| It was my honor to be one of approximately 15 media people to be on a panel for the Race and Media quarterly meetings sponsored by the Center for Democratic Action at the Catholic Multicultural Center last night (Oct. 3). Our topic was basically "When should race be mentioned in news items or news articles?" Apparently, most of the mainstream media had received many calls earlier this year when there was a rash of muggings downtown. There had been only vague descriptions of the perpetrators, so vague in fact, that most of the media refused to identify the reported race of the perpetrators because, in their judgment, it would have been little help in apprehending the perpetrators and could have done much harm in casting aspersions on all members of that race who may have somehow, in the eyes of some, fit the vague description of the perpetrators. Well, the phone calls were basically weighing in for the media outlets to mention the reported race of the perpetrators. Some accused the media outlets of trying to be politically correct in not mentioning the reported race and felt it was a disservice to the community. It always bugs me when people complain about political correctness in those instances when individuals or organizations attempt to be sensitive to the rights and lives of people who are on the wrong side of our society's numbers game. I guess, it means to me, that political incorrectness means you are an insensitive Neanderthal who makes a game of trampling on people who are perceived to be weaker than you and gets great satisfaction and personal ego reinforcement when the minority group in question is once again proven to be weak and inferior. Perhaps the adherents to political incorrectness are disciples of Frederick Nietzsche, the German philosopher who helped lay the philosophical foundation for the rise of Nazism in pre-World War II Germany. As it pertains to the portrayal of race in the media, I think the accusation of political correctness is an accusation that the media is "whimping out" from the pressure of special interest groups, i.e. people of color and that the politically incorrect or "real" media would mention the race of the perpetrator regardless of its usefulness andregardless of its negative impact on a whole class of people in hope of somehow bringing the perpetrator to justice. I don't think it is "whimping out" at all. I think it is responsible journalism when the editor understands the power of the images that are reflected in his/her medium and its potential impact on a whole class of people. Sometimes when the race of someone is mentioned, it can cause a ripple effect of inconvenience and hassle through the entire community as the powers that be and the citizenry of the majority consider every person in that broad class as a suspect. At its worse, using the reported race of a suspect has caused many an innocent person to be lynched in times past. And there have been instances of people reporting the wrong race of a perpetrator in order to cover up their own crimes. Those who cry political correctness obviously haven't been on the receiving end of a negative identifying characteristic that shifts instantaneous intense scrutiny on thousands of people so that one individual may be caught. They should try it sometime. While we live in a mostly gray world of human beings, racism attempts to turn it into a black and white cardboard world that mercilessly slots all of us into demeaning roles. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't describe the perpetrators of crime so that they may be apprehended. But I am saying that descriptors of a class of people shouldn't be used to describe individual suspects. I think we should all get to know each other better, to take a good look at each other across the racial and cultural divide that our society has promulgated for centuries in order to oppress some classes of people and ignore the others. So let's take a good look at each other and notice that the color of people's skin is pink, pale brown, high yellow, tan, dark chocolate, caramel and many other shades of the rainbow of people on this earth. Oftentimes, we are incorrect about a person's race. As more and more children are born to interracial relationships, it will become harder and harder to visually identify a person's race through a fleeting look. "Is that person African American or Latino? Is that dark skinned person African American or East Indian?" Just maybe, we need to take a long and hard look at each other to see who we really are. I think we will be surprised by what we find. Three cheers for political correctness! |
| October 4, 2006 stories/columns * The Literary Divide: Losing the moral high ground in the War on Terror, by Dr. Paul Barrows * An American in Hefei, By Jonathan Gramling * Kabzuag Vaj and the women of Freedom Inc. (Part 1), by Heidi M. Pascual (www.asianwisconzine.com) * Simple Things: This morning, by Lang Kenneth Haynes * Random Order: Chicken Noodle Shufflin', by Tracie Gilbert * Voices: Luring school dropouts to join the army, by Dr. Jean Daniels * An interview with Dr. Arnulfo Valdivia Machuca, by Jonathan Gramling * HBCUs: Tradition, understanding, and education, by Faith Stevenson * En epocas de intolerancia al estilo Diaz Ordaz, Mixico debe recordar el 2 de octubre, por Elda Gonzalez * Campus-Community Connection -Bullying: why we need to take notice, by Pamela Pfeffer * (Middle Spread) Carnival of the Americas, by Jonathan Gramling * Ustad Shahid Parvez and Shri. Ramdas Palsule, by Ramya Kapadia * Africa Fest 2006, by Jonathan Gramling * The Jollof Beauty Shop: Simply Senegal, by Jonathan Gramling |
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| VOL. I NO. 15 OCTOBER 4, 2006 |
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| Reflections/ Jonathan Gramling Discussing race and media |
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