If you've been paying attention to the news lately, or really even just been cognitively present at all, there are two recent happenings that have been hard to ignore: the Paula Deen scandal and the Trayvon Martin case.
With these happenings come two glaring elements that we can't help but notice: both have been blown out of proportion by the media, and both have largely been defended on either side according to race.
Of course there are intricacies to these stories that reach far beyond the color of our skin, and there are exceptions to every blanket statement.
That being said, we continue to see a pattern of aid being blindly delivered based solely on race.
When Paula Deen got ravaged by the media for using racial slurs, we observed masses - mostly Caucasian masses - rushing to her defense. Copies of her testimony circulated throughout the Internet and butter-themed memes insisting we leave Paula alone cropped up in every social media outlet. \0x2028
Now that The Project of Excellence in Journalism has reported the Trayvon Martin case to be the first story in 2012 featured more than the presidential race, we see the same pattern arising.
When thousands gathered in New York to rally for justice over the death of Martin, photos went viral, primarily of African Americans, standing in his defense. Shirts were donned reading, "Am I next?" and shouts of "we want arrests" were heard in reference to one of the most complicated cases the justice system has seen.
So the question we want to ask is why? Why do we still choose to blame or defend national figures outside of our personal reach based on race instead of who we believe is right?
If racism is something we're actively trying to combat, why does it seem like the vast majority is still automatically siding with its skin color when controversy arises?
Maybe it's an ingrained instinct of generations past we're still trying to shake, maybe as a society we're failing to evaluate a situation fully before taking a stance, or maybe we (the media) have ourselves to blame.
We can't say if Trayvon was murdered in the first degree or if Paula's comments truly were made in poor taste, but we can say these stories have received mountains of media attention.
And though racial conflict is a focal point of attention given by the media in both of these stories, we don't see light necessarily being shed on racial injustices. Instead, we see divisions forming because of the nature of the constant coverage.
In placing such a fierce emphasis on stories involving bigotry within specific situations, we have created a much more encompassing conflict by fueling a flame social activists and ordinary citizens have tirelessly been trying to stamp out.
If we want these issues to subside, we have to stop jumping on the bandwagon that's most fitting to our racial profile.
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