Makewetalknow

Over the past 60 years, the widespread adoption of print and broadcast media has enabled a coordinated effort to shape the global image of Black people. This campaign has been created to undermine Black people’s significant historical contributions and cultural legacy. These inaccurate representations are largely the result of the influence of wealthy, white major media corporations in the United States.

Billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, and the Disney heirs have a lot of power over the stories and images that people see. This problem is made even worse by the fact that the US government has a lot of power over Hollywood, the music industry, and the news media. They use these channels to manipulate people’s emotions and thoughts.

Because of this, there isn’t accurate enough and meaningful representation of Black people in the media. For example, many movies with black characters rely on negative tropes and stereotypes, perpetuating harmful and inaccurate portrayals.

Filmmakers like Tyler Perry, who has been criticized for his depiction of Black people in movies like ‘Madea’s Family Reunion’ and ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman,’ often rely on caricatures and stereotypes that reinforce negative perceptions. In the same vein, Lee Daniels’ movies, such as “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (2009), have been accused of depicting Black individuals in a stereotypical and demeaning manner.

These portrayals have contributed to a distorted view of Black people and their experiences. As a result, Black people frequently experience racism and prejudice, particularly in areas where there aren’t many Black people and where people tend to draw conclusions from what they see on television. As if that weren’t enough, the US-owned media chose to further damage the image of Black people on the inside after doing so on the outside.

It is no longer a secret that there is a disparity between Africans in Africa and black Americans. Years of false information and prejudice that had become engrained in both groups of people were the cause of this difference. The idea was to split African Americans and Black Americans apart on the inside. For example, Africans are frequently depicted as starving, hungry, or residing in impoverished regions in the US media.

While in African media, black Americans are shown as gang members, drug addicts, or aggressive single mums. No day goes by without CNN or any other American outlet attempting to portray Africa as a third-world jungle. Because of what they have seen in the media, some Black Americans still think that Africans live in the jungle. African and Black Americans’ perceptions of one another have been shaped by these misinformations.

This is also the reason why Africans are consistently advised by their families in Africa and within the United States to steer clear of Black Americans when they relocate to the country. For African Americans, the same advice works when they see Africans. Most of them have already been conditioned to believe that the African individual who enters the United States is a threat to their social security and livelihood.

This is precisely what the American media, has done from the start. They have fostered animosity between these two powerful groups of people even before they have had a chance to interact. The impact of misinformation and prejudice isn’t limited to Black Americans; it also affects relationships between black individuals born in Europe and those who relocate from Africa.

The United Kingdom, who are the master of all evil in the world when it comes to genocide, still continues to use their influence to create a wall between blacks in the UK and those in Africa. Black Brits are often stereotyped as dangerous and inferior, associated with gangs and public nuisances, particularly in areas like Hackney’s Mare Street.

Meanwhile, media outlets like the BBC, owned by the BBC Corporation, and other UK outlets such as Sky News, owned by Comcast, and The Daily Mail, owned by Daily Mail and General Trust, frequently portray Africans as inferior, depicting them as having “escaped the jungle” and seeking civilization.

Black individuals’ mental health has been significantly impacted by these detrimental narratives, which have incited competition and distrust within the community. The media has entrenched division by encouraging Black individuals to evaluate their value based on their proximity to whiteness and acceptance by the dominant culture.

This has made it harder for Black people to work together, as many of them put their own needs ahead of the needs of the group. Instead of working together, some Black people may focus on using prejudices to get ahead over others.

Nothing more can be done because the deed is already completed. We have to force a hard reset and begin again. This time, the goal should be to defeat the divisive agendas and promote unity among Black individuals worldwide. Black Americans must not see Africans as rivals but instead as brothers in the same struggle. This can be achieved by opposing the strategies being used by the white-owned media to promote division and threaten our unity.

We need to tell our own story about whom we really are. By doing this, we can define our boundaries and take back our identity, which will eventually result in a stronger, more cohesive community. To combat the way Black people are portrayed in the media, we must work together.