A Black Man in a White World

[javrocks]

Conclusion

The duration of this class was about 16 weeks, but I will keep the class content with me for years after college. The schools I’ve attended have always reminded us about a black person’s position in America. From slavery, jim crow, lynchings, police brutality, and imprisonment, Black America is constantly reminded of the system that is put against them. With my prior knowledge of racism, this class highlights another medium that is used to oppress minorities, the media. The media is a special instrument when it comes to communication. It goes beyond the simple words we use in our day-to-day and culminates themes and messages in a covert manner. The use of visuals in films, news stories, TV, and articles has given the power to an invisible hand to add on to these stereotypes against Black people. Not only to build on negative stereotypes, but it creates new ones along the ride. This class has taught me how important it is to control your own and it’s a lesson I’ll cherish for years to come.

[javrocks]

Framing

The media is a crucial tool in how we view ourselves. When we unpack that view, we need to think about the images and phrases that the media intentionally uses to lead our brains to certain mental images. A tactic the mass media uses to its advantage is framing.  Framing is when the media highlights and links data selectively. It has been used efforts to keep Black Americans at the bottom of the barrel. Entman and Rojecki spoke about the use of framing when they referenced a story that used the “abandoned building” in a “drug-infested neighborhood” that was in the South Side of Chicago. My brain immediately associates the term “infested” with bug-infested. Nonetheless, the connotation of the word is linked with unwanted objects and for people to stay away from the area that is infested. By calling a neighborhood “drug-infested”, the media accomplished their goal of framing the South Side of Chicago as a community of violent Black Americans that frequently commit the crime.

hooks exposes how Whites use the drag culture to set their racist standards to oppress the minorities. To explain her point of view, she proved reason as to why the Black gay community would not someone outside of their culture explaining their story. She spoke about the documentary named “Paris is Burning” which was done by Jeanne Livingston, a White woman. Livingston has received backlash for this blaxploitation of the black men in drag and creating a one-dimensional view of the group. The focus of the documentary was drag men’s attraction to drag balls and the challenges they go through to be apart of one. Livingston, whether she was conscious of it or not, created this theme of worshiping, “the throne of whiteness, even when such worship demands that we live in perpetual self-hate, steal, lie, go hungry, and even die in its pursuit. The "we" evoked here is all of us, black people/people of color, who are daily bombarded by a powerful colonizing whiteness,” (hooks, 1992, pg. 149). hooks refer to it as the “throne of whiteness” because allowing white people to determine the beauty standard for Black people is essentially falling into a trap that allows them to determine which man in drag will receive more exposure.

[javrocks]

[javrocks]

Framing

The media is a crucial tool in how we view ourselves. When we unpack that view, we need to think about the images and phrases that the media intentionally uses to lead our brains to certain mental images. A tactic the mass media uses to its advantage is framing.  Framing is when the media highlights and links data selectively. It has been used efforts to keep Black Americans at the bottom of the barrel. Entman and Rojecki spoke about the use of framing when they referenced a story that used the “abandoned building” in a “drug-infested neighborhood” that was in the South Side of Chicago. My brain immediately associates the term “infested” with bug-infested. Nonetheless, the connotation of the word is linked with unwanted objects and for people to stay away from the area that is infested. By calling a neighborhood “drug-infested”, the media accomplished their goal of framing the South Side of Chicago as a community of violent Black Americans that frequently commit the crime.

hooks exposes how Whites use the drag culture to set their racist standards to oppress the minorities. To explain her point of view, she proved reason as to why the Black gay community would not someone outside of their culture explaining their story. She spoke about the documentary named “Paris is Burning” which was done by Jeanne Livingston, a White woman. Livingston has received backlash for this blaxploitation of the black men in drag and creating a one-dimensional view of the group. The focus of the documentary was drag men’s attraction to drag balls and the challenges they go through to be apart of one. Livingston, whether she was conscious of it or not, created this theme of worshiping, “the throne of whiteness, even when such worship demands that we live in perpetual self-hate, steal, lie, go hungry, and even die in its pursuit. The "we" evoked here is all of us, black people/people of color, who are daily bombarded by a powerful colonizing whiteness,” (hooks, 1992, pg. 149). hooks refer to it as the “throne of whiteness” because allowing white people to determine the beauty standard for Black people is essentially falling into a trap that allows them to determine which man in drag will receive more exposure.

[javrocks]

Body P. #2

Unfortunately, the media’s portrayal of these ills holds a role in the systematic methods to maintain a gap amongst Americans. For Black Americans, we are historically one of the top targeted groups when it comes to negative portrayals relating to us. Plenty of stories have circulated the mass media that correlate being black with being violent criminals who live in poor areas. White families who live miles away from our communities, will hear news stories like that frequently. It would outweigh the good news that comes out for our communities. Once the stereotypes start to form, that is when the dangers of mis-portrayal start to unveil themselves. Police officers, white or black, who enter our neighborhoods with this relation to Black people and violence will react in that manner if they feel like they are being provoked. This provocation could be as simple as a black man in a hoodie or a black child with a toy gun, do these sound familiar? 

[javrocks]

P #1

Ownership over one's narrative holds more weight than the representation. It is more important since the owner has more control over the image they want to portray. Therefore, the owner has more of an influence over how the image will be represented. Like Jay-Z said, “Until you own your own, you cant be free.” That influence over representation is crucial and without it, you are left vulnerable to those gatekeepers who will decide the depiction. It is essential to build on your own story because no one else can give a better perspective than yourself! These perspectives go on to insert themselves into the public perception. Stuart Hall, a culture theorist and political activist, wrote a book relating to this topic called “The Work of Representation.” In the text, Hall claims that there are two systems of representation. One of them being the system, “by which all sorts of objects, people and events are correlated with a set of concepts or mental representations which we carry around in our heads.” (Hall, 1997, p.17) Hall’s claim on representation exemplifies how our psyche works. The “mental representations” he references builds itself of of the things we interpret around us. Therefore, if the only thing people hear about others are negative comments then that is what their brains will interpret. White America is not the only group who absorbs this fear.

[javrocks]

Introduction

We do not need more reminders of how bad Black people have lived in America. It is important we take that information and strategize methods of making a better world for ourselves. No one will do it for us and there are clearly forces in this world that want to see us in the same struggle. They are the same forces that brought our people into slave ships, beaten and tortured us, and have kept us in confinement mentally and physically. These forces have been fueled by racism. Fortunately, we have seen improvements within our society. But, just because racist acts are now against the law does not mean the racist mindset is gone. Instead, it hides in the shadows, finding secretive ways of implementing their message to the public. After taking AFS 363, I have become more aware of how racism uses the mass media as a tool to push their beliefs.