Hollywood and Black Americans

Benjamin Stein raises very significant issues in his article, “Why Can’t We Cheer for Black Americans?” (California Commentary, Dec. 25). He has correctly pointed out that African Americans are still stereotyped and defamed by the electronic media.

Stein focuses on the vilification of black people in the movies and on television shows. It is our belief, however, that the most devastating images are presented daily on prime-time and late-night news programs. Three brief examples should make the point:

1. In spite of the fact that Robert Dupont, former director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, has publicly declared that 80% of America’s drug abusers are white and only 14% are black, virtually all news reports on drugs center on the black community.

2. Although the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (1989) reveals that whites committed 71% of all juvenile crimes in this country in 1988, the major networks focused most of their attention on black street gangs and vandals.

3. Following the recent earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area it was widely reported that roving gangs in predominately black West Oakland were taking advantage of the chaos by looting. What police thought to be looting turned out to have been black youths rescuing victims of the collapsed Nimitz Freeway. The officers apologized for the mistaken reports, but few news programs retracted the much-publicized tale.

Whether on the movie set, in the TV studio or in the newsrooms, conscious decisions are made on a daily basis to perpetuate the degradation of African Americans. The resultant negative depiction of black people in the media is largely responsible for the rising tide of racism in this country today.

LEGRAND H. CLEGG II

Chairman, Coalition Against Black Exploitation

Compton