Have you ever noticed the difference in media messaging when certain crimes happen in America? One group of people is portrayed as the victim and the other as the vigilante. The usual media headline goes like this: “Unarmed [black] male fatally shot by white police officers.” Sometimes it includes words like “lyching,” “racial terror,” “slaying,” or “killing.” I mentioned the name Ahmaud Arbery in a previous article and many of you had heard about the case ad nauseum. However, have you heard the name Angela Summers?

She was unarmed. She was minding her own business. She was a 45-year-old mother. However, she was “white.” Yep, that’s the only difference in why her name isn’t being plastered across your 50-inch television screens. The ferocious media manipulation and bias that occurs daily in this nation is sickening.

Angela Summers was a mail carrier walking her Monday route when suddenly she met her demise. She bypassed a home due to the dangers of the residents’ dog. The U.S. Postal Service office had warned this family with three letters in the mail about their aggressive dog. They never took mitigating measures. So, Angela was instructed to not deliver the mail there until the family followed through on the warnings. The mail delivery had been suspended according to the criminal complaint, and the family had been instructed to pick up their mail from the local post office.

Enter Tony Cushingberry-Mays. He is a 21-year-old black male who allegedly confronted Summers on this fatal day. He harassed Summers at the neighbor’s front porch about the mail. Summers grabbed her mace and sprayed Cushingberry-Mays. He pulled out a gun and shot her in the chest.

If we reversed the roles and “color” of the individuals, this would have made international news. The headlines would read: “Unarmed black male carrier, father of 4, shot by vigilante white male.” Instead, in the headline, there was no mention of Ms. Summers’s skin color. No mention of her being unarmed. No mention about her daughter being left behind. The headlines read, “Postal Worker Angela Summers Killed, Allegedly Over Dispute Involving Coronavirus Stimulus Check.”

The saddest part about this whole tragedy is that the shooter’s family was upset about not receiving their relief checks from the Trump administration. Go figure. Talk about “don’t shoot the messenger.” Angela Summers was just the unarmed messenger doing her job. Who’s really the victim? Who’s really the vigilante? Where’s the media outrage?