The New York Times Keeps Racecraft Alive

In late February, cartoonist Scott Adams made outrageous, clearly racist comments, urging “whites” to “get the hell away from” all “black” people based on a survey of 34 persons who are racialized as black. Based on a minuscule sample of people who thought it “wasn’t okay to be white,” he calls an entire group of people numbering over 40 million a “hate group.”

Seems the survey was merely an excuse for Adams to broadcast bigotry and racism, giving the middle finger to millions of people.

Historian Barbara Fields and her sister, sociologist Karen Fields, in their important work Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life, described racism as the application of a “social, civic, or legal double standard based on ancestry” and as a “social practice, which means that it is an action and a rationale for action, or both at once. Racism always takes for granted the objective reality of race . . .”

Adams rationalized his racism based on a survey with fallacious racial categories at its root. Racecraft.

Last week, Tennessee’s Republican-led House expelled two of three Democrat reps after they staged a protest in favor of more gun control measures, after a mass shooting in the state in which several children were massacred.

The two expelled were young black American men. The third, an elder Caucasian woman, missed being expelled by one vote. Same offense, different result. A double standard. Racecraft.

The Liberal Paper of Record?

Yet such instances of racism amounts to low-hanging fruit, is all-too-obvious, and is thus fodder for social media uproar and mainstream press glee, since they clock dollars based on conflict. But not as obvious is the way race and racialization play into a story published yesterday by the New York Times, “Miami Beach Wants to Tame Spring Break for Good.” That was the title in the print edition, mind you; what you see above is the online version of the same.

Ostensibly, the story focuses on the tensions between businesses who welcome spring break revelers because, well, it’s good for business, and residents and other community members who are tired of rowdy visitors disturbing their peace. But when we consider the story via the lens of racecraft, and analyze the juxtaposition of imagery and a clear racial subtext, a more insidious picture comes into view.

For many decades, groups of undergrad college students have used weeks off from classes in April to let loose and party in places such as Miami Beach. But, more recently, instances of violence during Spring Break and holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day have caused cities such as Miami to put into place curfews to reduce the likelihood of anti-social behavior.

A municipality has a right to exercise such measures, in my opinion. But whether or not it’s fair to local businesses to completely shut down Spring Break revelry “for good” is the basis for “conflict” in the story—on its face.

Look again at the headline above. Now view who the paper of record chose to represent young revelers during Spring Break. In both the print and online editions here’s what followed:

The caption:

“Visitors danced at a red light on Ocean Drive in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Fla. Some local leaders want to change the city’s reputation as a party town. Credit...Scott McIntyre for The New York Times.”

If this were the only juxtaposition of words and phrases from the title such as “mayhem,” “violent incidents,” and “partying” with images of black-identified people, then one could reasonably argue that I might be simply grinding a racial axe. But not only am I not known for such behavior, my goal, as readers of the blog should know, is deracialization.

But it’s hard to deracialize when the wily ways of racecraft continues to rear its ugly head.

What’s the alternative to mayhem, partying, and violent incidents? The article’s author, Patricia Mazzei, mentions the possibility of Miami being “rebranded as less of a spring-break destination and more of an arts, culture, and health and wellness hub . . .”

What images are chosen to represent this alternative? In both the print and online version of the story, we see:

In the online version, we see yet another photo of the desired alternative, three Floridians from Orlando playing slam ball:

But Greg, aren’t you exaggerating, making conspiratorial accusations when there’s no real there there?

Well, if the following juxtaposition, which slams home my point, wasn’t in the online version, I’d say you could be right. I’m a reasonable guy who strives for rationality. However, it makes no sense to put one’s head in the sand. Sorry, it was the New York Times who curated the title, the images, and which images followed which parts of the story, not me.

Check out this sentence: “The rowdy behavior in the streets and the curfews that result have hurt businesses year after year, said Joshua Wallack, the chief operating officer of Mango’s Tropical Cafe, an Ocean Drive institution for more than 30 years.” The images that immediately follow?

Underneath the image of the serious-looking dark-skinned man with braided hair and shades, is a caption that names him and identifies him as a vacationer. The caption for the image on the right is “Discarded tropical drinks on South Beach.”

So not only does the Times show images of tranquil white-identified persons striking yoga poses and playing peacefully on the beach, underneath a quote that refers to “rowdy behavior” they show a man that some will associate with being a Rastafarian, and then display “discarded tropical drinks” right next to him. Damn rowdy polluters! Can’t take those people anywhere . . .

The coup de grace is the only explicit mention of race in the story:

In the past, civil rights activists have complained about the city police department’s use of military-style vehicles, pepper balls and forceful crowd control tactics during spring break, which attracts many Black visitors to a city whose resident population is largely white.

Then, to mollify the suspicions of those who may smell the noxious scent of racecraft in the air, the writer follows with:

Glendon Hall, chairman of the Miami Beach Black Affairs Advisory Committee, which was created two years ago, was embedded with police officers and the city’s “goodwill ambassadors” during spring break last month. He said in a statement that was read at a meeting on Tuesday that he was pleased with how law enforcement handled the “massive crowds” this year, and that there had been no major complaints from civil rights groups.  

Does that makes the racecraft of manipulating contrasting images with racial stereotypes okay? Not in my book.  

The “liberal” paper of “record,” whose slogan is “All the news that’s fit to print” may not have been conscious of the bias they displayed yesterday, April 9, 2023, a day in which some celebrated the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ while others gathered their children together for Easter egg hunts. But unconscious bias is bias nonetheless.

To exercise better civic and journalistic leadership, the Times should get hip to racecraft and do all within its power to avoid it.