Let's pick a couple of random people and accuse them of being evil, why don't we?
[Update: This post is included in the 155th Carnival of the Vanities. Thanks to sortapundit for hosting and haiku'ing the entries.]
I've seen a lot of furor about certain news photos and captions regarding Hurricane Katrina and looting--one pair in particular. The story being plastered all over the internet is that these photos are proof that the AP is racist.
The recurrent phrases seem to be, "It's not looting if you're white" or "Black people loot, white people find?"
Let's take a look.
This is a set of two photos from two different locations, taken by different photographers for different news organizations based in different countries, and published at different times. Somebody (I wish I knew who) picked out these two photos and juxtaposed them to try to prove a point.
One is a photo taken by Dave Martin for the AP (Associated Press), which shows an African-American man in chest-deep water with two bulging garbage bags and a case of Pepsi.
The caption says, "A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. . . . "
The second photo, taken by Chris Graythen for Getty Images via Agence France-Presse (AFP), a French agency, shows two lighter-skinned people, a man and a woman, also in chest-deep water. Both are wearing backpacks and the woman is carrying what appears to be a loaf of bread and a bottle of soda or some other object. Other objects, including what looks to be a piece of fruit, are floating in the water around them. If you look closely, you'll see that the people in this photo are not necessarily even "white"--the woman at least looks to me more Hispanic or of some other ethnic background.
The caption reads, "Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area on August 29, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. . . ."
Now, there are a number of reasonable explanations for the differing wording. Snopes.com describes a number of them here. The Snopes article is well worth reading, and covers several points I'm not going to mention here.
There are two points I want to make about this.
First of all, the "big, bad news organization" doesn't write the captions for photos. (And remember that this is two completely different news organizations we're talking about, but even so . . . ) "The press" isn't some singular beast with one mind and will and a solidarity of opinion. It's a conglomeration of various organizations and individuals, each with their own personality and opinions. News organizations (as well as most other organizations) are not one cohesive entity. They are made up of individual people.
Newsaper editors don't just look at photos and try to guess what's happening in the pictures to write random captions for them. That's a fun game to play when accuracy is unimportant, but it's not how news organizations work.
The photographers write the captions, or at the very least collaborate with the writers to come up with them. Because, you know, the photographers were there. They know the context of the photos and what's actually happening in them.
Secondly, it's ridiculous to single out the worst possible explanation and motives for something when there are plenty of valid, sensible explanations that don't involve racism or other evilness/sin. And it's really harmful to pick out random people and accuse them of awful things with no real basis.
These are real people that everyone is accusing of racism. Actual individul human beings with reputations and feelings. I don't know and don't care whether these photographers are black, white or green with purple polka-dots, or what their political leanings are. They are people.
If you're going to single out an individual person and accuse them of racism, you'd better be very sure of your facts and have extremely solid evidence to back your claims. Because this isn't about America, the press or the AP. This is about two human beings with names and faces. This is about Dave Martin and Chris Graythen.
Yes, there is racism in the USA, and in the world. There is probably even racism represented in individuals associated with the AP, just like in any other organization. Racism is a bad thing and should be criticized where it is present. But this isn't just a "big idea" general accusation. You are accusing and hurting specific people based on very flimsy "evidence"--people who, in this case, are probably innocent.
Are Dave Martin and Chris Graythen racist? I doubt it.
Here's what a salon.com article quoted an AP spokesman as saying regarding Dave Martin:
Jack Stokes, AP's director of media relations, confirmed today that Martin says he witnessed the people in his images looting a grocery store. "He saw the person go into the shop and take the goods," Stokes said, "and that's why he wrote 'looting' in the caption."
Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, told Salon that all captions are vetted by editors and are the result of a dialogue between editor and photographer. Lyon said AP's policy is that each photographer can describe only what he or she actually sees. He added, "When we see people go into businesses and come out with goods, we call it 'looting.'" On the other hand, he said, "When we just see them carrying things down the road, we call it 'carrying items.'"
And here's what Chris Graythen posted on a message board:
Chris Graythen, Photographer, Photo Editor
new orleans | LA | USA | Posted: 6:10 PM on 08.31.05
->> [J----], I don't belive how much [*$@#] I'm getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I'm completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.
Please stop emailing me on this one.
