Lights


Image result for police lights

I'm going to bring up a topic that comes up in the news often, but not in a positive light. During fall break, I went shopping with my girlfriend. On the way back to Bluffton, as we got within 5 minutes from the school, a car began to trail us. At first I thought it was just a car going the same route as me, but as time went on I noticed the car was actually following us. Then those flashing red and blue lights appear. A wave of fear came over me and my thoughts immediately shifted to all the stories of police brutality that I have seen. I was given a warning for turning right on red against the warning not to (which I went back to check and there was no such sign), and for having expired tags. I was driving my girlfriend's car so that added to my panic in the moment. Long story short, the officer was very nice during the interacting and even put on the sticker updating the tags for us. He let us off with a warning and sent us on our way.

After this event, I was pretty shaken up. I thought of every negative scenario that could have happened in the moment. Why? Why was my initial reaction to think of negative outcomes? Why do I, as a black man in America, have a greater fear or law enforcement? It is because of these two words, Police Brutality. Defined as an abuse of authority by law enforcement figure, this topic is one that is given so much life in the households of many black families. The media focuses on all the negative encounters involving black people and police officers. So much so that we have this predetermined notion that if we are to be pulled over, it is bound to go wrong. Not once during the whole encounter being pulled over did I give a second to think, maybe this officer is friendly or I didn't do anything wrong so it'll be fine. It is dangerous because when either party goes into a situation like this, our predetermined mindset conditioned by media, almost brings to life these situations.

I would be lying to say that social injustice or police brutality do not exist in this country. However, while that may be the case, why do we not highlight the good that can happen in these situations? Media today is so focused on what will turn heads and bring attention. Police brutality is one of those areas. Running stories on a nice encounter with a police officer does not sell as much so it falls into the background. Statistics show that black men have the highest risk of being killed due to police violence than white men. I believe there is a deeper problem. The issue of perception and how we unknowingly allow these media stories to shape our opinions ans perceptions of others. What we talk about, debate about, produce media coverage about etc., is ultimately what we will focus on. If stories of violence greatly overshadow those positive interactions, how does that contribute to solving the problem? I would argue that it does not. In order for their to be change, there needs to be a change in where our focus is.

Until Next Time,
James

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Numbers in PR

Image
If you're like me, then you were a fan of math until the alphabet was thrown into the mix. From algebra to calculus, I was able to do the work well, but I never truly enjoyed doing it. In chapter 10 of Social Media for Strategic Communication, it talks about measurements, evaluation, budget, and calendars in public relations. We have talked about calendars before, but what stood out to me was the measurements and evaluation. In our class discussion, it was brought up that a common misconception with people working in PR is that they do not use numbers or analytics. I was one who believed PR was more about working with people or social media and not the analytical side of things. I chose marketing and communications to study because I thought that was an opportunity to put my creativity and people skills to use. I love working with a team or interacting with new people when I'm on the job. Hearing that even in social media and public relation that analytics still fol...
Read more

Types of Listening

Image
How many of you would consider yourselves a good listener? What is the difference between hearing and listening? Do you think you practice any bad listening habits? These are all questions we were asking in my interpersonal communications class when we started a new second on listening. Hearing is simply the process of sound waves hitting your eardrum, but listening is receiving and responding to the messages. when talking about listening, there is mindful and mindless. Mindful listening is paying careless attention and mindless is focusing on something else or reacting with the "okay" or "yeah" but not really knowing what is being said. You can't stop yourself from hearing, but you can stop listening. Here are five poor listening habits that can happen when we stop listening. 1. Pseudo-listening. This is where you try to trick the speaker into think you are paying careful attention. this form of listening gives the appearance that you are paying careful...
Read more

End of the Road

Image
When I first signed up for the class, it was just to get more credits and work towards a minor. I thought the class would be a breeze. In my mind, social media was a good tool to use in my field of study, but I assumed my knowledge of social media was advanced enough to where I could make it through this class without any problems. While that was not the case, I learned more than I ever thought I would about social media and how much goes into using it. I have three takeaways that I want to share from my experiences in this class. First, I can't run from the numbers anymore. I have said this before, but I was never a huge fan of analytics when I first came to college. I did well in the classes I took, but it was never a joy of mine. However, from this class I learned that it is everywhere even in social media. The longer I try to get away from it the harder time I am going to have when I must use it; so why not embrace right? Second, find your voice and stay true to you....
Read more