Why many of the calls to reveal the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt have a 'racial tinge'

U.S. Capitol.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Calls to expose the Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have taken on a "racial tinge," Josh Kovensky writes for Talking Points Memo.

Many of former President Donald Trump's supporters, particularly those considered to be on the far right of the political spectrum, believe the officer is a Black man, though officials have not publicly released or confirmed any information on the officer. The detail sheds "new light" on Babbitt's "martyrdom," Kovensky argues. "It's a context that allows Trump and others to blow the dog whistle on the case as loud as possible," he writes.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.