VERDAD

Professors

 

Professors are educators at universities that teach the course about African-American history and the correlation it has to the media. Due to the fact that they discuss the issues that African-Americans face in the United States, the professors also discuss the current issues that spark debate today all while also addressing the role of the media. Many look over cases of racial inequality and injustice, like the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. They are able to have a impact on a person’s outlook of the case and of the overall issues in this country that regard African-Americans. Many believe that the problems faced by African-Americans are due to the institutional racism that remains in this country that dates back a long time ago. They believe that many build off these stereotypes and racial profiles of African-Americans, like the media. Kelly Welch, from Villanova University, reflects on the racial stereotyping of African-Americans as criminals in "Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling." Welch says, "The stereotyping of Blacks as criminals is so persuasive throughout society that ‘criminal predator’ is used as a euphemism for ‘young Black male’". Many believe that in cases, likethe Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases, racial profiling and stereotypes are dangerous because they can often result in death. Mary Beth Oliver, from the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University, argues that negative depictions lead to police shootings of innocent lives in "African American Men as ‘Criminal and Dangerous’: Implications of Media Portrayals of Crime on the ‘Criminalization’ of African American Men." On the other hand, others also believe that there should be new leadership that is led by the young generation since they are the future of this generation. Many argue that young adults were rallying during the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Jason Nichols, an African American Studies professor at the University of Maryland, stated in his lecture that it would make a huge difference for students to speak up and rally rather than the leaders like Al Sharpton. Dr. Nichols justifies his point by explaining the effect the student groups had during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.