In the contemporary society, the media feeds the public with numerous forms of news, current affair discussions, images of people and places, as well events happening all across the world (Holliday, Kullman, & Hyde, 2016). The media has a significant influence on what the masses, their attitudes and actions (Adamson, 2016). However, the media has been accused of perpetuating stereotypes of different ethnic and cultural groups. For a long time, racial minorities have been overrepresented as criminals compared to major races (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). There has been an essentialist view on the Black community, especially the Black male as being violent and aggressive as compared to their White counterparts. Further, the media has continued to publicise men from the Black community as big and scary (Oliver, 2003). The following paper will discuss the media representation of Black men in America. The paper will utilise an article from the New York Times and two videos from YouTube.
Relevant Background
Smiley and Fakunle (2016) explore the history of demonisation and criminalisation of unarmed Black men in America. According to the authors, Blackness has been synonymous with criminality for many years in America. The Black community has been a victim of othering throughout history. Holliday, Kullman, and Hyde (2016) define othering as a situation where a particular group imagines another as alien and different from them, which leads to exclusion from the “normal,” “superior,” and “civilised” group. During slavery, President Jefferson, the third president of the United States, describes the differences between races by use of skin colour and hair texture in his essays (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016). Black slaves from Africa brought to work in America were treated as the foreign other because of their skin colour and texture of their hair. According to Smiley and Fakunle (2016), the cheap labour acquired from the slaves was acceptable because of the racial differences set by laws during that time. These laws became the basis of how the Black community was treated throughout history. As Smiley and Fakunle (2016) state, social constructions become ingrained over time and become the truth of the people.
Since the focus of this paper is the media representation of the Black male, it is vital to understand their history. Smiley and Fakunle (2016) mention that during slavery, a Black man was considered a quiet character. The White slave owners could control the Black people’s body and mind, which portrayed the positivity of slavery. However, the end of the Civil War ended the docile character for the Black male (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016). The character was replaced by growth in power, which created fear among the White people. Both rich and poor Whites were afraid of the newfound power of the Black community. They were no longer viewed as docile, but as “savages and brute monsters” (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016, p. 353). The media started portraying the Black man as more prone to violence and aggressive behaviours. The myth of violent Black men was mainly focused on White women, who accused the former of rape or sexual assault. As the stories of aggressiveness of the Black men increased, cases of lynching increased as well (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016). The idea of a violent and aggressive Black man became the basis of justification for the use of excessive violence against the community. The violence against the Black man is still witnessed in the modern over the usage of excessive force by the law enforces on unarmed Black men and high rates of incarceration among the community (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016).
The big Black man stereotype
Stereotypes are “false or misleading generalisations about groups held in a manner that renders the largely immune to counterevidence” (Blum, 2004, p.251). According to Dukes and Gaither (2017), the reporting in media bias majorly promotes hostility towards the minority groups that are seen as perpetrators of crime. Most of the media houses depend on the Criminal Justice Department to provide them with information to release to the public especially in cases of police brutality (Adamson, 2016). A video posted on YouTube by CNN shows the footage a violent Black man in an altercation with a smaller man shortly before he was shot dead by a police officer. The video provides two different footages of the young man in the store 11 hours apart. According to the narrator, the first footage that was recorded 11 hours earlier is a predictor of later events.
It is important to note that the Ferguson police did not release the first section of the footage during the investigations. The only footage that was released was for the victim in an altercation shortly before he was shot dead. According to Adamson (2016), images (still or moving) are a representation of reality. Pictures provided to the public offer them with an opportunity to make meaning subconsciously. The video of an altercation between Brown and the individual at the convenience store is enough indication what the Fergusson police intended with its release. The message they wanted to pass across is that of a big Black man, who used his size to get away with robbery (Adamson, 2016). The big Black man representation in the media allows the police to make judgements of Black males according to the stereotypes that have been formerly inherited (Holliday, Kullman, & Hyde, 2016). The video presents a big Black man, who was in an altercation with a smaller man, which provides enough excuse for the use of force by the police.
The foreign other
The relationship between an individual and those around them is influenced by the environment around them (Holliday, Kullman, & Hyde, 2016). The media does not tell the masses what to think; instead, it provides them with issues to think about (Adamson, 2016). The populace has a higher probability of recalling what was reported rather than the reality of the problem. Holliday, Kullman and Hyde (2016) define foreign other as any group which is seen as different. Othering majorly results in a process where information is brought from outside a circumstance. The media portrays an image of “foreign other,” when it comes to Black men. Othering of Black men makes them look dangerous disregarding how they are dressed, their location, and their actions.
