Media Writing Lab

By: Kamal Apatira Who is the Black Panther Party? The way I learned it growing up they were a group of radical Black people with extremist ideas. Never was I taught about how active they were in their communities and how they outlined their demands in what was called the Ten-Point Program, drafted by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966. They were genuinely about the liberation of their people, this portrayed in the first point of their program, “We Want Freedom. We Want Power to Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community” (Vernon, 2017). If the party was in the business of protecting and preserving its people, how is it that their name and objectives got so misconstrued? As the party gained more popularity in black communities across the country, the media began to intervene changing the way their message was received. During the early years of the party’s existence between 1966-1972, the party received a lot of media coverage. While police and political officials felt that th...

By: Joshua Mundell In the past few years, the professional sports world, specifically the National Football League, (NFL) has been experiencing a vast amount of protests. Sports protests have been around for decades, but thanks to a man named Colin Kaepernick, a NFL quarterback, a new wave of protests have begun. These protests all began when Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem. The backlash that Kaepernick received ranged from him being hated to him being praised (Matthew, 2016). What I often find ironic is that so many Americans today refuse to step in Kaepernick's shoes and fail to see the message he is attempting to convey. I hope to shine some light on why the anthem's kneeling is being supported, and why hatred should not be associated with the protests. Believe it or not, the NFL protests have garnered support from many veteran members of the U.S. military. One man, Michael Sand, former Army Green Beret and son of an Army ...

By Daniel Scotto For decades now, sports have played a crucial role in American culture. Out of all sports played in America, it can be argued that American Football, specifically professional football, receives the most viewership. Before the start of each game in the National Football League (NFL), it is tradition that an American flag is presented, and everyone stands in respect for our nation’s anthem. Citizens and fans embrace their patriotism as they proudly embrace what their country stands for. What does our country stand for? This is a good question that many are left pondering.  In the NFL, when the national anthem is being played, it is common for television providers to zoom in on the players to showcase their reactions. The emotions often vary among players, as some often shed tears, sing along to the anthem, or even embrace one another. One player in the NFL completely changed the way Americans view the anthem today. In 2016, Collin Kaepernick, the quarterback...

GIVE THEM AN INCH, THEY WANT A MILE: MEDIA DISCOVERY INTO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT  By Faith Blakey Through the United States’ torrid history with race and the destruction of the Black body, there has been a constant frame in newsprint and the media. A succinct analyzation of the Civil Rights Movement and the involvement of these forms of comprehensive communication, have portrayed Black Activism negatively.  From slavery, Emancipation, and Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement; there has been no shortage of these adverse illustrations and representations.  Newsprint has produced and promoted either racist or biased rhetoric throughout each of these “infamous” historical periods. Specifically, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s was with a sure purpose that was accomplished through a series of national marches and silenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Whitney Young, Gloria Richardson, and Roy Wilkins (O’Rourke, 2012). ...

NOT AS PRIVATE AS YOU THINK   By Emmanuel  Koutsouras   Say you are browsing the internet, maybe reading a movie review , looking through amazon to find a video game you want .  Then you decide to go on  Instagram sometime later and see an  ad   for something closely related to that movie review or video game.  Social media is arguably the largest collective platform of information that the world has ever seen. There probably is not a single person who is completely off the grid.  Social media brings people, ideas, thoughts, facts, and opinions together, in a way that nothing else  can  do. People put so much of their personal information on the various social media platforms, assuming safety as a given. As is the case with most things in life, nothing is a guarantee,  though.  The  power of  surveillance , which when you think about it is truly disturbing is  “ that people whose personal data are ...