Big Media And The Manipulation Of African Americans

(Written November 10th 2014)

By Leslie Taha

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I remember when there were two laws in this land, one for blacks and one for whites. And even then we were not excusing all of our problems on the white man. We were accepting some responsibility. But now the tendency is to just blame the whites or white America for everything.

I won't put all of the blame for this on the commercial media, but I think the commercial media in the United States is the most racist. I feel a strong element is happy with the races at each other.

- Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Addressing the Interfaith Roundtable (from the Muslim Journal 4-23-93)
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For several months the national media has been focusing a lot of attention on white police officers shooting African American men. Now here is an interesting fact; according to statistics compiled by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, in the last 50 years police killings of African Americans (justified or otherwise) have actually fallen by 70%. So the question arises; since police killings of blacks are near their lowest point in 50 years, why is the national media suddenly focusing all of this attention on this?

Here is another interesting fact. According to the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2,468 African Americans were victims of homicides. Of those, 2,412 (91%) were killed by other African Americans, (these numbers were based on information when the race of the offender and victim were both known).

There is a phrase going around now that says, "black lives matter". Yes, black lives do matter, but guess who's killing (by far) the most black men, - other black men, not the police.

So how many African Americans were killed by police in 2012? The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports that in 2012, 123 African Americans were killed by police with a gun. Incidentally, 326 whites were killed by police with a gun. The report didn't state how many of those killed by police (both black and white) were justified. Of course every unjustified killing should be investigated and the offender should be brought to justice. Without a doubt, there are some bad cops out there, but contrary to what the media is implying, they are clearly in the minority.

So the fact is, African Americans kill far, more African Americans than the police do, and the number of police killings of African Americans is near an all time low. So in the light of this why is the media suddenly focusing all of this national attention on this issue?

Because of all of this sudden media attention, African Americans across the country are out in the streets, protesting, demonstrating, even rioting, and of course our designated, "black leaders" take the bait and jump right on the bandwagon.

In the mean time, 91% of all African American homicide victims are killed by other African Americans. Perhaps we should be protesting that?

49.4% of all homicides in the U.S. are committed by African Americans. Perhaps we should be protesting that?

37% of the prison population is African American. Perhaps we should be protesting that?

The U.S. Dept. of Justice reports that a black male has a greater that 1 in 4 chance of going to prison in his lifetime. Perhaps we should be protesting that?

72% of all African American infants are born to single mothers. Perhaps we should be protesting that?

And the list of these problems in the African American community goes on and on.

And who should the protest be directed at? Not at the police, not at white America, not at racism. It should be directed at ourselves.

But the media, including the so-called left winged "alternative media", tells us that none of these problems are the fault of African Americans. They tell us that African Americans are merely the victims of racism. That, - "victim / it's not my fault" mentality is devastating. It's a sure way to keep a people down, and create racial divisions.

90% of the media (news, TV, movies, music, publications) is controlled by six giant corporations. And most of the so-called, "alternative media" is secretly financed and controlled by a few wealthy individuals and foundations.

It's really ironic that the same media that's suddenly pretending to care so much about racism and black people being killed by white police, are the same ones that for years have been promoting criminal sensibilities, thug life, promiscuity, and immorality by way of their promotion of the worst aspects of rap / hip-hop culture. They've been actively promoting the very things that feed our problems. It's like feeding poison to a sick man.

It's a big mistake to think that the national news media is an unbiased, honest institution that's only interested in delivering the truth. Far from it. Misdirection, omission, truth, half-truth, and lies are all tools in their magician's bag that they use to manipulate the public.

Here's one example. In the case of the police killing of the "unarmed" black man in Ferguson:

Did you know that there were at least seven eyewitnesses to that incident?

Did you know that those eyewitnesses were African American?

Did you know that they all corroborated the police officer's account of the incident, which was a big factor in why the grand jury dropped the case?

Google; black, eyewitnesses, Ferguson and see for yourself.

Yes, African Americans have a bonafide history of oppression in this country, and that pain and hurt from the past is still in our genes, but we can't let the media push those buttons in order to manipulate and steer us in the direction of their choice. The media has their own secret agenda. We most not let their agenda become ours.

(Leslie Taha operates the website, "New Africa Radio" and is the author of the book, "The Architects of Rap" He can be reached at lestaha@gmail.com.)