Stuff like this pisses me off.

[Drunken Irishman]

I was looking at the online edition of the Deseret News (Salt Lake City paper, owned by the LDS Church) for today's edition (Tuesday) and noticed this headline:

Hispanic man ties up clerk, robs pawn shop


http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,680197792,00.html

:wtf:

I read the paper every day and I always see this. BLACK man ____________, HISPANIC man ______________, yet never WHITE man __________. And people say there is no racism?

To compare, here's an article from Friday of last week, same paper, but about a man that took a woman hostage before being shot by police (oh and this was after he hijacked a car).

Police gun down alleged hostage taker in Salt Lake

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,680196960,00.html

He was white.

Hm, why doesn't it read Police gun down alleged WHITE hostage taker in Salt Lake?

Am I the only one that sees this crap and wonders how people can be so blatantly racist? Yet I bet there are a lot of people that will read this headline and not have a problem with it, or see that it automatically gives off negative feelings toward Hispanic Americans (most people only read headlines, so this is why they probably put it in there). Maybe I'm out of line, I don't know.

[Trajan]

1. The Subtle Racism of Weak Explanations ....

BTW: You are not out of line .... you are absolutely correct ...... This has been going on for ages ....

[Az]

2. Remember during Katrina

White people were foraging for food. Black people were looters.

[Guaranteed]

8. Small cities filled with colored people are villages. Small cities

filled with white people are towns.

[Hissyspit]

3. That's not AP style, I know that. AP style calls for not identifying race unless

there is a specific racial issue to the story. If they are identifying the person's race in order to aid capture, then white persons identities should be given, too. If they are not, then it is racist.

It also would matter if you identified some races always in the headline and others only in the body of the story, so context does count.

As coverage of Katrina showed, there is plenty of subtle and sometimes overt racism in press coverage.

[Drunken Irishman]

5. It's a local headline.

[Hissyspit]

10. Local press should have consistent standards. They don't have to be AP, but many of the

standards are similar. If a paper has no consistent standards, then they are not very professional (and they will probably get sued). It is easy to look up in a stylebook and follow consistent standards.

[BuyingThyme]

4. White in Salt Lake? That's like salt in Salt Lake.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. SLC has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the nation.

It's already at 20%, up from 10% in 1990.

[BuyingThyme]

11. I had no idea. Do the Osmonds still live there?

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Everyone moved to Utah County.

Or out of the state.

Salt Lake City isn't even that Mormon, about 35% of the population is LDS.

[SeattleGirl]

6. No, you're not the only one. I notice it too.

I can understand noting race when police are looking for a suspect in a crime. And those descriptions seem to always contain the person's race, even when they are white.

But reporting on a crime when a suspect has been apprehended: yeah, so many times the race is left out if the person is white.

Racism is NOT dead in this country; in fact, over the past 6 years, I'm convinced that it's become "hip" again, if you'll pardon the use of that word. (Because I don't think racism is "hip" at all.)

It's like every time I hear someone say, "I'm not a racist, BUT....." and then go on to talk about why a person of a particular race (or worse yet, people of a certain race) are this way or that way.

It stinks, and I'm sick of it.

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Even then, leave the race out of the headline.

If you need to report that the man is Hispanic, put it in the article. But why the headline?

[SeattleGirl]

13. Absolutely!

Thanks for pointing that out. It's like they are screaming, "Look out for that black, Hispanic, whatever-non-white-person!!! They're bad!!! They're evil!!! They'll kill your children and rape your women!!!"

It's a tad more subtle, but it's still very racist.

[Drunken Irishman]

15. Yup.

Most people skim through the paper and read the headlines. When they see these headlines, their mind automatically attaches a negative connotation with that race. It feeds their deepest fears and exemplifies people's racism. Even if they don't consider themselves racist at all.

[SeattleGirl]

22. I know quite a few people who honestly don't think they are racist,

even though they are to one degree or another. They aren't anywhere near skinhead level, and a lot of them even have friends of different races, but they have ideas -- generalized ideas -- about different races that are fed by those kinds of headlines.

I think part of it is that when they know someone personally, regardless of race, they don't apply the same kinds of biases they might apply to the racial group that personal friend might be part of TO that person. I think that's why, if they are confronted with their attitudes, they are genuinely shocked.

I'm not trying to excuse bias or prejudice or racism; that's just my take on some of the folks I know.

[Cleita]

24. What I used to hear back in the fifties when I was in high

school was, "I don't have anything against them and they should have every right we have AS LONG AS THEY KNOW THEIR PLACE." People don't say it as blatantly now as they did then but that old meme is still lurking at the bottom of their thinking.

[SeattleGirl]

28. Hey Cleita. You're are absolutely right. I was born in the mid-50's

and spent a lot of time in Arkansas. No, it's not the "deep South" but I remember seeing "Whites Only" and "Coloreds Only" signs at restrooms and restaurants.

I remember hearing the "N" word tossed around with abandon.

I remember the blacks who lived in the town my relatives did, walking down the sidewalk with their heads down. I'd be sitting on the porch with my sister and cousins, and we'd say, "Morning" to anyone who walked by, but the blacks never looked up. Ever. And I remember thinking it was weird; I was just a kid. And I remember wondering why some of my relatives and the other white people in town thought people with dark skin were "less than" whites. Even at a very young age (like 5), I wondered why that was.

