Is the Media Altering Our Perception of Crime? | Spiraling

Summary

The documentary by VICE examines how media's portrayal of crime may be altering public perception. Through a night of following crime stringers and engaging with local communities and police in cities like New York and Cleveland, the film highlights the significant gap between fear-inducing media narratives and on-the-ground realities. It explores the role of local news, crime apps, and community-led initiatives in shaping societal views, attempting to unravel the spiral of crime reporting and public fear.

Highlights

• Following crime stringers reveals the constant, often overblown, feed of crime news. 📡
• Crime apps like Citizen amplify the sense that crime is rampant, vibrating incidents right into users' pockets. 📱
• Drama in media often overshadows the reality, promoting fear over factual understanding. 🎭
• Community-driven initiatives like New Era Cleveland showcase crime prevention from within, fostering accountability. 👥
• Police face challenges balancing reform with public safety in controversial climates post-George Floyd. 👮‍♀️
• Programs like BIVO in Brownsville emphasize healing and community support over punitive measures. 🌿

Key Takeaways

• The media can warp public perception of crime, creating an exaggerated sense of danger. 📰
• Stringers feed the 24/7 crime news cycle, often prioritizing sensational stories. 🎥
• Community-led patrols offer alternative models of safety without relying heavily on police presence. 🤝
• Social issues like poverty and systemic disenfranchisement contribute to crime, beyond media influence. 📉
• There's a cultural fascination with crime, evident in the popularity of crime shows and podcasts. 🎧
• Constructive storytelling in media could reshape perceptions and reduce fear. 📚

Overview

Walking through the gritty streets of New York with crime stringers is like being on a never-ending rollercoaster of police radios and sirens. The constant hunt for the latest scoop feels a bit like chasing shadows in a city that never sleeps, where everyone seems just moments away from a headline-grabbing incident. But, as thrilling as it sounds, it begs the question: is this nightlife highlight reel the reality or just a skewed glimpse through sensationalism-tinted glasses? 📺

Turning from the bright city lights, we dive into neighborhoods shaped by their own stories of resilience. In Cleveland's Central neighborhood, organizations like New Era Cleveland reject the urge for sensationalism, opting instead for unity and strength through local patrols. Armed with the resolve of their community, they're reshaping narratives block by block. Their approach underscores the idea that local empowerment could be more protective than an over-reliance on police. ✊

In the heart of dangerous misconceptions lies the media's penchant for crime drama. As crime shows thrive on fictionalized violence, real-world problems remain, highlighting a need for balance. The longing for entertainment shouldn't come at the cost of truth. Perhaps if media storytelling leaned towards hope and growth rather than fear, we could rewrite societal perspectives, showing crime not as inevitable but as something to understand and overcome. 📖

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Media Influence on Crime Perception The chapter delves into how media coverage, especially crime reportage, shapes public perceptions of safety and crime realities within a city. Through an exhilarating and intense narrative set in the streets of New York City, the chapter illustrates how constant exposure to crime via media, such as police scanners, can lead to a distorted view of the city's state, making it seem as if chaos reigns perpetually. It reflects on how people who rely heavily on media may believe that violence and disorder are more rampant than statistical reality, thus influencing how they perceive safety and crime on a personal level.
• 03:00 - 08:00: Personal Experience with Crime Coverage The chapter discusses the impact of sensationalist headlines on public perception of crime. It begins with an inquiry about safety, as voices describe a high-risk location, prompting fear. The narrative shifts to how dramatic headlines, such as those about fertility crises, monoliths, and gun taxes, distort reality and potentially elevate anxiety among individuals.
• 08:00 - 13:00: Stringers and Local Journalism The chapter explores the perceptions and realities of crime rates in the United States. It highlights a common belief that crime has increased over recent years, with a specific mention of the significant rise in murder rates by 30% in 2020 – the largest annual increase recorded. However, this perception is contrasted with data suggesting that overall crime is actually decreasing, creating a complex narrative around crime statistics and public sentiment.
• 13:00 - 18:00: Community Impact and Responses The chapter discusses how crime reporting and perception can be confusing, with overall crime rates having dropped over the past three decades but homicides seeing a sharp increase between 2019 and 2020 according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. The narrative also touches upon how mobile apps like Citizen create a feeling of constant alert by providing real-time crime updates, influencing public perception and awareness about crime. The chapter describes an individual's decision to engage with these updates actively.
• 18:00 - 23:00: Police Perspectives and Reforms The chapter delves into the digital transformation of neighborhood watch programs through apps like Vigilante, which is now known as Citizen. Initially designed to serve as a virtual neighborhood watch, Citizen has evolved into a platform where users can report a wide range of incidents, from kitchen fires to unverified gas odors.
• 23:00 - 28:00: Community-Led Solutions A chapter focusing on community-led solutions to local issues, where the transcript describes various minor crimes and disturbances in a neighborhood, such as strange odors, traffic violations, public intoxication, littering, and aggressive animal behavior.
• 28:00 - 32:00: Rethinking Crime Narratives The chapter explores the world of freelance journalism, particularly focusing on 'stringers' who use apps to find breaking stories. Their content is sold to news outlets to enhance media coverage. A case study is presented through a meeting with Oliya, a journalist and operator of a freelance network called Freedom News TV. Initially, her work involved covering crime, fires, and accidents, specifically focusing on spot news.

