VivirLatino

My friend posted this on her facebook page today and I immediately went to the story. This is one of the first studies I’ve seen in a very long time where “[p]articular attention is paid to high-school graduation rates, infant mortality rates, unemployment rates, juvenile justice incarceration, and the amount of jobs created in relation to funds received by the Recovery Act.”

The creators of the list, ScoopDaily, identifies as a “groundbreaking news outlet that features original reporting by, for, and about America’s youth regarding politics, culture, and opinion trends.” They have partnered with Zogby International, a marketing research and polling company to provide their research. The first line of the study states:

in its commitment to calling attention to the Obama Administration’s continued neglect of urban America, ScoopDaily has compiled a list of the 5 worst cities for urban youth.

As La Macha wrote about experiences in the Midwest, this list is telling as Detroit, Ohio, and President Obama’s hometown, Chicago are included with Atlanta and Baltimore concluding the top 5 list. Now, I’ll admit that the list that was created focused exclusively on people who racially identify as Black in the US. So, I wonder how the term “urban” is being defined and used. Can we assume that similar findings crossover to Latino, Asian, working class White, and other under-resourced communities that may also be overrepresented in the areas of focus?

Another interesting aspect was the use of graphics when re-reporting this story. My homegirl posted a like from ABC News and after reading the story there I then went directly to the story on ScoopDaily. You’ll notice that ABC News chose a Getty Image to accompany this story of three headless, inked, light skinned people, who I read as biological men, walking in front of a graffiti mural. The caption under the foto is about FBI efforts to “dismantle” gangs in Chicago that have become “full-fledged criminal enterprises.”

What does this image invoke? I’ll admit that for me I read the images of the young people as Latino. However, when I read the story I realized that Latinos were not specifically represented. That’s when I went into my hardcore media literacy mode and asked myself: What messages and values does ABC News want to send that may not have been ScoopDaily’s original focus, as ScoopDaily did not have any fotos accompany the story? What message has ABC News constructed with the use of one foto? How are people with different perspectives going to read this article and interpret this foto?

What do you think?

Got this off of facebook:A personal portrait of Justice Sonia Sotomayor by her long time friend, who just so happens to be an editor at the magazine Latina.

Here’s an excerpt:

In her short tenure so far on the court, the justice we have witnessed is no shrinking violet. She asks tough questions and is not intimidated by her rookie status. Sotomayor’s charm and confidence surprise very few people who know her, including the man who nominated her. While President Obama’s staff was preparing Sotomayor for the confirmation hearings in a White House office called the War Room, the team covered all the potentially explosive questions and briefed her on every minute detail, including how to dress for the cameras. They even advised her to keep her nails a neutral shade, which she did. But on the day of the White House reception celebrating her appointment, Sotomayor asked the president to look at her freshly manicured nails, holding up her hands to show off her favorite fire engine–red hue. The president chuckled, saying that she had been warned against that color.

She sure had, but Sotomayor was not finished. She then pulled her hair back behind her ears, exposing her red and black semi-hoop earrings, a beloved accessory among Latinas across America—from the South Bronx to Houston to East Los Angeles.

Obama joked that she had been briefed on the size of the earrings as well. Without skipping a beat, Sotomayor replied: “Mr. President, you have no idea what you’ve unleashed.” He responded, “Justice: I know and remember it’s a lifetime appointment. And I and no one can take it back.” And that, as they say, is the final verdict.

You can read a longer excerpt at Latina!