Linked production- 'Two minute cinema adverts that raises awareness of the dangers of misrepresentation that reflectsa different approach by showing this group in a new more positive light.'
The silenced majority
Constant media stories about gang crime create a depressing and unbalanced picture of black youngsters. So why are their positive achievements ignored?
Published Monday 25th August 2008
Since January, the term knife crime has been used more than 1,500 times by the national press - and it is a fair bet that most media images associated with these figures will be of young black men. Unsurprisingly, this is leading to a growing sense of frustration among black community leaders, academics and, not least, black youngsters themselves, over what they see as blatant misrepresentation.
Black youths who fit this media stereotype represent a tiny fraction of the young black population as a whole, they argue, and while negative stories about black teenagers are almost guaranteed headlines, the positive achievements of black youth go largely ignored.
This trend has consequences beyond creating an unbalanced picture. Numerous studies have shown a clear link between media furore and draconian policy-making, says Kjartan Sveinsson, the author of a Runnymede Trust report on the ways in which popular understandings of race and crime influence media reporting, and vice versa. "The tragedy is this can increase racial tension on the street and do little to stem the violence," he says.
Which in turn, of course, leads to further reports of violence, and the circle continues. In April 2007, for instance, after a number of high-profile shootings in south London, Tony Blair made a speech to the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce. Was he perhaps responding to media pressure when he asked: "When are we going to start saying this [gang crime] is a problem amongst a section of the black community and not, for reasons of political correctness, pretend it has nothing to do with it?"
There was no ambiguity when David Cameron spoke after the death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool, singling out the media by saying: "Deaths by fists, knives and guns are becoming a regular feature of British news ... these murders must draw a line in the sand."
In Manchester, one group of black teenagers, who believe they should have made headlines for the right reasons, are angry at their treatment by the media. So much so they have published an open letter on the subject (see below
The Reclaim project began as a pilot in the autumn of 2007 at Urbis, an exhibition centre in Manchester, to work with 12-14-year-old boys from Moss Side and other perceived trouble spots in the city. The idea was spawned as a reaction to rising youth violence and the negative portrayal of young people, especially from the African-Caribbean community.
The project involves six months of intensive mentoring and events, including working with local statutory bodies and creative and sports providers. Self-development, discipline and anger-management courses form part of the syllabus, along with teamwork and respect for legitimate authority. Children on the project have drawn up an advisory document on combating gun and knife crime and presented it to Gordon Brown.
The scheme has been a remarkable success - and Reclaim has become synonymous with a powerful youth voice. Its story should be positive, but some of the young people involved feel they have been either ignored or that when journalists have turned up, most have only wanted to question them on guns and gangs.
In particular, some of the boys were unhappy about their treatment at the hands of a production company filming a documentary. They say they had understood it would be about their involvement with Reclaim, but the interviewer constantly brought up the subject of guns and gangs.
Fair representation?
On one occasion, the boys had been to a formal meeting and were wearing suits. According to 14-year-old Akeim, he and other boys were asked to go home and change into tracksuits and hooded tops and were then interviewed in the park where a 15-year-old boy, Jessie James, was murdered. Another boy, Amari, says the programme, shown on Channel 4 in July, failed to include a single mention of the Reclaim project and "was all about Jessie James". The interviewer asked whether he, or any of the other boys, had ever shot anybody, or been shot at, Amari says.
C4 says the producers "strongly feel" the young men were accurately and fairly represented in the short film, which was shown as part of a season of programmes about gun and knife crime. The boys were filmed where they said they regularly spend their time and were happy to be interviewed in those locations. They were not asked to dress in a way they wouldn't normally, and there was no intention or attempt to portray the young people as stereotypical or negative characters, the broadcaster says.
Professor Gus John, a fellow of the Institute of Education at the University of London, works closely with families affected by violence in Manchester. "When black youths read about themselves," he says, "it goes something like this: you are a persistently under-performing group; you are six times more likely to be excluded from school and be a young offender; you may already be in a gang, or likely to join one. The likely causes of your condition are: absentee fathers; absence of positive role models; and being surrounded by women who cannot control or motivate you. You aim too low and do not believe people like you can succeed."
Yet the reality, John says, is that there are a large number of young black males with high aspirations, who have a focus on learning and who succeed. "Often, these young men come from the same background as those who are underachieving at school, or involved with the criminal justice system. It is a sad fact that we seldom hear about these young people."
Reclaim's open letter
"We are a group of 14-year-old boys from the Reclaim project; since the project started, we have been approached by so many different newspapers, magazines and TV companies, most of who want to talk to us about guns and knives and gangs. We keep trying to explain that we are not involved in gangs and crime; we're black boys doing positive things in this area - and then journalists go away, as they tell us that's not the story people are interested in ...
The project has changed our lives in so many ways. We now consider ourselves reliable, respectable, articulate and creative young black men. We have been set difficult challenges and worked hard to achieve them. We have written a manifesto for our area and given up our weekends to distribute it, display it and explain it to the adult members of our community. We have put on parties for vulnerable members of our community, lobbied the leader of our council and spoken in front of hundreds of people ...
Negative stories of young black boys as criminals, or victims of crime, reinforces the idea that this is the reality for black people. Some young black boys will try and live up to the images they see in the media. Adults constantly criticise teenagers for being irresponsible, but the way the media tries to represent our area as if everyone was a drugs runner or gangster is totally irresponsible and morally wrong."
Article #2
Entertaining or exploitative?
Today's UK launch of Black Entertainment Television has raised high expectations. Finally, the black community will have a main media outlet of its own. That can only be a good thing, can't it? Well, not necessarily. BET may be promising to deliver "black cultural content to the world", but the question is "of what kind?"If BET America is anything to go by, anyone hoping that the channel will improve the representation of black people in the UK media is likely to end up sorely disappointed.
Black and urban youth are the target audience for BET, an American cable channel founded by African-American media mogul Robert L Johnson in 1980. While music programmes such as the popular 106 & Park and Sunday morning gospel shows are pretty harmless, the dominance of hip-hop videos and original programming which promote misogynist, consumerist, violent and stereotypical images of black people has earned BET the moniker Black Exploitation Television.
Last year, the channel came under fire from the African-American community, including film-maker Spike Lee and religious leaders, over Hot Ghetto Mess (later renamed We Got To Do Better), a programme which featured black people in a range of highly embarrassing situations.
Two big companies withdrew their advertising, supporting critics' claims that the show perpetuated negative stereotypes. Such is the strength of feeling in some sections of the African-American community, that a protest is being held tomorrow outside the home of Debra Lee, BET's chairman and chief executive.
Supporters of the channel argue that BET's only responsibility is to provide entertainment. However, when that is at the expense of a community already struggling under the weight of a host of social issues, that is a big problem.
With gun crime on the rise, does the UK really need BET to bring us programmes such as American Gangster?
The UK is in need of greater black representation in the media and a network such as BET appears to be the perfect answer. BET is excellent at representing black people. However, this just happens to be in the worst possible light. I'll be sticking with the BBC.
Lola Adesioye is a US-based writer, specialising in issues affecting the black community
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