The ABC evening news presented several stories one evening
this week. The stories all related to
black people. The first story was
related to the discovery of a “compound” allegedly built by or with the help of
a black couple. Somehow the story line
turned to a comment that children were being taught to conduct school
shootings. The inference was black
people were somehow being taught to target European American schools. As far as I recall none of the school
shootings have involved a black person as a shooter. So why is someone now trying to tie in black
people to school shootings? It was as if
someone was purposely trying to move the discussion on the causes of school
shootings into the “black” lane.
A second story was related to a video of a couple of teens
harassing and kicking an older foreign man.
One of the teens was black. Ironically
the father of the teen was a black police chief. The story closed with a comment that the
black teen’s actions were being investigated as a hate crime. Another reversal. A black person being investigated for a hate
crime. Hate crimes were designed to
protect minorities.
The last story was about a white man saving a black teenager
from drowning. A white male coming to
the rescue of a black person.
The sequence of stories and the fact that there were three
stories featuring black people seemed strange.
Producers of the news make decisions on which stories will be featured
in the 25 minutes or so allotted. Each
story appeared to have a theme. Blacks
overseeing the training of kids to become school shooters. Black
people perform hate crimes. White people
are the saviors of black people.
We
know that the truth normally is that school shooters have been white males and typically
have attacked European American middle class and upper class schools. Minorities are normally the victims of hate
crimes. White people typically do not
worry about the lives of black people.
What the news shows viewers has great influence. It influences thought, beliefs, and follow up
actions. The producer of the news
apparently had a story that he wanted to be told. Another viewpoint related to black people
that he wanted to present. So viewers just
understand that people also have underlying reasons for showing certain stories
with a different view. It could be that
people are trying to divert you from the truth.