The Color of Crime (Second Edition)

Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions

Katheryn Russell-Brown

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780814769348
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

When The Color of Crime was first published ten years ago, it was heralded as a path-breaking book on race and crime. Now, in its tenth anniversary year, Katheryn Russell-Brown's book is more relevant than ever. The Jena Six, Duke Lacrosse Team, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, James Byrd, and all of those victimized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are just a few of the racially fueled cases that have made headlines in the past decade.

Russell-Brown continues to ask, why do Black and White Americans perceive police actions so differently? Is White fear of Black crime justified? Do African Americans really protect their own? Should they? And why are we still talking about O.J.? Russell-Brown surveys the landscape of American crime and identifies some of the country's most significant racial pathologies. In this new edition, each chapter is updated and revised, and two new chapters have been added. Enriched with twenty-five new cases, the explosive and troublesome chapter on "Racial Hoaxes" demonstrates that "playing the race card" is still a popular ploy.

The Color of Crime is a lucid and forceful volume that calls for continued vigilance on the part of journalists, scholars, and policymakers alike. Through her innovative analysis of cases, ideological and media trends, issues, and practices that resonate below the public radar even in the new century, Russell-Brown explores the tacit and subtle ways that deviance is systematically linked to people of color. Her findings are impossible to ignore.

1

Media Messages

The medium is the message.

—Marshall McLuhan¹

Pick a mass medium. Any medium. Television, radio, newspaper, the Internet, magazines, or books. Any one of them. Each one has its own power and its own unique ability to make us see the world through the eyes of its recorder. Irrespective of the mass medium you examine, however, the messages about race are fairly uniform. Here are some media “race-isms”:

• Native Americans are rarely featured in news stories or seen in the media more generally, including movies and situation comedies.

• Asian Americans are infrequently featured in news stories and are sometimes represented as media players (e.g., anchors and pundits).

• Latinos are regularly discussed as news topics, are featured as entertainers and athletes, and are infrequently shown as having a seat at the media table.

• Blacks are regularly seen as subjects and reporters of the news, as entertainers and athletes, and are frequently portrayed as media players.

• Whites are the predominant face of the news and are featured in every aspect of news production, as owners, producers, and subjects.

This may appear to be an unfairly harsh portrait of how race is represented today. After all, a lot has changed in the past thirty years. So much ground has been gained in recent years. People of color are regularly featured on television, in sitcoms, dramas, movies, and commercials. Although this is true, there has not been as much progress as we might imagine and not in as diverse a way as we might think. This chapter looks at the mainstream representations of Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and African Americans.

Native Americans

Challenge yourself to name Native Americans who have recently been featured in the news. Push yourself to name a few prominent Native Americans. If you are unable to come up with any names, how about a recent news or feature story involving Native Americans? As part of a class exercise, I ask my students to describe the images they have of various groups by race. When asked about Native Americans, typical responses include, “spiritual,” “alcoholic,” “noble,” and “gambling.” Except for the latter, these descriptions represent decades, even centuries-old stereotypes of Native Americans. Further, most students have a hard time naming any well-known Indians; some have mentioned writer and filmmaker Sherman Alexie or former congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Most of my students indicate that they do not know any Native Americans personally. Their impressions have been formed primarily by the media and what they have “heard”; thus, they are not based on any real exchanges or interactions with American Indians.²

A 2004 Justice Department study reported that American Indians were two times as likely to be victims of violent crime (e.g., rape, aggravated assault, and robbery) than African Americans. They are also the most likely to be victims of interracial crime—harmed by someone who is not Native American. Little of the press attention that is focused on Native Americans addresses issues of crime and violence.

The primary media talk about Native Americans centers on gambling casinos or the issue of using Indian names and symbols for athletic teams and mascots. Professional sports teams’ names, such as the Washington Redskins and the Atlanta Braves (including their mascot and the “Tomahawk chop” hand signal), have been challenged as offensive and racist. “Redskin” refers to the early practice of hunting and killing Indians and offering their scalps as proof for the payment of a bounty.³ The repeated presentation of these images is acutely problematic, especially when we consider that there is little in the popular press that serves as a counterbalance.

Another underlying feature of the media stories involving Native Americans is that they live away from the mainstream—the suggestion is that they live away from the rest of “us.” This distance supports the idea that American Indians are somehow different. In 2007, Nike introduced “Nike Air Native N7,” a shoe specifically designed for Native Americans. The shoe features feathers and arrowheads.⁴ There was a good deal of debate about whether this marketing campaign exemplifies cultural sensitivity, crass capitalism, or something else. In some ways it furthers the belief that American Indians are separate from everyone else. This is notable considering that approximately one-fourth of American Indians in the United States live on reservations.

