Wednesday, August 31, 2005

We've Totally Moved Beyond Racism

PrawfsBlawg alerts me to the story of two photos and two captions. Both photographs show persons wading through chest-deep water after procuring items from a flooded grocery store.

Photo One is captioned as follows:
A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Photo Two:
Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Literally the ONLY discernible difference I can see between photos one and two (you can check yourself) is that the "looter" is black, and the "finders" are white.

What a surprise. Looks like Jerry Kang was right. Professor Kang argues that subtle racial "priming" effects our attitudes--that the exposure to constant negative stereotypes about racial minorities allows racism to continue where it might otherwise be killed off. He then links it in to local news coverage, arguing that the parade of Black criminals that headline every single day create far worse problems for society than is justified by their news value (especially given that the coverage is nearly always disproportionately higher than the amount of minority crime would seem to dictate).

And here we are, with news coverage engaging in that very type of stereotyping (and to be honest, I don't think Louisiana needs any pushes in the racist direction). It's unbelievable just how much racist stereotypes infect even the most mundane things--but it's rare you actually have a side-by-side like this that really demonstrates how deep the problem is.

I have to ask what on EARTH those caption writers were thinking?

See also Atrios, Spin Dry, and Metafilter.

UPDATE: Althouse argues that since the captions were by two different wire services (AP and AFP), the racism charge doesn't hold. That carries some weight, but Yahoo still made the conscious decision on which photos to run and how to run them. And even if the decision was totally "innocent," the racial priming effect Kang talks about still exists. So at best this just shows how when racism is deeply imbedded it can perpetuate itself even via well-meaning actors applying neutral standards.

7 comments:

The probligo said...

It would surprise me not to find that -

Both were taken by the same photographer.

Both were taken within minutes of each other.

Look at the light quality, shadow/reflection directions, and angle the photos are taken from. All too close to be anything else.

I would guess that it was the same store being emptied...

The true test of wisdom is surely the ability to see beyond the labels...

Why were these people taking food and drink from a store?

Why had these people not evac'ed when requested?

Anonymous said...

oh! The black male has a different shadow angle of the head from the "whites". The female may not be white. The white male has nothing in his hands. The female may have found the items floating since it isn't bagged up as the black male's is. Without further info it's anyone's guess as to what went on.

Anonymous said...

the fact of the matter is....there is looting goin' on but so what?!!! if some looser wants to haul a 36" t.v. through chest deep water, i mean let him have it!!!! your dealing with poor people who are affected with this disaster, they are goin' to look for any oppertunity to gain ahead.

Anonymous said...

Not only are these two separate news agencies, one of them isn't even an English news service (Agence France Presse).

The lead "white" girl has plainly Hispanic features.

And Snopes has busted you too. http://www.snopes.com/photos/katrina/looters.asp

I don't take anyone left of center seriously when it comes to racism. And now you have no excuse to wonder why.

David Schraub said...

Did you even read the update I wrote?

"That carries some weight, but Yahoo still made the conscious decision on which photos to run and how to run them. And even if the decision was totally "innocent," the racial priming effect Kang talks about still exists. So at best this just shows how when racism is deeply imbedded it can perpetuate itself even via well-meaning actors applying neutral standards."

So...umm...right. The post was already updated to incorporate the AP vs. Agence France Presse issue (for the record, AFP does do plenty of English Language Stories).

Leith said...

Actually Yahoo claims they didn't make a conscious decision about it at all. I believe them: how many photos do they process in a day? Why would they pay a human to do that?

In response to anonymous re: lefties and racism: I am left. All the way left. Further left than anyone else you're likely to actually meet. And yet I don't conform to your stereotype of lefties. I wonder why that is? Could it have something to do with the fact your prejudice is... um, prejudice.

Damn. Backed myself into a clumsy sentence =)

Anonymous said...

I read the article posted at link http://www.snopes.com/photos/katrina/looters.asp and some of the explanation for the difference in the wording makes sense, but still smells like BS.

The photographer of the Caucasian couple (I don't know why the person on this blog had to specify Hispanic) stated he saw the couple pick up the "floating" items. Since when do full cans of soda float?

The person that posted the comment also points to the fact the the boy has a platic bag, maybe he was smart enoough to take a platic bag from his house to make it easier to carry items he might find.

The person (referring to the one that posted the link) also states you cannot see the man is not carrying anything. How does the person know. You can't even see the man's hands. He could easliy be carrying something in his backpack. This person that has posted can't see past his own stereotyping, regardless of whether he/she is left or right.