It is worth pausing over every murder that goes on in this city. But a brutal killing this week deserves special attention.

Not least because it tells us something it appears we don’t want to know.

O’Shae Sibley was a talented 28-year-old dancer and choreographer.

He was stabbed to death last Saturday night at a gas station in Brooklyn.

This drew the attention of another group of men at the station.

Words were exchanged and Sibley was stabbed. His friends and some bystanders called 911 and tried to help him.

But he bled to death on the sidewalk.

Sibley happened to be black and gay.

Normally either of these things — let alone both — would attract serious attention from the media and campaign groups.

Yet while the killing has widely been reported as a “hate crime,” 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 “𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚.” One that doesn’t fit the dominant, enforced narrative of our time.

Had the group who confronted Sibley and his friends been white and shouted that they didn’t like gay people, or black people, this country would be in meltdown right now.

Every Presidential candidate would be condemning it.

All the “community groups” who make a profession out of campaigning against “hate” would be in full fund-raising mode.

The New York Times would have cleared the pages for days of reflections on what this said about America.

But that is not what happened.

Here’s what happened according to the people who were there.

One of the friends who was with Sibley when he was murdered posted a photo on social media of the bloodied sidewalk and wrote: “They hated us cause we are gay! Screaming we Muslim and we don’t like gays!!!!! As we are innocently pumping gas and y’all decided to stab one of us!!! #justice.”

Yet there is a second witness who has spoken to a local website.

An employee at the gas station said : “These people were like ‘We’re Muslim, I don’t want you dancing.’ The gay people, they were not trying to fight.”

Yet these facts don’t fit the narrative. The victim was gay and black. The perpetrator was Muslim.

Our era is obsessed with “hate-crimes.” So much so that it sees them in places where they don’t even happen.

Yet last Saturday in Brooklyn was a hate crime. And the media are actually covering it up.

All because Sibley’s assailants were not hood-wearing members of the KKK or “MAGA” hat-wearing Republicans.

Instead they come from another group that our media identifies as a victim class.

The fact that the men were Muslim is why the media has been actively dishonest in its reporting.

The New York Times has written about the case. But it has not bothered to inform its readers of why Sibley bled out on a Brooklyn sidewalk.

But because the identity and motive of the perpetrators are an awkward glitch in that paper’s big narrative the Times simply covered over the facts.

The 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙮’𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙄 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

The Guardian happy to leave its readers with the impression that white Christian rednecks or Orthodox Jews might have carried out the killing.

Shamefully the gay press has done the same.

Some gay groups have even tried to link the killing to recent debates about transgender issues.

Obviously such false reporting is another reason why so many people don’t trust the media these days.

But this cover-up also displays an appalling cowardice.

Nobody should be murdered because of who they are. But nor should a murderer be given cover because of who they are.

The most that newspaper could bring itself to say was that an eyewitness said that the perpetrators mentioned “defending their religious beliefs” during the confrontation.”

Apparently dancing to Beyonce can be an assault on some peoples’ religious beliefs.