Media And Mourning

It is important for our culture to witness the bodies of black dead, for much the same reason as it was for Americans to witness the slain during the Vietnam war. It brought the reality of tragedy closer to home. And in much the same way, images and video of black dead in the wake of racial violence or policing enable Americans to identify tragedy, and relate to it. This is an essential tool in raising consciousness about the systemic devaluation of black lives in American society; which is prerequisite to changing the system. But while this is the case, still more must be done. And we must also be mindful the role of the media in delivering those images, interpreting those images, and our own potentials to become desensitized to that imagery--and

News of Emmett Till’s murder reached media sources across the country and over the ocean. PBS’s history series The American Experience, provides a timeline of how his story spread like wildfire to newspapers around the world. PBS lists several publications which addressed the murder, causing universal public outrage at how something like this could happen to anyone, especially a child. The list includes that on September 2nd, the same day in which Mrs. Till received her son’s body in Chicago, The Jackson Daily in Mississippi published an article on the Till case. In it, they refer to the murder as a “brutal, senseless crime,” however in the same story they complain that the NAACP was placing too much attention on the incident by referring to it as a “lynching”. That same day a Belgium newspaper, Le Drapeau Rouge also published an article which was

“From that point on,” after witnessing the body—and Mamie’s courage—“Mississippi began to move” (Bush 3). On July 2nd 1964, John F. Kennedy signed the civil rights act into law. Now, This was meant to be a turning point in history and the act of gunning down a black youth became a staple case of racism considering it was the case that led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act. However, within the emergence of this new racism, “African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged in 2015 by investigation into the use of deadly force by police” (Swaine 1) even though African American males only make up 2% of the population. From Emmett Till’s gunning down in 1955 to Walter Scott’s in 2015, we are witnessing history repeat itself when America can clearly see, “of course the evidence is not there, but we are still claiming skin color was not a factor” (Crump 2). The city of North Charleston, S.C., was all too willing to accept the officer’s version of events, even though the physical evidence clearly showed that the officer had landed four out of eight bullets in Scott’s

I commence with this anecdote for several reasons one of which is to humbly acknowledge my unique, and privileged position as a Black female scholar in the midst of a war waged against Black bodies. Another reason is to recognize police brutality as a national endemic that plagues Black communities, unveiling remnants of anti-Black racism that legitimately suppresses the lives of Blacks in America . The non-indictments in each case concerning the sanctioned murder of Black youths evoke a

Racial injustice against people of colour is an immense, ongoing issue that has not only targeted lives but has also taken many innocent lives. In America, these racial divisions date back to the days of slavery, where black people were denied of their basic human rights because of discrimination. In present day, some individuals view America as a post-racial environment, due to such victories as electing a black president; but the brutal, fatal and unjust events in Ferguson, Missouri prove that these divisions are still present. On August 9th, 2014, an unarmed, 18 year old black teen was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The events that led to the death of Michael Brown occurred on an early morning where Mr. Wilson stopped Michael Brown and a friend after leaving a convenience store. An altercation occurred which prompted Mr. Brown to flee and officer Wilson to begin shooting. The death of Mr. Brown caused the city to stand up against police brutality through peaceful protest, looting, and even violence, to gain justice for Mr. Brown and his family. As the protests grew, the police used military tactics such as, tear gas, to “maintain order” during the unrest of the city. In recent, news the grand jury decided that Officer Darren Wilson was not responsible for the death of Michael Brown, which led to a larger public outrage not only in America, but also across the

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

Despite the important racial progresss our society has made since Emmett Till’s death, from the civil rights era, to present increase of police brutality has still left the Black/African American community in shadows of segregation. The second most recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown has left citizens in ongoing battles with law enforcement officers of Ferguson, Missouri. New Statement (2014) reports, Missouri police similarly attempted to retain control of the narrative, claiming Brown had stolen cigars, and then paying for them, and then claiming he was a bad child and attacked the officer who shot him” (New Statement, 21). Brown autopsy reveals he was gun less and shot six times. Police brutality is not solely about Ferguson, Emmett Till, or the civil rights movement, but it is simply about the history of capitalism and police brutality in America and having many forms of it.

