Activists attend a rally to protest the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial on November 20, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Photo: AFP

The US, frequently mired in racial contradictions, gun violence and a number of other domestic puzzles, witnessed another horror story in the just concluded weekend - an SUV plowed through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

As of press time, five people were killed and at least 48 were injured. Mainstream US media outlets, unlike their previous swift reporting, are slow this time to unveil who the suspect was, even though a growing number of netizens have traced the driver and police's investigations on him long before them - an African American. 

When the media outlets eventually covered the suspect, they tended to downplay his ethnic identity in the reports, as well as the ethnic identity of the victims. On social media platforms, people revealed that Darrell Brooks, the alleged driver of the SUV, is a member of the Black Lives Matter campaign, and also suggested the crime was somehow an act of retaliation after Kyle Rittenhouse was declared not guilty.

US media's downplay of the issue only mirrors how severe racial conflicts are in US society, which are turning into an endless cycle of "an eye for an eye." The media, which are so used to hyping things up, now hesitate to pour oil on the flames.

Over the years the US does seem to have been trapped in chaos, with tragic stories, including mass killings, occurring from time to time. And this has a lot to do with racial contradictions. Worse, the issue is entangled with political infighting. 

Different political parties tend to utilize racial issues for political purposes, exacerbating the already tense contradictions in US society. Racial conflicts, in turn became convenient tools for political forces to attack one another. In the end, racial injustice and political struggles are like a blazing fire and dry wood. Putting together, the effect can be explosive. If one views the recent series of incidents in the US all together, it looks more and more like different races hurting and even killing one another. 

Over the past years, the living standards of African Americans have not at all improved. A report issued by the University of Southern California noted that about 50 percent of African American boys under age 17 live with a mother only and "children in fatherless homes are more likely to drop out of school, exhibit behavioral problems, end up in the criminal justice system, suffer unemployment, and are at a greater risk of substance and drug abuse." The higher the crime rate is among African Americans, the more discrimination they receive from the white people. And the worse their condition is, the more hatred they hold against the white Americans. This has gone on for a long time and will keep going on and on.  

The US government has never really made up its mind to fix the issue. Quite the contrary, it has politicized the contradiction and made the resentment among different groups a blood feud. 

Trump's campaign strategy was to boost his support among white people, and he succeeded once. He would rather unite his voters by further fanning the flames of racial conflicts. 

The Republican Party appears to have no choice but to follow Trump's white supremacist approach. Both Trump and the GOP believe that new waves of white vs. black hatred may increase their voter base.

US President Joe Biden and the Democrats may voice some comforting words to African Americans occasionally, yet they also condemn violence caused by them. They need votes from African Americans, but they are also aware that if giving too much support to the group, they will alienate a lot of the white voters. They won't forget that nearly 60 percent of white voters took Trump's side in both 2016 and 2020.

Thanks to the political maneuvers, US society confuses right and wrong and is filled with disputes, hatred and violence. This is a crucial reason that has made black people desperate. In the end, they find no political parties can bring them a silver lining. Not the Republican Party for sure. But can the situation be different if they vote for the Democratic Party? 

Biden vowed to address "institutional racism" in the first 100 days in office. The first 100 days have long passed, and take a look at what is happening in the US. 

In 2020, Biden said in a speech, "I believe at our best America is a beacon for the globe. And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example." It has been indeed busy lecturing other countries using its "power of example." 

But is the US still a qualified example anymore? It should better watch out not to become "the example of a decayed power" for real.

The author is a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn