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On the Good Men Project’s #StopRascism’s Social Interest Group’s convocast, moderated by Maleeha Malik and Ashok Selvam, we discussed media bias toward people of color. It started out with Maleeha’s observation of billboards. If the advertising related to commercial products – buy this – the social group represented was white, healthy, radiant, and 20-40 years old. When the billboards touted healthcare products – hospital, insurance, etc. – the social group included multi-racial individuals of all ages.
Racializing poverty
The media ends up racializing poverty by presenting a distorted image of black families. Aamna Mohdin reported that according to a study by non-profit civil rights advocacy group Color of Change and Family Story which looked at more than 800 local and national US news stories and opinion pieces between January 2015 and December 2016 (published online, in print, and on TV), the media overwhelmingly depicted black families as poor and dependent on welfare, black fathers as absent, and consistently overhyped the link between black families and criminality. However, when it comes to white families, the picture painted is often of social stability.
In the US, black families represent 59% of the poor in the media, but makeup just 27% of the poor of the general population, says the study. White families, on the other hand, represent 17% of the poor in media, but makeup 66% of the poor across the country.
Characters in Children’s books
The disproportion doesn’t end here. In of the lead characters in children’s books, 73% are white, 12% are not human, 7.6% are Black, 3.3% are Asian, 2.4% are Hispanic/Latino, and 0.9% are Native Americans.
- 76.9% White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “White” or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.
- 13.3% Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “Black, African Am., or Negro”; or report entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.
- 01.3% American Indian and Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. This category includes people who indicate their race as “American Indian or Alaska Native” or report entries such as Navajo, Blackfeet, Inupiat, Yup’ik, or Central American Indian groups or South American Indian groups.
- 05.7% Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicate their race as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian” or provide other detailed Asian responses.
- 00.02% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicate their race as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” and “Other Pacific Islander” or provide other detailed Pacific Islander responses.
- 02.6% Two or more races. People may have chosen to provide two or more races either by checking two or more race response check boxes, by providing multiple responses, or by some combination of check boxes and other responses.
- 17.8% Hispanics or Latinos are those people who classified themselves in one of the specific Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino categories listed on the Census 2010 questionnaire -“Mexican,” “Puerto Rican,” or “Cuban”-as well as those who indicate that they are “another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.”
- 61.3% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino are individuals who responded “No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino” and who reported “White” as their only entry in the race question.
Population diversity is well over 30%
As you can see, the definition of White or any of the other categories is less than clear. Therefore, I’m combining Black or African Americans with “two or more races” for a total population percentage of 15.9%. Add in the Hispanic population, for a whopping total of 33.7%. For children’s literature, these stats say the Black Americans and Hispanic Americans are underrepresented. The media and children’s books, if they were authentic, would show this.
Women are also underrepresented
Although not mentioned in our discussion, according to the Washington Post commentary by Jennie Yabroff, no more than 33 percent of children’s books in any given year featured an adult woman or female animal, but adult men and male animals appeared in 100 percent of the books. Note: women make up over 50% of the population.
Equality will defeat subjugation
Media, in general, supports many divisive isms that undermine the truth: we are a country of human beings, of all ages, of all abilities, from a diverse ancestry. Our visuals, in all media, need to be representative to overthrow the myth of white privilege and support equality.
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Photo credit: Getty Images