It’s funny how a white man who is found dead in an explosion in his apartment filled with dangerous explosives and white supremacist materials gets the benefit of the doubt and officials are slow to rush to judgment about what he might have been up to. This is that same predictable pattern we see time after time where white male suspects who kill and maim are treated like victims by the police and the press. Meanwhile, when unarmed black people are murdered by police or civilians, there’s a cloud of suspicion that surrounds them and every attempt is made to uncover some dangerous, criminal past that seemingly justifies their death.

Morrow’s online obituary makes him out to be an everyday, wholesome, all-around American kid.

He accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour at the age of 4 ½, and was baptized at Victory Baptist Church in Appleton, WI a few years later. Ben graduated from Morrow Home School in 2007, and from Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola, FL in May 2013. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pre-Pharmacy, with minors in both Chemistry and Mathematics. He was an excellent student, with a thirst for knowledge. Ben worked as an Associate Scientist at PPD in Middleton, WI for three and a half years, and in the Quality department at Richelieu Foods in Beaver Dam for nearly a year. He was a hard worker, and had a good rapport with all those around him. Benjamin was an avid reader, enjoying history books especially. He also loved to hike at state parks, climb, lift weights, and jog.

This is not to say that these things can’t be true about Morrow. But white America has a real problem seeing and acknowledging the warning signs that clearly show that some young, white men are angry and troubled. And when that anger combines with white supremacist ideologies and weapons, they often kill and become a danger to everyone around them. It is true that we don’t know Morrow’s motives. This explosion very well could have been an accident. But we can safely say that a homemade explosive laboratory and white supremacist literature do not just magically appear in someone’s home—especially the homes of good, God-loving people. These are indications of a serious, deep-rooted problem.

We also know that white supremacists have murdered more than 300 people each year since the attacks on 9/11. Republicans have spent billions of dollars and countless hours telling us we should be afraid of Islamic extremists. The current occupant of the White House tried to ban Muslims from coming into the country and keeps telling us that Mexicans (and black and brown immigrants generally) are rapists, criminals and should otherwise be feared. His administration even cut funding for a group that fights white supremacy. He’s a white supremacist himself. Make no mistake about it, white supremacists are one of the biggest threats to our individual and national well-being and safety. And this habit of conveniently not seeing it show up in white men, not labeling it or calling it what it is and excusing it away is killing more and more people each year. There are lots of ills in our country that we must come to terms with and address. But our need to continually justify white supremacy will really be our undoing. And that’s not just a problem for people of color, it’s an issue for all of America.