A different set of eyes

Recently, after talking to several different peers of mine I was once again reminded of how one's ethnicity, upbringing and surrounding environment can result in people having different perspectives on the same situation. For example, when Oscar Grant was shot and killed in front of hundreds of citizens at the Fruitvale Bart Station in Oakland there was only one thought racing through my head: another example of racially motivated police brutality. However, as the days passed and my peers and I were able to have discussions about Grant's killing I found that everyone didn't share my opinion. In fact, when I first started talking to a peer (who happened to be Caucasian) about what had happened the first thing that she said was that Grant must have done something to provoke the police man who shot and killed Grant. It seemed ludicrous to me that anyone would even say that statement aloud, but it reminded me that there are so many different ways to look at the same situation.

In contrast, while I was talking to a peer who happens to be an ethnic minority, he had the same reaction to the killing as I did. In our opinion, unless Grant was using a lethal weapon to assault another person, there was no need for this police officer to even use his weapon. It appears that Grant, who was not armed, was fully compliant with the officer's demands. After discussing this incident again with the first peer, she became open to the idea that there was a high chance that this was a racially motivated shooting committed by an authority figure whose job is to protect all people - people just like Oscar Grant.

After hearing and digesting some of the comments made by my peers about the Oscar Grant case, I know that these prejudices come from a lifetime of media portraying African-American citizens in a light that is rarely positive. When I asked the woman who had automatically assumed that Grant had committed some wrong doing to be shot why she had assumed this, she came to the conclusion that it was because usually in the news these incidents are shown to be caused by something other than racial motivations. Meaning, what she takes away from the news is that, more often than, not incidents similar to this are caused by some action the victim took.

This is a perfect example of how dangerous the media can be when it spreads messages with underlying prejudice, racism or bias. My generation has grown up in a time when these biases are still the norm, and not many people are asking for a new perspective.

The discussions I held with my peers over the murder of Oscar Grant sparked long term frustration that I believe was partly caused by the misrepresentation of certain minority groups in the media. In my opinion, this is completely unfair but, luckily, completely changeable.

It is up to us as a society to make the changes that will result in a national shift of thinking. We have succeeded as a country in selecting a candidate for presidency who is a catalyst for change not just from the Bush administration, but for our societal behaviors and attitudes as well. Becoming aware of the problem our media faces today is the first step in working towards change.