Whenever I hear things like "I don't have anything against them..." I want to scream.

[MatrixEscape]

12. Good to see ...

people noticing and being AWARE. Isn't that one of our best attributes as a species? It is from there that we then formulate a more accurate response for survival and interaction.

And don't care what the subject is, nor am I referring to just the points in this thread. Paying careful attention would go a LONG way in the long run.

[SeattleGirl]

17. Paying careful attention.....that's absolutely right. And then, it should

be followed up by speaking out.

This MLK Jr. quote is the inspiration for my sig line:

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

When we see things, hear things, notice things that are racist, we need to speak up. If we don't, we are, intentionally or not, giving consent to the wrong that is being done.

[Cleita]

16. Considering that Utah is one of the whitest places I have

ever been in, I'm not surprised. I think the homogenity, not only of race but religion breeds that kind of intolerance. I listened to a talk radio show one afternoon coming from Logan and the discussion was about a novel, "The House of Spirits" written by Isabella Allende. I guess some high school English teacher had assigned it to her class and the parents were all up in arms about the immorality as they saw it in the book.

It didn't occur to anyone that it was about a different culture that had different mores than their little, white bread, insular community. Mostly it was about the coup that installed dictator Pinnochet and toppled the democracy in Chile. The novel centered around how it affected one family. Allende didn't pull any punches about the faults of the culture like it's classism and patriarchism as well as it's view of homosexuality. However, the views of the Utahans are very similar yet they didn't see themselves in the mirror. I thought that perhaps that was what the teacher was trying to show to her students.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Except Salt Lake isn't all that white.

It's no more whiter than Portland or Seattle. The Hispanic community here is one of the fastest growing in the country and yet the powers to be are so utterly racist it's disgusting.

I honestly hope that Hispanics do become the majority population, just so it could piss off all those uptight white assholes. I mean I can sympathies with them because my family was the target of bigotry because they were Irish. I still remember my grandmother telling me how she was called a potato nigger growing up. AND WE WERE WHITE!

[Cleita]

20. I haven't been there in almost ten years. I did notice some

Mexican restaurants on the road but never saw a Mexican, African American or even a swarthy Italian type white person when I was in Salt Lake City.

[Drunken Irishman]

21. It's changed a lot.

20% of Salt Lake is Hispanic. There aren't many blacks (3%, but growing) and hardly any Italians. :D

[Cleita]

23. That's good. I think the state needs some diversity and new

ideas even if they are jarring to the status quo at first. Utah always spooked me. Everyone seemed to look the same, dress the same and talk the same. I found it unnerving.

[Drunken Irishman]

25. Salt Lake has always been different.

I mean we did elect Rocky Anderson twice.

[Cleita]

27. Yes, Salt Lake is more Democratic in makeup than the rest of Utah

from what I understand. I was never there long enough to figure out the politics.

[Drunken Irishman]

33. Salt Lake is a weird [in a good way] place.

Because out of all the conservative states in the Rocky Mountains (Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and possibly Montana), I don't think any city is more liberal than Salt Lake. It's got a large gay population, a growing Hispanic population and many people that have moved here for the outdoors. Like I said earlier in the thread, only 35% of Salt Lake is LDS and you've got to think that out of that 35%, maybe half of them are active Mormon.

Salt Lake City reminds me of a midwest city (St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland) in the booming west. It's not a traditional western city and its politics is definitely similar to the rustbelt cities.

[getmeouttahere]

30. You're right about Portland...

I live here and love the town, but it is lilly white. One thing I miss about L.A. is the latino culture, I'm just waiting for Portland to get more of it, and other cultures too. It will happen, it's just going to take some time.

[SeattleGirl]

19. Well, I live in rather liberal Seattle, and I've seen the same kind of

thing. Sometimes it's a bit more subtle, but sometimes, it's not.

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. As a former newspaper editor

I'd fight any copy desk that ordered a hed like this. They might argue that it was necessary to fill the hed spec, which I'd counter with, "Lazy excuse. Rewrite it."

This is unprofessional and potentially inflammatory. I would not allow it.

BTW — the Deseret News is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — for whatever that's worth.

[SeattleGirl]

29. Good for you, Oedi.

I wish more editors would do that.

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. The vast majority do

Which makes this all the more egregious. It's quite Faux Noise-ish, really. Reminds me of some of the shit that made print through the mid-'60s or so, such as "Negroes riot in East LA."

[SeattleGirl]

32. Yeah. I think Faux Noise is one of the greatest perpetrators of

the resurgence of more blatant racism. Not that subtle racism is any better; it's just that some of the things that the idiots on that station say make me want to hurl. Especially because those who are saying that shit seem to be PROUD of it.

[Hissyspit]

35. What style did you use, Oed'?

I would use AP wherever I worked.

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. AP Stylebook was pretty much the bible

I don't think I ever saw a Chicago manual in a newsroom. Saw a couple of copies of Strunk & White, but those were on the desks of particularly anal editors.

Of course, wherever the paper had its own style, it overrode AP. But that didn't happen often.

[MADem]

34. The Deseret News, eh? "The Church" owns that paper. Guess it's important to them...? NT