The Boston bombing & racist media

April 16 — Much still remains unknown about the bomb explosions yesterday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and what was behind this disaster that has tragically hit so many individuals and families who were on the scene, the majority of them spectators.

The famed event draws runners and their families and supporters from throughout the United States and around the world. It takes place each year on what is known in Massachusetts as “Patriots’ Day.”

Workers World correspondents in Boston say city officials have announced three deaths and 176 injuries, 23 of them critical. A lockdown was in full swing at the site, in downtown generally and in other parts of city. Television service was nonexistent for many. Boston Common looked like an armed camp, swarming with FBI and Homeland Security agents along with cops from other cities.

The capitalist state apparatus uses these disasters to strengthen itself in relation to the masses. They have control of the information so long as no popular organizations are overseeing them. So far the authorities have not made any arrests.

This hasn’t stopped the more rabid elements in the corporate media, including Fox News and CNN, from ranting against foreigners, immigrants and people of color in general. CNN ran a message on its news crawler for hours which stated that authorities were seeking a “dark-skinned, Black male” as a possible suspect. Some focused on one Saudi victim, whose only crime was to be wounded by the bomb. This is racial profiling, pure and simple.

The irony is that this year the Marathon was run in dedication to the victims of the Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut last December, where the perpetrator was a white man, as is true in most U.S.-based massacres.

Nearly all the bombings and massacres in the U.S. — those that have some political origin — have been carried out by fascist paramilitary groups, right-wing and racist individuals, anti-women bigots and unstable elements affected by fascist propaganda. This week is the anniversary of some of these attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1999 Columbine massacre.

President Barack Obama said of Boston, “Anytime bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror.” Obama should remember this when he authorizes a drone bombing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia or Yemen that blows up children, as happens often.