A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know with the award winning hyphenated Dr. Nsenga Burton. Dr. Burton. What do we need to know?

Good afternoon and welcome to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton. I am she. Uh, today we're going to talk about race and media, and we're going to talk about it through the context of this, uh, U. S. presidential election that's happening right now. Uh, and what's interesting, what a lot of people are talking about is Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, has been slow to Accept an interview interview requests from mainstream media, and a lot of people have a lot to say about it. But what's interesting about it is that the way that she has been covered by the mainstream media has been less than demonstrative of a media that. That intends to be impartial and balanced and actually fair when interviewing her. So, and it's not just mainstream media, you know, we had an issue with earlier this month, but to stay on topic. This idea that black women in general, and this particular black woman specifically should show up to get beaten up is false. You don't have to do that. And she is in a position to, you know, write her own ticket in that way, right? To say who she will interview with who she won't she's interviewed with many people in the press. She's interviewed with National Newspaper Publishers Association. She's interviewed with NABJ before previously. She's interviewed with lots of folks and sat down 60 minutes or what have you. Time magazine, all of these different types of publications, but what is happening now is that she is standing on her truth. And the truth is that many media organizations have failed to cover. Her contributions in any significant way, even as vice president, and currently as the presumptive, I mean, not the presumptive, even as vice president and currently as the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. And so. Harris's career Harris. And so Harris's team is being, is moving really slowly and being very decisive in deciding who will get this first interview and deciding when it will happen, and really taking control of the narrative. Because what happens, particularly as it relates to black people in general and black women specifically in media, people are often. Okay, with creating their own narratives of us, right? They decide who we are, what we will be and what they want to show about us. And there's very little protection given to us in the ways that are often given to other people in general, and white women specifically. So, you know, people aren't really guarding, um. Our presence or, or protecting us in a way that will protect our image. So for example, um, you know, UGA won a major championship. Y'all are like, which one? 'cause they went all the time, But, um, there was a tragedy at the end of, um, the championship win. Um. The year before last, and a couple of players were killed. Um, a couple of, uh, employees were killed and there has been very little coverage of those employees. Who were killed, who were white women, um, in this accident, in this car accident, um, you may not even know what I'm talking about, because there's been very little national coverage of this event, and there have been very few subsequent follow ups, uh, in terms of what's happening with the story now, what's happening with the case now, how did UGA handle it, what policies did they put in place to prevent this from happening again? Again, are there going to be lawsuits from the families, all of the things that, you know, you shouldn't have to read the AJC to find out about it should be a national news, but I really believe they are really invested and that would be members of media are invested and protecting the image of these young white women who. Um, we're involved in this really tragic incident, so that type of protection is not really extended to black women. I really believe that if they were black, we would know everything about them. We know your parents are, we know everything about them, every step that they made, everything they've done or what have you, which leads me back to what the topic is, right? This idea about black women just showing up to get beat up. Why? Why is that the expectation for us? And when you have the opportunity and the power to say, No, I'm not going to do that. You can. And so we should not demonize Vice President Harris because she is taking her time to decide who she wants to be interviewed by because she wants a fair shot. She doesn't want someone else to take a narrative or to create a narrative for her. She wants to speak. For herself. And so when we think about race and media, when we think about gender and media, and we think about the ways in which people are represented and, you know, I will say this too, white women are often represented as pious and, you know, in need of protection, even in fiction. Um, and so some of that feeds into why and how, um, they are portrayed, but. You know, people are individuals, they have a right to represent themselves in media. They have a right to say who and will they who they will and won't interview with. They have a right to say when they will do it. And particularly when you're in a media climate that is very negative and vitriolic. For example, University of South Carolina, which I'm shocked by. And I know people who know South Carolina like, why? Because I just really believe that I can't believe that they're allowing this group of white supremacists to have a roast of Vice President Kamala Harris and to let that go unchecked. Um, yes, freedom of speech exists, but, uh, freedom of speech isn't always free. And typically we have a roast. The person is there. They are there. And they have some type of relationship so that they can understand the jokes and they can be a part of the jokes or what have you, but to have someone just sit there and make racist and sexist jokes about, and we're going to say it's racist and sexist because the people who are doing it, whose names I will never say, um. That's who they are. You know, they, if you look at the comments on the stories that people are talking about, um, they're using the F word. They're using the N word. These are people who have been ostensibly, and I could be wrong. I'm hoping I'm wrong because I was shocked when I saw it, when I saw the advertisement, but, um, ostensibly have been given carte blanche to go and roast, roast the current vice president, um, and Democratic presidential nominee, um, And with no response or ability for anybody to really stand and or stand up for her. So, in conclusion, I would just say this when you exist in a media environment that has historically. And currently refuses to play the game in a fair way, right? Refuses to give you access. Refuses to allow you to tell your own narrative and to share your story. And allows others to demonize and tear you apart at any given moment for any reason. Then no, you shouldn't just say yes to any interview. And you shouldn't just do it because it's expected of you. You should take your time and make sure that you're going to go with an outlet, a media outlet, that is going to be fair. They're going to be accurate in their editing and reporting. Um, and they're going to allow you to set the tone. And to tell the story that you need to tell and to answer the questions in a way that they need to be answered. So that's all I have for you. Um, so just keep that in mind as we go go about, you know, Talking bad about people demonizing people saying what they should and shouldn't do Um, it's easy to say that when you are not bearing the brunt of racism sexism and misogyny every single day of your life All right. So without further ado, I wish you a wonderful day. Tune in next week for a black executive perspective podcast with me, Dr. Nsenga Burton for Need to Know. Bye.

A Black Executive Perspective.