The Perpetuation of Negative Images of African Americans through Mass M

The Perpetuation of Negative Images of African Americans through Mass Media Works Cited not IncludedWhy as dust coat people consider we been lulled into mentation its safe to be around other discolor people. Why fork up we been taught since birth that its the people of that other color we need to charge? Theyre the is that depart slit your throat (Moore 57). The mass media has played and will restrain to play a crucial role in the authority white Americans perceive African-Americans. As a result of the overwhelming media boil down on crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior among African-Americans, the media is fostering a distorted public perception of African-Americans. Looking at past examples of African Americans treatment in the media, one can see that the media has be scrape the primary(prenominal) perpetrator through which oppression, discrimination and the treatment of African Americans as encourage kind citizens is carried out.As a result of this media bias, white America has suffered from a deep uncertainty as to who African-Americans really are. The media stereotype of bad guys clothing black or that anything that is black is evil has been fostered for decades. Looking at one of the oldest sources in the media (the dictionary) you clearly see racist overtones in the definitions of any spoken language starting with black or white. Black is defined as foeman to white, African American, soiled or stained, and evil or wicked precisely to name a few of the definitions (Webster 68). I believe this not just fosters a subconscious negative view of African Americans, but to a fault trifles many white people think they are some how correct than blacks. The defense put on by the four white Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King in 1991, and the recent case in Ohio, are very telling of this. They claimed that they were scared and felt they might have been attacked or even killed (88). This is a legitimate excuse in a white American society that perpetuates negative images of African Americans. Whites have come to believe that their life is in danger every time theyre confronted with a black person and that some how their life is worth much than a black persons life. Their fear and their bias is a manifestation of a deep-rooted media bias that anything black is bad and anything white is pure and good. This media bias has also been illustrated in the Susan Smith cas... ...image we have seen, read, comprehend and ultimately come to believe of Malcolm X which is far from the truth. In laconic Malcolm X is much more than the violent man he is make out to be. To me, he is a prophet the media should portray him that way.The mass media is the roughly powerful entity on the earth. The media has the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent and thats power. They control the minds of the masses You dont have to lie to them you just have to be selecti ve to the highest degree what you tell them-because human beings gather information and they form opinions based on the information you have given them (Malcolm X 56). Until the spoon fed white America opens their eyes to this injustice, the media will continue to portray a self-seeking negative stereotype of the African-American community. Until the public acknowledges the medias influence in the perpetuation of negative images of African Americans, white America will continue to oppress, and African Americans will continue to be looked upon as second class citizens. In the words of rap star Chuck D. of Public Enemy, codt believe the hype, or more concretely, dont selectively not believe the hype.