Media racial bias in girl bullying incident?
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Submitted by victorpatton on Thu, 2008-04-10 07:47. |
Occasionally when I am making my rounds around town during the week, I get a chance to see what kinds of stories and issues are on folks' minds.
Yesterday, I was talking to a Merced resident who said the media were being racially biased in the case of a 16-year-old Florida girl who was savagely beaten by group of her so-called "friends". Worst part about it all, the suspects videotaped the episode with the intention of putting it on YouTube.
All of the girls who participated in the alleged crime are now facing some serious charges -- although whether they will face any real punishment remains to be seen.
One Mercedian who approached me, however, felt the media would have played this story completely differently if the victim and the perpetrators of the crime had been Hispanic or black. She said the media are quick to label an incident "gang-related" when the perpetrators are people of color -- yet when the perpetrators are white, the incident is seen in a different light. She also wondered why the girls in this case are not facing gang charges, because the beat-down was, for all intents and purposes, a group of people who planned and conspired to commit a serious crime.
It's an interesting question. I remember when I was a teenager, you might have a group of black or Hispanic guys who hung out together and may not have had a gang name per se -- but in the eyes of society, once they commit a crime or commit some wrongdoing, the gang tag is automatically applied.
Still, I don't know whether it's fair to say that the media or law enforcement is biased when it comes to application of the "gang-related" tag. White Skinhead groups and Neo-Nazis are often classified and reported in the media as "gangs," just as are the Bloods, Nortenos, or whatever -- so I do not think the gang tag is necessarily racially biased.
Regardless, this issue was on someone's mind, so I cannot help but ponder the question. Would the reporting have been different in the Florida beating case if the perpetrators were black or Hispanic? I don't think so -- but then again, the idiosyncrasies of race are one of the things that we have yet to figure out for the past 200-plus years.
What do you think? Was there media racial bias in the Florida beating case?
You need to understand that
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Submitted by jbc on Sun, 2008-04-13 14:24.
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You need to understand that the police and sheriff don't simply indicate a person is a gang member or an incident is "gang related".
There are a clear set of criteria for determination of being labeled a "gang member" or a "gang associate". To be qualified as either of those things, one has to meet SEVERAL of the criteria - not just one or two. Neither color nor race are one of the criteria in determining such labels. There are gang members and gang related people of most every race, color or ethnic background. This labeling is often an issue in the Court system and the Courts recognize what it takes to label someone a gang member.
While we clearly DO NOT have enough information about the Florida girls in this case to check against the criteria, I seriously doubt they would qualify under the strict guidelines law enforcement uses. from what I have seen so far. If they did, I'm sure you would see Florida law enforcement officials using that label. In most states such a label could substantially increase the possible criminal penalties in crimes like the Florida incident.
On occasion it is appropriate to label an incident as race related, but often times it is people looking for an excuse, something to complain about or simply jumping to unwarranted conclusions. The Florida case seems to be the later, in my opinion. You should not jump to such conclusions until you have all the facts before you and, in my experience, it is rare that any news article will accurately supply you with ALL of the facts!
But the race issue is one that might get more media attention in many cases and that sometimes is helpful (when it is true!) and often times is not. When it is used inappropriately it simply takes the focus off the true story, which is clearly why it is used in our society all too often.
Racial Sensitivity
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Submitted by heidiwrites on Thu, 2008-04-10 09:01.
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The reason why the media didn't claim this was gang related was because IT WAS NOT gang related. Unless you're a bad reporter -- and I'll admit I've worked with bad reporters before -- you wouldn't report that an incident was gang related unless your official source told you it was, in which case you should attribute that statement to the source. That's not bias -- that's reporting facts as told to you by trusted sources (e.g., police or sheriff's department representatives).
The problem with this whole topic is how sensitive people are to race -- too sensitive in my opinion. At my organization, we recently went through "sensitivity training." We had to perform an exercise in which the entire staff stood in a line holding hands, and someone read a list of items that required that each person take a step forward or a step back, depending on whether the item applied to them. Items included things like: take a step back if you did not complete high school, take a step forward if your parents spoke English, take a step forward if your parents attended college. When the exercise was over, we were able to see how far apart each of our colleagues were when it came to social advantages. Many (but not all) of the non-white colleagues were many steps behind the white colleagues, but there was one white woman who was also at the back of the room. That made everyone realize -- and it was amazing how many people DIDN'T think about this prior to the exercise -- that race does not necessarily mean you will be delegated to the back of the room, or the front of the room.
Gangs are not necessarily created by race -- they are more often based on socioeconomics. And yes, poverty is related to social disadvantages which are also related to race, but they are NOT exclusively correlated.
I read this story, and whoever tried to bring race into this discussion was simply raising a straw man. Race had nothing to do with it.
I agree with you about this
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Submitted by victorpatton on Thu, 2008-04-10 11:06.
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I agree with you about this particular story -- and yes, far too often people are too sensitive about race. Still, underneath it all, there are still so many people who still feel a great deal of pain because of past experiences with -- and the legacy of -- institutionalized racism. It's a stain upon this nation's psyche that probably will not wash away in my lifetime. Still, I think open and honest dialogue (without name calling or finger pointing) is the first step towards healing. Sounds slightly cliché, but we all have to live here together, so why not aim for an achievable idealism?
I really didn't even think about the issue of race in regards to the Florida beating case until someone brought it up. I think it's interesting how all of us have such dynamic views on the issue of race -- and how many of us can read the same story, and yet interpret it in varying ways, based upon our socio-economic/ethnic backgrounds and life experiences.
Syndicate
Don't get side tracked
I would encourage everyone to stay focused here, these girls and boys could have been purple or green but the real issue is they lacked parental guidance and parental control, even after it was obvious these young people had committed a serious crime some of the parents were trying to place blame elsewhere instead of holding their sons and daughters accountable. I don't think race had anything to do with the crine or the reporting, it made news because these kids were so out of CONTROL!!