During a discussion on the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin Fox News in 2013, Bill O‘Reilly stated that “The reason Trayvon Martin died, was because he looked a certain way.” At the time of the shooting, Martin was wearing a hood, and not the proper dressing code of a “coat and a tie.” O‘Reilly noted that if Martin were dressed in a coat and tie, George Zimmerman (shooter), would not have a problem with him. The fact that Martin was wearing a hood justified his shooting because he looked like a gang member. According to Holliday, Kullman and Hyde (2016), the media will promote images of what it is like to be a member of the nation that they belong. O‘Reilly in his description of the reason why Martin dies echoes this point. He notes that the current world is filled with gangsters and it is essential to be vigilant to avoid becoming a victim.
The article on the New York Times on Michael Brown is a perfect example of othering. Brown is characterised as an outcast whose death was a favour to the world. In the process of demonising the victim, the media idolises the perpetrator. The article details on Brown’s newfound rap career, his poor performance in school, his drug usage, his troubled and broken family, and even accusations made against him when he was in ninth grade. The level of the negative portrayal of Mr Brown in the article places him outside the “us” group (Holliday, Kullman & Hyde, 2016). He becomes a foreign other, and stops belonging to the same community as the author. Broken families are seen to be a basis as to why people are placed outside a community. The same theme is repeated in the O‘Reilly’s video. According to the video, Martin was shot while visiting his father after he was suspended from school. Martin is also portrayed as an outsider because of his suspension from school and coming from a broken home.
Victim Representation
An obvious outcome of a stereotypical media portrayal of Black men during fatal encounters with the police is victim blaming (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). Holliday, Kullman and Hyde (2016) note that representation is politically controlled by outside forces and offers a representation of Other that audiences consume. Discussions of the media will portray a dead Black being solely responsible for their death, instead of blaming the police officer. The police will want to create a blameworthy victim from the onset, which means that images sent to the media will portray a victim who deserved his death (Adamson, 2016). The victim blaming narrative spread by the media may contribute mainly to the verdicts of not guilty for American officers involved in the murders. The article in the New York Times by John Eligon (2014) is a perfect example of victim blaming. The article titled “Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise,” details the case of a disturbed teenager who was struggling to find himself during his last days.
Part of the article reads “Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life.” It further details how the dead individual recently turned into rapping and produced lyrics that were contemplative and vulgar. The article highlights all negative altercations that the Brown had encountered in his life. Production of victim information that incorporates such negative connotations about them will produce a narrative that the victim was indeed on the wrong and deserved their fate (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). Such information will lead readers to believe that the shooter was not at fault (Dukes & Gaither, 2017).
O‘Reilly in a video uploaded on YouTube continues the narrative of victim blaming. He blames the victim for dressing in a manner that suggested he was a gangster. Even though he wholeheartedly agrees that Martin did nothing wrong, but his dress code attracted attention from George Zimmerman because he looked like a gangster. The media has demonised sure looks such as the hoodies. Anybody spotted wearing a hoodie is associated with gang groups, but does that warrant use of deadly force? According to O‘Reilly, the society associates such dress codes to gangs, which instils fear among individuals in the society.
Conclusion
There have been many cases of the tragic shooting of Black unarmed innocent men in America. The trend has been documented for many years since the days of slavery and lynching. The Black male is identified as a violent and aggressive person. The description allows the use of force against them. The media plays a significant role in portraying this information about the Black men. As seen in the media analysis, a majority of the Black men shot especially by law enforcer are blamed for their deaths. The media always finds any connection with a violent Black male to ensure that the blame entirely falls on the victim. As in the cases of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, the media played to sanitise the policemen involved in the altercations, and entirely put the blame on a particular aspect of the victim. The New York Times article, gave a detailed analysis of Brown’s “troubled” life, while the video released by Fergusson police shows a significant Black male fighting off a guy after a suspected robbery. For Martin, his code was likened to a gangster, which means that he had the right to be shot. The essentialist views of the Black community perpetrated by the media profoundly influence the perceptions of others, including law enforcer. However, the minority group suffers most as a result of these stereotypes and othering by the media.
References
Adamson, B. (2016). Thugs, Crooks, and Rebellious Negroes: Racist and Racialised Media Coverage of Michael Brown and Ferguson Demonstrations. Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice, 32, 189-278.
Blum, L. (2004). Stereotypes and Stereotyping: A Moral Analysis. Philosophical Papers, 33(3), 251-289. doi: 10.1080/05568640409485143
Dukes, K., & Gaither, S. (2017). Black Racial Stereotypes and Victim Blaming: Implications for Media Coverage and Criminal Proceedings in Cases of Police Violence against Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 789-807. doi: 10.1111/josi.12248
Holliday, A., Kullman, J., & Hyde, M. (2016). Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book for Students
(3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Oliver, M. (2003). African American men as “criminal and dangerous”: Implications of media portrayals of crime on the “criminalization” of African American men. Journal of African American Studies, 7(2), 3-18. doi: 10.1007/s12111-003-1006-5
Smiley, C., & Fakunle, D. (2016). From “brute” to “thug:” The demonization and criminalization of unarmed Black male victims in America. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 26(3-4), 350-366. doi: 10.1080/10911359.2015.1129256
