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GOOGLE SEARCH: WHAT IS A PROTEST OR DEMONSTRATION? DEFINITION: IT IS AN INTERRUPTION AND MADNESS AT DEPAUW UNIVERSITY


By Aleysha Ward

Trigger Warning: This post may contain some vocabulary and phrases that may offend people who have dealt with racism.

A lot of people tend to wonder why media framing is such an important issue to our society today. Media framing focuses its attention on particular events that occur and then places them within a field of meaning. It is important to discuss this because our society today does not realize how framing can affect the overall significance of a situation. Framing contains a lot of vocabulary and phrases that can take away from the meaning of an event. We see this happening on our social media platforms that we use all the time but more closely on college campuses such as DePauw University.

April is usually a time in which people are getting ready for holidays such as Easter or planning their Spring Break vacation. Or students may be preparing for their midterms. But, at DePauw University, students of color had to take time out of their busy schedules to not only bring about awareness to the racial incidents that occurred on campus but, to demand change and respect for their lives. In the beginning of April, a student decided to attend a party in black face and have a name tag that said “blackie” on it. A few days later, a racial slur was written under a toilet seat that said, “Die Sand Niggers”. Then, another racial slur appeared and said, “All Niggers Must Die signed KKK”. This was written in the men’s bathroom at a restaurant on the campus that all of the students go to. Students were outraged by this and decided to take matters into their own hands by reposting these incidents on their social media pages, partaking in protests and notifying outside sources so that DePauw wouldn’t get away with not addressing these incidents. When the media became aware of this, they began to frame the students of color. For example, students of color were referred to as the “black mob” (Rod Dreher, 2018, p.1) and said that the student in black face “might be physically assaulted by black students” (Rod Dreher, 2018, p.1). The media also referred to the students of color as a “student mob”, “crazies” and “petulant brats” (Rod Dreher,2018, p.1). The media framing black activism doesn’t just happen at DePauw, it has happened all over the United States. For instance, when protestors participated in the #Ferguson movement after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by an officer name Darren Wilson, the media in particular Twitter decided to refer to protestors as the “mob”. People began to say things such as, “I remember way back when Ferguson was an all-white sundown town” (Sarah Jackson & Brooke Wells, 2015, p.407). The media has a tendency to frame black activism in a negative way. It is frustrating to know that Black Activism will always be labeled as something that is wrong or that black activists shouldn’t be fighting for their lives because everyone is treated “equal”. These larger issues, such as Ferguson, have been very present in the media, however it does not take away from the smaller issues that are not representing the younger black community. There are several connotations that are always associated with black students on a predominately white campus such as DePauw. It has developed into a narrative that remains constant in our larger society. We find that around the nation similar protests are viewed with the same intent to place a distinct image on the Black community. It is no coincidence that these occurrences are so continuous as the sentiments towards Blacks have persisted throughout the years. DePauw is one campus , that has contributed to the negative framing of African-Americans in the media. Although the school’s location is distant, the problem is forever present and DePauw needs to contribute to this situation in a positive way, rather than in a negative way. 

Word Count: 751 

References 

Dreher, R. (2018, April 20). DePauw descends into race madness. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/depauw-descends-into-race-madness/

Dreher, R. (2018, April 20). Attack of the racist colonizer sorority girl! Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/racist-colonizer-ellie-locke-depauw/

Sarah J. Jackson & Brooke Foucault Welles (2016) #Ferguson is everywhere: initiators in emerging counterpublic networks, Information, Communication & Society, 19:3, 397-418, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1106571

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2018 at 6:04 PM

    Aleysha, solid post. Nice work tackling a topic with immediacy to our campus.

    Careful with generalizations. When discussing media framing, you make the assertion that "the media" framed students of color and other protestors on DPU's campus in a certain way, but you're only citing a right-leaning media outlet. It might be more effective to examine the framing techniques of The American Conservative v. The IndyStar.

    Your APA style, both in-text and your reference list, should be reviewed. Consult the Purdue OWL's citation guide for APA prior to turning in your Methodological Inquiry.

    Best,
    DP

    ReplyDelete
  2. KHOctober 31, 2018 at 12:15 PM

    Thanks for revising Aleysha.

    The bit on framing is helpful and sets up the examples you offer throughout. In future, you may want to provide a source or sources for this discussion of framing.

    More immediately, you've still got some problems with your use of punctuation, especially around quotation marks. And, as David points out, your use of APA referencing requires additional attention and revision.

    25 pts.

    ReplyDelete

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