In the 2000 census, more than two million people identified themselves as Native Americans, less than 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Due to high rates of intermarriage between American Indians and Whites, it is not always readily discernible who is a Native American. Neither that fact nor their relatively small population size, however, diminishes concerns about media coverage. Notably, there are numerous groups that are a small fraction of the population yet are visible in the mass media.

Asian Americans

As media representations go, Asian Americans, who represent 4 percent of the U.S. population, fare slightly better than Native Americans. There are only a handful of fairly well-known Asian American female celebrities, including actresses Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), journalists Ann Curry (NBC’s Today Show), Julie Chen (CBS Morning News), Parminder Nagra (ER), Lisa Ling (National Geographic), and Betty Nguyen (CNN news anchor). Kimora Simmons, a model and entrepreneur, who has biracial roots (Black and Asian), appears to identify herself as African American.⁵

Asian American men are even scarcer in the media than Asian American women. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN medical reporter, is one of the more prominently featured Asian American men. Best-selling author and physician Deepak Chopra is also familiar to many in the United States. Garrett Wang (Star Trek Voyager), Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), and Masi Oka (Heroes) may be familiar to moviegoers and TV watchers, but they do not have broad name recognition.

Golf phenomenon Tiger Woods and actor Keanu Reeves are one-half Asian. Although Woods has spoken openly of his Thai heritage, it appears that many people recognize him as an African American. Regarding Reeves, it does not appear to be common knowledge that he has Asian roots. This adds an interesting twist to the issue of how race is portrayed in the media. In order for someone to represent a particular racial group, their race has to be known. Though they are citizens of other countries, martial artists Jackie Chan and Jet Li and basketball player Yao Ming are Asian males who are recognized by U.S. audiences.

In the sixty-year history of television there has been only one television show about an Asian American family. In the mid-1990s, comedian Margaret Cho, who is Chinese, starred in the situation comedy All-American Girl. The show lasted one season. In the 1960s and 1970s, Asian Americans on television were routinely portrayed in stereotypical subservient roles, for instance, Mrs. Livingston, the maid on The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Arguably one exception was Don Ho in the 1970s television series Hawaii Five-O.

In 2007, Yul Kwon won the top prize on the reality television show Survivor. He says that he chose to take part in the show to alter the profile of Asian American men. The son of Korean immigrants, Kwon said, “I didn’t see people like me on television when I was growing up. I wanted America to see Asian Americans as they truly are.”⁶

There are very few Asian American men who are visible in the mainstream media, either as entertainers or media players. The way that Asian Americans gain visibility is through news stories. When groups are not represented as media players or entertainers, they are primarily shaped by news portrayals. In 2007, the Asian American man who perhaps received the most news attention was Cho Seung-Hui. He was the troubled young man who was responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre that resulted in thirty-two deaths.

The dearth of Asian American representations also does something else. It suggests that “Asian American” has a monolithic meaning. This onebox-fits-all category reduces Asians to one massive group and obscures the fact that in addition to China, Japan, and Korea, there are numerous Asian countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Laos, India, and Pakistan. These countries are not interchangeable. Other racial groups are also treated as racial monoliths. Blacks, for instance represent the African Diaspora, which includes many countries (e.g., Africa, Caribbean nations, South America, and the United States).

There are two common media representations of Asian Americans. The women are routinely drawn as the exotic objects of sexual desire. This character typically comes with a host of other attributes: petite physique, sexual aggressiveness, and docility. Asian American men are typically portrayed as smart, techno-savvy geeks. This character, the flipside personality of the Asian American woman, is often a sidekick who is sexually undesirable, a workaholic, and decidedly not hip. He does not get the girl. Both of these characterizations are Hollywood-inspired fictions.

In addition to these portrayals, Asian Americans have also been designated the “model” minority. According to the model-minority myth, Asian Americans are hard working, smart, and respectful of authority. Interestingly though, the portrayal of Asian American men is more likely to fit within the myth than the portrayal of Asian American women. Many Asian Americans reject the model-minority stereotype as inaccurate and divisive within the Asian community and across race. Sometimes Asian media characters are not stereotypically “bright.” It is, however, rare to see the model-minority myth turned on its head, as it is with the Asian American female character “London,” on the Disney Channel show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Mostly, though, Asian Americans are invisible in the mainstream media.⁷

The mass media casts Asian Americans as objects of both desirability and disdain. The desirability includes both sexual attractiveness and intelligence. On the other side, though, is the image of otherness—as nerds and as foreigners. Another link to the portrayal of Asian Americans as foreigners involves discussions about international adoptions—the increasing number of White families that adopt Asian babies.

