Our beliefsof Think of an artist.
Was it a man? Think of an inventor. Is he white? Describe Ghandi to an alien. Did you use the word INDIAN? ASIAN? Did you use his first name? MOHANDAS. Name another Indian historical figure. Can you? Contemporary news media is a record of our bias history. Our bias history is a reflection of DOMINANT CULTURE. DOMINANT CULTURE is determined by those in power. To be in power you must be EMPOWERED. We believe in the empowerment of all people. |
We believe all histories should be written, read, taught, learned, remembered. REMEMBER THIS: The past defines the present, but the present defines the future. In the future, our children will know Kiran Bedi, Assata Shakur, Daisy Bates. In the future, the people who live inside the television will look like those who live outside of it. They will be BLACK. They will be ASIAN. They will be YOU. They will be ME. They will be NEIGHBORS, and FRIENDS, and LOVERS, and STRANGERS. They do not speak for everyone if not everyone speaks. They do not speak for everyone UNLESS EVERYONE SPEAKS. |
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And speaking of color, let’s speak about it. Everyday, all the time, let us air the stink that has arisen through the suppression of our differences. Calling ourselves colorblind makes us blind. WE MUST SEE COLOR TO EMBRACE IT. We must debunk the idea that a popular narrative comes from the white point of view. There are many points of view in the human experience. Let us explore each other’s to explore ourselves. And, through that exploration, find a connection deeper than color. 
Where did we learn that color makes us different? We were not born with this belief, we did not come to the conclusion on our own. We were simply told it over and over and over again until we came to believe it. Until we grew into it and finally, came to act on it. 
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We can only truly know one another through experience. But, until that time. We must show each other our experiences. Compare them, side by side, to see that they are the same. And that the only thing that makes us different is our belief that we are so. 
It is our job now to collect those suppressed experiences and share them with one another. I WANT TO HEAR THE SOFTEST VOICES. I want to hear color. I want to see it on the news. And learn about it in school. I want to read non-white narratives and explore their experiences, our experiences – the human experience – in its most collective form. So that we can live collectively and collectively be heard. |
What We can do
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Black voices are being SUPPRESSED. We must now silence ourselves so that their experiences may come through. In this way, we’re launching a visibility campaign that aims to expose the absurdity of the media and its complacency in racial disparity in America. 
We plan on making a series of short videos, each with a different topic regarding minorities in media coverage. Our media content will be punchy and sarcastic, representing the RIDICULOUSNESS of this prevalent social issue. Through several sources of media, we hope to IMITATE the dominance of white voice in news coverage. We want to challenge people's perspectives on the representation of people of color in the news media. 
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OUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS THE YOUTH. In order to enact change we need the younger generations to be educated early on. Therefore, we want to present our message in a creative, accessible way that will capture their attention. Similar to Dylan Marron and Buzzfeed, we want to ultimately provide an innovative platform in which young people can engage and become EDUCATED. 
We will create short, simple videos presenting STRONG, COMPLEX messages. Our message will be conveyed by having a news clip delivered by a person of color overlaid with both negative and positive comments from users. For the negative comments, it will show the juxtaposition of uneducated users with raw truth of the detrimental influence of bias news coverage. Positive comments will also be shown to represent the current advocacy. We will motivate and inspire people to take action on our message by sparking a sense of discomfort in the viewer. We will reach our audience through the POWERFUL MESSAGES shown in our videos. We hope younger generations will be inspired by this social problem and share the videos with others. |
WHAT SETS US APART
We are inspired by Phil Patiris’ absurdity in The Iraq Campaign. Collaging together series news clips with footage from Star Wars, Patiris calls the audience to make the RIDICULOUS JUXTAPOSITION between flying spaceships and coverage of the war. In this way, our project will also call the audience to make absurd juxtapositions we regularly see scrolling through comments under online news clippings. By choosing specific stories overlayed by both positive and negative comments will finally EXPOSE THE REAL PERCEPTION of our bias media and how it influencing public opinion.
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Additionally, we are inspired by the satire in Richard Serra’s Television Delivers People. We would like to use the tone in his video in order to capture the attention of the audience and make the videos both CREATIVE and ENTERTAINING so that we can reach a wide audience.
Our argument will combine these two elements and further them by using only serious footage and commentary to create a ridiculous message through its veracity.
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Have you seen the news today
Was it white?
Did you see yourself?
Did you see color?
Did you see diversity?
To see diversity we must let it be seen.
To hear diversity we must let it be heard.
Have you seen the news today?
BLACK VOICES MATTER.
Was it white?
Did you see yourself?
Did you see color?
Did you see diversity?
To see diversity we must let it be seen.
To hear diversity we must let it be heard.
Have you seen the news today?
BLACK VOICES MATTER.