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Silencing the Marginalized By: Nickeisha Gaynor

Before taking AFS 363.01 - Blacks and Mass Media course at Stony Brook University, I was already aware of the general stereotypes that were attached to the Black community; however, I did not realize how much effort was put into maintaining such negative stigmas nor realized the magnitude of how much minorities were actually being silenced. Thus, to show my growth and my enriched perspective, I will revise some key points from both my Thought Papers 1 and 2 from this class and tie them both under my chosen topic--Silencing the Marginalized.

I have come to observe and realize that when African Americans or other minority groups voice their concerns regarding any issue that is degrading to them, there seems to be another crowd who aims to silence them. There are individuals who truly avoid finding understanding of where the marginalized groups are coming from, and instead, the concerns that were voiced would be viewed as nagging and complaining. In fact, when African Americans had shed light on the basis that police brutality is prevalent in the Black community and protested “Black Lives Matter”, instead of finding understanding where they are coming from, there were others who aimed to contradict this movement by stating “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter”. Contradicting and/or denying is a form of “silencing”, and because of these techniques that are being done to drown out the cries of the marginalized groups, these groups have to keep going and speak even louder, or else their cries will indeed be “silenced”. One thing the majority does not realize is that if African Americans do not fight for their rights, no one else will. Therefore, they have to be their own representative, their own activist, thus, when they do speak up, it is not to nag, but to simply shed light on the injustices that any other group would feel inclined to do, if they too had felt degraded or deprived of their rights. African Americans are coming from a place where they were once property, considered 3/5 of a person, to finally just being considered an actual human being. They may be considered as a “human being” now, but does that equate to being treated like one? There is still a lot more work to be done to cleanse this racist atmosphere we are living in. Having African Americans speak up and actually working on creating the change they wish to see is exactly what we should be supporting rather than silencing! Thought Paper 1: Stuart Hall - Representation, Meaning and Language

The term “Black”, along with its dark and negative connotations, for instance is a prime example of what African Americans had to put up with. In Stuart Hall’s writing piece “Representation, Meaning and Language”, Hall pointed out that “for many centuries, western societies have associated the word BLACK with everything that is dark, evil, forbidding, devilish, dangerous and sinful. And yet, think of how the perception of black people in America in the 1960s changed after the phrase 'Black is Beautiful' became a popular slogan - where the signifier, BLACK, was made to signify the exact opposite meaning (Culler, 1976, p. 23).” This goes to show that if Blacks or African Americans were to simply remain silent and accept all the dark and negative connotations that were attached to the term “Black”, then there would have never been any associations with “Black” and “Beautiful!” It was because of not remaining silent and being proactive that caused this to change.

Additionally, I would like us to take into account Hall’s “Intentional Model of Representation,” which is basically expressing only what the speaker or writer wants to say. Take this moment to observe the image above and think about all the wrongs regarding what you see. Now, if you did not know before, the image above is what is considered “Blackface”, which is the makeup used by a nonblack performer playing a black role. In fact, normally when these roles are being played, African Americans are often times portrayed in the most degrading way possible. When civilians see such portrayal of Blacks on mass media, this sort of reinforces the negative stigmas within their minds, thinking “this must be true”. This is why it was important for Blacks such as Frederick Douglass to show their rage and write against the institution of the blackface minstrelsy. As progress, they have added African Americans to the show, however, they have still continued to paint their faces with blackface makeup and still gave them roles that were degrading and ludicrous. Some may not view this as silencing, but it is. Just because they have began to recruit African Americans for the minstrel shows, which is indeed a stepping stone, that does not mean the problem went away. Blackface and the performances that were done were considered racist and that was the issue they were fighting for, which did not eradicate. Hence, giving Blacks something to keep them quiet for a while is definitely a form of silencing.

