As a man who grew up firmly entrenched in hip-hop culture, it’s not exactly easy for me to admit that not only am I out of touch with most of today’s rap music, but I have very little interest in getting acquainted with it. Although most of it may sound like noisy ignorance to me, there are a few young artists that I really enjoy listening to. Out of this large group of new rappers, Kendrick Lamar is my personal favorite, so when I heard that GQ magazine had named him one of 2013′s “Men of the Year,” I was ecstatic that he would be finally receiving the mainstream credit he rightfully deserved.
Unfortunately, instead of GQ publishing a thoughtful, insightful, and eloquent look into the life of a gifted, mysterious, conscientious, and enlightened young man, they ran a piece on how shocked the writer was that Lamar didn’t exhibit stereotypical thug-rapper tendencies. I’m not saying that the writer, a white male, was attempting to frame Lamar in a negative light, but I am saying that if GQ had at least one Black person on their staff who could have edited and reviewed the piece, the troubling parts of it could have been addressed and fixed. The problem is instances like this constantly occur in the media because newsrooms, like many other important industries in North America, simply do not have enough diversity.
After the GQ on Kendrick Lamar experience, #pointergate didn’t really surprise me because I have seen so many instances of institutionalized ignorance in the media that this was just another form of ridiculous overreaching. The charge that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges was throwing up a gang sign in a photo by pointing at Navell Gordon, a Black male volunteer for Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, is arguably one of the stupidest and most overt examples of racist ideology we’ve seen in decades. As mad as I am about ABC reporter Jay Kolls tweeting that Mayor Hodges was associating with a two-time felon, who was actually a man trying to turn his life around and advocate for young people to get out and vote, I’m far more upset at the fact that this story was allowed to travel through many editorial channels at their network and make it on air. This is the most utterly pointless story of the year, yet it somehow got added to the show’s line up and assigned a segment block by producers and behind-the-scenes “journalists.” But, foolishness like this can reign supreme in an atmosphere where racism reigns, and/or Black people aren’t around to weigh in on, or even summarily discuss, potential story ideas.
But, once again, I wasn’t completely shocked at their claim because this is not as new as we probably wish it were. Before #pointergate, Alessandra Stanley wrote that Shonda Rhimes should consider the title of “angry Black woman” a compliment, while also matter-of-factly stating how classically unattractive Viola Davis is. And before that, FOX News host E.D. Hill referred to Barack Obama giving Michelle Obama a pound as a “terrorist fist-jab.” And before that, there were many more instances of newsroom ignorance that could have easily been squashed throughout the editorial process by the inclusion of more diverse voices. Someone of color who could say, “Remember that idea in which we were going to call Barack dapping his wife a terrorist fist-jab? Yeah, how about we don’t do that because, you know, it’s incredibly stupid and racist and might cost you your job.” Which it ultimately did, as her show was canned by FOX News (of all media outlets), the following week.
Some people may think that the concept of newsroom diversity is bullshit, because we live in a diverse society, with a Black president, that is either post-racial or quickly becoming post-racial. These people believe that this is nothing more than a form of guilt-inducing affirmative action that Black folks are using to weasel their way into jobs they are under-qualified. But to believe that, is to miss the statistical nightmare that newsrooms really present. Just last year, The Atlantic‘s Riva Gold wrote an article about The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) annual report on newsroom diversity, which revealed that 90 percent of newsroom supervisors from participating news organizations were white. Riva’s article also stated, “while non-whites make up roughly 37 percent of the U.S. population, the percentage of minorities in the newsroom has fallen to 12.37 percent from its 13.73 percent high in 2006. According to last year’s 2012 ASNE study, overall newsroom employment at daily newspapers dropped 2.4 percent in 2011, but the picture looked much worse — down 5.7 percent — for minorities.” We are showing up less and less, but stories that involve our communities are being written, produced, and recorded at the same rate.
I do realize there are some people who will read this and say, “What’s the point of getting worked up about newsroom diversity and racism? It’s not even that big of a deal. Let’s just move on.” Well, what those people don’t understand is that the media has the influence to help endanger the lives of minorities by constantly framing us as gangsters, hoodlums, thugs, welfare mothers, and overall scary people. The reason a Trayvon Martin gets shot while packing Skittles is because the news paints Black boys as the main people to fear. While corporations and corrupt politicians steal your livelihoods, erase your pensions, raise your taxes, and outsource your jobs, the media has the ability to frame Blackness as the biggest individual threat to people’s safety and security. Referring to a changed man as a two-time felon is subtly dangerous to him, and all Black people with criminal pasts because it aims to frame his as a gangster threat, as opposed to what he actually is now, a concerned and involved citizen trying to achieve positive change in our community.
Newsroom diversity can end racism in the media by allowing people of color to add their voices to the overall discussion taking place in these organizations. It’s really annoying that we don’t expect a multitude of diverse voices from the people we entrust to communicate the reality of our everyday lives. Yet we expect these news organizations and publications to apologize every time they display extreme levels of insensitivity. If we are collectively serious about making sure we enact real change in how our community is perceived in the media, let’s start demanding that our voices are heard, respected, and included.
LAB
Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.