AARM Holds Second Event on the Media and Racism

On Wednesday, April 22nd, Activists Against Racism Movement (AARM) held our second event focused on building an ongoing, working relationship between the community and members of the media. This event was part of our campaign to work together with media representatives to counter perpetuation and reinforcement of individual and institutionalized racism by mass-media. We want the media to become a more positive force that can help produce solutions for outstanding socioeconomic, political, and cultural issues and problems within our local, regional and national communities.

Between 50 and 100 people attended the event, which featured small group discussions surrounding basic questions about racism — what racism is, how racism affects people and who is racist? AARM also announced two major initiatives that we are starting in conjunction with the media organizations present. One is to organize a "mixing with the media" day where the community can have a chance to meet members of the media on an individual basis. The second is to get Attorney General Eric Holder to come to Rochester in order to start more dialogue on the issue of racism. This event was a follow up to a previous night organized by AARM on Februrary 25th.

The main focus of the night was to begin a conversation on racism — a conversation that AARM intends to keep going. AARM interviewed several people present, including both community members and media representatives, to get their perspectives on the night. We present those to you because we think it's critical that this discussion happens on a much larger scale.

Overall Impressions of the discussion

This event was one more step in this ongoing process that AARM has been pushing in order to collaborate between the mass media and the Rochester community. Our opinion is that there doesn't need to be a separate entity — the media up in the sky. They are part of the community just as we are. And if we really want to have an accurate portrayal of the way the Rochester community functions we need to have a real relationship. This is just one more step in that process in building relationships.

I think the discussions went very well. Of course they varied, everyone is coming from a different place and everyone has a different opinion on what racism is, how it affects them and who it affects. There are so many different things to take into account, from what the media can do to fix this problem to what we as individuals can do to fix this problem and what we collectively can do. The discussions were really varied, but it was important that they were even occurring — that we are finally talking about this and not just sweeping it under the rug.
- Tim Adams, AARM

It was a dramatic difference [from the last event] because there was more of a dialogue. There was a lot of interactions and we really got into talking about core issues as it relates to racism. In some ways, we didn't really talk about the media and their involvement and that might have been a good thing, especially given that there was a lot of media present here as opposed to our last meeting, where there was just leaders of media. We had a substantial amount - 8 folks - from channel 8. R News had a substantial amount. I think that's very important that we all hear the community dialogue, because, as unfortunate as it is, sometimes we come into the public meetings and forums and we're in for 20 minutes and we're out. And you don't hear the discussion. So I think that was an important part of the format tonight. And I was glad to see that discussion keep on going and AARM keeping it going cause I think that was an important component.
- Jerry Walsh, Channel 8

Overall I thought it was a good discussion. People got a chance to express, you know, their point of view. It was a real open dialogue. I like the people who actually came — it takes a lot of heart to do that because racism is a big issue in this country. For people from all walks of life to come and talk about it is great to see. I would like to see what's going to happen after this.
- Raborn Allah, community member

I loved the table dialogue because I thought it was more intimate and people — especially people who sometimes may be quieter — may have a easier time sharing with a group of 8 people versus a whole room. So I really thought it was an opportunity for everybody to have a voice and everybody did except for one person.
- Ed Buttaccio, R News

What did you talk about in your group?

As a sign language interpreter, we are not allowed to voice our opinion. According to the code of ethics we are strictly supposed to give the message to the student and leave the room. However, it doesn't work like that, because when there is blatant racism in the classroom, I feel an obligation to not accept the unacceptable. Sometimes, if the teacher makes a racist remark, I will then wait until the bell rings and then will, as quietly and calmly as possible, ask him, what did he mean by that particular comment? Then he will make up some silly story about why he said that and I'll just say "thank you very much, I needed clarification as an interpreter that my student is getting the right kind of communication, so I don't miscommunicate any of what is being said in the room." It happens very often: racism in the city schools. It's rampant and it's shocking still to me, but it happens, and that's what I was discussing at the table.

(I asked Leah about the third question of the night, "who is racist". Many people present focused on the KKK or people at the top of the white power. But I asked what about the much more common situation of people who go about their daily business without challenging racism.)

