According to Martin A. Berger, white owned newspaper and magazine owners during the times of the civil rights movement often selected photographs that catered to their white readers’ base even though the heart of the movement was supposed to be about fighting for African-Americans’ civil rights. He goes on to state that the photographs selected often showed Whites still in the position of power, as opposed to showing Black led political action. If Berger is right about White run media indulging the White audience, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption of what it is to be a White or Non POC ally.
Many of the same issues African-Americans faced in the past are being brought to light in the present, still ongoing, due to the recent murder of George Floyd. We see a majority of images in the media that are shockingly similar to those of the 50’s and 60’s. Black Americans facing brutality and racism at the hands of White police officers and White Americans. Those images and videos seem to get more views and become much more popular to images and videos of peaceful Black led marches and other political actions. What has also grown from this movement are more White people standing up for Black Americans rights. While this is a positive event, I believe more can be done to be a more efficient ally for Black Americans. After reading Martin A. Berger’s introduction Seeing through Race, it opened my viewpoint to something I previously did not realize. It is not enough to show images of violence and hate towards Black Americans, but we must instead show them portrayed as having ownership of their rights. No longer should we unconsciously show them in a light of being in an unequal position of power. We must be more discerning on what type of media we intake and continue to support and uplift our Black citizens so we can truly make a difference for them in their fight for equal rights.