(Liberal Politics US Guide Deborah White writes on the perspective of Kanye West and two other individuals: John Edwards and Barbara Boxer)
In the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina, most of us, including Kanye West, most likely saw the same footage. Images of hurricane victims breaking into closed stores, taking food and other items, and escaping through chest-high waters with their loot. Images played incessantly.
Some may feel immediately inclined to write off Mr. West’s statement as perhaps a typical statement from an angry Black man. But his statement is not an arbitrary one. It refers to a specific incident, which has gained considerably less media attention than the looting itself (most likely because it calls into question the motives and biases of media personnel themselves).
So, what’s this all about?
The media published two images. Although similar in content, the races of the individuals captured were different. And unfortunately, so were the captions associated with each.In one image, an African-American holds food in hand and the caption indicates that he had just finished “looting” a grocery store.
In the second image, two White individuals hold food in hand and the caption says they were “finding” bread and soda from a grocery store.
We wonder why one was looting, while the other was simply finding food. What made one a looter, a thief, a criminal, while the other was merely resourceful, a hunter, a survivor?
With no additional evidence other than that provided in these two similar images, some have concluded that it all boils down to race. The difference in captions for these two images “may be indicative of racial bias in the mainstream media.“ writes Carmen Cusido of Diversity Inc.
When we consider the public’s expectation that the media serve a powerful vehicle for information, for truth, missteps like these help us to clearly see the important role it continues to play in perpetuating debilitating stereotypes that further harm race relations. And this is not simple conjecture.
Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki wrote a book entitled “The Black Image in the White Mind,” which illustrates how the television and news focus on black poverty and crime is grossly out of proportion with the reality of black life. After painstaking research, they concluded that although there are more images of African-Americans on television now than ever, these images are often harmful to the prospect of unity between the races. Read about their shocking findings in the Race Relations article Media and Its Portrayal of Black Americans”.