Remedying Anti-Blackness in the Media
A Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles in June, one of many sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Photo by Brett Morrison.
As Black Lives Matter has finally received mainstream support, the nation is now examining institutional racism in different forms. In a short time, for example, protests have led to the state of Mississippi’s removal of the Confederate symbol from its flag. As the nation finally appears ready to confront the ramifications of its symbols, protesters and actors are now also focused on the media’s role in enabling police brutality. A number of prominent figures, like Trevor Noah, have made the link between media’s glorification of the police—for example, cop shows which present lawbreaking police officers as roguish heroes, even when they’re illegally torturing suspects—and violence in real-life policing. This false depiction does not happen in a vacuum, and it is directly related to the lack of diversity behind the scenes in Hollywood. A petition is circulating to address this extremely urgent matter.
The corporate structure in Hollywood—which is essentially all white—does more than just portray cops as heroes. It reduces the portrayal of African Americans and other minorities to extremely stereotypical roles such as criminals, and this is if people of color are even shown. These media stereotypes have led to deaths in the streets of America, in the form of a rash of police killings of Black people. Part of the reason why police kill Black people is because they associate all Black people with thugs; this bias is directly related to pop culture’s repeated portrayal of African Americans as hoodlums, gangsters, and other extremely offensive stereotypes based on a warped depiction of urban life. This is how the media represents us. Not just news media—within film and television as well. A big part of this problem is that behind the scenes, Hollywood is almost all white, especially its executives, agents, talent managers, screenwriters, directors and producers. If there were more Black people behind the scenes in Hollywood, we could get truthful and accurate representation of Black people and Black issues.
Hollywood is claiming that Black lives matter. If that’s really their belief, then it’s time for them to hire Black people in these behind-the-scenes jobs and move away from stereotypical portrayals of Black people. Elected officials in California and New York should be a part of this, too, as Los Angeles and New York City are the nation’s media capitals. Similarly, the Hollywood unions are members of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization, and they can demand the expulsion of the police union for constantly defending police when they kill Black people.
While the media has misrepresented us as thugs, our people are dying, and not just at the hands of the police. Because Black people are severely underrepresented in private sector jobs with good health insurance and due to systematic racism in the healthcare system, we’re in poor health to begin with, so COVID-19 kills us in greater numbers. Thus, to all the companies—inside and outside of Hollywood—claiming Black Lives Matter: end the social exclusion of Black people. Bring us to the table, and hire us. This is not only important for issues of equality, but diverse voices would lead to more accurate films, television, and news.
Hollywood will only have lived up to its performative support for Black Lives Matter when people of color have proportionate representation in the media behind the scenes; until then, it is complicit in a harmful system.
We need justice.
Justin Samuels graduated from Teachers College in 2017 with a Master of Arts in English Education. He is currently a freelance writer based in Spain. He is a member of W.G.A. East, the union representing screenwriters, TV writers, and news writers.
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