Time Again To Tell Our Own Story
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Posted By: Roy Collins on October 10, 2007 Many posts to this site have commented on a barrage of negative publicity that high-profile African-Americans have received recently in the media. We need not forget that the Black press was born out of our community's despair with relentlessly-negative media images from the so-called "mainstream." The more things change, the more they stay the same. By no means does this suggest that we as a people need to turn a blind eye to incorrect behavior by famous and infamous people from our culture. However, we must not become dependent upon persons outside our culture in obtaining information that relates to our experience. Some people define "news" as whatever has deviated from society's normal expectations. In that regard, it should be no surprise that we hear so much "bad news" regarding African-American celebrities. But it should work both ways. What is missing is any mention of extraordinarily positive things that deviate from society's negative expectations regarding our culture. That is where we must become more vigilant. True "news" need not always be negative to be news. We have the greatest stake in publicizing the surprising positives that happen every day in our community. For example, HBCUs are graduating phenomenal scholars every year who are destined for legendary status. But it takes "us" to publicize the legend. Way, way back in the late 1970s when I was an undergraduate student, I was inspired to learn about the successes of a budding performer from Howard U. named Debbie Allen. Her successes in the next few decades became legendary. During that same era, I was also exposed to the collegiate accomplishments of a Grambling U. football player named Doug Williams. In the next few decades, he also made us proud. Over the same time span, I also became aware of the professional excellence of HBCU grads in a wide variety of other challenging fields. Some have been well-publicized in the general media, and many have not. If you're not one of them, you probably know of at least one. We have the power - and definitely the technology - to create our own legends, and to be our own newsmakers, irrespective of what people from other cultures think about us. Just weeks ago, *we* mobilized around the Jena 6 situation, vigilantly challenging major media outlets to bring this story to the limelight. We can do no less in bringing to society's attention the surprising miracles that our community is producing everyday from sea to shining sea. It is definitely news, and the kind of news that we can use. This is something far more profound than "happy talk." This is our story. It's time again to shout it from the mountain tops. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Roy Collins
Associate General Counsel, University of Hartford Southern University and A&M College class of 1981 Member Since May 2001 |
Comments
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I totally agree. When I go a few days without listening to the news I am so relaxed and clear headed...Makes you realize that the "news" is not reality but a focused effort to keep the public in turmoil and fear. Fear sells more products.
Wednesday, October 10th 2007 at 10:02PM |
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Well said. It's up to us to create positive imagery from our communities, and let the world see us shine. The media giants have very little to gain by publishing balanced coverage - it is always based upon what will ultimately boost their own bottom line. Understandable, but hardly helpful to our community. Thursday, October 11th 2007 at 12:06PM |
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Joan, You have hit the nail on the head. Irrational depictions of Black people have long given rise to turmoil in this country. What is so troubling is that our own community gives far too much credence to the imagery that the media creates, to a point of actually imitating fiction instead of real-life examples. If you saw Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle movie from years ago, you saw how a little Black child identified much more strongly with an exaggerated media stereotype than he did with his actual family members. In the years that have ensured since that movie, I have seen that theme taking place in our community. It's a kind of "chicken and egg" situation where a generation of our children have taken on the characteristics of the media's most exploitive characterization of our experience. Can we say that the chicken came first or the egg? By that, I mean that kids have been influenced to disregard what they see in real life characters, and to identify with exaggerated stereotypes found in TV, movies and video games. Our community has known hard times for centuries, but has never embraced vile behaviors in the way that it has since our youth have been as force-fed with exploitive images as they have via the electronic media. So it can't really be the fault of poverty and deprivation. That's what I mean by the "chicken and egg" comparison. As you have observed, fear "sells more products." Sadly, our worst dysfunctional behavior has become a product in itself. We've got to tell our own story, before we lose our story, and end up losing our own being. Wednesday, October 24th 2007 at 2:38PM |
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Johnathan, You also raise an important point: that we need to create our own positive imagery. We have done it countless times before. Our philosophers, writers, artists and other innovators have made a huge impact of this planet that has inspired people in many lands to find their own liberation. The "media giants" to whom you refer make sport of rolling out distorted views of African Americans, knowing that this country has an endless appetite for those views. It may be celebrity scandal, or it may be scapegoating of the "least of these," but this country seems always to find sadistic enjoyment in watching the "strange fruit" hanging from the lyncher's noose. This is raw commercialism at its ugliest. We just need to make sure that we don't feed the beast. We need to stop patronizing those who exploit our worst moments for financial gain. We need to expose those in our community who make a living from painting all of Black America with a broad brush of disdain. We need to lift up those in our community who dare to break from the norm, and to offer solutions that honor our ancestors' struggle. We need to celebrate our local heroes and insist that all aspects of the media give attention to their accomplishments. This all takes a great amount of work, and we are fully capable of making it happen. It means demanding excellence from our neighbors and family members, and defending each other from the attacks of those whose agendas are to belittle any positive accomplishment that we produce. We have done this before. It's time to do it again! Wednesday, October 24th 2007 at 3:03PM |
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