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Week 5- Christopher Warren

7/9/2018

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​One article that struck my interest was the article titled, "Black-Owned Businesses Are Quietly Powering Detroit’s Resurgence, But No One’s Talking About It". It talks about the media portrayal of Detroit, a place where people are working hard and diligently to revitalize the city. It mentions that many news stories are discussing success stories of entrepreneurs who are saving the city of Detroit, which is true. The problem is that these stories focus on white residents and their success stories despite the facts that a majority of the Detroit population is black and that a majority of local entrepreneurs in the city are black as well. Reactions from local residents sparked anger because these news articles do not depict an accurate description of Detroit. Even though the editor of the article apologized and claimed she regretted not including stories about African Americans, this mistake should not have happened in the first place. The article then covers many different ventures started up by African Americans. 
I agree with this article and the meaning behind it. This reflects the general view of Detroit by media outlets, and also covers how media dampens the successes of African Americans. To the average american, Detroit is a city in ruin that is plagued by unemployment, crime, and poverty. I came to this city and saw an effort that has not been put in any national spotlight for people to see. I also witness African Americans putting their best abilities to help this city rise again. I cannot remember the last time I watched or went online to a website such as CNN or FOX news and saw any positive coverage of Detroit and what is going on. These news articles are preventing the word from spreading mouth to mouth because of the biased info they produce.
This also brings me to my other point of diminishing the accomplishments of African Americans. This is a common problem in the United States and should be a recognized problem when addressing the news. Some great accomplishments done by African Americans do not get the recognition they deserve because of their race. Detroit is 83% African American, so there should be no reason why there is a lack of coverage for all the entrepreneurial work that people do around the city. I am glad that this article tackled this problem by including success stories of people around Detroit that properly portrays the demographics of the city.
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