by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: May 10, 2009   Last Updated: June 09, 2009

America's first journalists were British historians who kept written records of their ocean voyages to colonize the new world. Their writings gave account of the race of "red-skinned" men whom they called savages because their customs and behaviors were deemed uncivilized by the European immigrants. The journals of Spanish settlers documented the enslavement of Africans in the colonies as early as the late 1600's. Almost two hundred years later, newspaperman John O'Sullivan's Manifest Destiny strongly influenced the idea of America's preeminent right to continue her expansion westward, taking lands and displacing the Native American Indian Population who lived there. Disrespect for other races and cultures became the catalyst that would eventually give way to distasteful references to minority populations in the media.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century and it appears that changes have been slow to come with respect to much needed reform in the way that journalists continue to make reference to race and color. On April 4, 2007 Don Imus of Imus in the Morning referred to the Rutgers University Women's Basketball team, comprised primarily of African-Americans, as nappy headed hos. During the Democratic primary, Senator Hillary Clinton was quoted in the media as saying that Obama's stronghold over hard-working Americans, white Americans, was weakening. The general population inferred, by this comment, that only white Americans were allegedly hardworking. During the summer of 2008, TV Host, John McLaughlin referred to the Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama, as an Oreo, explaining that he was black on the outside, but white on the inside.

It's rather sad that in spite of all the enlightenment Americans claim to have acquired since coming into the next century, that we can't yet see beyond the color of a man's skin to judge him by his heart instead of his ethnic origins. Regardless of what journalists think about a man's politics or beliefs, neither his ethnicity nor his family background provides an unfounded basis for the predilection of his character.

Journalists can do much to model ethical behavior that demonstrates respect for every culture and every race. At no time is the opportunity as great as when they are reporting on issues that require describing ethnic populations. How to do so tastefully begins with a mindset that believes that all human beings, whether of African-American, Hispanic, Native American, or European origins, should

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