The central story of a police shooting of an unarmed black teenager is the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager:
Another unarmed black teenager was shot and killed this weekend, this time by the police. Michael Brown was an 18-year-old who would have started college classes today, and who witnesses claim was surrendering to the police when he was killed. But so much of the coverage has been focused on images of black men looting stores or looking dangerous.
The problem with the media’s coverage of Brown’s shooting has been its awkward handling of race. Whether it’s the racial bias of photos used to represent the victim, or the fact that his shooting isn’t as newsworthy as the looting and riots that followed, major news outlets are playing into the stereotypes about young black men that will lead to the next death of an unarmed teenager.
Via The Media Keeps Failing Black Teens @ The Wire.