Examining Portrayals of Race in the Media

Assignment

1. Introduce the subject of your critique – the piece under analysis.
2. Review the background facts or issues that must be understood before the point of the piece can be appreciated: significance, design, appeal, and so on.
3. Review the assumptions in the piece that must be understood before you take a position.
4. Make your position statement clear: what is your evaluation? On what basis are you making it, given what you have stated in #2 and #3?
5. Review the author’s ideas in light of the position you identified and elaborate on each point that relates to your central position.
6. State your conclusions, reminding the audience of the points you have made and your reasons for making them.

Critical Analysis

For Week 4, Critical Analysis, I will be looking at the article "I’m a black activist. Here’s what people get wrong about Black Lives Matter," by Vann R. Newkirk II and published to Vox Media in December 8, 2015. It looks like the author of the article is no longer with Vox Media, as their author page is missing. Curiosity drove me to do a quick search and found they are currently writing for The Atlantic, a multi-platform publisher providing "analysis of breaking news, politics, international affairs, education, technology, health science, and culture" (Wikipedia). Wikipedia also holds a biography for the author of this piece:

Vann R. Newkirk II (born December 27, 1988) is an American journalist and staff writer for The Atlantic who writes on politics, the environment, race, and healthcare policy (Wikipedia).

Reading through Newkirk's career, a reader may gain additional insights about the author, providing a base for the reflective nature of the Vox Media article. Yes, this article is based on the writer's anecdotes from lived experience. The article begins in the author's past, reflecting on guest speakers in their college years. This is a starting point to draw the point of the article, how do people pick where the Civil Rights Movement left off?

Being familiar with the Civil Rights Movement, I didn't need to do much background research. A reader with limited knowledge of these events may find the piece easy to digest, as it is written in a reflective story mode. Newkirk frames the message around two guest speakers at the college, both of who had historically different roles during the Civil Rights Movement. The first, Andrew Young, took a more conservative approach during the movement and it was reflected in the speech they gave at the college. Newkirk makes the point that Young encouraged marginalized groups to adopt the mainstream values or to quote, "Young taught us we had to become less hip-hop in our speech and dress; he told us to scrub the "ain'ts" and "finnas" from our public language. We had to work twice as hard as white folks to get their sympathy — that was the torch Young passed to my class."

Newkirk then reflects on Julian Bond, a speaker that followed the next week. This is done intentionally to draw parallels to today's climate around protest - is there a right way? Newkirk draws connections and begins by comparing the two activists, Young to Bond. These two activists had many things in common; however Bond took a different approach during the Civil Rights Movement and we hear this through the author's reflection. Newkirk recalls Bond's words, "We would have to adapt and innovate for the times. Maybe we would have to let go of some of the respectability, he said." There is a stark difference between the first and the last speaker introduced in the article and Newkirk draws the same conclusion, "Forty years later, two of its luminaries stood before my college class and delivered opposing takes on its legacy. How did these differences play out in the history of the civil rights movement? Who was right?" However, it is this conclusion that brings the article to current times. In essence, creating part II of the article. It is here, that Newkirk opens the door for the reader to pause and consider the closing questions before moving forward. Which speaker do your political protests beliefs more align with?

Moving forward into part II of the article, Newkirk begins to paint a picture of the modern Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement through comparison to the past and specifically references the speakers introduced in part I. This ties to the past where Newkirk is attempting to inform the reader about the "what people get wrong" about BLM. However, a new character is introduced. A critic of Black Lives Matter, "Barbara Reynolds, a prominent black journalist, civil rights movement activist, and biographer of Jesse Jackson Sr." Newkirk is setting aside the politics to talk about people, and people have differing views, even within a movement. Comparisons are drawn, and generational points of view are introduced; however, Newkirk stays on the point of continuing to ask, which way is right?

Moving to part III of the article it shifts again to focus on two groups from the Civil Rights era. Continuing the train of thought, groups are working towards the same goal but with two very different approaches. Newkirk references Reynold's point of view several times throughout this section, questioning their position, as Reynolds is painted to stand behind the textbook image of the Civil Rights Movement, or that of Young. Reynold's is labeled as an "old way" of thinking. However, Newkirk isn't necessarily advocating for a different position here, but rather refocusing on the question, which way of protest is right? The "old way" is in quotes because at this point Newkirk has shown there were multiple "ways" of protesting during the Civil Rights Movement and then points to the present day. Those continuing to protest injustices have learned from the past, just as those of the past did. And this is highlighted in part IV, where Newkirk continues towards the conclusion of the article by painting a picture of how BLM has picked up pieces from the past and brought them to modern society.

In the end, Newkirk reframes the idea of which way is better and leads to the idea that BLM is an evolution of ideas. They did this through storytelling, referencing generational points of view, and citing historical people, events, and speakers. First, introduce the reader to speakers at their college with differing views of how to be active in the Civil Rights Movement. Then moving to a generational perspective of the then and now. Newkirk then connects the reader to two specific groups during the Civil Rights Movement and draws parallels to the BLM. Newkirk questions the generation's point of view, that the "old way" is the right way of protesting, but does this through the lens of what was the old way? The article was carefully constructed to show the reader that there wasn't just one way to protest during the Civil Rights Movement and concludes that BLM has embraced this idea through examples.