Radical Racism
Racism in the media has been made prevalent in today. The media attempts to constantly alter the viewer’s thinking behind certain things. They have the power to report whatever is pleasing to them. If they do not want the rest of the world to know about an issue, they will not report on it. A majority of the stereotypes that society knows of are created by the fourth estate. When people hear the word thug, a black male is often what comes to mind. Critics of Richard Sherman have called him a thug before, when in reality he is a successful athlete who graduated from Stanford with a 3.9 GPA (Lloyd 1). Another account showing racism in the media deals with fairly recent events. After number one seeded Kentucky’s loss to Wisconsin in the final four of the NCAA March Madness tournament, there were white kids burning cars in the streets of Lexington. Lexington Police say 31 people have been arrested near the University of Kentucky campus following the loss (Press 1). This was rarely covered in the media and hardly anyone knew about it. However as soon as black individuals start causing ruckus, it is nationally televised. Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts says police are “thankful no one was seriously injured”, which is pretty remarkable out of the 1500 who participated (1). Now media coverage is all over the black kids rioting in Baltimore, making them out to be thugs, when they are really just taking action and trying to make a change. The media has a lot of power in society, and racism in the media is even more common today than in the past.