Being a young child growing up, Eleanor Bailey always wondered why the representation of Black people in the media was so bad. Bailey wanted to see Black excellence, not the constant struggle and dehumanization of the African American community through constant movies and TV shows about gangs, violence, enslavement and abandonment.
African Americans are stereotypically portrayed as loud, stupid, and inferior, to name a few, and this is because media such as music, news, and movies consciously choose to depict Black people in this way. Looking back on popular movies, there is almost always an African American character that is seen as “dumb.”
According to the Pew Research Center, four in five Black adults say they see racist or racially insensitive depictions of their race in the news either often or sometimes.
Black Men are almost always portrayed as criminals, in both fiction and real-life occurrences in the media. Unfortunately, the role of journalism prevents the image of Black people from improving. The systemic racism that has been prominent in the US has set up Black Men to constantly be seen as dangerous or sinister.
According to Charles Whitaker, “There’s a feeling that Black Americans are often depicted as perpetrators or victims of crime, and there are no nuances in the coverage.” Black people are almost always shown as perpetrators of such violent crime, when in reality, the arrest rates are much lower.
According to scholars, “African-Americans are disproportionately represented in the arrest and victimization reports which are used to compile crime rate statistics in the United States.” Reports of petty White crime, such as minor assaults, robberies or DUIs, rarely get documented unlike crimes that Black people commit.
Additionally, Black families are almost always shown as struggling and poor. The media seems to obsess over portrayals of struggle that includes Black families. According to Founder and Executive Director of Family Story Nicole Rodgers, “news and opinion media continue to reinforce the unfounded and unfair idea that Black families are sources of personal, cultural and societal instability and that they are responsible for poverty, welfare and crime, rather than those who shape the economic and social environment families live in.”
African Americans contribute a lot to the success of the US, but that is overshadowed by the struggle shown in the media. Instead of engaging in the harmful media that gives Black people a bad image, engage in the media that shows Black excellence. There are many Black creators that prevent the uplifting of the Black community. Support Black creators that benefit the community instead of leaving a bad impression.
