Assignment:
Using the 12th edition of Language Awareness, complete the following assignment:
After reading Akiba Solomon's "Thugs. Students. Rioters. Fans: Media's Subtle Racism in Unrest Coverage," in Language Awareness,answer the following questions:
1. How does Solomon argue that the media describes riots involving black crowds? What is Solomon's first reaction to such behavior? Why does her reaction shift?
2. How does Solomon argue that the media describes riots involving white crowds? How does it differ from the descriptions of the rioters in Baltimore? Why does Solomon choose the examples she does?
3. For what reasons do you think Solomon compares descriptions of rioting in Baltimore to those at Penn State in particular? Why might she emphasize twice the sexual assaults involved in the Penn State case? Why do you think she emphasizes the "symbolic gesture" ascribed to the Penn State crowd in comparison to those in Baltimore? How does she suggest these responses are incongruous?
4. How does Solomon suggest race determines the language of media coverage? How does this disparity in media coverage reinforce her Aunt Kinyozi's favorite phrase: "Words are powerful"? What power do the words of the press have to shape the population?
5. What Ohio incidents does Solomon compare? Why are these incidents particularly unnerving? How does the use of language like "racial discrimination has particular resonance" contrast with a phrase such as "race riots"?