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1/n This week shows (again) that much of our social infrastructure—namely our health care and criminal justice systems—suffers from persistent structural racism. Also that our concept of white womanhood too often serves as a tool to reinforce racist policies and behaviors.
2/n As a white woman who wants to help dismantle inequity, I’ve spent the last few days continuing to educate myself in an ongoing effort to be a better ally to my colleagues, my neighbors and—perhaps most importantly given my line of work—my students from communities of color.
3/n Because silence is a form of complicity, I’m sharing some of that material here. Not a comprehensive list by any means, so please reply with stuff I’ve missed.
4/n Let’s start with the idea of white womanhood as a tool of white supremacy. The latest episode of @onthemedia has two excellent segments: @AprylW on "Karen" memes and @JessieNYC on the "weaponization" of white womanhood. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-boiling-point
5/n The pandemic has magnified the various interrelated, lopsided power structures that privileged people like me can all too easily ignore. @rgay explores some of them in two very different pieces for @nytimes.
6/n Here's one, where she writes, "Covid-19 is disproportionately affecting the black community, but we can hardly take the time to sit with that horror as we are reminded, every single day, that there is no context in which black lives matter." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/opinion/sunday/trump-george-floyd-coronavirus.html
7/n In a very different piece, @rgay (who is taking over the Work Friend column), shows how even small-scale domestic decisions have implications for marginalized people. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/business/roxane-gay-work-friend.html
8/n Journalists have an important role to play in informing the public about big news stories like this week's protests. As @danikathleen reminds us, we need to be very careful about the words we choose. https://theconversation.com/riot-or-resistance-how-media-frames-unrest-in-minneapolis-will-shape-publics-view-of-protest-139713
9/n Hyper-awareness of the news narratives we construct is especially important given the profession's persistent lack of diversity. Despite decades of conversations about the need for newsrooms to reflect the demographics of the communities they cover...
10/n ... news production (especially at large, elite outlets) remains largely the work of white, upper middle class men. This can put an extra burden on the journalists of color who ARE doing the hard work of covering racial disparities.
11/n As @SpeakPatrice explains, "the pandemic has laid bare many of the same racial inequities that generations of black journalists have been covering since 1827 when the Freedom’s Journal birthed the black press." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/opinion/coronavirus-black-people-media.html?smid=tw-share
12/n And it's important to note that @OmarJimenez, the @CNN reporter who was arrested live on camera, is Black and Latino. One of his white colleagues said he was "treated very differently" by police. https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/h_9023ffd063def0b1af22cb3ecdc72a06
13/n The pandemic is far from over. And the protests will likely continue, too. And the economic fallout from #COVID19 has decimated newsrooms, especially at the local level.
14/n This makes it even harder for young journalists from working class families and/or marginalized communities to land paying jobs in which they can share their talents.
15/n In addition to redoubling my efforts to be an inclusive, supportive journalism educator, I'm going to spend this evening making modest donations to @NABJ, @NAHJ and @najournalists.
16/16 Finally, to my students and former students who are out there covering the protests, the pandemic and everything else: I see you. I miss you. I'm proud of you. Your work gives me faith that we will build a future defined by equity, compassion and truth.
h/t to @mdlaroche for sharing this @kellymcb column on how the phrase "unarmed Black man" can mean very different things to different people. https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2020/05/21/859498255/unarmed-black-man-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-means
