Nekima Levy Armstrong Calls Out Racial Bias in Coverage of Domestic Terror Suspect
Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong is calling out the double standard in media coverage following a recent act of domestic terrorism in Minnesota. In response to a profile of suspect Vance Boelter, she says the framing humanizes a white male terrorist while failing to center the trauma and lives of the victims — a pattern she says is rooted in narrative bias.
We deserve better
Friends, I need to say this.
This article [titled “Childhood friend says Minnesota suspect had ‘darkness inside of him’] by MPR News about Vance Boelter, the white man accused of a horrifying act of domestic terrorism in Minnesota, follows a familiar and dangerous pattern.
Rather than centering the trauma, fear and damage caused by this man’s actions, it humanizes him. It paints a portrait of a “troubled soul” with a “darkness inside,” struggling with mental health and financial challenges. This framing evokes sympathy, not accountability.
We’ve seen this before. Time and again, white male domestic terrorists are given layers of complexity in the media: childhood backstories, psychological profiles, neighborhood quotes.
Meanwhile, when a Black person is accused of a crime, the headlines dehumanize. The coverage flattens. No childhood context. No empathy. No nuance. And when Black people are victims of murder, especially at the hands of police, articles like this are nearly nonexistent.
This is narrative bias.
This kind of reporting is harmful. It reinforces the myth that white violence is somehow more understandable, more forgivable. That it deserves exploration instead of condemnation.
In essence, this is a form of racialized storytelling that protects the image of white suspects at the expense of truth and accountability.
We deserve better. So do the victims. And the truth is owed to the public, not just a convenient narrative.
Nekima Levy Armstrong is a civil rights attorney and the founder of the Racial Justice Network