#notagang

By Latena Hazard

As hundreds of people rallied for an emergency town hall meeting Tuesday evening at Empowerment Temple in Baltimore to help support the city; one CNN commentator used the media to misrepresent those supporting the city as being affiliated with a gang.  

When the camera swept over the inside of the temple, a sea of blue was seen. The women seen are members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., a historically black organization established in 1920. However, CNN host Erin Burnett automatically assumed that the ladies sitting in the bleachers in their royal blue outfits and church hats, were members of the legendary gang THE CRIPS. One might chalk it up to ignorance, but in a city where racial tensions are high, the last thing the community needs are prominent members of the media misrepresenting them to the public.   

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., is a Greek letter organization founded on the principle to promote and address social issues of the day. It is part of the divine nine, black collegiate organizations, dedicated to the upliftment and advancement of the African-American people nationwide.

“We felt compelled to get engaged,”  said Sunni Westbrook, who has been a Zeta for 12 years. “Being a Zeta we allow our actions to speak for us while we build upon our motto of being a community conscious, action-oriented organization.”

Following an announcement that the Bloods and the Crips joined the protests Burnett ended her interview by stating “we’ve got the gang members there” as the camera zooms in on the ladies sitting peacefully in their seats.

According to data released by the American Press Institute in September 2014, only 25 percent of African-Americans think that the media covers the African-American or Hispanic community accurately.  Statistics also showed that 50 percent of African-Americans discover news directly from a news organization.

Minorities have experienced discrimination for centuries through the media as it continues to promote White-American standards and opinions. There is a lack of positive images in the media when it comes to the Black community.   So, when there are negative stereotypes in the press about the black community, there is much more harm being done when a social-justice oriented group is publicly misidentified.

“Stories about black youths that don’t reinforce stereotypes, don’t involve celebrities and that tell narratives about everyday lives of black people haven’t been a priority in news coverage,” says author Bakari Kitwana, executive director of Rap Sessions in Westlake, Ohio.

The city of Baltimore has been in unrest since the murder of Freddie Gray at the hands of police officers. Freddie Gray is one of the many murders that have further inflamed the #Blacklivesmattermovement. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 2003 and 2009, there were a total of 4,813 people who died while in the process of arrest or in the custody of law enforcement and African-Americans are more likely than whites or Hispanics to experience a police officer's threat or use of force

“It is sad that the media continues to portray African-Americans negatively,” says Jessica Boyles a member of Zeta Phi Beta. “I have been in this organization for 11 years, and it always seems that instead of promoting the positive aspects, they care nothing about who we are, instead use a positive situation to misrepresent us and attempt to instill fear into the masses.”