The Demonization of Black Men In America

When babies are first born, the grown ups there to raise them often already having an idea of what they will be. These expectations are based off of the parents talents and personalities as well as what the parents do. As a result, They are never given their own identity until the early ages of adulthood because they are told that they can not do necessarily everything that they want because they are still minors who are undecided of who they are or want to be. The same thing happens to a lot of minorities and for longer amounts of time because they are not raised the “ideal” way. It sucks to have to be seen as someone else because someone set an example before or because it happens that someone might be “judging a book by its cover”. Unfortunately, the situation is similar and common for Black males. In addition to family expectations, they face the limiting stereotypes presented to them outside of the home. This stereotype loop, perpetuated by the news media, causes them to be demonized by the rest of society.

The media in America infamously identifies and calls out Black men as if they are a strange species that no one can control. The reason that these ideas of Black men are even imaginable is because the government has allowed them to be, by believing the stereotype themselves. On television news, they are not usually seen as news anchors, or even commercial spokesmen, but criminals. Michael Myers from The Huffington Post called out one of the biggest news stations for their demonization of Black men.

One blatant example of the discrimination of Black men happens to be from tv show hosts who usually sit down and invite celebrity guests on their show to talk about problems and situations going on in the world. Bill O'Reilly has gone as far as blaming Black men for majority of the violence in America."The media will not spotlight that much of the violent crime in America is being committed by young black men. There is a violent sub-culture in the African-American community that should be exposed and confronted."  Having a platform as big as Fox News broadcast that type of language was appalling. Fox allowed him to shame Black men as a whole with no repercussions. Black men are hardly ever given the chances or opportunities to become something other than the stereotypes they are given. If the tables were to have been turned and a Black man blamed White men for most of crimes in America, they definitely would have been penalized and made to issue an apology to his peers. Other Fox Show host such as Tomi Lahren and Megyn Kelly has even ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement by making fun of the senseless murders of innocent Black men by police and other “higher authorities.”  This movement was made to let people all over the country know that they valued Black Lives, and they were going to make sure that they could do as much as possible to prevent as many unlawful deaths as they could. The intentions of the group were never to make a certain group feel better than the other, but more of a motive to bring people together. By criticizing that moment and the injustice it seeks to address, the Fox host totally disregarded Black families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality.

Prevalent racial name-calling not only happens on national news channels, it also happens locally as well. The majority of the stories covered on the news are in a negative light rather than a positive one. So if the news station is in a predominantly Black area such as Philadelphia, people would see Black men plastered across the screen for supposedly committing numerous crimes. One blatant example of the discrimination of Black men happens to be from tv show hosts who usually sit down and invite celebrity guests on their show to talk about problems and situations going on in the world.

One significant difference is the way Black men are portrayed on the news for crimes versus how White men are portrayed. When a Black man’s face is plastered on the news for a crime, people will often see mugshots from previous arrests, pictures of them throwing up (what are called) “gang signs,and so called evidence from their social media accounts linking them to the crime. When a White man commits a crime and is less likely plastered across the television screen. you will see his graduation photos, family photos, and casual photos of him. America’s media uses these photos to show the world the image of scary Black men because they don’t want to see them as anything else but that.

Black men are categorized as these evil things and then told they do not qualify for certain positions and jobs when in reality the people broadcasting these stereotypes on the news are at fault. America’s news media institutionalizes the stereotype that Black men are demonized monsters. The media victimizes innocent people nationally, and seeing these negative images starts to make people think that Black men are really these evil beings. But Black men play so many roles:  fathers, husbands, sons, lawyers, doctors, teachers, psychiatrist, humans. By not seeing them in their true positions, you are allowing them to fall true to their stereotypes and not be the best person that they can be.