Like so many others, I have been appalled by the media's coverage of this campaign. Bob Herbert over at the New York Times, likened the racial overtones to a "pornographic obsession."
I'm not going to argue here who is responsible for this. However, there is no doubt that this campaign has become racialized and that media has become an outlet for racial sterotyping, racial double-standards, and even thinly veiled hate speech.
What I am going to suggest to you is that if you have had enough that you make yourself heard.
Many of you have called and written letters and e-mails to media outlets and to various journalists. I would suggest that this is little more than a way to make yourself feel better.
If you want to do something valuable, I invite you instead to write to the US Commission on Civil Rights and call on them to begin an immediate investigation of media hate associated with this presidential campaign.
I strongly suggest that you cite this article written by one of the USCCR's own commissioners, Micheal Yaki.
In that article, Yaki wrote:
I think it is time for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to hold a first hearing on the role of the media with respect to race relations, coverage of race, and, ultimately, its responsibility on the issue of race.
I agree. If you do as well, take the time to contact the commission and request a complaint form. The contact information can be found here.
Obviously, this is not as simple as sending an angry e-mail. You have to write them, or e-mail them, or call them, and request a complaint form.
At the very least your complaint will be saved in the national archives, and can be used as evidence by some future generation of historians, rather than be thrown in the trash. If we are lucky, the Commission will begin hearings on this matter that can be taken up after the election.
Thank you,
David Kroning