should emulate Vice President JD Vance, who said, “What I saw, and I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting, and I hope every single one of those people who engage in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law and they will be, they will be, so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio takes their job seriously.”
As of right now, law enforcement has arrested five of the six suspects.
Like JD Vance, we should acknowledge that we do not have the full context of the incident and adhere to the evidence.
We should be sober-minded and focus on justice.