The Media's Negative Portrayal of African American Males

The Media's Negative Portrayal of African American Males

They squirmed, pencils tapping their desks anxiously; none of their papers contained more than five names. Eventually, all thirteen pairs of eyes made their way from the papers, to the faces of their friends, and eventually, they restlessly shifted over to me and stopped. “This is hard,” whined one seventh grade voice. Another chimed in, “It’s all the same, I can’t think of any more.” The question I had asked was simple: “Please list as many young African American males that you see on TV as possible.”

However, the frustration that manifested itself in the room was proof that something was askew. I asked them to read what they had written. Every list was the same combination of names: Jay-Z, Trick Daddy, P. Diddy, Master P., Nelly, Ludacris, Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Corey Dillon, David West, Mike Tyson, etc. With the exception of a stray Jett Jackson, every name fell under one of two categories: athlete or rapper. Prior to this question I asked something to the effect of whether TV is fair in its representation of real life and circumstances in general. Every single child agreed that yes, TV is a good representation of reality. And as I finished my paper for “Teaching Children about God” class that night, I knew that ramifications of what the seventh graders said through their answers that night were grave.

The past two hundred years have been a rough road for the African American male to travel; from slavery to segregation and racism, recent history has not been kind to him. Yet as soon as we seem to overcome one obstacle to true equality, another reappears, filling the void of discrimination before it even exists. This oppressive force began a...

... middle of paper ...

...the television, is indoctrinating them with the unwarranted, old-fashioned stereotypes that plagued our nation decades ago. Children watching TV after school, considering what they learned about equality that day, are viewing “proof” which seems to show that this may not be the case in the “real world.” When weighing the two opposing ideas, it seems natural that any child would believe what he or she sees, over what is spoken in the classroom. Essentially, until this vicious cycle of criminalizing African American boys, upholding negative images of black males in the media, and monopolizing their already too few on-screen minutes with inaccurate portrayals stops, it is hard to imagine we will ever see an end to the racial injustices and prejudices that afflict our world.

WORKS CITED

Gerard, Gary. “Survey Shows TV Influences Our Children.” Time. May 9, 1998.