Born and raised a black American, as a so-called minority I long ago acquired the skill of paying close attention to when and how black people are used in the media.
You see, the sad truth is that the so-called majority — who both create the media and are the main consumers of it — many of whom, for a variety of reasons, neither get to nor are inclined to interact with some minority groups, and therefore rely on the media to tell them what we're like.
And, sadly, the majority often walks away from these films, TV programs, news reports and commercials ill-informed, yet convinced they have gained an insight that factors into their judgment of who we are in real life, regardless of whether the people depicted in the work's conception had a say in it or not.
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