Henry Giroux’s “Hoodie Politics: Trayvon Martin and Racist Violence in Post-Racial America” is an opinion piece written by a renowned cultural critic. This writing is meant to draw attention to the way American society treats its poor minority youth. Giroux’s audience in this circumstance is the readers of the left-wing magazine, The Smirking Chimp. With most of his readers being liberal, he does not have to try hard to convince them that his argument regarding the mistreatment of poor minorities is correct.That being said, Giroux is attempting to get his audience to consider the wider societal issues that cause the unequal treatment of black and brown youth. Giroux employs the case of Trayvon Martin to showcase society’s bigger issues surrounding the institutionalized racism directed towards the “disposable” colored youth.

Media bias is displayed repeatedly in news coverage of black tragedies and in the persecution of black bodies. From protest following the non indictments of cop killing unarmed black men to the uninformed persecution of the BlackLivesMatter movement, mainstream media is constantly standing in opposition to anything that threatens the status quo. My five articles assessed said media bias, and if that bias whether negative or positive affected the African-American community.

Lately in the media police brutality has been a very popular topic. Most of the instances reported in the media are of white police officers killing African Americans for seemingly nothing. These reports have strengthened the divide between both races. In “White Rage” by Carol Anderson the issue of police brutality is touched on within the first few words of her essay. Anderson talks about many acts of aggression at the hands of white men, and she seems to really focus on an unarmed African American male who was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. “Black and Blue,” by Garnette Cadogan continues with the struggles of police brutality in America, but also touches on the abuse in his home country of Jamaica. Cadogan

I think that the article “The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning” is one of the best articles I have ever read. It is a very thought out article that makes a lot of great points that I agree with, and some that I can relate to. Growing up in such a small town without much diversity, I was never really introduced to racism. I know it is out there, but in my town everyone accepts everyone for who they are. I have heard of most of the things that Rankine talks about such as the shooting in Charleston, the shooting in Ferguson of Michael Brown and the death of Emmett Till, but I never put a lot of deep thought into the situations. This article did a great job of opening up my mind and making me realize that not every place in America is

Police brutality against African Americans is nothing new in today’s society. Twenty five years after the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and countless other unarmed African American men and women have become victims of police officers. Riots and protests in places like Ferguson, Baltimore and Cleveland have garnered the issue and unprecedented amount of attention, especially in the media. It has also caused an outcry among the American people for both sides involved. Notably, it has brought about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s penning of Between the World and Me. In his short novel addressed as a letter to his son, he discusses the fear that all African Americans Coates himself saw growing up in Baltimore. He tells his son, and therefore the reader, stories of his own childhood and young adulthood and of the problems and issues he sees within America. These problems lie within the justice system, the education system, and within our society as a whole.

In chapter two of “You’re Dead, So What?” the impact of racial bias in news media is eloquently described as a “malicious blame game” that has really proven to be out of control. This game of back and forth finger pointing, slut-shaming, and full-blown sexism and racism is played whenever a person of color goes missing or gets murdered, the deepest human thought would ask why and think intensively about how stupid yet highly uncalled for shit such as race-related murders, still thrives even though we are living in a multicultural, progressive society where we all are equal, unfortunately, in trying times when African- Americans are still being social, economically, and mentally stigmatized, the question “ when

This essay argues that the shooting of Michael Brown and subsequent events in Ferguson, Missouri, cannot be fully understood outside the context of the social, historical, political and economic ideologies that shape the United States. I chose to critique two news reports each from different news sources, including The New York Times (NYT) and The Washington Post (TWP). Each news report focuses on different incidents which took place during Ferguson’s upheaval in the summer of 2014. I will begin by briefly summarizing each article, then I will do an analysis on the problems and gaps that I find within each article. Next, I will provide an in-depth critique using Mills’ Racial Liberalism. By critiquing liberalist frameworks, I draw attention to the ways which racism and violence remain deeply institutionalized within the structures of American society and allows for the maintenance of white supremacy. The essay ends with a comparison of the Trayvon Martin case (2012) and includes a discussion of the affects of capitalism and globalization in the media.

This type of death presents a unique set of problems because of the constant media attention and the public debates that often occur surrounding the shooting, and if a trial ensues it is often highly publicized, as is the verdict. Consequently, media attention can lead to friends and families constantly reliving the tragic event over and over, thus compounding their grief. The untimely death of young black males by police shootings also has implications for social work practice and particularly for social workers who practice in the realm of social justice. Death by police shooting can lead to a distrust of law enforcement officers and the criminal justice system within the black community; moreover,