BALLER05 DEEP THOUGHT SESSION

Media have divided the working class and stereotyped young African-American males as gangsters or drug dealers. As a result of such treatment, the media have crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement. The media have focused on the negative aspects of the black community (e.g. engaging in drug use, criminal activity, welfare abuse) while maintaining the cycle of poverty that the elite wants.

There are no universally accepted and recorded codes or rules, which apply to journalists in news selection and production. The media have devoted too much time and space to "enumerating the wounded" and too little time to describing the background problems of African-Americans. 4 What is not a crisis is not usually reported and what is not or cannot be made visual is often not televised. The news media respond quickly and with keen interest to the conflicts and controversies of racial stories. For the most part, they disregard the problems that seep beneath the surface until they erupt in the hot steam that is the "live" news story.

The media have not studied important events in the African-American community today. Issues such as urbanization, education, poverty, and other elements have a significant bearing on positions of the black community. A good example of this is the media portrayal of the Los Angeles riot in 1992. What we witnessed in Los Angeles was the consequence of a lethal linkage of economic decline, cultural decay, and political lethargy in American life.

Race was the visible catalyst, not the underlying cause, as media portrayed it to be. 5 The portrayal of this individual event encouraged the perception that the black community was solely responsible for the riots and disturbances. According to reports, of those arrested, only 36% were black and of those arrested, more than a third had full-time jobs and most had no political affiliation. 6 Some 60% of the rioters and looters were made up of Hispanics and whites. Yet the media did not report this underlying fact. The media portrayal of this event along with other race riots has again inflicted negative charges and scorn on black awareness. Race riots in Miami in 1980 were similar to the later Los Angeles riots. Here the media also refused to search for the underlying cause behind the protest choosing instead only to depict African-American males engaged in violence and destruction. The underlying factors behind these problems were never researched or explained in prior stories.

Yo....Black people in General need to get out the mentality of how they are portrayed on the national level, when it gets down to it, Black people have to take themselves out that negative state of mind that they cant do better. Who cares how the Media looks at Blacks as a whole, You have to take care of how the world sees you, when it comes down to it, you are your own stat. When you start with yourself, and everyone starts with themself, the outlook will change.

Stop Looking at the White man as ur Enemy.

As a result of such treatment, the media have crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement.

No.They have not cursed your hope for the future,  they have only cursed ur hope if you believe that. If you have enough drive and self determination no one can stop you from reaching your goals. The problem most Af amercan males have short term goals, How am i going to make this money know? How a i going to afford these new Jordans?. Education will get you thet money. Trust me.

Iss cause black people iz from da hood and we gangsta wit ours,

and they think cause we where our sagging jeans and our white tees or we sit on corners at night that were drug dealers. Most people

arrested they days are blacks, and sometimes iss jus cause its how we present ourselves. An example is when they try to judge A.I for those who dont know Allen iverson they think hes some type thug or gangsta cause he like to rock his braids and he wanna dress the way he want when he hurt, he dont wanna wear suits and sh*t he wanna wear a tee and some jeans, thas jus how he wanna be that dosent make him a gangsta. Another example is for those who watch NBA basketball is when they changed the rules talkin bout u have to atleast goto 1 year of collage b4 going to the NBA, wana know why they did this? Because 75% of NBA players were indeed blacks getting drafted out of highschool. So they thought they could set us back by making this b/s rule. And Jermaine Oneal of the indiana pacers, spoke his mind on sportscenter about this and he said this is a bunch of b/s, cause he knows what theyre trying to do, they ""try'n to stop a black mans hustle"". I said that to one of my teachers b4 and i got in trouble , lol  btw he was italian!