Why The Media Ignores Most Police Killings
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

Why The Media Ignores Most Police Killings

More white people are killed each year by the police than blacks or Hispanics.

10
Why The Media Ignores Most Police Killings
sterilepros.com

Within the past two years, mainstream media has exhausted their resources to bring you breaking news coverage of every unjustified police shooting that has occurred. Every single story that broke the national news cycle was the slaying of an African American. Not one Hispanic or white person ever broke through CNN’s exclusive line of coverage. Yet there is another side to the story they don’t tell you.

In 2015, 172 Hispanics, 258 American Africans and 494 whites were killed by the police. So far in 2016, 75 Hispanics, 123 African Americans and 238 whites have been killed. There is no denying that, in some cases, race plays into the slaying of African Americans. These racist instances are the stories that get the media’s attention. Murder of African Americans by the police under questionable circumstances unleashes the ugly reality that race relations are far from perfect and racism is still very much a part of our culture like a malignant tumor that pokes through the skin. It’s an irrefutable problem that must be answered so that we may ascend beyond our mistakes and live comfortably with each other, face to face as one human being to another and not just as demographics.

Beyond our dismal reality, the man behind the curtain has chosen the exact stories that will create this mass hysteria for ratings. The disgusting act of how easily the media will add fuel to the fire and hit record has given us, the people, the feeling that every cop is a racist killer, a pig, a bigot, someone who doesn’t care for anyone other than themselves. Not one lick of the fair reporting that our country’s reporters were once held to in the past. Can you believe our journalism once had standards? Even celebrated? What would Walter Cronkite do? Where are the news stories about Hispanics and whites getting killed by cops? How does the mainstream media feed into this complex without a guilty conscience?

Hispanic and white slayings do not deserve more or equal media attention, but there is a question not being asked here. Not one glance from CNN or mainstream media when a Hispanic person gets gunned down because it does not generate the same emotions as when an African American gets killed. The relationships between cops and Hispanics or whites are not nearly as volatile as between cops and African Americans. N.W.A. seems more relevant today than ever, yet it does us all an injustice to be manipulated like this. There must be fair reporting to show the perversity of our anger and hate on both sides of the spectrum so we can compromise and not exile each other. It feeds into the chaotic trapeze act of race relations in America.

Race is so delicately intertwined into the lives of Americans like a shadow. We often choose to ignore it, yet know it’s something we can never escape. No nation on earth has let race affect the discourse of their history like America. Due to the greatest influx of immigrants any nation has ever seen in the history of the world, our native white population has had to adjust their lifestyles to the perceived threats from immigrants. Immigrants became our scapegoats. Look at Donald Trump, whose first speech was attacking illegal Mexican immigrants. Look how far that has gotten him today. In times of anger and frustration, immigrants, or simply any race that’s not native, is on the sharp edge of unjustified hate. There is a scared and misinformed subconscious of America guiding the belly of the beast.

It’s only been 52 years since the signing of the Civil Rights Act, and our nation has not adapted because the majority assumed everything would work itself out. Looking from the outside-in, no country has let their fate be dictated by race as much as America has. We had a war about it, brothers clashed together on the same field, bullets rippled over the heads of nurses tending the weak and wounded, a nation divided over the fate of African Americans.

The media needs to demonstrate a sense of morality by not exclusively spotlighting the fresh chalk outline of an African American. Showing that Hispanics and whites are killed by police all the same will give those who cry “pig” a second thought.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

Waitlisted for a College Class? Here's What to Do!

Dealing with the inevitable realities of college life.

53800
college students waiting in a long line in the hallway
StableDiffusion

Course registration at college can be a big hassle and is almost never talked about. Classes you want to take fill up before you get a chance to register. You might change your mind about a class you want to take and must struggle to find another class to fit in the same time period. You also have to make sure no classes clash by time. Like I said, it's a big hassle.

This semester, I was waitlisted for two classes. Most people in this situation, especially first years, freak out because they don't know what to do. Here is what you should do when this happens.

Keep Reading...Show less
a man and a woman sitting on the beach in front of the sunset

Whether you met your new love interest online, through mutual friends, or another way entirely, you'll definitely want to know what you're getting into. I mean, really, what's the point in entering a relationship with someone if you don't know whether or not you're compatible on a very basic level?

Consider these 21 questions to ask in the talking stage when getting to know that new guy or girl you just started talking to:

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

Challah vs. Easter Bread: A Delicious Dilemma

Is there really such a difference in Challah bread or Easter Bread?

34633
loaves of challah and easter bread stacked up aside each other, an abundance of food in baskets
StableDiffusion

Ever since I could remember, it was a treat to receive Easter Bread made by my grandmother. We would only have it once a year and the wait was excruciating. Now that my grandmother has gotten older, she has stopped baking a lot of her recipes that require a lot of hand usage--her traditional Italian baking means no machines. So for the past few years, I have missed enjoying my Easter Bread.

Keep Reading...Show less
Adulting

Unlocking Lake People's Secrets: 15 Must-Knows!

There's no other place you'd rather be in the summer.

957055
Group of joyful friends sitting in a boat
Haley Harvey

The people that spend their summers at the lake are a unique group of people.

Whether you grew up going to the lake, have only recently started going, or have only been once or twice, you know it takes a certain kind of person to be a lake person. To the long-time lake people, the lake holds a special place in your heart, no matter how dirty the water may look.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

Top 10 Reasons My School Rocks!

Why I Chose a Small School Over a Big University.

181736
man in black long sleeve shirt and black pants walking on white concrete pathway

I was asked so many times why I wanted to go to a small school when a big university is so much better. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure a big university is great but I absolutely love going to a small school. I know that I miss out on big sporting events and having people actually know where it is. I can't even count how many times I've been asked where it is and I know they won't know so I just say "somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin." But, I get to know most people at my school and I know my professors very well. Not to mention, being able to walk to the other side of campus in 5 minutes at a casual walking pace. I am so happy I made the decision to go to school where I did. I love my school and these are just a few reasons why.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments