Classism: Why doesn't the American media care about poor people and their children?

Elizabeth Smart, Laci Peterson, JonBenet Ramsey. What do these people all have in common. All were murdered right? But that's not all. All three of these people were what traditional American standards considered "innocent". Why? If you ask a typical black or hispanic person they will quickly point out that they were all white. All that pefect picture of "American Beauty".           But me, I'm not your typical "black guy". I look at things from different perspectives, my mother rasied me to believe in the human race. She also taught me to be smart enough to know that there are certain injustices forced upon people of certain cultures and colors that may never change.
          The world we live in today is different than the one she grew up in. Racism and discrimination is not as prevalent as it was then, just look at who's in The White House. But in today's twisted world the new problem we face is classism. Classism is defined as prejudice and/or discrimination on the basis of social class. Classism is on display everyday in the American media. Elizabeth Smart, Laci Peterson, and JonBenet were all people of a higher social class than I grew up in. What happened to each of them was terrible, but what's worse is the way the American media blitzes us with mass media coverage of these cases that have to do with people of higher class.
         Everyday we get beat in the head with stories that the media forces us to feel sad about, but the message is that the tragedies only happen to the upper class. Pardon my french, but that's bullshit. What happens to the intense media coverage of our children who go missing? And when I say "our children" I don't mean black folks, I mean lower and middle class folks whatever color. Consider this; In the state of Connecticut where I live we have had the story of the Cheshire Home Invasion shoved down our throats for 4 years now. If you don't know, it is an incident where two men invaded a home and murdered a mother and her two daughters. It was a terrible crime, I'm not saying it wasn't, but what about the day in 2006 when a man entered a home in my city of Bridgeport and killed a woman and her boyfriend, then chased down the woman's 9 year old daughter and stood over her as he murdered her in cold blood in broad daylight? What about little Kylie?
          Although the killer was convicted and is on death row what happened to the media blitz for that case? Why do these cases get different publicity? Simple, the Chesire Home Invasion involved an upper class suburban family and the Bridgeport murders involved lower class people from the inner city. And in case you don't know about the Bridgeport case, the victims were also white, not black. The poor don't have a color, they're just a shade that others pretend not to see. Who does the media care about?

Why Black Kids Cant Find Their Names On License Plates (Or Coffee Mugs, Or Keychains, Or Necklaces....)

What's in a name? Really, what is in a name? My first name is Duane. As a kid I hated my name because I thought it sounded corny or dare I even say "white". I wondered why my parents didn't name me something "cool" like JaQuan, or Tyrell or DeShawn. Why was I cursed with such a boring name? My whole life I've preferred my closest friends to call me by my middle name, Calvin. Ironically Calvin isn't even my real middle name, it's actually Kelvin but I never corrected anyone because I thought Calvin sounded cooler.
            But a funny thing happened after my father passed away; I started to embrace my first name. I was named after my father. (I have to say that there is no feeling in the world scarier than seeing your name on a tombstone) My family believes that it is important to know about your past and carry on a strong tradition for the future, which brings me to my point. For generations black people have been giving their children unique sounding names which originally was intended as a way to seperate themselves from white people. This is a symptom of what is known as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Black people felt that they would feel a greater sense of internal freedom if they "freed" themselves from "slave names".
            But somewhere along the line it went from liberation to straight up ignorance. The video shown in this post is an exaggeration (albeit a very funny one) of the kinds of names that black people are giving their children nowadays. In the book Freakonomics a study of black children born in California in the 1990's showed that most children with these kinds of names were birthed by young, single, uneducated mothers living in low income communities. Because they are so young they believe that it is cute to give their child a name that is difficult to pronounce. I was once told a story about a young girl who wanted to name her child Al-Qaeda. Seriously.
            I have a friend who named her daughter Camille, which is a beautiful name. She once told me that she did not want her child to be unfairly judged or discriminated against because of her name. That when she fills out applications for college, she will be given a fair advantage. This got me thinking. I'm 1000% positive that anyone who names their child Bonquisha or Sha Nay Nay is not thinking about this. Camille's mother is already thinking about college. Bonquisha's mother is most likely thinking about how cute her newborn baby will look in the latest pair or newborn Air Jordan's. (Why the fuck do they even make newborn Air Jordan's anyway???) See the differnce in the frames of mind?
            I came across a study in the book Freakonomics (I really like this book, can you tell? Lol) where two resumes with the exact same skills and qualifications were sent out to 100 different employers. The only difference were the names; Jake Williams and DeShawn Williams. The study said that Jake Williams was twice as likely to get a callback simply because of name recognition alone. Camille is a universal name. You cannot tie it to any race. You cannot tell if Camille is Black, White, Hatian or Cape Verdian without meeting her. (Camille is actually born to a Cape Verdian mother and an African American father) These young parents are not thinking about the futures of their children.
            My daughter's first name is Myonna which is unique but not ghetto, although I wanted her first name to be Audrey which is her middle name. She has to constantly correct people on the proper way to pronounce her name which does bother me. I was 19 and her mother was 18 when she was born. I guess what is more important than what your child is named is what type of environment he or she is brought up in. But will young parents begin to think about the future in the long term sense as opposed to the short term? Or will their underdeveloped minds continue to be stuck in the here and now?
           

