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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Making an Invisible
Minority Less Invisible
by
Walter Brasch
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Walter Brasch is professor
of journalism at Bloomsburg University and president of the
Pennsylvania Press Club. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed
‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina (January
2006) and Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush
(November 2007), both available through amazon.com, borders.com, and
other bookstores.
You may contact Brasch at
brasch@bloomu.edu
or through his website at:
www.walterbrasch.com.
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During the presidential campaign, Barack
Obama was called mentally unstable; his supporters were called
unpatriotic. At Sarah Palin rallies, in newspaper
letters-to-the-editor, on conservative radio and TV talk shows,
supporters spewed hatreds, resorting to the Bush tactics of fear
mongering to support their own candidate.
At many rallies, the word "kill" was
often shouted. The ultra right wing, which infiltrated the McCain
campaign, told us Obama is a (gasp!) Muslim, not understanding that
not only isn't Obama a Muslim, but that the Constitution prohibits
religion as a test for federal office. Falsely linking Muslim to
terrorist, these ultra-patriots said that Obama pals around with
terrorists. They said Obama is a thief, a liar, and a scoundrel.
Not so subtly disguised beneath a lot of
the hatred is the reality that Obama is multiracial, and that means he
isn't White. Some of the racism isn't even covert. In comments to
newspapers and on radio, Obama was called "Monkey ears" and other
terms that would denigrate every person of color. At one rally, a
McCain–Palin supporter waved around a stuffed monkey with a
blue-and-white headband with one word: Obama. It didn't even take an
investigative journalist to find supporters who brazenly claimed they
just couldn't vote for anyone who's "colored"; many even used even
more derogatory terms.
Ironically, although the establishment
media did an admirable job of covering speeches, they did a poor job
of covering the racial hatred present at rallies. It was up to sites
like Keystone Progress, which videotaped numerous rallies and posted
them on You Tube, to help a nation better understand not only the
political division but the racial hatreds that still exist in the
country. Mike Morrill of Keystone Progress says that he noted a
significant difference not only between the Obama–Biden and
McCain–Palin rallies—"hope versus fear"—but more racist anger in the
rallies where Palin was the primary speaker.
There is still that anger and fear among
a part of the conservative movement, but, something changed with the
election.
On television, you'll find there are
more Blacks in TV commercials. More Blacks are being interviewed. The
news media have developed a fascination with Blacks who were in the
Civil Rights movement of the '60s. Blacks whose parents were in the
civil rights movement. Blacks who were first time voters.
Barack Obama's campaign and election
have not only revitalized America's Black population, they have
revitalized media interest in minorities.
For a couple of centuries, most
newsrooms were staffed only by White men. And then there were a few
women. And then a few other minorities. Blacks. Latinos.
Asian-Americans. Native Americans. Jews. And an occasional Buddhist or
Muslim. Staffing has come a long way. Almost 14 percent of newsrooms
have at least one minority, up from 4 percent 30 years ago, according
to studies conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
However, one-third of America is composed of minorities, so there is
still a long way to go. Even today, four decades after Martin Luther
King's murder, and with a heavy campaign by several journalism
organizations, about 40 percent of all newspaper newsrooms still have
no minorities.
In many rural and suburban cities, just
about the only time a newspaper reader sees a minority in a picture is
not for an achievement, with the exception of the sports pages, but
during an arrest.
For a long time, radio believed that a
white male voice was more authoritative than a female voice, or a
voice that sounded Black. For most of TV's first 20 years, there were
no Blacks on air. And when the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s
shocked America to realize that Blacks might be just as competent as
Whites, TV reluctantly hired Blacks—as long as they looked, acted, and
spoke White.
We're now seeing more coverage of Blacks
About Blacks. If it isn't a "fad," if the media, especially TV, don't
return to their never-ending focus upon celebrities and fluff, maybe
in four years there will be more minorities in our newsrooms, and
Americans will understand that most Blacks aren't on welfare, in
gangs, or in prison.
[Dr.
Brasch, an award-winning syndicated columnist, is professor of
journalism at Bloomsburg University and president of the Pennsylvania
Press Club. His latest book is Sinking the Ship of State: The
Presidency of George W. Bush (November 2007), available through
amazon.com and other bookstores. You may contact Brasch at
brasch@bloomu.edu or through his website at:
www.walterbrasch.com.]
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