Is the Media Altering Our Perception of Crime? | Spiraling Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 -All right, we got no further units. We're all clear. -We're headed to a shooting in the Bronx. We got one bullet casing right here so far. -Oh, shit, they broke the window. -If you live your life just listening to this scanner, you'd think that the whole city is just like burning on fire. -Watch out! [ Siren wailing ] -The [bleep], man? -We are driving through the streets of New York right now looking for crime. I'm not afraid. No, no. No, no, no, I'm not afraid of this crime. -Yo. -They broke my window! -Oh, shit. Let me go.
• 00:30 - 01:00 -What's going on outside? Should I be concerned? -Yo. Get off me. Yo. Calm down, calm down. Where are we going? -How y'all feel? -Powerful. -We in Brownsville. High traffic area. Dangerous. -That's alright. Don't get scared. -Am I afraid? Coming to you now right into your pocket. -Are doomsday preppers right? -The brink of a worldwide fertility crisis. -Mysterious monoliths have been appearing... -Gun taxes... -Could they be sinister? -As clickbait headlines warp our view of the world,
• 01:00 - 01:30 I'm spiraling down the rabbit hole looking for the truth. On this episode, crime. -Nearly three quarters of the US think that crime in America is worse now than it was a year ago. -Murder rates soared in 2020, up 30 percent, the largest increase ever. -While conventional and anecdotal wisdom seemed to indicate that overall crime has been on the rise, the data actually shows that it's gone down.
• 01:30 - 02:00 -I've been hearing a lot about crime in the news these days, but it's been somewhat confusing. Is it up? Is it down? While overall crime has been dropping for almost three decades, the FBI's Uniform Crime Report from September showed that homicides increased by nearly 30 percent between 2019 and 2020. Truthfully, I'm a little unsurprised. With apps like Citizen on my phone, I feel like I have the crime of the streets constantly vibrating right into my pocket. I was allured to the accessibility of this crime, so I decided to actively follow it for a night. Any crimes over here?
• 02:00 - 02:30 I'm here to report. Have no fear. I'm not afraid. And while the app, originally called Vigilante, was meant to be some sort of virtual neighborhood watch, it's now become a place to report, well, anything. Report of a kitchen fire, unconfirmed gas odor. Very visual. And while I've received a constant stream of innocuous incidents, I wondered what it would be like if local news covered every event the way Citizen did. I sit on a sheet. Okay. In two, one... We're here at the scene of the crime
• 02:30 - 03:00 where a strange odor has been smelled. Could be gas. That's coming up next, vibrating right into your pocket. That person didn't stop. Rolled through the stop sign. Crime. I'm in a hopping part of your town where there have been reports of public intoxication. Somebody's smoking within 20 feet of a door. Crime. I'm in a park in your neighborhood. And before, there were reports of two men shouting at each other. Ooh. Littering. Crime. I'm in that dimly lit part of your neighborhood where behind me, there have been reports of a vicious raccoon.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Now, I would go ahead and stay inside because there have been many -- Oh, shit! In all, fairness to the app, freelance journalists, known as stringers, use it to find breaking stories. The content they produce is then bought by news outlets to maximize their outputs. I met up with Oliya, who in addition to being a journalist herself, operates a network of freelancers known as Freedom News TV. What are you going after generally? -When I started, I was mostly filming crime, fires, accidents, like breaking spot news kind of thing.
• 03:30 - 04:00 Then pandemic happened. So everything changed, obviously. -That's interesting. The pandemic kind of shifted your focus a little bit. Right, because nobody was talking about crime. Like, it was still happening, but it wouldn't make it to the TV. -Mm. And what's happened now? -And now it's back to the crime. We're at one point, it's as if everybody just woke up and started shooting everywhere, and it sometimes just happens. You know, it's quiet, and then suddenly it's like, shooting there, there, there. -So is that what you prioritize or is that what's, like, actually out there? -We try to cover everything, like as much as we possibly can.
• 04:00 - 04:30 -Are there certain pieces that your clients want more than other pieces? -Yes, for sure. I mean, certain things we send out don't even get opened, or they get opened, but they don't really view the videos. -What doesn't do very well? -Things that aren't lethal, fatal, fires that don't have injuries. -Can you show us a video that did really well? We get so many videos per day. -And a lot of these are shooting videos, yeah? -Yes. -"Double shooting in Newark. Two victims in critical condition." "Man shot while sitting in Lamborghini in Upper West Side."
