Race and Media — A Playground for Racism
Social media and media platforms can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used to connect with others around the world, provide information and news, a platform to share experiences and opinions, and the list can go on. However, media has also contributed to discrimination and racism towards many different communities and can essentially become a playground for racism. This is especially true with the perpetuation of systemic anti-black racism. The Netflix documentary 13th, discusses the troubling history of racial inequality in the United States and the disproportionate filling of African-Americans in the nation’s prisons.
A way in which media played a role in the continuation of anti-black racism was through the making and release of the film Birth of a Nation in 1915. Throughout the film, African-Americans were heavily portrayed as animalistic with the idea that black men were a threat to white women. The film strongly predicted the way in which race “operated” and how African-Americans need to work. The film’s popularity led to another wave of terrorism towards African-Americans with the films depictions of being dangerous morally degenerate beings. This was seen through the rebirthing of the Ku Klux Klan and various forms of terrorism, such as the lynching of African-Americans. Birth of a Nation largely impacted this community by amplifying anti-black racism through animalistic criminal portrayals and increased terrorism towards these communities.
Media platforms, such as news outlets, also encourage and contribute to systemic racism. Communities of colour protest through social activism in attempts to address the inequalities faced by these communities, however activists were shown in media news outlets as criminals breaking the law. This later led to another attack on coloured communities through Ronald Reagan’s legislation (Anti-Drug Abuse Act) funding the “war on drugs”. This “war” against drugs quickly became a literal war against African-American communities. News outlets would then display images of these communities being arrested and paraded in lines to be sent to jail/prison. The media was used to dehumanize the African-American community through this, along with describing the generation as “super predators”. Like Birth of a Nation, this description and set of images painted African-Americans as animal beasts that need to be controlled.
Media platforms can be used in many good ways, especially when applying the ethics of care to navigate ethical and considerate use towards mutual concerns. Although unfortunately, as shown through the examples above, this is not always the case, especially when discussing the perpetuation of systemic anti-black racism. Media portrayals must change in the direction of equality through ethical and moral practices, along with care for others and solidarity. Media should be used in a way that brings each other up, not bring each other down.
