BY KAWANA N. WILLIAMS, LPC
Editor’s Note: In a continuation of her Media, Why You Gotta Do Us So Dirty? commentary, Kawana Williams offers up her opinion for ICU.
One would think that, as a woman that has four jobs (yes, FOUR), I wouldn’t have time to notice the intricacies that come with false propaganda and repetitive negative imagery. One of the jobs where I work, an Afro-Centric novelty store named “Culture Connection” located in Englewood on the South Side of Chicago, affords me the opportunity to converse with handfuls of individuals about this particular topic. My supervisor and I are always having either a lengthy conversation or a friendly debate about the media and how they are purposely trying to paint African-Americans to be the worst of the worst in society. It’s almost as if whoever runs the major means of media mass production get off on showing the absolute worst-case scenarios with regards to my people and our communities.
Nothing further perpetuated this belief for me than an article about Gakirah Barnes’ murder making headline news in the Chicago Sun-Times on June 6, 2014. Not long after the article was released to the public, Father Michael Pfleger, famous civil rights activist and presiding pastor of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois, posted this comment on his Facebook page:
“I have to say I am a bit disturbed at the decision of the Sun Times to make their Sunday Front Page and all of pages 8 & 9 talking about a 17 year old girl Gakirah Barnes who was murdered, talking about how she was a street gang member an assassin….I’m not questioning whether the info is accurate or not. Just wondering what is the Real Point? Is it part of the continuing drive to make us less outraged if a person killed was a “gang member” ? Or is it part of the continuing conspiracy to make us believe that most these folk killed out here are gang members! Both of these possibilities anger me…Gang member or not, no life deserves death…and no most of those killed in our streets are NOT Gang Members…..So what’s your real point???”
I had to ask myself the very same question as I stood at a gas station in Oak Park staring at an article about Gakirah Barnes, especially considering that most of what was in June’s article about Barnes was strikingly similar in detail to other articles that had been written about Barnes since her murder in April 2014. Prior to her murder, and the original articles posted about her I had not heard of this young lady; I didn’t know any more or less about Barnes than I did once the Chicago Sun-Times article was released on this young lady again this past weekend.
Here is my issue with the media in general, and the Chicago Sun-Times in general: like Father Pfleger, I’m not negating whether or not the information offered about the young lady is valid; I’ve lived near, and grew up with, enough original versions of the carbon copy of Gakirah Barnes to know that most of what has been said about her has some validity. Nor am I negating that the story needed to be told; perhaps if more stories like this were told, they would start serving more as warnings to kids Barnes’ age about what being “’bout that life” is really about: death. My question is simply this: WHAT WAS THE POINT?
Yes, it is true that we lost another life to the violence that has grown to be the norm within the heart of Chicago; Yes, it might be true that this young lady was an assassin for the Gangster Disciples; Yes, it might be true that this young lady’s life, and the circumstances of it, seem to breed her for a life of crime, violence, and, unfortunately, her demise; Yes, it might be true that this young lady’s death speaks to the countless amounts of misguided and innocent children, youth and adults that have lost their lives in this manner, or at the hands of people such as Barnes. But again, the question that burns the most in my mind is this:
WHAT WAS THE POINT?
There already seems to be a full-on attack on our communities when it comes to the media. For every negative thing that happens with us, the media likes to force five more things wrong that we do, or have done, down our (and society’s) throats as if being f***-ups is ALL we’re good at, or prone to doing and being. And even with my four jobs, I’m not so busy that I don’t know, or am not aware, of the POSITIVE things that have happened in our community. For instance, why did the Chicago Sun-Times NOT make a headline article out of the story about Jamil Boldian, Krishaun Branch, and Rayvaughn Hines? All three were young men who, as students at the all-boy’s Urban Prep High School, were all struggling with finances, police records, academics, self-esteem, and a plethora of other issues that most of us from the Englewood area suffer from. ALL went on to earn their undergraduate degrees, with one having graduated from Fisk University (not only MY alma mater, but one of the top-ranked HBCUs in the nation).
Why Grace Bush wasn’t made headlining news, I can’t say. You’ve heard of her, right? The young lady from Florida who earned both her high school diploma AND her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Florida Atlantic University within days of each other is PRIMETIME news, and should be covered as such.
But what does the Chicago Sun-Times choose to do: recycle an old story to sensationalize what needs no more attention. And what does society do? Allow it!
AND I’M SICK OF IT!
Since when did it become okay for the media on a MASS SCALE to assassinate the character of the African-American? Since when did it become okay to broadcast the WORST of us, yet hide the BEST of us? Since when did it become okay for us, as a people, to sit around idly and act as if the media doesn’t affect us and how others view us? As I type this blog entry, I can feel the fires of the phoenix burning within me; not because I’m preparing for change, but because I’m ANGRY AND TIRED. I do what I can to be a walking, talking, living, and breathing example of what being black and proud REALLY looks like; I choose to associate myself with those who do the same. What I can’t stand is when OTHERS, who know NOTHING of our people and our culture past what they’re PAID to know, CHOOSE topics such as the murder of Gakirah Barnes as the staple of news that is associated with the African-American community.
Sun-Times: SHAME ON YOU! You REALLY thought that the re-release of that particular piece of news was necessary? You had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE to write about? To speak about? To showcase?
Bullsh*t at its finest! **turns around, gives editor a kiss**
DO BETTER!
Intellectual Consortium Uncovered 