I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn't have taken in, because I wouldn't eat anything that's been in that water. But I'm not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)
I'm not trying to be politically correct. I'm don't care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent's neighborhood shooting [photos of], and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don't belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.
Please, please don't argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can't even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.
This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don't email me any more about this caption issue.
And please, don't yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.
When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.
Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen
[items in brackets edited and emphasis added by me]
These two men are real people. They have faces and feelings, just like you and me. And, just like you and me, they don't appreciate being called racist. They've lost their homes. They're on the ground in the middle of all this destruction and chaos, doing their best to rescue people and do their jobs to let the rest of us know what's going on. Meanwhile, we sit here on our high, dry horses and malign their motives, spread gossip about them and call them names. We treat them with a "guilty until proven innocent" sort of mob mentality.
Racism is a terrible sin. But so is accusing someone of wrongdoing without basis. There are a few names for this, including gossip, "bearing false witness against a neighbor," and libel or slander.
Let's stop accusing and harrassing these guys and focus on something that really deserves our attention. Deflecting anger onto most likely benign circumstances and accusing innocent people isn't going to help a thing. There are plenty of circumstances worth getting worked up about. This just isn't one of them.
I've seen a lot of furor about certain news photos and captions regarding Hurricane Katrina and looting--one pair in particular. The story being plastered all over the internet is that these photos are proof that the AP is racist.
The recurrent phrases seem to be, "It's not looting if you're white" or "Black people loot, white people find?"
Let's take a look.
This is a set of two photos from two different locations, taken by different photographers for different news organizations based in different countries, and published at different times. Somebody (I wish I knew who) picked out these two photos and juxtaposed them to try to prove a point.
One is a photo taken by Dave Martin for the AP (Associated Press), which shows an African-American man in chest-deep water with two bulging garbage bags and a case of Pepsi.
The caption says, "A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. . . . "
The second photo, taken by Chris Graythen for Getty Images via Agence France-Presse (AFP), a French agency, shows two lighter-skinned people, a man and a woman, also in chest-deep water. Both are wearing backpacks and the woman is carrying what appears to be a loaf of bread and a bottle of soda or some other object. Other objects, including what looks to be a piece of fruit, are floating in the water around them. If you look closely, you'll see that the people in this photo are not necessarily even "white"--the woman at least looks to me more Hispanic or of some other ethnic background.
The caption reads, "Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area on August 29, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. . . ."
Now, there are a number of reasonable explanations for the differing wording. Snopes.com describes a number of them here. The Snopes article is well worth reading, and covers several points I'm not going to mention here.
There are two points I want to make about this.
First of all, the "big, bad news organization" doesn't write the captions for photos. (And remember that this is two completely different news organizations we're talking about, but even so . . . ) "The press" isn't some singular beast with one mind and will and a solidarity of opinion. It's a conglomeration of various organizations and individuals, each with their own personality and opinions. News organizations (as well as most other organizations) are not one cohesive entity. They are made up of individual people.
Newsaper editors don't just look at photos and try to guess what's happening in the pictures to write random captions for them. That's a fun game to play when accuracy is unimportant, but it's not how news organizations work.
The photographers write the captions, or at the very least collaborate with the writers to come up with them. Because, you know, the photographers were there. They know the context of the photos and what's actually happening in them.
Secondly, it's ridiculous to single out the worst possible explanation and motives for something when there are plenty of valid, sensible explanations that don't involve racism or other evilness/sin. And it's really harmful to pick out random people and accuse them of awful things with no real basis.
These are real people that everyone is accusing of racism. Actual individul human beings with reputations and feelings. I don't know and don't care whether these photographers are black, white or green with purple polka-dots, or what their political leanings are. They are people.
If you're going to single out an individual person and accuse them of racism, you'd better be very sure of your facts and have extremely solid evidence to back your claims. Because this isn't about America, the press or the AP. This is about two human beings with names and faces. This is about Dave Martin and Chris Graythen.
Yes, there is racism in the USA, and in the world. There is probably even racism represented in individuals associated with the AP, just like in any other organization. Racism is a bad thing and should be criticized where it is present. But this isn't just a "big idea" general accusation. You are accusing and hurting specific people based on very flimsy "evidence"--people who, in this case, are probably innocent.