• 04:30 - 05:00 See, now that's a pretty good story. "Man shot in Lamborghini." Oliya arranged for me to hang with one of her freelancers for the night. I met Dakota in Williamsburg as he flipped through the police radio channels looking for crimes to report on. -This is my highway. This is anything that's, like, you know, on the highways or if, like, there's going to be a collision investigation, somebody dies, or is about, you know, is close to dying. -I want you to be able to pick up this obstruction in the highway. -Is this maddening to you? I'm already, like, losing my mind.
• 05:00 - 05:30 I've been here about two minutes, man. -At first it was just like, ah, everything is going on. I don't know which one's talking, which ones you lower, which one you put up, you know? But then after a while, you figure out by learning the codes and whatnot. If you live your life just listening to this scanner, you'd think that the whole city's just, like, burning on fire. But it's really just a lot of robberies, you know, gunplay and robberies, knifepoint robberies, or just like strong armed robberies. And then you have your every now and then bomb threats and then shooting most nights now.
• 05:30 - 06:00 -You say the shooting's most nights now? -Yeah, almost nightly. -While I expected us to have a humdinger of a night, it was pretty uneventful. -You got something? -I don't know. I think, but... -You want to check it out? Let's do it. -Oh, no. I didn't -- The thing is, I missed what it was. -Shots fired. All units, 10-4. -Alright, it's sounding pretty okay over there. -Well, the truth is, we didn't see anything. And just like Dakota having nothing to show his clients,
• 06:00 - 06:30 we had nothing to show for this scene in this documentary. So we hung out on a Friday night with Dakota's colleague, Danny. -This is my main radio. I go through this until when I hear something on SOD. This is also a main radio. This is gonna be my transit radio. It's off right now, but this is the citywide channel. So, citywide... -Wow, man, look at Radio Shack. We got Radio Car here. We hung out with Dakota. We didn't see anything. It's like, for me, to make this scene work, you know, we need to see some action. I'd love to see a fire love to see some flashing lights.
• 06:30 - 07:00 And then they say these things or think these things, and then I feel so disgusting when I think about it, but it also like, it's what we need to, like, tell the story. And then we saw some shit. -We're headed to a shooting in the Bronx, where a guy is reported to be shot in the buttocks. So we'll see what it looks like when we get there. -What are they looking for? Casings? -Yeah, right now, they're looking for bullet casings. We got one bullet casing right here so far. Crowd control. Let's go. -Okay.
• 07:00 - 07:30 We're on the go. -Alright, we got no further units. Is everyone clear? No further units, okay? -Fire on McGovern. -Fire on McGovern. We got to be careful here. Cops are coming at all angles. Hang tight. Don't get scared. Look, look, look, look. -Holy shit. -If you have to run, we run to the car, okay? -Okay. Okay.
• 07:30 - 08:00 -So just don't look back. -Okay. -Yo, the guy with the dreads. Cool your heels. -They got air mail. Air mail. They're throwing stuff. Let's get back up. -All right, so I guess somebody got maced by the cops, and then there's just been a lot of commotion against the cops. Now they're throwing eggs from the roof against the cop cars. Oh man, they are going... Oh, shit, they broke the window.
• 08:00 - 08:30 What the fuck? -They're going there. -They broke a window and are doing, like, a SWAT operation for throwing eggs at a car? -Yeah. Watch your back. -They break the door, which actually makes the whole building less safe for everybody else, because if, like, I don't know, in what my opinion is, like, some teenage fucking petty shit, you know, throwing eggs at cops. It's like -- -Watch out! [ Siren wailing ] -Fuck, man I'm going to make the news, getting run over by the cops.
• 08:30 - 09:00 -It's hard to see it, but this guy is gonna jack this car. -Oh, yo. -Yo. -They broke my window! -Oh, shit. Let me go. -What happened? Did somebody just bash his window? -That's what he said. So he's breaking everybody else's window. -Jeez. -He has something in his hand. I wasn't going to stop and talk to him. Let's get the hell out of here. -It must've, like, spun off the road, right? -Yeah, man.
• 09:00 - 09:30 -So it's after 2:30 here in the Bronx. We spent the evening with a stringer, Danny, and he's been listening to police scanners all night. And so we followed him as he filmed the aftermath of a robbery, two different shootings, some sort of crowd activity, and a car accident. This all in one night that he's out reporting. It's a lot to handle. While I had gone into this project with the desire to see crime, I'd reached my breaking point with my voyeurism.
