an Opinion of Juan Lynum
Being one of Orlando’s Black elected officials is a difficult charge. You’ve got people who can’t stand you, people who don’t like you, people who pretend to like you, and those who love or just respect you. No matter how you feel about Senator Gary Siplin, many ignorant folks have denigrated the Senator’s name based upon headline news information.
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Mass media has always been used to pollute the minds of the majority with bigoted and racist prospectives on issues. The title of a 1915 film, “Birth of a Nation” is based upon the novel and play called “The Clansman“. With the release of this film, cinema could now provide a new way to promote white supremacy. I’ll never forget the images in the film portraying the influx of Black politicians during reconstruction as stupid, lazy, fried chicken eating monkeys.
White supremacists and racists know media propaganda is the best way to promote their political ideologies nationwide. Racist movies of the past that promoted negative stereotypes of Blacks have now been zipped into a protected, politically correct package politely referred to as your local newspaper and the six o’clock news.
The same ideas play out today as the media continues to portray our Black politicians as criminal, ineffective, inept, angry, ignorant, or unethical. Mainstream media often fails to acknowledge our politicians’ efforts unless it will serve to humiliate them. Networks attempt to dictate everything from how Black people should live to who our Black leaders should be; if indeed there should be any at all. The vampiric nature of its present day application has many middle class Blacks consumed by it.
To begin to understand this insidious process, one must look at our must popular local Black leaders and elected officials: I would include Gary Siplin, Ernest Page, Daisy Lynum, and Rev. Randolph Bracy. They have achieved popularity through intelligent advocation on behalf of their constituents using the only tactic that works; they fight and then negotiate. They are unafraid of speaking up, calling a spade a spade, and demanding parity.
It’s easy for the media to paint a negative picture of our politicians and leaders when they consistently omit the positive. Media outlets such as news leader WFTV 9 and the Orlando Sentinel specialize in omitting positive images to more easily program the negative into audience consciousness. I give honorable mention to Local 6, WESH 2, and Fox 35 in that order for their efforts to disgrace Black politicians and leaders.
We must take great care to employ sufficient research and reason while interpreting all we see and hear. For example, the above mentioned media outlets formed a united public front to condemn Senator Gary Siplin. They attempted to convince the public that since charges were filed, one could just skip over the entire judicial process required to convict. It was now safe to take for granted Siplin did in fact steal money to benefit himself; a version in direct contradiction to the actual crime of state employee theft. The media consistently chose the most sensational, biased angle available; tailor-made to most influence jury decisions based upon preconceived notions rather than facts. No mention was made of lack of evidence; no attempt was made to examine the situation from a larger perspective by the media. Instead, we see media history repeating itself. The message of “The Clansman” is broadcast once again, loud and clear. We will humiliate and denigrate Black leadership, so says the media; and we will manipulate the truth in any way we can legally do so.
Some white politicians have received large amounts of money, which implies an unethical use of their offices with impunity. Then a Black humanitarian politician leaves a voice mail advocating for a charitable organization and is charged with a felony? The Orlando Sentinel editorial describes Senator Siplin’s win as a disappointment. Since when has justice been a disappointment? With lightening speed,WFTV-Channel 9 slapped the racist label on Commissioner Lynum when she dared speak the truth about the media and it’s obvious racist leanings. Local 6 news was responsible for ending all processes that would have led to minority participation in the most lucrative Orange County concessions. The media is anesthetizing the majority community and making you believe leaders and fighters like Siplin, Lynum, Page, and Bracy ain’t [S]ugar [H]oney [I]ce [T]ea. As a united community and as individuals, we must be diligent in closely examining and questioning an agenda that has long term negative implications on our community, while we sit quietly. This is a call to action to get up and say something, do something, or write something to respond to these attacks on our community.
Things are changing. A partnership and strategy is emerging from our leaders to combat these media attacks. Stay tuned for part III of this series, because we are all part of it.