Are Dave Martin and Chris Graythen racist? I doubt it.
Here's what a salon.com article quoted an AP spokesman as saying regarding Dave Martin:
Jack Stokes, AP's director of media relations, confirmed today that Martin says he witnessed the people in his images looting a grocery store. "He saw the person go into the shop and take the goods," Stokes said, "and that's why he wrote 'looting' in the caption."
Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, told Salon that all captions are vetted by editors and are the result of a dialogue between editor and photographer. Lyon said AP's policy is that each photographer can describe only what he or she actually sees. He added, "When we see people go into businesses and come out with goods, we call it 'looting.'" On the other hand, he said, "When we just see them carrying things down the road, we call it 'carrying items.'"
And here's what Chris Graythen posted on a message board:
Chris Graythen, Photographer, Photo Editor
new orleans | LA | USA | Posted: 6:10 PM on 08.31.05
->> [J----], I don't belive how much [*$@#] I'm getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I'm completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.
Please stop emailing me on this one.
I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn't have taken in, because I wouldn't eat anything that's been in that water. But I'm not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)
I'm not trying to be politically correct. I'm don't care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent's neighborhood shooting [photos of], and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don't belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.
Please, please don't argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can't even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.
This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don't email me any more about this caption issue.
And please, don't yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.
When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.
Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen
[items in brackets edited and emphasis added by me]
These two men are real people. They have faces and feelings, just like you and me. And, just like you and me, they don't appreciate being called racist. They've lost their homes. They're on the ground in the middle of all this destruction and chaos, doing their best to rescue people and do their jobs to let the rest of us know what's going on. Meanwhile, we sit here on our high, dry horses and malign their motives, spread gossip about them and call them names. We treat them with a "guilty until proven innocent" sort of mob mentality.
Racism is a terrible sin. But so is accusing someone of wrongdoing without basis. There are a few names for this, including gossip, "bearing false witness against a neighbor," and libel or slander.
Let's stop accusing and harrassing these guys and focus on something that really deserves our attention. Deflecting anger onto most likely benign circumstances and accusing innocent people isn't going to help a thing. There are plenty of circumstances worth getting worked up about. This just isn't one of them.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Posted by purple_kangaroo at 4:22 PM[Permanent link]
4 Comments:
There is so much pain and sorrow and anger flowing now. I wonder how rational anyone is being. I wish the crisis would bring out the best in people--and in many cases it has. But, as you pointed out, the worst (in actions, accusations) are also coming. I really hope the people needing relief get it soon.
Good post. I floated over here from Mark Daniels' blog. I appreciate you taking the time to research it.
Sadly, the damage has been done. It's been spewed out there, and no amount of perspective and truth can repair the hurt and anger that the lie has caused. We can only keep fighting against it.
The hurt and confusion in the post by Chris Graythen really hurt to read. I feel for this man, who has lost so much, and someone with an agenda has put him in the middle of a controversy. He doesn't deserve this.
Looting is acceptable under certain circumstances. In New Orleans, there was nothing wrong with taking food and water, or toilet paper and other sanitary supplies, and even batteries and radios from abandoned stores. Besides, anything in the groceries can't be resold anyway, the stock is effectively worthless.
Taking plasma TVs, or jewelry or breaking into people's homes or preying on others is still wrong
The lines between acceptable looting and real criminal actions are not ambiguous, even in NO after the hurricane.
Thanks for your comments, all.
R2K, I think what disasters like this do is, not bring out the best or the worst in people, but what is at their core. Much like putting a tea bag in hot water. That's why we see both the best and the worst coming out--it's just the extremes of what people already are. IMHO, a disaster isn't going to make someone who doesn't already have violent tendencies rape and shoot at people.
Betsy, you said it very well. It's sad to see unfounded rumors catch like wildfire and hurt real people.
Bigdog, I think you are right. Looting isn't always necessarly wrong. Especially in the case of necessities and perishables. As for the electronics, someone pointed out that it doesn't really make sense on any level. Once they get the water-damaged flat-screen TV, where are they going to take it to store it or plug it in? People do strange things sometimes.
Despite the moral question of whether looting is acceptable or not in a given situation, though, I don't think we can blame journalists for using the term when people are taking things from a store or home.
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