• 09:30 - 10:00 And I started to feel guilty about my intentions. Why did I find it so eerily interesting to look for crime? And then I started to think about how much of our culture is based on crime. How many TV shows do we have about crime? How many movies? My gosh, how many podcasts? -This is not like a brand new thing, but I must say I think this fascination with crime has gone into overdrive in American culture. -I talked to Jeffrey McCall about how we absorb all this crime. Where it's worst, I think, frankly, local news affiliates in every market around the country
• 10:00 - 10:30 obsess over crime a lot, number one, because there's a steady supply of it. Number two, it doesn't take a lot of enterprise journalism to cover crime. You just show up on the scene of a crime and you talk about what happened. I must say that I think that the audiences do have an interest in crime news, and I think that there is a certain amount of if it bleeds, it leads. We're giving the audience what it wants. -I wanted to get a more humanistic understanding of
• 10:30 - 11:00 how crime affects communities. So I traveled to Cleveland's Central neighborhood, where the crime rate is 240 percent higher than the national average. -Welcome to Cleveland. -Thank you, thank you. This is New Era Cleveland, a chapter of the global activist network New Era Nation, and tonight, they're going on an armed patrol through the neighborhood. -Black men, your ace needs you! -Black men, your race needs you! -So today is our Streets is Watching Community Patrol Program. And so what we do is we walk the community,
• 11:00 - 11:30 we interact with our people and serve as a deterrent for any wrongdoings in the community while we're out here, at least. -And you're armed as well? -Correct, yeah. -Whose streets? -Our streets! -Whose streets? -Our streets! -Our mission is self-reliance and combating the many issues that face our community. -All power to the people! -All power to the people! -There's been a bit of a gun violence problem here as well, right? -"A bit of" is an understatement. -Well, tell me about what's been going on. -So many shootings and murders and things,
• 11:30 - 12:00 that it's hard to keep count. -What in your mind, like, causes this kind of poverty, this kind of crime? What happens? -Well, it's a systemic -- -White supremacy. -It's on purpose. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once you get wrapped up in this system, it's not designed for you to get out and thrive. So a child that's growing up in this environment, you know, the ceiling's busted so tall. -What kind of power y'all got? -Black power! -What kind of love y'all got? -Black love! -Do you think I need these? Are these gonna make me look like an asshole? Like...
• 12:00 - 12:30 -This is a press bulletproof vest? -Yeah. I mean, I just don't know. I mean, we already look like targets with cameras. I'd just be like, "Hey, look, we're press walking through this neighborhood." -You say no? Okay. -Alright, we about to pray. Y'all good? Now, God, we pray that you would go before us and prepare the way. Protect us. Keep us from any hurt, harm, or danger, that no incident will occur, O God, and that we shall be effective in this community, O God, to show the love that we have for our people, O God, and that no weapon that's formed against us
• 12:30 - 13:00 shall be able to prosper. In Jesus' name. Amen. -Amen, -New Era, Era! New Era, Era, Era! -New Era, Era! New Era, Era, Era! -How y'all feel? -Powerful. -How y'all feel? -Powerful. -How y'all feel? -Powerful. -What kind of power y'all got? -Black power! -What kind of love y'all got? -Black love! -Peace, peace. How y'all doing today? What's up, y'all? United race. -United race. -A mighty race. -A mighty race. -New Era! -Cleveland! -And it don't stop! -It don't stop!
• 13:00 - 13:30 -Everything goes on, right, in this proximity. A lot of drugs, man. It's all right here. So yeah, we occupy this place because we can. -Okay. -And as you can see, it's clearing out. -It's has cleared out. When we walking through -- -Chris K., how you doing, brother? What's going on? Good, brother. -Through that community, there is a group hanging out outside and I saw them go inside. You think that they were doing something they probably shouldn't have been doing outside or... -No, I don't think it's that. I think that a lot of people,
• 13:30 - 14:00 when we come through, it's more like a respect thing. So it's kind of like our presence instantly makes people hold themselves accountable. Like, we didn't even have to say anything to them kids. They know. It's late as hell. You got school tomorrow. Why are you right here? -They just left. They saw you guys coming and they left. You guys as a group, I get, but what about the rifles? Do you think that the rifles are necessary? -They're the same guns that are out here on the streets. -So by you guys having them, you show that like, you're not outgunned, you're not outnumbered. -Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 14:00 - 14:30 -On TV, there's so many crime shows, right? There's "Cops", "Law & Order". What do you think the media's fault is in furthering these cultural stereotypes? -There are narratives that are created just for a good story. Doesn't really matter what the truth is, what's going to sound good on a newscast in the evening and things of that nature? So it's a huge part how we train, because for those who don't have contact with any of us on a regular basis, like you said, it looks like we all are criminals
