As I pondered which group I could analyze for this assignment, I thought about who in society I seem to only hear one thing about. One group that stood out to me was black American youth. It seems the only stories I hear about them from the media are negative – that they are prone to criminal activity, disadvantaged because of poor family situations and subpar schools, and less likely to achieve the levels of success of other non-black Americans.
I searched recent news articles for examples of this story. I simply typed "black youth" into Google News and immediately received three top stories about "a pack of black youth terrorizing [Raleigh, N.C.]" (http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/pack-of-black-youth-terrorize-city), a Virginia church attempting to address the black youth crisis (http://www.urbanfaith.com/2013/10/church-mans-up-to-address-black-youth-crisis.html), and an article from the San Gabriel Tribune about how blacks and Latinos make up 90 percent of the youth arrests in Pasadena (http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20131014/minorities-make-up-90-percent-of-youth-arrests-in-pasadena). I found it notable that there was not a single positive story about black youth on the entire first page of results.
Searching "black youth" on YouTube yielded slightly different messages – the top videos being inspirational speakers talking about how black youth could overcome the circumstances of their upbringing to achieve their life goals. However, the basis of this message remains the same as the news stories: black youth are inherently disadvantaged and prone to destructive behavior.
A cursory search of other online media outlets continued to support my initial thoughts about this being the only story being told about black youth. For them, the social implications of the repetition of this story are problematic. Many will continue to hear this story over and over and believe it, and they will either give up hope that they will ever succeed, or they will become the criminals and dropouts the media names them and blame society.
-Jackson Hadley
I agree that the continuation of this story will limit black youth who want to break out of this stereotype. Insightful analysis.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a stereotype in America and the worst part is that I think this stereotype proves true most of the time because we all buy into the stereotype. There could be a young black boy who has all the financial and parental support he needs but people will still assume he is disadvantaged and treat him as disadvantaged which can in turn be a disadvantage. It's a cycle that needs to be broken.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a stereotype in America and the worst part is that I think this stereotype proves true most of the time because we all buy into the stereotype. There could be a young black boy who has all the financial and parental support he needs but people will still assume he is disadvantaged and treat him as disadvantaged which can in turn be a disadvantage. It's a cycle that needs to be broken.
ReplyDelete