Little to no coverage on 20th anniversary of the Million Man March
By Kieren Wilson
On October 16, 1995 hundreds of thousands of African Americans and people of all colors arrived at Washington D.C. to rally for peace, justice and racial equality. This event was called the Million Man March. The event came after a time of police brutality and racial injustice towards the black community and was a symbol for unity, peace and strength. The rally was organized by Louis Farrakhan the leader of the Nation of Islam.
20 years later in Washington D.C. the Million Man March had its anniversary on October 10th, 2015 and hundreds of thousands were in attendance. Most would think an event that symbolized positivity in the American public would get some significant media coverage from major media outlets, this was not the case. People of all races gathered to unify and stand for peace, nonviolence and justice but CNN, Fox news and just about every major newspaper gave this event zero coverage.
Unfortunately in the United States of America we still have a disparity in the way our news is distributed. When people today see African Americans on the news it is almost always about something negative. We all know that Lamar Odom was found passed out in a Las Vegas brothel last week high on drugs, but when hundreds of thousands of African Americans gather for a positive cause the media fails to give the same amount of coverage. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I have an Instagram (account) and saw pictures of the Million Man March, I would have had no idea the event even took place,” said junior Dubem Awuzie.
Why is it that when an African American person commits a serious crime the news is covered nationally on just about every major news outlet, but when a movement representing positivity and peace takes place the media tends to turn the other cheek? CNN, Fox, and major news outlets had no problem covering the riots in Ferguson, Missouri. They had no problem covering the case of Trayvon Martin who was portrayed as a thug and a hoodlum. However when a group of minorities, including Mexican Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans, gather by the masses the media does not give the event any live media coverage.
“I feel like an event like this should have definitely been more publicized since there were so many people involved and it was in Washington D.C.,” said freshman Blake Harris.
This is the greatest injustice of all. Continuously portraying minorities in a negative context but failing to highlight the positive in the eyes of the American public is what contributes to prejudice, racial inequality and injustice in our criminal justice and schools systems and overall fear of minorities but African Americans in general.
“My uncle went to the Million Man March the first time and went again this year. It’s a pretty big event,” said junior Paul Acosta.
This is a very tragic issue that minorities face in America and the only way for it to stop is for people of color to get into journalism and do something about it.