{"id":22784,"date":"2015-06-22T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=22784"},"modified":"2016-04-01T08:32:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T11:32:59","slug":"racial-silence-in-us-coverage-of-charleston-shooting-mirrors-brazilian-medias-treatment-of-white-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=22784","title":{"rendered":"Racial Silence in US Coverage of Charleston Shooting Mirrors Brazilian Media’s Treatment of White Criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"PT\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, allegedly killed<\/a> nine African Americans\u00a0at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on Wednesday, it took hours for national media<\/a>\u00a0to cover the story. The silence became a talking point across social media and was analyzed by Mic<\/em><\/a>\u00a0as US citizens struggled to discover details of the incident. Two days\u00a0earlier, Afro-Brazilian Women’s advocacy group Geled\u00e9s<\/em> had published\u00a0a similar analysis<\/a> of media silence comparing the\u00a0minimal coverage<\/a>\u00a0given to a young white, wealthy and connected perpetrator\u00a0of a violent crime in Rio, in relation to a black minor alleged perpetrator on the same week.<\/p>\n

The Mic<\/em>\u00a0piece shares\u00a0Actor Rob Lowe’s\u00a0tweet<\/a>: \u201cThe media should be ashamed. 3 hours to get on air and then gives detailed suspect description WITHOUT mentioning his race.\u201d Others have asked<\/a> why the shooting has not been classified as an act of terrorism.<\/p>\n

\"Cartoon<\/a>
Cartoon widely tweeted this week illustrating perceptions of\u00a0racial double standards for US criminals based on race.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past days\u00a0op-eds<\/a> and numerous<\/a> tweets<\/a>\u00a0have expressed frustration over the\u00a0racial double standard that has historically typified American media. Anthea Butler, Associate Professor of Religion and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania argues<\/a>\u00a0that African Americans and Muslims \u201care quickly characterized as terrorists<\/a> and thugs<\/a>, motivated by evil intent instead of external injustices.\u201d In contrast, she says, the white male shooter is<\/a> described<\/a> as<\/a> \u201ca lone, disturbed or mentally ill young man failed by society.\u201d Regarding Dylann Roof, MSNBC anchor was reported to have said<\/a>: \u201cWe don\u2019t yet know his mental condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brazilian public finds similar manifestations of media coverage in Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, where race is even more tightly linked to class than in the US (the average income<\/a> of white Brazilians is double that of black Brazilians), the news is commonly filled with stories of violence at the hands of poor black Brazilians while violence by white Brazilians goes under-reported.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0article<\/a> published by Geled\u00e9s<\/a>\u00a0emphasizes\u00a0this racial double standard by comparing the media reaction of two separate cases that occurred recently in adjacent neighborhoods in the wealthy South Zone<\/a> of Rio.<\/p>\n

Last month, when a 16-year-old black boy from\u00a0Manguinhos<\/a> favela made national news for allegedly stabbing and killing<\/a>\u00a0white doctor Jaime Gold in the South Zone of Rio, the media was quick to condemn the boy, despite repeated denials of guilt. The incident was used as fuel\u00a0for calls to\u00a0reduce the age of criminal responsibility<\/a>\u00a0as social media erupted with vitriol against the alleged killer. Posts<\/a> included: \u201cThis minor was arrested. He should have been killed.\u201d The same commenter wrote about juvenile offenders: \u201cthese seeds of evil must be eliminated,\u201d while another Facebook user declared: \u201cthese parents who\u00a0want to have sex must use protection so they don\u2019t put these vermin among us.\u201d<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to O Globo<\/em>, the alleged offender has steadfastly denied involvement in the crime and two other minors have since confessed to it<\/em>. However, this has had little effect in stemming a\u00a0premature media attack.<\/p>\n

The official deputy of the case was quoted in the media at the time of arrest saying<\/a>: \u201cTwo things caught my attention in this case. The coldness of the teenage\u00a0offender and his cowardly manner, without any feeling for another human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, when white, upper class Jos\u00e9 Phillipe Ribeiro de Castro was arrested for stabbing<\/a> a young woman\u00a0with a corkscrew and cutting off her fianc\u00e9’s ear,\u00a0the public reaction<\/a> was quite different.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Phillipe is described<\/a> by national channel\u00a0<\/em>Globo as \u201chandsome, \u2018born in a cradle of gold\u2019 and with various diplomas.\u201d His ex-girlfriend describes<\/a> him as having a long history of jealousy and anger problems. From his career ambition to fights with his parents, his background<\/a> is discussed thoroughly. The deputy responsible for the case is nonetheless quoted<\/a> only for a muted response: \u201cHe must answer for this, regardless of his social class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Phillipe has a criminal record<\/a> of aggression and violence, was caught on video, and has confessed to the crime. However the image of a\u00a0cold-hearted evil thug bestowed by mainstream and social media to the poor black minor is absent in his case.<\/p>\n

\""Rich<\/a>
“Rich boy” Jos\u00e9 Phillipe Ribeiro de Castro arrested for stabbing. Photo by O Globo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The circumstances of the crimes of Roof and Jos\u00e9 Phillipe are quite different, however the media coverage of both cases has implied societal support. Roof\u2019s racist anger finds sympathy\u00a0in a state that still flies the confederate flag and a judge that equates the victimhood<\/a> of Roof’s family to that of the nine people he killed. Jos\u00e9 Phillipe\u2019s swagger reflects a society where social status and privilege allows bad behavior by a ‘rich white boy’ to continue with impunity. In both cases, these offenders are somehow seen as less maleficent for being white.<\/p>\n

Yet while social media in the U.S. has been exploding<\/a> with condemnations of the media after the Charleston shooting, the similar racial bias present in the media in Rio has yet<\/a> to receive such widespread criticism. Brazil, still unaccustomed<\/a> to discussing racial bias head on, approaches the subject somewhat like the officer photographed restraining the wild \u201cplayboy<\/a>:\u201d tentatively and reluctantly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas When Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, allegedly killed nine African Americans\u00a0at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on Wednesday, it took hours for national media\u00a0to cover the story. The silence […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":22786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,1329],"tags":[1648,1396,416,203,878,1675,23,1781,124,1189,796,156,1385],"writer":[1677],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-understanding-rio","8":"category-by-international-observers","9":"tag-age-of-criminal-responsibility","10":"tag-criminalization-of-poverty","11":"tag-gavea","12":"tag-inequality","13":"tag-international-comparison","14":"tag-lagoa","15":"tag-mass-media","16":"tag-opinion-2","17":"tag-race","18":"tag-racism","19":"tag-social-media","20":"tag-south-zone","21":"tag-violence","22":"writer-gabriela-weldon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=22784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}