White supremacy works by alienating Black people from one another, which prevents us from connecting, sharing information and organizing. The media’s silencing of Black voices emboldens this alienation and makes it easier for news outlets to prioritize stories that benefit social elites over stories that benefit Black communities. These stories then become national — and in some cases, global — narratives.
This often causes non-Black people — and sometimes even Black people — to internalize what’s said about Black communities, true or not. When Black communities and organizations speak about their realities, it shines light on what’s really going on, oftentimes adding necessary context to (or completely dispelling) rhetoric that’s spread quite the distance.
