Lesson Plan: Deconstructing Racism and Bias in the Media
4 min read
This lesson is based on events from late October/early November in Minnesota. It would be a good fit for grades 6-12. It is released (like all the blog posts on this site) under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, which means that you are free to use it and modify it as you need, provided you share your work as well. The full content of this lesson is also available as a Google Doc that you can copy and modify as needed.
In this exercise, you will get directly into issues of race, power, and how bias in the media can affect what gets packaged as news. These are difficult but important topics. As a teacher, you might feel uncomfortable getting into these topics. When discussing issues that are outside your comfort zone or immediate area of expertise, be clear and transparent about where you are at. It is always okay to let your students know that you are learning alongside them, and that learning is a lifelong process that requires constant thought, evaluation, and growth - continuing beyond school. Depending on where you teach, your students will have varying levels of familiarity and comfort with the events described in this lesson. In short: spend time listening to your students, and meet them where they are at. Your role is not to control the conversation, or lead anyone to a specific conclusion. Your role is to provide a space where people can explore, make mistakes, speak freely, and draw conclusions.
As you introduce the lesson, let your students know that the lesson addresses issues of race, civic engagement, and power. You do not want students to be blindsided.
Once the lesson has been introduced, watch this video about a group of people doing neighborhood canvassing in a get out the vote effort. Background info that might be needed to add context to this video includes what canvassing is, how get out the vote drives work, how the push for recent voter ID laws make it more difficult for people of color to use their voting rights, and how people convicted of crimes can lose their right to vote.
Watch this video about a group of people doing neighborhood canvassing in a get out the vote effort.
After watching this video, discuss these questions:
- Why do you think this video was made?
- What is the overall point of this video?
- How does this video address issues of race, power, and/or social status?
Then, watch this news report that uses one specific moment of the first video.
After watching the second video, start with the same questions as above:
- Why do you think this video was made?
- What is the overall point of this video?
- How does this video address issues of race, power, and/or social status?
Follow up questions could include:
- How does taking this single picture out of context distort the meaning of the original "get out the vote" event?
- What details does the reporter leave out of his story? What explanations could exist for leaving out this background detail?
- How does it undercut the reporters version of events, and the testimony of other people in law enforcement, that the police chief participated in the same "get out the vote" event?
The most appropriate followup discussions will be shaped by the questions raised by your class. Different students will need different levels of support and feedback.
Follow up note and resource: after I published this post, Melissa Harris-Perry summarized the issue and interviewed Navell Gordon, the man whose picture was taken with the mayor of Minneapolis.
Conclusion
The stories that we tell matter. How details are selected and highlighted can (including in this lesson) shape the message that is told. Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but in the hands of a storyteller (and just about all media is a form of narrative) context can be shifted to suit needs that are not remotely ethical or honest. Deconstructing narrative requires an awareness of how stories are constructed. Comparing these two videos, and looking at how the second plays upon fears and stereotypes, provides a concrete example of how "news" can be bent to support a narrow, fear-based view of the world.
