Media & Race

By Monica Shanks, Rolando Perez, Michelle Klein, Zachary Waldron, and Jarvis Holley

Media & Race

In our three-hour workshop, parents of school-aged children will learn how to interpret race portrayal in the media. The information covered will aid in discussing race with their children, particularly in regard to the media their children watch regularly. Children are exposed to a vast amount of media daily, and as studies show that media is widely biased and perpetuates racial stereotypes, children may interpret these media messages as fact. Parents will gain a greater understanding of such stereotypes and how to avoid the further perpetuation of them within our workshop, with the hope that they will pass this information along to their children. Our five workshop leaders will cover a range of media, including: sports, movies, news, Disney, and reality TV. These topics will be discussed in detail, and parents will participate in several activities to further understanding. Discussion will largely center on how media perpetuates and even creates stereotypes in our society, and how to avoid interpreting these messages as factual and acceptable. By the conclusion of the workshop, parents will have a greater understanding of race in the media. In light of this information, parents may then educate their children about the media they are consuming.

Media & Race

A 3-hour workshop for parents of school-aged children. 12:00 - 12:20 Opening Parents will be welcomed into the workshop. A brief overview of workshop topics will be given. Parents will participate in a short ice breaker activity prior to beginning workshop activities. 12:20 - 12:30 Basket Shooting (activity) Each person will have one chance to make a shot into the basket. They will be given a paper (representing basketball) wad and shoot from the line. Everyone has an equal chance of making it. It is based on skill not skin and that is the way sports should be. 12:30 - 12:38 Race & Sports Workshop leader will lead a discussion regarding race in sports, stereotypes surrounding athletes, and how we can overcome these stereotypes in the future. 12:38 - 12:48 Athletes + Stats (matching game) Pictures of players will be put onto the board on one side and player stats will be put on the other side. Parents jobs will be to match the player to the stats that they think best fits. The point of this activity is to see if you can guess an athletes stats without using stereotypes. 12:48 - 12:56 Walk the Line (activity) Workshop leader will separate the group and put a large tape in the center of it. He will ask the group different questions about race in movies. If their answer is yes, they step up to the line, if not they stay where they are. Ex: Do you feel that minorities are portrayed as gang members? 12:56 - 1:01 Race & Movies Workshop leader will discuss race in movies with the group. Stereotypes and race portrayal will be covered. 1:01 - 1:16 Scene It (game) Workshop leader will show the entire group clips of movies where they need to call out a stereotype in movies. He will show them different clips from movies and they will all be different racial encounters (ex: Show a clip of a Mexican man working on lawn work). The purpose is to show how actors portray racial stereotypes.

Led by Rolando Perez

Led by Zach Waldron

Led by Monica Shanks

Led by Jarvis Holley

1:16 - 1:31 News Story Bingo (game) Parents will be given bingo cards with races (White, Black, Latino, etc.) along the x axis and story subjects (sports, crime, achievements, etc.) in the squares. The workshop leader will read headlines from a local or national newspaper, giving the subject and race. Parents will mark off squares as their subject/race is found within the paper. The first person with a straight line marked off their card will shout out BINGO! to win. This activity will emphasize how biased news stories often are towards race, revealing how many stories about Caucasians cover crime versus achievement and so forth. A short discussion will follow. 1:31 - 1:36 Race & The News Workshop leader will give a brief overview of how race is covered in the news, stereotypes that are perpetuated by this form of media, and a comparison of coverage to actual statistics regarding subjects such as crime, for example. 1:36 - 1:44 Story+Subject (matching game) Parents will be given a worksheet with 10 photos of people and 10 story headlines. Parents will be asked to match each headline with a photo, guessing who they think each story is about. Parents will then break into small groups to compare their matches with those around them. Once groups have discussed their results, the true matches will be revealed and a short discussion will follow. This activity will confront the stereotypes many of us carry in our minds, address our expectations of race in the news, and again break down how the news covers stories regarding various races. 1:44 - 1:54 Note Card Characters (game) Parents will be given a card with a character. They will guess what character they have. 1:54 - 2:02 Race & Disney Disneys interpretation and presentation of race will be discussed breifly. 2:02 - 2:12 Milestones (game) Parents will engage in a game.

Led by Michelle Klein

2:12 - 2:20 Survivor Tag (activity) Teams will be divided up based on ethnicities. Different obstacles will be set up and everyone will have a fair chance of winning. This game shows that no one has a higher chance because of his or her race, gender, or appearance. Survival is based off your skill not skin. 2:20 - 2:25 Race & Reality TV The role of race in reality TV will be discussed, along with racial practices in reality TV, reality TV and children, and stereotypes perpetuated by reality TV casting. 2:25 - 2:40 Love is Blind Dating Game (activity) Workshop leader will chose 4 bachelorettes of different ethnicities and chose one bachelor. The bachelor will be blindfolded throughout the whole game. We will ask each bachelorette a number of questions and our bachelor is going to pick which contestant he liked the most based on the answers of the questions. He will then take off his blindfold and see the ethnicity of his woman. The point of the game is to show people that personality matters more than skin and that love is blind. 2:40 - 3:00 Closing Parents will gather for a summary and debreifing discussion. Practical applications for lessons learned in the workshop will be covered, and parents will complete a survey to evaluate the workshop prior to leaving.

Media & Race

Group Members Tasks
Monica Shanks

Group #: 6 -- Media & Race Age Group/Target Audience: Parents of School-Aged Children

4 Article Summaries & Reactions 2 Activity Descriptions (Race in News) Small Speaking Role in Presentation Development of Agenda & Presentation Layout of Agenda/Packet Packet Narrative 4 Article Summaries & Reactions 2 Activity Descriptions (Race in Movies) Small Speaking Role in Presentation Development of Agenda & Presentation 4 Article Summaries & Reactions 2 Activity Descriptions (Race in Reality TV) Large Role in Presentation (Dating Game) Development of Agenda & Presentation 4 Article Summaries & Reactions 2 Activity Descriptions (Race in Sports) Large Role in Presentation (Basketball Activity) Development of Agenda & Presentation 4 Article Summaries & Reactions 2 Activity Descriptions (Race in Disney) Small Speaking Role in Presentation

Rolando Perez

Michelle Klein

Zach Waldron

Jarvis Holley