Bill Cosby, Eric Garner and how media controls our reality.

I've been thinking about media and how they control our knowledge. It may be the sole cause of many of the problems this country faces.  American culture is one that is deeply engrained with racism, misogyny and an abundance of prejudice. There seems to also be engrained a denial of racism and an abundance of subconscious prejudice.  There is the belief that one who is without prejudice is "color blind".  However, to be class, color or gender blind in this society simply means that you ignore rooted economic, gender and racial bias. In order to consider individuals equally you must factor in the inequalities each must have to face. Those who attempt to be "color-blind" are in fact the most biased. Many of these inequalities are rarely talked about or discussed making it nearly impossible for individuals to truly be considered equally.  

For the longest time all news from natural disasters to gossip about celebrity and political personalities had to come from a mainstream media source to be considered credible.  Even ideas of what we cohesively consider to be "American" are, to a certain extent, dictated to us thru media.  The idea of the all-american character would not exist except for its portrayal in ads, film and television.   Historically, american media is extremely biased. Until the past few decades or so most television, movies, news and radio were controlled by a rather homogenous group of companies that rarely gave truthful or complete representations of other groups of people. Because of this, those who are not a part of a racial or economic minority have a completely skewed perception of cultural realities in this country. How could they not?

Things have begun to change. Everyone now has the ability to document the world around them and distribute that information to the world thru social networks.  We now have the ability to contribute to the news we share more than ever.  By giving the power to report to all, we have the opportunity to see reality from the perspective of those who have been under-represented. For example, attractive women are by no means a tiny cross-section of New York's population however, as a man, it came as a complete shock to me the extent of harassment one gets on a daily basis from c cat-callers and lascivious men as an attractive woman walking down the streets of NYC.  Where was this expose researched and aired... YouTube.  From Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl to If  Asians said Stuff White People Say, ordinary people are showing reality from their perspective broadening our knowledge of who Americans are.

Recently however, a very peculiar thing took place. Low income African Americans took control of media.  They filmed and circulated examples of prejudice in America's police forces. They documented events that were examples of an almost constant stream of discriminatory and abusive practices that may not be practiced by every officer but most certainly are practiced by officers in every city that has ethnic or economic minorities.  It's so pervasive that nearly every black man has fallen victim to it multiple times.  Nonetheless, these cases are rarely given national attention.  The last case to be so popularly documented was Emmett Till, thanks to indy publications Ebony/Jet magazines. Not only were these latest events filmed and circulated but attention was once again directed to the "resolution" so that the world could see before them an example of how the judicial system allows, if not perpetuates, these unjust practices.  

This corruption goes beyond race.  It covers all the bias that is inherent in our culture. I have personally witnessed the unequal treatment of men and women and sexual-orientation discrimination by police, a completely biased level of respect given to the poor versus wealthy (or wealthy appearing) in court, and government officials ignorance of disabilities and handicaps.  There was a case in chicago of a deaf man being shot by a police officer for continuously signing that he was deaf and not getting on the ground when he was told to do so.  It was so clear that it was a deaf man signing but the officer thought he was on drugs because his speech was slurred and he kept making "crazy" hand gestures. This is just one example of the dehumanization of people who are considered less than: the poor, old, handicap, criminals (or suspected criminals), minorities, even artists and activist. Just following the Michael brown incident graffiti artist D Demz was ran down by cops in the line of duty. According to many, the officers version of what took place is nearly impossible to have actually taken place but charges were not filed and the murder was considered justified. 

On a side note- if a criminal who shows no remorse is considered a threat to society, shouldn't the same be true for a law officer who kills someone, justified or not

