Michael Dunn Trial

This trial is about a man, Michael Dunn, who pulled up next to a car full of black teenagers. The car with teenagers was playing music loudly and Michael Dunn was upset because it was too loud for his liking. He said he thought he saw one of the teens, Jordan Davis, point a gun at him before he opened fire. Then Dunn pulled a gun on the students and proceeded to fire shots into the car. Jordan Davis, a teenager in the car, was shot and killed at age 17. This trial has been given a lot of media coverage because it is very similar to the George Zimmerman case.

This video shows Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy commenting on the case. A few of his points stood out to me. At one point he says that criminalization of black people in America isn't a white problem, an American problem, a societal problem, NOT a black problem. HLN is usually a reliable network but seemed to be motivated by their ratings and the drama. Even the title of the news report "Thug Music" Trial portrays a message that black people only listen to that type of music. Generally tastes between black and white people are different, but the media should not highlight that.

Yes they are quoting someone, but just because black people listen to music, does not mean that it should be considered "thug music". Williams said it well when he explained that the only reason we are talking about this is because it is a black case. This is very telling because they are using race to make a huge deal about a shooting, when people are shot down every day. The media is using the fact that Dunn is white and Davis was black to promote this case. I am in no way condoning Dunn's actions or toning down the severity of the shooting, but the teenagers in the car were racially profiled and Dunn acted on his perception of those teenagers. 

Jesse Williams asks, "What if [Davis] had been blasting Bon Jovi? Would he still have his life? Would he have been given a thumbs up?". Again this is playing on the stereotype that white people generally listen to more music like Bon Jovi instead of "thug music" that the black people may prefer. The media usually tries to be neutral in terms of race, because everything needs to be politically correct now. Media is playing the race card to receive higher ratings and hop on the racial tension "band wagon".