Latinos

At 14 percent of the U.S. population, Latinos are the country’s largest minority group. They still, however, have only a marginal presence in the major media. Their public presence comes in different forms, typically as entertainers (comedians and singers) and athletes (baseball). There are only a handful of well-known Latino actors and entertainers. This list includes America Ferrera, Eva Mendes, Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria, Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, and George Lopez. Baseball players Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa are among the most popular athletes. Latinos are more likely to appear as part of an ensemble cast, such as Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and reality television shows. New Mexico governor and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson also has name recognition.

On television, few programs have focused on a Latino family or feature a Latino lead character. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the pickings were slim. Ugly Betty, based on a Spanish-television hit, centers on a young Latina woman (played by America Ferrera), a plain Jane in need of a makeover. Notably, most of the main characters on the show are not Latino. The George Lopez Show has a Latino lead actor, and comedian Carlos Mencia has a comedy show on cable television. In the prior decade, Michael DeLorenzo co-starred in New York Undercover. This was the first show in which the lead co-stars were Black and Latino. Chico and the Man, which ran from 1974 to 1978, was the first show featuring a Latino lead actor, Freddie Prinze.

Latinos, Like Asian Americans, are often portrayed as outsiders and foreigners. National and regional media discussions about Latinos often revolve around issues of immigration, specifically about illegal immigration and border patrol along the southwestern states. This includes discussion of proposed legislation designed to address border security—to keep out those who live south of the border. It also ties to debates about bilingualism—for example, whether the United States should be an “Englishonly” country and whether Latinos are unfairly burdening social services and the public school system.

With the persistent focus on relationships between Blacks and Whites, Latinos are frequently omitted from the “official” record. A contemporary example of this omission involves a PBS documentary on World War II, produced by Ken Burns. During previews it was observed that the film made scant reference to Latino veterans or their contributions to the war. Following a great deal of criticism and pressure, Burns ultimately agreed to feature narratives from Latino and Native American veterans, including on-camera testimony, personal archives, and combat history.

On the other side, Latinos as a group are often talked about but are not always direct participants in the conversation. This racial chatter happens in varied media arenas, including the Sunday-morning news-roundup shows and late-night talk shows. Latinos are also second in line—behind African Americans—as the face of the feared American criminal.

African Americans

Blacks represent a mixed bag of media images. Arguably it is both the best and the worst of times for Blacks in the mainstream media. Since the 1980s, African Americans have been a consistent and broad presence in the media, as athletes, actors, comedians, singers, lawyers, public intellectuals, talk-show hosts, journalists, professors, entrepreneurs, authors, doctors, and artists. Annual polls show that Americans consistently place African American celebrities on their lists of people they most admire, including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordon, Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, and Tiger Woods. It bears noting that Blacks also top the list of the most reviled celebrities, O. J. Simpson, Barry Bonds, and Michael Vick.

Today’s reality is in stark contrast to earlier times, when it was rare to see Black people on television. Oprah Winfrey has commented on this fact, noting that when she was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, a family member would announce, “Black people are on!” so that everyone could witness this unusual event.

At its inception, television operated as a segregated space. It was surprising to see people of color, and when they did appear (usually in movies), they were relegated to stock, stereotypical roles. For Blacks this meant the butler, mammy, chauffer, or entertainer. There were some “firsts.” In the 1950s, crooner Nat King Cole was the first Black person to have his own television show. The Nat King Cole Show premiered as a weekly fifteen-minute variety show. The broadcast, however, was short-lived. Advertisers shunned the show, fearful that southern audiences would boycott their products.

In response to the longstanding barriers to entry, Blacks developed their own organizations to showcase their talent. This was true for sports, where the Harlem Globetrotters, the Negro Leagues in baseball, the United Golf Association, and others were created to provide a home for Black athletes. It was also done regarding cinema. The work of pioneering Black film directors, such as Oscar Micheaux, Clarence Muse, and Melvin Van Peebles, offered more-nuanced portraits of Black life.⁸ The Black press was instrumental in providing an alternative view of African American life. Today there are more than seventy-five Black newspapers. Black magazines such as Ebony and Jet have been in existence for more than fifty years.

During the 1960s, increasing numbers of Blacks appeared on television, primarily as entertainers or professional athletes on shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and Johnny Carson (The Tonight Show). In the following decade, there were series that featured Blacks in lead roles, including Diahann Carroll in Julia and Bill Cosby in I Spy. And there were a few Black shows, including Sanford and Son, Soul Train, Good Times, What’s Happening!!, and The Jeffersons. Blacks, however, were more likely to be part of an ensemble cast—for example, Room 222, Welcome Back Kotter, Hill Street Blues, Benson, Soap, The White Shadow, and WKRP. Blacks were also increasingly featured in mainstream Hollywood movies, such as Sounder, Lady Sings the Blues, and Mahogany. Daytime soap operas also began to ...