Negro Please!

In what has got to be some of the dumbest shit I've ever heard, yesterday Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said that if the NFL lockout does not get resolved, the crime rate in America will rise to epic levels. Well at least that's how he made it sound. If you don't believe me, watch the clip.
            Whats even crazier than what Ray Lewis said is the fact that someone who was once arrested for and charged with murder would say something that dumb. And with such passion! He sounds like a cult leader! Now don't get me wrong, I like Ray Lewis, and I'm sure he didn't mean that he was going to rally his followers and turn into Charles Manson. But, considering his past and the way he is viewed by "white America" I've got to insert his comments under the "Negro Please Files".
            In  a book I recently read called Freakonomics one of the chapters discussed the epic fall of crime in America during the 1990's. Some of the factors for bringing down crime included a booming economy, an all time peak number of police academy recruits, and even abortion. (Abortion means less children born into poverty and single parent upbringings in substandard living conditions, which ultimately results in less children growing up to be criminals) But funny enough, one thing I didn't read about being a factor in the the reduction of crime was........NFL games!!!
            So WTF is Ray Lewis talking about?? Maybe if the lockout doesnt come to an end the crime rate will go up. Maybe because all the "thugs" in the league will be out of a job. Because as we all know in 2011 the NFL might as well stand for National Felons League.

The Maury Kids

Everytime I watch Maury I can't help but ask myself, "What are these kids going to think when they grow up and see these shows?" Seriously, what will they think? Or better yet do the "parents" that come on Maury even think about what they're setting these children up for? Imagine being a teenager or young adult, turning on the TV and boom! Mom and Dad are on the screen going at each other's throats like two wildcats over a dead bird. I'm sure this will not be one of those moments that gets discussed with pride over Thanksgiving dinner.
            Think about the "fathers" (I use that term loosely here) who are on these shows. Surely they've never once given any thought to the fact that if the kid is actually theirs, he or she may grow up to see the show and learn that he really wanted nothing to do with being the father. Talk about a slap in the face.
            The mothers (not all) are even worse. Imagine finding out that your mother had to test as many as 5 to 10 different men to find who fathered you! I know I would probably want to live under a rock if I saw my teenage mother on TV being called a "bitch", "slut", "whore", "slore" (slut + whore = slore), "hoe", "hoodrat", and "hoodbooger". (Yes, I actually once saw a guy call a girl a hoodbooger on Maury. It was actually pretty funny! lol) As we all know, schoolchildren can be especially cruel. And in this media driven world that we live in whether it be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, emails, or whatever the media machine has invented by then, these kids are bound to see these clips. This would subject these poor children to a life full of torment and traumatic memories at the hands of their peers.
            It really makes one think. What will these "parents" say when (not if) the questions come? Will the sperm donors admit that they were immature little bitches afraid to take on a responsibility that they created? Will the egg carriers admit that they were totally devoid of good judgment and had a total lack of common sense? Or will they just take the easy route and blame each other? Sadly thats my bet. But it begs the question; What are these "parents" thinking if they are even thinking at all?