India Anderson
Age Range: 25-35
Main source of information: Social Media, Television, Newspaper
Television outlet mostly consumed: CNN and NBC
The assistant gymnastics coach at Fisk University, India Anderson described news as “a thing in which everyone receives as truthful, but it is misleading information about the world.”
Despite the news having misleading information, she believes it is important to stay informed, especially about breaking news.
“I believe it is important because it is how us Americans learn insightful information. The news means more to me when I see breaking news,” she said.
Narrowing down to television news and the way Black women are portrayed in the media, Anderson believes there aren’t many times that the public sees a Black woman.
“I do not believe Black women are shown in the news media often, unless it is sports-related or celebrity-related. That is how I mainly see them positively portrayed.” Anderson said.
When Anderson does see a Black woman in the news, she believes television news doesn’t always highlight the hardworking side of the Black community unless it is about an athlete or known figure.
“[Hundreds of years that people have stigmatized us as wild, dangerous, scary, hoodlums, gang members, and so many more. We are more than that. We are the most welcoming and accepting group of people you will ever meet. We like to make others feel at ease and that they can be themselves around us,” she expressed.
With passion, Anderson talked about the represenataion of the Black community and how the media has the power to change the course of the public’s judgment. She believes the news media has improved, but there is more that needs to be changed.
“Again, I do believe it has gotten better, but we need more positive Black women news spread across the world. This is important to discuss because representation matters,” Anderson said.
Stereotypes like angry, aggressive and overly sexualized are words Anderson associated with how the Black woman is viewed. She believes those words need to be removed from news stories and Black women need to be better understood.
“I absolutely hate it because they automatically associate me, us, with those words. I believe people mistake our passion for anger. We do have a right to our anger, but sometimes we are not allowed to feel that emotion simply because of decades of damage from the media,” Anderson added.
Anderson's statement:
“As a Black woman I feel misunderstood and misrepresented in television news.”
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