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Black Families in the Media ft. Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Ra’Nashae Haynes

North Carolina A&T University

JOMC 303
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Introduction

Today in society perception is everything. the definition of perception is the way of

regarding, understanding or interpreting something. In other words, perception is an individual’s

opinion or view on a particular subject. Perception is important in society today. The way things

are done nowadays, is that most people are not actually searching for facts or the truth, instead

perception or public opinion is the only thing that matters. The true facts or story most times is

not discovered or does not matter to me most because the matter or subject was already decided

upon with public opinion and perception. This ideology and way of handling things, have caused

a lot of misinformation, stereotypes, fake news, etc. to become a rampart issue. Instead of media

outlets, and other news platforms giving the full story with no biases, in addition to new stations

painting some groups in a bad light, this has caused a lot of bad stereotypes about minority

groups such as African Americans.

Minority groups such as African Americans are not shown in good light in the media, in

entertainment, in the news, etc. Most depictions of African Americans show them to be loud,

ghetto, unemployed, dissembled, no morals having beings without a stable family. Looking at

the news, televisions , or even newspapers that’s how they are shown. Most shows that feature

black families showcase constant turmoil and nonsense. Families units are most times than not

shown to be broken and dissembled. The households usually are single parent households, and in
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most cases the fathers are the parent missing. That is a common sight whenever a black family or

structure is shown on television, in the news, etc. These depictions and representations shown are

inaccurate. Not every household is structured that way. Not every black father is absent from the

life of their child. Every young black boy is not a thug or gangbanger. Not every young black

women is ghetto, loud and fast. Although, some know that the examples shown on televisions are

not accurate examples of African Americans, most don’t know. It is safe to say that the majority

of people and society draw their conclusions about black people from what they see portrayed.

( Rao, 2017). Although it is not true at all, in the eye of public opinion, that’s their perception of

black people because of what they’ve seen and heard. Which is why it important and

groundbreaking when black people are shown in a positive and accurate light in the media and

television. Shows such as reality shows, most Tyler Perry movies, etc. do not show black people

the way they should be shown. The best example of show which shows a healthy black family

and structure is the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Literary Review

According to the article, “3 Ways That Media Outlets Demonize Black Families” not

only does television play a big role in how black people are depicted, but also newspapers like

the New York Times and Meet The Press also dot it as well. Executive Director Rashad

Robinson, who is on the board of Color of Change, an organization that studies and works to

versus the racism done in elections, in the media, etc., was quoted saying “ The current media

landscape is shaped by decision makers who continue to inaccurately depict Black fathers as

absent, Black mothers as bad decision makers and Black families as destabilizing forces in
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society,” Black families represent 59 percent of the poor portrayed in the media, according to the

analysis, but account for just 27 percent of Americans in poverty. Whites families make up 17

percent of the poor depicted in news media, but make up 66 percent of the American poor, the

study said.

Black people are also nearly three times more likely than whites to be portrayed as dependent on

welfare, the study showed. Black fathers were shown spending time with their kids almost half

as often as white fathers.

Importantly, according to the oxford research, media representations of race can have

consequences for both African-American and White media consumers. Research consistently

demonstrates that negative media representations of Blacks have a detrimental effect on Whites’

intergroup attitudes and support for social policies. Positive representations, conversely, have the

potential to improve intergroup attitudes.

For Black viewers, stereotypical media representations of their own group can pose a

psychological threat, whereas sympathetic representations serve as a source of empowerment. If

all you knew about black families was what national news outlets reported, you are likely to

think African Americans are overwhelmingly poor, reliant on welfare, absentee fathers and

criminals, despite what government data show, a news study says.

Positive representation in the African American community is not only important to

them, but important to the rest of the world and human society. Reasons being that stereotypes

are often brought up upon what we see in television and music. Movies today often shed a light

on issues in the black community that are sometimes not always positive, but real life. So when
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you have a show like the Fresh prince, it shows not just the world but also the black community

that this is someones reality, and that it could be there’s too.