As I stated before, the problems with the police and judicial systems go way beyond race.  However, the racial bias against African Americans is so subconsciously engrained in every part of american culture and non-minorities are so unaware of it,  that it's no wonder that it is the focus of protests.   For hundreds of years African Americans were stripped of any since of self worth.  Their history was taken away; their language, religions, families were separated.  They were banned from being educated or educating themselves.  Often people were mated like livestock their children being sold off like cattle to the highest bidder.  White people were conditioned to believe that blacks were not  human that they were animals, property.  Whites were conditioned to believe that African Americans had no right to anything including the products of their labors, their ideas, inventions even their actual bodies were property of the slavemasters to be used as he pleased. Poor whites were employed to carry out the most cruel positions as overseers and bounty hunters for run away slaves.  They carried out beatings, pried babies away from their mothers breast.  Our courts and  law enforcement  were set up to give no credibility to the poor or uneducated who might be witness to unjust  practices.  Wealthy could believe they were good to their slaves.  The whole concept of a grand jury allows the courts to stop a case from going to trial when the defendant commits a crime the court would like to overlook.  African Americans were convinced to believe in a god that promised them a better life in the here after if they would just have faith that all the atrocities committed against them were gods will.  They were conditioned to believe that anything could be taken away from them by any white person and that everything they were allowed was a gift from their master.  The Emancipation Proclamation did nothing to institutionalized racism and we continued to create systems with these same inherent beliefs:  A lucrative  prison system privately ran that allows wealthy to make money off targeting minority youth, incarcerating them in prisons that do not rehabilitate but instead condition single offenders into becoming permanent members of a prison culture that is almost impossible to escape once one has assimilated to it; a culture that feeds off the undereducated,  underemployed, and minorities who once in-prisoned have few options for survival except to engage in activities that would result in longer prison sentences; An education  system where even in public schools the wealthy are given a huge advantage so that the poor remain undereducated making them prime targets for the prison/slave trade; A welfare program that punishes those who work and a minimum wage that makes the transition from being program dependent to self-sufficient nearly impossible.  

Beyond institutionalized racism, Americans also suffer from socialized cultural prejudice against African Americans.  It is engrained in white American culture to fear the black man and lust after the black woman.  He is the thief and the mad man she is the mother and the vixen (perhaps Freud and the greeks were right and every man wants to kill his father and sleep with his mother).  Many blacks who find their much suppressed sense of self worth fall prey to white socialization.  They think of themselves as exceptions. Many Americans, white and black, look at problems in the black communities and don't see that they are problems caused by generations of corrupt practices by America that it will take a fundamental restructuring of beliefs of everyone to overcome.  Instead they use terms like black-on-black crime to blame it merely on our blackness.  The main problem is that many Americans  have no clue what "blackness" is.  Many don't  understand the term African American.  They don't grasp that we are the only group of people besides orphans who  don't know and often have no way of finding out what country their ancestors are from (except for the few who's owners happend to keep excellent track of their sales receipts.)  They don't understand a people that were taken from their countries.  They don't understand a race of people who without a country claimed the whole continent but despite this grand cultural reclaiming also realize that their African heritage has been forever transformed by their American experiences.  I believe that the slogan Black Lives Matter is a much greater phrase than just saying we don't deserve to be killed by cops.  I think it is a breaking free from a mental state of bondage America has been in in regards to its people of color.  It is time to realize black peoples significance and potential.  The only way blacks can do this is by finding and creating self-worth.  We can no longer complain about lack of opportunities or recognition from other people.  We must create  our own opportunities and recognize our own excellence. Most importantly we must tell our stories of what it is to be an American when you are of African decent.  We must stop supporting the proliferation of  stories about us told from a skewed perspective that perpetuate a limited perception of blackness.  We must speak up when such stories are told.   Innercity Blacks have dealt with so much unjustified killings from cops, from gangs, from drugs that we've become numb.  I believe when these recent stories that we've heard time and time again were found shocking to white Americans it was a bit of a wake up call and a final realization that Black Lives Do Matter.

I hope it doesn't deter from what I've just written but I find peculiar that while this grand reawakening of African Americans is taking place,  mainstream media decided that this was the perfect time to reveal accusations against a black role model whose perception  they have been controlling for decades.  The now not so recent allegations about Bill Cosby started not with women finally speaking up but with media releasing charges that were DECADES old. Charges that had deemed "unsubstantiated and fantastical," by Cosby's Attorney in the 60's making it almost impossible for other victims to come forward because no one would have believed or even listened to them.  I weep for the women who had to remain in silence and bear the weight of suspecting abuse being doubted for so many years.  If he is guilty I think it's sad that not only does he have these horrible deeds in his past but he lacks the moral fortitude to confess to his wrong doing.  While I do think these charges change my impression of Bill Cosby the man I think they have no impact on the the work of Bill Cosby.  If anything it makes him human.  Who knows perhaps he was so ambitious in hopes of making up for all the wrong he had done.  Sometimes Great people do bad things very bad things.  It makes him a criminal, it possibly means that he has some troubles that would cause him to act out in such a way but it does not stop him from being a cultural icon and one of the greatest comedians of all times. 

I applaud the reporters and witnesses that spoke up.  Everyone doesn't have the courage and strength it takes to speak up about the atrocities of the world or the hardships they've had to face.  As an artist I believe it is my duty to do so. I pray to find the courage to speak of all those things that weigh my heart heavy, to confess the things I am ashamed of, to speak up so that others can hear my story and know that they are not alone.  I hope police that are aware of corrupt officers among them speak up as well and we make the police worthy of the respect they deserve.