Why Framing Racism as Just “Hate” Misses the Bigger Picture
When politicians and media outlets portray racist violence as simply the result of “individual hatred” or “mental illness,” they erase the reality of systemic racism and its global impact. Reducing racism to personal prejudice not only distorts the truth but also allows structures of inequality to remain intact, ultimately benefiting those already in power.
The Case of Robin Westman and Media Narratives
The tragic events surrounding Robin Westman, a 23-year-old white transgender woman who carried out a mass shooting in Minneapolis before taking her own life on August 27, highlight this flawed narrative. Westman attacked a church connected to Annunciation Catholic School, injuring 17 people—including children and elderly parishioners—and killing two children.
While Westman’s gender identity has been used by some commentators to push transphobic and ableist arguments, the real issue lies in her embrace of white supremacist rhetoric. Graffiti and notes linked to Westman included messages such as “6 million wasn’t enough” alongside racial slurs. Despite this, much of the coverage focused narrowly on mental health or “hatred,” instead of examining the systemic forces that normalize and perpetuate racist ideologies.
This framing is nothing new. As Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara described Westman as “harboring hate,” and federal officials listed the groups she despised, the underlying systemic nature of racism once again went ignored.
Racism is About Power, Not Just Hate
Racism is not primarily about individual emotions. It is about maintaining power, wealth, and control by ensuring oppressed communities lack resources and opportunities to resist.
Cultural critic Jay Smooth explained this well in his Race Forward video series, breaking down institutional racism—discriminatory policies and practices in schools, workplaces, and government—and structural racism, which connects those patterns across society. When media coverage focuses only on “personal hatred,” these deeper mechanisms of inequality disappear from public discussion.
Even if all racist hatred were magically erased tomorrow, systemic inequities would remain. Centuries of slavery, segregation, land dispossession, housing discrimination, and structural barriers have created massive gaps in wealth, health, and opportunity. Hatred is only the surface symptom; racism is the system.
A Historical Pattern of Misrepresentation
The tendency to reduce racism to hate has deep roots. In the 1959 documentary The Hate That Hate Produced, journalists framed the rise of Black nationalist movements as “Black supremacy” driven by hate, ignoring the centuries of oppression that fueled those responses. Similarly, today’s coverage of racist violence often sensationalizes individual actions while leaving systemic oppression unexamined.
This false equivalence—treating interpersonal prejudice by marginalized groups as equal to systemic racism upheld by governments, institutions, and laws—minimizes the scale and depth of racism’s impact.
The Global Dimension of the “Hate” Narrative
This distorted framing extends beyond the United States. Pro-Israel groups often label critics of Zionism as “anti-Semitic,” even as Israel’s policies against Palestinians amount to systemic oppression. In India, Hindutva leaders dismiss opposition to anti-Muslim violence as “Hinduphobia.” Such tactics reframe systemic racism and persecution as mere “hatred,” silencing dissent and protecting those in power.
Why This Matters
Framing racism as “just hate” allows society to ignore the structural forces driving inequality. It reassures those who benefit from systemic racism that no deeper changes are needed—only individual correction or punishment.
But racism is built into the foundations of modern states and economies. Until we confront it as a system of power and profit—not just as individual animosity—racism will continue to reproduce violence and inequality worldwide.