• 14:30 - 15:00 and there's wonderful, beautiful people in this community, even though it's impoverished. You know what I'm saying? That have little and will share with another neighbor who has little. You know what I mean? -Black power! -What kind of power y'all got? -Black power! -What kind of love y'all got? -Black love! -You know, we just want to create the climate where certain things just aren't acceptable in our culture anymore. -Mm-hmm. -Shooting a baby, harming our women, harming our elders, robbing people. Like, we're going to change the climate to where that's not acceptable.
• 15:00 - 15:30 You do things like that in our community, you're public enemy number one. -Okay. -And that's when this stuff will stop. -I mean, you guys are putting yourselves on the front lines here. -You got to walk it. Yeah. We almost finished, fellas. Let's go. How y'all feel? -Powerful! -How y'all feel? -Powerful! -Who got to do it? -We got to do it! -Whose streets? -Our streets! -What is your relationship like with the police? Is there a relationship? -Not really. No. -Okay. -Do we wish we had one? -Yeah. -No, not really. -You don't need it?
• 15:30 - 16:00 -I mean, if some positive can come out of that, sure. But we're not seeking that out or nothing. You know what I mean? -We've been relying on people, and that's proven to not be to our benefit. We've been down here for an hour and a half. We haven't seen one police. -That's right. -New Era Cleveland seemed quite content to tackle crime without help from the police. Confidence in police among the black community is still lower than it's been for the past two decades. I wanted to get a police perspective on why crime is rising, so I sat down with Newark Public Safety Director Brian O'Hara.
• 16:00 - 16:30 -In the city of Newark, during this year, gun violence has remained up about 15 to 20 percent consistently all year long compared to last year. It's terrible, and when you have this perfect storm of factors -- we have more guns, we have people out of work, nothing to do, time to stew over, you know, interpersonal conflicts -- I think some people on the street feel emboldened by the climate that exists because they know the momentum is everyone is challenging the police.
• 16:30 - 17:00 -Following the civil unrest that ensued after the murder of George Floyd, some analysts have claimed that a phenomenon known as the Ferguson effect has increased crime by proposing that the fraught relationship between the community and the police creates a space for law enforcement declines to engage in crime fighting altogether. While a large volume of studies have contributed to opinions for the Ferguson effect, there still didn't seem to be a consensus. At least that's what I gained from the massive amount of news articles that come out every time someone releases a new study. There's been some finger-pointing at police that they've been less active in the communities because they're afraid of getting canceled.
• 17:00 - 17:30 -I think we're very fortunate in Newark that reforms began here years before George Floyd was murdered. So as other places were just starting to deal with this whole issue of, like, body cameras and use of force reform, that's something that we've actually been working at here for years. -The police department he oversees was investigated by the Department of Justice in 2014 for unconstitutional policing tactics and had to enter into a consent decree, which required the department to introduce a number of reforms, including this class we witness called arrest control training.
• 17:30 - 18:00 -You got to know how to throw strikes, but you got to know how to defend strikes, so we're gonna talk defending strikes, mostly. So we're gonna do that using a jam, which you guys probably went over. We're going to get with another partner. He's gonna throw that punch. I'm gonna get inside that punch. I'm going to stop it right here. -The purpose of arrest and control is to teach our use of force policy, which developed under the consent decree with the input of the community and then teach de-escalation with that. And de-escalation is not just verbal. -I'm not affecting his airway. I'm not doing anything like that. All I'm doing is stopping this threat. If they don't feel confident to do what they have to do
