UNV 503 Week 3 Assignment Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Crime and Race in America

Grand Canyon University: UNV 503

Crime and Race in America

Hayman, C. (2015). “Black Is… Black Ain’t”: Ralph Ellison’s Meta-Black Aesthetic and the “End” of African American Literature. American Studies (00263079), 54(3), 127-152. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=51ed8b6b-eeb3-4a88-b584-43352d9a44d9@sessionmgr4002&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#AN=110306479&db=ofs

            In this article, Hayman (2015) studies one of the most note-worthy African American writers, Ralph Ellison with an emphasis on his work, “The Invisible Man (1952).  Hayman (2015) notes the use of metaphors and the use of music and stereo as “a metaphor for the unique mode of subjectivity that his narrator is in the process of discovering in his invisibility” (p 133). Hayman mentions Louis Armstrong as the protagonist and his challenges “…the way he manipulates stereotypical iconographies of blackness to engage with an audience… (p 133). Hayman seems to consider Armstrong to be a Meta-black character and compares it to the Meta-black approach aspects of Black Lives Matter and its relevance post-Jim Crow (p 137).  It is the Meta-Black mode that will ultimately prevail with the realities of black existence (p 142).  This article brings to up an old concept- Uncle Tom.  The battle of conforming to societal norms or to go directly against the idea of what white people believed black people should be is the tenuous struggle presented and according to Hayman, Meta-blackness, a group mentality is the way to achieve such efforts.  This article is current and published within the last two years.  Retrieving this article from peer reviewed journal, this article is considered scholarly and credible.  Hayman is a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she has contributed to multiple scholarly papers. 

Lipschultz, J. H., & Hilt, M. L. (2003). Race and local television news crime coverage. Simile, 3(4), N.PAG. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=7aea2262-72d1-4067-aa72-65260c46a2d9@sessionmgr4005&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#AN=13855247&db=a9h

            In this study (Lipschultz, J. H., & Hilt, M. L. 2003), results indicated that biases and stereotypes (be it positive or negative) in local, network, and national news exist not only in the broadcast but in the newsroom itself and influences the audiences who watch them, usually reinforcing negative stereotypes.  The article presents evidence that a majority of the American citizenry’s primary source for news – local or national, is their local news.  Through the use of different techniques such as “framing” or by using “expert” sound bites, the local news is spreading stereotypes that may be reaffirmed by biases already possessed by the viewer.  According to Lipschultz & Hilt (2003), “Local television news is seen as encoded to portray crime within a racial and economic context. By emphasizing crime in economically depressed neighborhoods, local newsrooms may reinforce stereotypes about minorities (Heider, 2000). This is all the more troubling, since local TV news broadcasts play a key role in formation of identities in cities across the United States (Kaniss, 1991).” The use of images and the limitations of minorities in the news has also reinforced the ambiguity of the positive minority, thereby bolstering negative stereotypes such as associating crimes with minorities, either directly or indirectly.   The article is not within two years of its publication date but is nonetheless scholarly and credible.  This article is a revised version of the article presented at the Central State Communication Association Annual Conference (Omaha, Nebraska, April 12, 2003).  It was designated “Top 3 Paper”, Political Communication Interest Group.  Both Lipschultz and Hilt both work in the Department of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. 

Ulmer, J. T., Harris, C. T., & Steffensmeier, D. (2012). Racial and ethnic disparities in structural disadvantage and crime: White, Black, and Hispanic comparisons. Social Science Quarterly, 93(3), 799-819. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00868.x

            In this article, Ulmer, Harris, & Steffensmeier (2012) discuss disparities in violence and the structural sources of those disparities (p 799).   The structural “gaps” such as poverty stricken communities, educational inequality, etc. may have been in part responsible for the subculture patterns, fostering violence (p 799-800).  There seems to be a correlation between the level of disadvantages in African American communities as compared to white communities but the comparison is difficult to make because rarely does the economic stresses present in a predominately African American neighborhood reach the same levels in a predominately Caucasian neighborhood, thus reinforcing the need for the “Code of the Streets”-tending to veer towards violent crimes.  Ulmer, Harris, & Steffensmeier suggests “inequality distribution seem to be especially troubling in terms of the production of violent crime” (p 801).  Hispanic neighborhoods, interestingly enough have the economic disparities found in African American neighborhoods but tend to reflect violence levels found in a white neighborhood.  There exist ambiguities in the research dealing with “racial invariance hypothesis” (p 802) yet still a large amount of empirical data supports that poverty and a history of oppression and disadvantages can be correlated with violence rates.  In turn, police frequent more often areas with high crime rates.  The associated gap in disadvantages, violence, unemployment, and poverty are positively correlated (p 811-813).  The inequality between race/ethnic backgrounds, for instance: white-black, are directly correlated to the gap in opportunity afforded to each race, respectively.   This information can be used as predictors as to where violence is most likely to appear.  This article is current and published in the last 4 years from a scholarly, peer reviewed journal.  The authors have contributed various scholarly works on this subject.  Ulmer and Steffensmeier are both employed at The Pennsylvania State University and Harris is at the University of Arkansas.  Social Science Quarterly is a reputable and well-respected source and to be published by them is to have your research scrutinized and approved, which has been done by Ulmer, Harris, & Steffensmeier.