In Our Wokedness
By Miki Turner/USC Annenberg Lecturer
It happened one night as I was surfing through the mornonic content that populates pre-dawn TV.
While searching for something more substantive than reruns of ’90s sitcoms, there was a news break. For the second time that week, an unarmed black man had been killed by police.
As a child of the ’60s who had lived through Kennedy-Evers-Malcolm-King-Kennedy, random killings and even more frequent news breaks used to unnerve me — especially when they became the norm. Now, I find myself becoming desensitized to these tragedies because like the events that informed my youth, they, too, have become part of today’s American tapestry.
What I’ve come to realize is that even though this is a different time, and America is supposed to be a better place than it was 50 years ago, it’s never really become that post-racial society bill of goods we all bought into when Barack Obama became president in 2008. But, even though the racial conflict in this country is akin to the era when Jim Crow was in a shallow grave, it’s still hard for all of us Baby Boomers to wrap our heads around what’s going on.
Enough, already. As the Millennials would say: “It’s time to get woke.”
And it’s not just race that divides us. As a nation we are still working out our gender issues, our political differences and our religion conflicts.
That’s when it hit me. What if I could convince Millennials to post the evolution of these issues as seen through their young eyes. Not just any Millennials, however, but the fresh crop of USC Annenberg graduate students who’d be taking my JOUR505 — The Practice: Journalism’s Evolution as a Profession — class in the fall.
They were perfect.
They came in all hues — one of the most diverse classes I’d ever taught. They were idealistic and curious, disillusioned and conflicted. When I told them that we’d spend the next seven weeks tracking the evolution of news coverage on race, religion, politics and gender, they all kind of looked liked that deer that ran into the driver’s side headlight of my friend’s SUV one dark night as I was navigating the Hayward Hills in Northern California.
They didn’t know what had hit them. They were scared.
Sometimes, however, being afraid of the unknown is a good thing. You have to rise above your fears and embrace the outcome.
Yet, even though most of these Millennials had little knowledge of any significant historical occurrences in this country before Sept. 11, 2001, it was mildly satisfying to see some of them dig in and uncover bits of history that even I was unfamiliar with.
One of my favorite components in this package is the race timeline. It was a very cathartic experience to revisit so many past events that have informed our present. I learned a lot. I also loved all of the first-person reflections because it allowed me, as it will you, an opportunity to better understand this generation of privilege. And, I was really proud of the religion segments — especially the ones exploring the relationship between spirituality and race.
There’s lots of hybrid coverage, too, as the lines between race, religion, gender and politics are always blurred. We didn’t have the opportunity to do as much as we would have liked, or include as many voices as we wanted to, but you’ll hear perspectives from widely-known experts and those who fall into the “under covered” category.
We won’t have all of the answers here because that part of the evolution has yet to be adequately posted. Instead, we look at this as the beginning of a deeper discussion that will go on for as long as there are stars in the sky and people with varying opinions on life and the way we live it.
Here’s hoping that something in UNDERCOVERAGE: The Evolution Will Be Posted resonates with you as well.
Read. Watch. Listen.
Heed. Help. Heal.
Get woke.
UNDERCOVERAGE CREW
Dina Bahgat, Ashley Boucher, Betsy Carter, Cat Clark, Terrance Davis, Magali Gauthier, Melanie Gonzalez, Renee Gross, Heather Kemp, Iris Lee, Juana Lopez, Juliet Muir, Disha Raychaudhuri, Intisar Seraaj, Katcy Stephan, Marie O’Brien, Targonski, Naiwen Tian, Marissa Deutsch, Tiffani Dupree, Cristina Galvan, Katelyn Giacobbe, Jake Ingrassia, Almond Li, Joshua Payberah, Rachel Ramos, Billy Rehbock, Alex Salvi, Ethan Varian, Linda Wang and Alex Weil.
SPECIAL THANKS
Venise Wagner, Joe Boyce, Willow Bay, Amara Aguilar, Laura Davis, Ernest Wilson, Annenberg Media News crew, Vince Gonzalez, Diane Winston, Lisa Pecot-Hebert, Keith Mott, Richard Reeves, Ann Crigler, Skylar Freers, Bishop Donald O. Clay Jr., Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Nayan Shah, Shafiqua Ahmadi, Laura Castañeda, Michael Messner, Maya Carter, Yosuke Kitazawa, Nancy Ruiz, Benjamin Dunn, Susan Broner, Shelley Smith, Erna Smith, Marlene Bagley and all the men and women on the street who contributed to the success and completion of this project.
