Why Are Black Female Crime Victims Invisible?

[Ororo]

Interesting article on the lack of representation of victimized Black women in mainstream media.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wom...invisible.html

On the July 21 the bodies of three African-American women were discovered in Cleveland, Ohio, wrapped in garbage bags and discarded near a garage. As the investigation went on and the women's families grieved, this horrific news found its way into national media. Yet, the press coverage it received failed to dominate the mainstream global media, nor did it generate the level of public outrage one might expect.

And we have to ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: would news of a serial killer have sparked more outrage, more fear, more anger, if his victims were white? How much value does society really place on the lives of black women?
...

This apparent lack of concern and empathy for black women on the part of society lies in dehumanisation and ‘othering’. Given that the dominant narrative the Western world over, is that of the white male existence, black women and other women of colour are doubly othered - on account of their race as well as their gender.

A study conducted in 2008 demonstrates how black people are subconsciously associated with animals, and there is a wealth of research on the objectification and dehumanisation of women. As Jamila Aisha Brown points out, a black woman, Rekia Boyd, was simply an innocent bystander when she was shot by a police officer in 2012. Even now, the officer in question faces no criminal charges, as his file is still awaiting review in Chicago’s State Attorney’s office, yet the name of Rekia Boyd has not had even a fraction of the publicity that Trayvon Martin's has had. The name of Aiyana Jones, too, a black girl killed due to a police error, has slipped under the public radar.

Media representations, where black women are rendered either invisible or else heavily stereotyped and where they are often portrayed with animalistic language or images, play a huge role in reflecting, as well as feeding into, society's dehumanisation of black women.

[Vavoon]

they don't care about us. you don't need statistics to prove it neither. you can feel that they don't give a shit about us.

[straightnochaser]

^^ Sad, but true.

[PrincessDrRe]

Which is why shows like "Find Our Missing" that specialize in people of color are necessary.

[GalaxyGirl2012]

maybe there needs to be more black owned media outlets? people report what's important to them and in today's ad and ratings driven out;ets, people report on what they know will bring in readers/viewers.

[Ororo]

^Re: Princess and Galaxy- Black and Missing has been mentioned on this site before. They exist to give attention to Black people that have gone missing and won't make it onto mainstream news media and to address the racism that keeps them out of these media outlets at disproportionate rates to White people.

Here is their mission statement:

Black And Missing But Not Forgotten’s mission is to draw more attention to missing African Americans and to help bring them home. BAMBNF offers support to the families and loved ones of missing African Americans by providing an outlet for spreading the word through technology and print. Furthermore, we aim to raise awareness of the racial disparities in mainstream media’s reporting of the missing and seek equal coverage of missing African Americans.

[GalaxyGirl2012]

when does that show even come on? what station?

also keep in mind that media outlet means more than just TV. not everyone sits around watching TV. in fact, i'd say a good 90% of the people i know dont even own TVs and watch stuff via hulu or netflix on their comp.
that's kind of why i said MORE media outlets, relying on TV is so 1990's

[Soul Rebel]

the music community I've been a part of for many years is Global and even though it is off the mainstream radar completely, we still manage to disseminate necessary information globally. There's got to be a way to be get this kind of information out in our communities (to start). The dependency on mainstream media is needless.