• 18:00 - 18:30 to resolve the situation peacefully and assertively, they wind up creating a space where the situation may escalate further. You know, our cops are not MMA artists. You get, like, you know, basic self-defense tactics once in the academy. That was 21 years ago for me. This is a tangible skill that needs to be retaught. -So in real fast motion, he's like, boom. I'm like, "Yo, calm down. Calm down. Where are we going? What's the matter with you?" -When a situation goes to the point where someone needs to be arrested and it goes hand on and someone resists,
• 18:30 - 19:00 you need to know how to handle that person physically in a safe way. And if you do this, then the department and the city and the community will back you. -You know, last year, there's been a lot of calls to defund the police. How do you build trust between the community and the police? -I think when people say "defund the police", they're saying, "Listen, it's about time we start making these investments to address some of these root causes that have created some of these geographic concentrations of gun violence." So I have never taken offense when people have said defund the police because I hear what they're saying
• 19:00 - 19:30 and what they're saying is, "Look, let's make some investments where we need it and address root causes, because throwing the police at this problem and just locking people up when we can isn't going to change the situation." -You'd like to see more community engagement. -Yeah. More community engagement and more investment in, you know, some of these social services and housing and the problems that are also correlated with these geographic concentrations of gun violence. -To get a better understanding how some of these services work in tandem with the police, I ended up in a place I'd seen on the map in New York,
• 19:30 - 20:00 but it never set foot in. -We're in Brownsville. We're in a high traffic area. Dangerous, but we outside like ain't nothing happening. -It doesn't seem very dangerous right now. -Oh, no, that's because BIVO's out here. -Bigga is an outreach worker with BIVO, Brownsville In, Violence Out, which organizes a number of anti-violence programs. -We always in the hood. We stop beef. We stop things from happening. -BIVO uses the cure violence model and treats violence as if it were a disease or infection. At risk youth are targeted and mentored before they have the opportunity to engage in violence.
• 20:00 - 20:30 We caught up with them during one of their block takeovers, where organizations set up shop to offer services and the police are asked to stay out of the community for a few days. -We take over the block and the police step back and let us do what we do in the community for the community without a police presence. -[ Laughs ] -Even though we work alongside the police, we don't mend, we don't share information, we don't take information from them, we don't disclose our participants. We do not work with police. We here for the community. So that's why we ask the police, like, "Listen,
• 20:30 - 21:00 if you expect the community to respect us and make the job easier and engaging in the community a little bit more easier, back off a little bit. I'm not saying that we're trying to do your job or you are trying to do our job because this has two different dynamics, you understand? But just back off a little bit. Let us handle this. If there's something real dramatic or whatever, you know, you will be called, but..." -It's a balancing act. -Balance, balance. -Everything is about the balance. -Okay. But a lot of people last year with "defund the police", you know, it was "Let's get rid of police", but you don't want that?
• 21:00 - 21:30 -No, that's impossible. Let's be realistic. -We have this weird sense with crime in this country, right? I feel like people are attracted to crime, like, you know, we like our "Law & Order" shows, we like watching "Cops". You know, why do you think -- -It's intriguing. The media, they just focus on the negative too much. Like, imagine some kid growing up in Brownsville, you know, even though he knows everyone and just listening to the news, you have him scared to walk around his own neighborhood, even though, yes, things are happening. I'm not going to take that from him, but he shouldn't be living in fear,
• 21:30 - 22:00 just like they keeping a negative cloud of "This is supposed to happen in the ghetto, and this is where --" No. If you keep somebody thinking this one way, they're going to keep thinking one way. -I found Big Boy's take on the media industry insightful. We have an unhealthy appetite for crime in this country, and it's created a self-fulfilling prophecy for communities that this is how it's supposed to be, that violence can be tolerated and even glorified in entertainment. -So I guess I just think that corporate leadership should be able to find some way to tell us fulfilling stories of humanity
• 22:00 - 22:30 that includes the negative parts of humanity, but could put it in context. Cultures define themselves by the stories they tell. And if our stories are driven by violence all the time, we're defining ourselves by violence. ♪♪ ♪♪