Another example of silencing is seeing the story of the Black community told by the white press, or, as everyone knows it by, “mainstream media”. The documentary “The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords” sheds light on the fact that if Blacks did not speak up to share their side of the story, whatever narrative that is covered on mass media is what Americans were receiving and deemed as truth. As someone [02:50—name unknown] stated in the documentary, “Too long have others spoken for us...In the early 19 century, African Americans were routinely vilified in the pages of the mainstream press and had no way to respond.” Therefore, establishing their own press ultimately became their weapon. They were looking at this same community that was viewed as criminals, poor, uneducated and saw a completely different perspective—seeing them as happy, educated, wealthy, civilized and so much more. This is not to say that there weren’t any negative aspects of the black community, but the Black Press was the only press to actually show that there were actual positive successes that took place in the Black community. If it was not for the Black Press who refused to be silent, but rather spoke loudly and boldly against the stereotypes of the Black community, then, society as a whole would have believe that this community only produces criminals, drug addicts and basically nothing good.

This is where I have truly learned and started to understand the quote Hall had left us with: “The meaning we take as viewers, readers or audiences is never exactly the meaning which has been given by the speaker or writer or by other viewers.” This is just like writing a paper. I can write one thing and my readers may have an entire farfetch interpretation. As the question stated: “Does language express only what the speaker or writer or painter wants to say?” (P. 15). In this case, Hall is hinting at something that is so crucial that we all ought to grasp unto. Not everything we see and hear is perceived accurately. This is exactly what is going on when minorities, especially African Americans, speak up and try to create change. Instead of seeing positivity in what minorities are aiming to do, “Black Lives Matter” for instance is taken as only caring about themselves. Hence, once again, we hear statements like “So what about other lives?” “All Lives Matter!” and so on. It is time we take a step back from being so quick to judge and start being quicker to learn and understand more of why people are angry and why people, especially the marginalized groups, are fighting for what they are fighting for. Undoubtedly, no matter what the marginalized groups say, they will be tuned out if we lack the interest of even wanting to find understanding, which is a form of silencing to them. Nevertheless, regardless of what others have to say, African Americans ought to keep up the fight because if they don’t, they will indeed be silenced and all those stereotypes that labels them will continue to prevail within their society.

All in All, although Hall’s writing piece “Representation, Meaning and Language” was not specifically aiming to demonstrate anything regarding silencing the marginalized, it still showed the perspective of one who has learned about the black community through keeping up with the media may only deem Blacks as criminals or anything that’s considered poor, uncontrolling and animalistic. Thus, when an African American tries to speak up and fight for any form of justice, having them represent themselves is viewed as ludicrous. Why? Because how can someone who is viewed as a “criminal” or “uneducated” be seen as credible when representing themselves or others? It is evidently clear that where we grow up or the type of culture we associate ourselves with has a huge influence on our perspective and interpretation of things and others. This is why having more intercultural interactions is needed and where representation, meaning and language are all vitally important. It is time we become more open minded and learn to realize not everything that is on the media is the truth. If you want to be entertained, watch the news, however, if you want to learn the truth about the marginalized community and their reality, start making friends and interact with them. Having diverse friendships definitely opens up our eyes to new perspectives and a new way of life, and we all should aspire to want that.

Below demonstrates more on what Silencing the Marginalized looks like

Thought Paper 2: bell hooks - “Oppositional Gaze”

If we were to take a look at media today and bell hooks “Oppositional Gaze” article, one would see the same pattern of the media contributing to the prolonging of inequalities through reinforcing race, and especially gender division in a very stereotypical way. For instance, as you have seen me reiterated multiple times, African Americans are still deemed as criminals, poor, uneducated, and more. It takes hashtags such as #BlackExcellence to show that we are actually thriving. When an African American accomplishes something and we share it stating #BLACKEXCELLENCE, there have been many counter-arguments or people with outrage stating “what does being Black has to do with it?” Many lack the knowledge of realizing that when African Americans make such statements such as Black is beautiful, Black Excellence, Black Queens, etc., these statements are not there to denounce other races or ethnic groups, but to destigmatize the term Black with all the negative connotations that comes along with it. Therefore, almost each and every movement and protest that are being done by the African American community will continue to be “silenced” by those who lack the knowledge and unwillingness to find understanding of the purpose behind their fight.

