An Illinois State University journalism student is getting attention for his essay about Black misrepresentation in the media in central Illinois and beyond.
Marcus Pruitt, a senior from Glen Ellyn, initially wrote a 13-page essay about the ongoing issue of Black misrepresentation in central Illinois that circulated around the ISU campus. A shorter version of his essay was recently published in the Public i, a nonprofit newspaper based in Champaign.
Pruitt explores a cultural disconnect that he sees from media coverage, specifically when covering Black death. It can easily box in the race group and convey the message that they are less than, which is not true.
“When it comes to minority media coverage, Black media coverage in particular, we are not shown in our full light,” Pruitt told WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Our worst aspects are brought to the forefront and our best aspects are pushed into the darkness.”
The intended audience, he said, was anyone who wants to see immediate change. He hopes to help eliminate the dynamic of unfair treatment and promote the importance of understanding each other better.
Pruitt mentions media misrepresentation can come from aggressive discrimination we see throughout social media as well — how a particular group can be presented as a stereotype for entertainment. He defines aggressive discrimination as like covert racism — very subtle, but obvious to the people it refers to. It’s just as harmful.
In his piece, Pruitt includes the story of Shamar Betts, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for inciting a riot at the Market Place Mall in Champaign in 2020. That happened amid nationwide protests in the day after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis.
Pruitt said an intolerance of grief should be considered when it comes to situations like this. If a group is constantly at battle for representation and fair treatment, violence, protests, and other forms of activism can occur from built-up emotion, he said.
“We are focused on the loss of property and that's our main concern – not the reasoning behind the riots ... not him,” he said.
Pruitt pointed to this as an example of how quickly media coverage can demonize a person's character. Betts previously worked for the Urbana Park District and enjoyed teaching chess in an after-school program, according to Public i reporting. He lost his mother when he was a kid.
“The murder of a Black man (George Floyd) stopped the world and inspired generational change,” Pruitt wrote. “That is something that is bound to impact other young Black men, causing wells of grief that would undoubtedly drive some to act. Yet he was never mentioned. Rather than his emotions being addressed, Betts is represented as a man who sought crime. Now he is stuck behind bars, a life thrown off course because of the disregard of situational context.”
To create generational change, Pruitt suggests being comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations.
“You have to talk to people in not only your generation but the older generations, the younger generations, and you have to try to encompass the biggest scope of people as you can," Pruitt said. “Try to get them to understand where you’re coming from and where they are coming from in their terms of hatred and racism.”
That’s when we’ll be able to see the cultural disconnect he refers to that causes misleading knowledge about a particular group.
As a Black journalist Pruitt said he aims to change Black representation in media through his writing and future projects. He wants to keep building on his solo journalism career, including his YouTube series Conversationalists. As he’s been writing professionally for four years, he looks forward in taking the route of freelance. When it comes to corporate America, he does see himself working in media.
