Instead of focusing on BLM’s primary purpose, many in the media have applied the words of some activists to the entire movement or erroneously connected unrelated violent events to BLM—just like some news organizations did with the Tea Party.

For instance, commentators often point to some Minneapolis BLM activists who chanted “pigs in a blanket, fry em’ like bacon” as evidence that the entire movement wants to harm cops. Also, although no evidence connects the tragic killing of Goforth to the BLM movement, pundits have blamed it nonetheless.

In reaction to this labeling of BLM as racist and violent, Fox News contributor and talk radio host Richard Fowler told Fox’s Megyn Kelly: “I don’t think we’re watching the same Black Lives Matter movement. I think if you talk to any of the organizers on the ground, both in Ferguson, in Baltimore, and New York, they will tell you they’re a nonviolent movement. That all they want to do is end the disparities.”