The
national news media, particularly the television news media is obsessed with
the calamity besetting the NFL (National Football League). On Friday, September 19th all four
of the major broadcast television networks, as well as, all of the cable television
news and sports networks broadcast the press conference by NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell. Mind you, this was the
commissioner of a sports league. Not the
President talking about bombing Syria or sending troops to fight the Ebola
outbreak in Africa. This was a sports
commissioner talking about the soap opera that has become the NFL.
I
ask why so much media attention for the NFL and one answer that I come up with
is that this is the media’s continued attempt to demean and degrade young Black
males. Never mind the fact that the
majority of NFL players, Black, White or otherwise cause no trouble, are
respected in their communities, and clearly know how to delineate what is
appropriate behavior on and off the football field. But that’s not newsworthy. Instead the media chooses to repeat images
over and over again showing Black males as aggressive and dangerous.
A
second answer that I come up with is that the excessive media coverage is a
diversion tactic designed to lessen the focus on all of the Black males who have
recently died while engaged with law enforcement. The media no longer gives these cases
attention, and it is a purposeful attempt to make people less concerned. But we cannot be distracted. We have to continually seek justice for
Chavis Carter in Arkansas, Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York,
John Crawford III in Ohio, and Charles Smith in Georgia; all Black males who
died while engaged with police. Police
officers have not been charged. Grand
Juries are moving at a snail’s pace.
They want you to forget. The television
news media is using the NFL to obstruct justice.
The
NFL will fix itself. It is a
multi-billion dollar organization that will make the necessary adjustments. The intense media attention will not make any
difference about that. But the
television news media will continue to lead each newscast with the NFL, while
people across America seek justice for those Black males killed seemingly for
no reason. Just imagine how much quicker
justice might be done if the news media gave the same kind of attention to
those stories. But instead the
television news media chooses to run a news conference by the Commissioner of
the NFL at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon; a time generally reserved for soap
operas. But I guess that makes sense.
SAM
Some
suggest that image is everything. I will
suggest that images are everything. Over the last few weeks America, via the
national news outlets, has been able to view images of young Black athletes
from Chicago and Philadelphia play in the Little League World Series. The Taney Dragons from Philadelphia and the
Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago captivated the attention of both
baseball connoisseurs and those who could care less about the game. These teams dominated media attention in an
event that traditionally has not seen a lot of Black participation.
The
images that we saw were of young boys and girls having fun, being committed, being
skilled, being disciplined. But more
important were the images of the parents who supported and encouraged these
children. Parents who sacrificed so that
their children could have this opportunity.
These
are the images of the Black experience in America that are not portrayed nearly
enough in the national media. We in the
community know that the efforts of these parents is not unique. Indeed, Black parents work as hard and
sacrifice as much as any other parent of any other ethnicity, but unfortunately,
the media rarely offers those stories and images opting instead for the
sensational.
We
know that the media is driven by economics. Those images that grab attention are the ones
used to sell newspapers and commercials.
Too many times those images of the Black experience in America are not
uplifting, but in the coverage of Taney of Philadelphia and Jackie Robinson
West of Chicago, the images were good.
The images were positive. And the
images sold a lot of newspapers and commercials.
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