Paris Shooting Suspect Denies Racist Motive
Is this racist terrorism fueled by hateful rhetoric or does mental illness erase the political motive?
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Above: Emmanuel Macron with Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh in Trappes, near Paris, Oct. 23. Image credit: Hannah McKay/AFP/Getty Images
The Facts
- The man suspected in a shooting near Paris that killed one person denies that his crimes were motivated by racism, national anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said Monday, after President Emmanuel Macron described the attack as a "racist terrorist attack."
- France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said Sunday that custody of the 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kevin T., had been lifted and that he was moved to a police psychiatric unit for about 48 hours of observation.
- Prosecutors said toxicology tests found traces of cannabis and cocaine in the suspect's blood. French broadcaster TF1-LCI and the newspaper Le Parisien reported that he told investigators he was being treated for schizophrenia.
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The Spin
Left narrative
Hate doesn't just bubble up on its own — it gets pumped into the public square by pundits who spend days blaming Arabs, North Africans and Black people for every broken window. Mental illness and drugs don't scrub the politics out of a massacre aimed squarely at Black victims. Calling it racist terrorism is the bare minimum.
Right narrative
Mental illness isn't just an inconvenient detail to dismiss when it complicates a political narrative. In Trappes in 2018, a man with reported psychiatric problems killed his mother and sister in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Yet the case wasn't classified as terrorism. The same standards should apply to every case.