You're part of the problem. If you don't say anything, if you don't stand up to the plate and say something, to me it means that you agree with the racists. If you're sitting at a dinner table and someone says "do you mind if I tell an off-color joke?" I say always say "yes I mind." And of course everyone looks at me and thinks I'm completely insane. But then I say, why did you ask that question if you didn't really want a response? I always say, "yes I mind, please don't do it" and they don't. It's so acceptable and I think people may be so used to it that they just choose to ignore it or they are too afraid to stand up and say something, or they're afraid of confrontation. I don't look at it as a confrontation, I look at it as a consultation. So if you have a consultation with people, you're just opening up the conversation and you're saying, "you're a role model in this classroom", it's unacceptable. I was raised like that my whole life, so that's why I'm always active in it.
- Lisa Zahra, community member

One of the most [important things] was being able to sit down in small groups and have real candid conversations, face-to-face, with people from every part of our community and really understand words that some people haven't heard yet, like "white privilege" like "black shame". What does that mean? People don't normally have those conversations. We're finally crossing that line and sometimes it gets a little heated. You could tell some people were feeling a little bit uncomfortable, but that's the first step. I made some great connections tonight with people I would otherwise not know. And I'm really glad I did because they really opened my eyes — and I consider myself a pretty opened-minded person. It's a really good conversation for everybody, especially those of us in the media.

- Leah George, R News Reporter

What is the role and responsibility of the media, in a society where racism exists?

One thing the media can do is realize how important their role is in society. A lot of people get their world view from what they see on TV, whether it's a commercial, a sitcom or the news. A lot of people really view the world through their television. So if we have a white-dominated, euro-centric media, people are going to internalize those thoughts and that perspective. That's how racism is perpetuated, that's how white supremacy is perpetuated. That's how a lot of our problems are perpetuated. The city of Rochester is so diverse that you can't just have that one perspective. I think just realizing this, how critical their job is, and then to act on it is a really important way to confront this issue.
- Tim Adams, AARM

Somebody said it in there that we're all humans. And we need to make sure that when we're covering the news we're not covering a story because of the color of a person's skin. It needs to be because there's a legitimate story. We can't go overboard on it, it's got to be as straight, down the road, fair as possible.

[We took out of the last discussion that], when there's a shooting or some violence there needs to be context or perspective for that. We went out and we talked about youth violence in the city. We went out and we didn't talk to the police chief, we didn't talk to the mayor, they didn't put their spin on it. We went and found 19-year old kids that admittedly were in gangs since the age of 11 or 12 and got out of it. And we talked to them about why? What was the key point? Why were you in it to begin with? What was that like and what made you get out? And on both cases, it was fear. One young man was shot, one young man was in prison for a little while, one had a young daughter and said I don't want this for my kids. And that fear had changed them. And I think that was something that our discussions with AARM that started in January opened our eyes to it. That it can't be surface reporting. We have to get down into what's going on in the community. And it can't be the mayor's statement or the police chief's statement because they're not the community.
- Jerry Walsh, Channel 8

I think first of all from the media's perspective — and I'm glad to see many of the media here because unless we acknowledge that perhaps there's an issue then we will never do anything differently. So mainstream media, and when I say that I mean channel 8, channel 13, so on and so forth, here is an acknowledge that we might be on to something, there may be some things that we can change, we need to get a better understanding of the issues. For, me representing the media but also representing the African-American community I think it's a little different because I have perhaps a little different perspective. One of the things we try to do is get the minority perspective in the media — not that I have a corner on the "black perspective" because on any issue there are a number of different perspectives that could be African-American perspectives. But for me I think it's a good thing that the media are here and they are also participating in the discussion. It also gives me an opportunity to build a relationship with some of the other media professionals that might have been a little more difficult for me to do without AARM putting together this forum.

Our mission as a newspaper is to give the African-American perspective, but over and above that, we've taken the approach that we're not a "militant paper". One of our goals is to build bridges and not walls. We want to create more understanding. One of the issues that came up last year was the issue of the public defender. I think we were able to show a community perspective, in terms of an African-American community, on that issue. Perhaps some of the other media were focusing on "the facts" as they see it, but often times the facts are not really the facts because perception is also reality. And many times there is a whole different perception with a different people.

When you're talking about institutionalized racism and the way certain groups of people are portrayed within in the media, the media has to begin to also look at perceptions and that's a huge part of it. We talked about the black gentleman in Greece who was shown in the media in shackles, but if you keep showing black men in shackles that's creating the perception in people that all black men are criminals, which we know is not fact.
- Dave McCleary, Minority Reporter

I think we have to represent what is going on in the community and we can't sanitize it in any way. We have to call it what it is. That's our job. We can't filter it. We just have to cover what's happening. If people are talking about it, we have to talk about it. If actions happen that we have to question, then that's what we do. We just have to be a reflection on what's happening in the community.

I think we have a responsibility to make sure that we reflect what's going on and to accurately portray things that does not portray any bias. We always are making choices and when we talk about bias and balancing our reporting, the more people you talk to and the more people you interface with at events like that, help us gain a better understanding. That's why I wanted so many people from the staff to come to be able to hear what I've already been hearing at our meetings and our events and know that this is going to continue. And then have that factor in to how they think to make better decisions.
- Ed Buttaccio, R News