In a very affluent Chicago suburb, a fourteen-year-old white girl was recently killed when she walked in on an intruder in her home. The man who allegedly stabbed her is a black south-side Chicagoan. I don't watch local TV news, but both the Tribune and the Sun-Times newspapers have reported extensively on this murder.
My heart goes out to the young girl's family, as their grief must be gut-wrenching. My critique of the news media's bias against people of color is not meant to minimize this family's pain. However, I'm amazed at how much attention the murder of a suburban, affluent white girl has received, as compared to the murders of black young women that occur on Chicago's south side.
Although the suburban murder occurred on October 27, one angle of the incident is reported almost daily, and enjoys a front-page online link. There were detailed reports about the funeral, the victim's tennis team rallying to honor their teammate, and the neighborhood's efforts to strengthen its watch program. Weeks later, the Tribune has analyzed the suspect's mental health history.
I understand that a murder in a wealthy suburb is an unusual thing, and that the news outlets are reporting more prominently because they know these stories will garner more pageviews and TV viewers. But I found several other equally-unusual and heartbreaking stories about young black women who have been killed, and aside from the initial news report, it seems there is no follow up on their murders.
In one instance, a pregnant teen begged for her life before being shot in the head. In another, a six-year-old girl was shot while at a sleepover, even though the house was on a peacful block of its south-side neighborhood. With yet another, we just get a cursory report of a seventeen-year-old girl being shot in the chest, with no other details. If these victims would have been white residents of wealthier neighborhoods, I wonder how differently the media would have reported on these tragic events.
Rarely do we get follow-up reports on the memorial service, the community's grief, the victim's classmates, or the suspect's past when a person of color is murdered. Simply looking at the news reports sends the message that an affluent white young woman's life is more valuable than a low-income, black young woman's. The white girl's death is presented with many dimensions, as it affects her family and community, while the black girls' deaths are one-dimensional.
The white young woman's death also appears to be more personalized. In one report about the suburban girl's murder, a (presumably white?) policeman remarked he imagined he was searching for his own daughter's murderer. There are no such sentiments expressed in articles about the young black women.
Sadly, just as prosecutors are more likely to seek a death sentence when the victim is white, as opposed to a person of color, I suppose other parts of our society--both media outlets and their audience--find a white person's murder more noteworthy. Any thoughts?
Comments