Hooks demonstrated the consequences of what portraying stereotypes on screen does to the marginalized community and what it reinforces in other communities. To start, let’s take a look at a quote from her writing. She stated, “They resented the way these screen images could assault black womanhood, could name us bitches, nags” (120). Now, just by this one quote, can one understand the feeling of resentment which black women would have towards the media? What if the roles were to flip and black women were praised and white women were considered “bitches or nags”? I am pretty sure that portrayal of Whites would already be banned. Media would categorize or put a group of people into a box, which then sends a message that all those people are the same, which is a huge problem. What do I mean by this? For instance, not all black women are always angry or a “nag”, just like not all white women are not... Instead of shedding light equally on those that are like this and aren’t like this, media tend to focus on what degrades the African American community the most. Not only does this stir up anger within the marginalized groups, but this also reinforces the already racist stereotypes that the white community already has on the black community. Hence, when Blacks fight against this, it is harder to gain support from other groups due to exactly what the meme said above: “Your Perception is a Misconception Because of Media Deception.

Let us pause for a moment and reflect back on the last time you saw something that is supposed to be taken seriously, but rather it was taken as a joke. All throughout my writing, it would seem as if the marginalized groups have not found pleasure at all in watching stereotypical depictions of themselves in the media . In fact, “As one black woman puts it, I could always get pleasure from movies as long as I did not look too deep" (121). I want us to focus on the key words she last stated, “As long as I did not look too deep”. This is actually the problem I have with society and this generation. In class, I have brought up the video “This is America” by Childish Gambino regarding this matter. This song spoke so much truth and instead of looking deep into the meaning behind the words and the video, many people, especially the black community, made remixes and found pleasure in it so that they can have a good laugh. When people, especially black individuals, do not see a problem with this, they have begun to silence themselves. They no longer spend their energy promoting and expounding on the truthful matter that these videos are providing us, but rather spend that same energy sharing remixes and memes regarding them. While they fail to realize that if they do not take these problems seriously, not only are they silencing the truth and the importance of the matter, but also that no other race nor ethnic group will be taking them seriously as well.

To demonstrate a specific example, let us take a look at the racist Australian cartoon that was drawn of Serena Williams after she explained herself at the U.S Open Final. She mentioned that when men showed anger and frustration, they are not viewed as being aggressive, but when women do it, especially black women, they are viewed as angry and animalistic. Wasn’t that exactly what was done to Serena Williams when she showed anger and frustration? In fact, that is exactly what is done when African Americans are using their time to fight for the rights of their communities. The media tends to take their images and exaggerate them as having “huge lips,” “loud,” “aggressive,” “manly,” and a lot more that reflects them as being untamable. Serena Williams story is just one of the most recent ones I can think of. Overall, it has been shown time after time that minorities, especially women, are less likely to succeed or have high positions if they raise their voices or even by simply showing any sort of emotions. Thus, whether we realize this or not, the marginalized groups are very well aware of this, therefore, nine times out of ten, many of them remain silent in hopes to leave a good impression.

Consequently, it is clear that our misconceptions are guided by the media and from lack of intercultural interactions. Having African Americans fight for the rights of their communities should not result in having the media dismantling, exaggerating and/or memeing their images. That is not only disrupting the message of what they are fighting for, but distractions and disruptions were also used as a form to silence them. Black women are refraining themselves from speaking up because they do not want to be considered as the “angry black woman” or the one who always has a problem. There is so much that the black community, especially black women, go through, whether it is being dehumanized, objectified, degraded, devalued or any form of synonyms along those lines. We may not see it as much now because there is a push for diversity and inclusion in high positions, but the struggle, the resistance, the pain, the oppositional gaze is all still there, silencing them.

Ultimately, to whomever is reading this, if and when you see the marginalized groups such as the black community fighting for their rights, take a step into understanding their reality before attempting to silence them. I have honestly come to learn and take into account that silencing comes in many different shapes and forms and it is up to us to take full accountability for knowing when we are not being understanding and when we are silencing others. I used to let media be the source of my judgement, but now, I have learned that media, even the news, is simply entertainment and is definitely a bias source. Therefore, I will no longer blame the media for brainwashing me, but instead, I will take time to actually learn about the different struggles of others and find ways to also be a part of the change I wish to see. Creating change does not necessarily mean to go out and change the law of the land; it can simply start with changing one mindset at a time. So for those who are reading this, join me as I go out and meet new friends, someone, anyone from the marginalized community. We will listen to their stories and simply let them know that their voices matter to us.

#afs363

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