PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Black police officers good for entertainment only -- at least that's what movies tell us

2014-03-31
(Press-News.org) The presence of African-American police officers has been shown to increase the perceived legitimacy of police departments; however, their depiction in film may play a role in delegitimizing African-American officers in real life, both in the eyes of the general public and the African-American community.

In their recently released study, Sam Houston State University associate professor of criminal justice Howard Henderson and Indiana State University assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice Franklin T. Wilson found that African-American city police officers rarely have been depicted as leading characters in theatrically released films over the first 40 years of the cop film genre, and when they are, African-Americans are overwhelmingly portrayed as comedic entertainment, while white officers are not.

"The Criminological Cultivation of African-American Municipal Police Officers: Sambo or Sellout" was published in Race and Justice, the official journal of The American Society of Criminology Division on People of Color and Crime.

"Given the racially charged nature of this past year with instances like the Paula Deen case, the Trayvon Martin verdict, the recent 'Loud Music Case' of Michael Dunn, among others along with the profit-driven nature of entertainment media, I fear the pattern we have discovered may not be a matter of negligence on the part of Hollywood," said Wilson, who led the research. "Instead, it may be a reflection that many United States citizens are not ready to accept an African-American in a serious authoritative role."

The study of 112 films revealed that white officer depictions dominated the genre, appearing in the lead or joint-leading roles in 89 percent of the films; African-American officers were depicted in 19 percent of the films, while other minorities only appeared in 3 percent of the films.

While the study examined films released after 1971, arguably the start of the modern cop film genre with "Dirty Harry," 95 percent of African-American depictions did not occur until after 1987.

In addition to an apparent requirement of a white costar to justify an African-American in a leading role, the study revealed that 52 percent of African-American officer depictions portrayed the officer serving as comedic entertainment. White officer comedic portrayals resulted in 17 percent, which is reduced to only 3 percent if excluding films in which the white officer is teamed with a minority officer or minority civilian.

"Most people view films one at a time and do not consider depictions as a whole; we see individual scenes that may make us laugh in the moment, but what we do not see is how overall these depictions are eerily similar to, if not the continuation of, the presentation of African-Americans as comedic outlets that date back to the slavery experience," Henderson said. "This is what sets our study apart.

"Minstrel shows of the mid-1830s, as well as the Stepin Fetchit character of film in the 1920s and 1930s, regularly used derogatory comedic depictions of African-Americans for white entertainment."

The study also revealed that while several films touch on the struggle many African-American officers face in maintaining a balance of loyalty to the African-American community and to the police force, only four films directly addressed the issue. Much of the time, the officer is portrayed as having to choose between either selling out the African-American community or quitting the police force.

The researchers note that in the film "Shaft," Samuel L. Jackson's character captures this dilemma when he says that he is "too black for the uniform, too blue for the brothers."

"We do not know if such portrayal patterns have an impact on recruitment, retention and public perceptions of African-American city police officers yet, but it certainly points to a need for a closer examination," Henderson said.

INFORMATION:The full study is available online at raj.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/05/2153368713517396.abstract.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Tropical Cyclone Hellen makes landfall in Madagascar

Tropical Cyclone Hellen makes landfall in Madagascar
2014-03-31
Tropical Cyclone Hellen made landfall in west central Madagascar as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead capturing temperature data on its towering thunderstorms. When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Madagascar on March 31 at 10:47 UTC/6:47 a.m. EDT and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard captured infrared data on Hellen. AIRS data showed powerful thunderstorms circling the center of circulation with cloud top temperatures in excess of -63F/-52C indicating they were high into the troposphere. Thunderstorms reaching those heights also have the ...

Urban gardeners may be unaware of how best to manage contaminants in soil

2014-03-31
Consuming foods grown in urban gardens may offer a variety of health benefits, but a lack of knowledge about the soil used for planting, could pose a health threat for both consumers and gardeners. In a new study from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), researchers identified a range of factors and challenges related to the perceived risk of soil contamination among urban community gardeners and found a need for clear and concise information on how best to prevent and manage soil contamination. The results are featured online in PLOS ONE . "While the ...

New functions for 'junk' DNA?

New functions for junk DNA?
2014-03-31
DNA is the molecule that encodes the genetic instructions enabling a cell to produce the thousands of proteins it typically needs. The linear sequence of the A, T, C, and G bases in what is called coding DNA determines the particular protein that a short segment of DNA, known as a gene, will encode. But in many organisms, there is much more DNA in a cell than is needed to code for all the necessary proteins. This non-coding DNA was often referred to as "junk" DNA because it seemed unnecessary. But in retrospect, we did not yet understand the function of these seemingly ...

Hybrid vehicles more fuel efficient in India, China than in US

2014-03-31
What makes cities in India and China so frustrating to drive in—heavy traffic, aggressive driving style, few freeways—makes them ideal for saving fuel with hybrid vehicles, according to new research by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). In a pair of studies using real-world driving conditions, they found that hybrid cars are significantly more fuel-efficient in India and China than they are in the United States. These findings could have an important impact in countries that are on the brink of experiencing ...

Behind the scenes of the IPCC report, with Stanford scientists

Behind the scenes of the IPCC report, with Stanford scientists
2014-03-31
In the summer of 2009, Stanford Professor Chris Field embarked on a task of urgent global importance. Field had been tapped to assemble hundreds of climate scientists to dig through 12,000 scientific papers concerning the current impacts of climate change and its causes. The team, Working Group II, would ultimately produce a 2,000-page report as part of a massive, three-part U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, which details a consensus view on the current state and fate of the world's climate. The job would take nearly five ...

USC Viterbi researchers developing cheap, better-performing lithium-ion batteries

2014-03-31
Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have improved the performance and capacity of lithium batteries by developing better-performing, cheaper materials for use in anodes and cathodes (negative and positive electrodes, respectively). Lithium-ion batteries are a popular type of rechargeable battery commonly found in portable electronics and electric or hybrid cars. Traditionally, lithium-ion batteries contain a graphite anode, but silicon has recently emerged as a promising anode substitute because it is the second most abundant element on earth and has ...

New non-surgical treatment for common, vexing eye condition

New non-surgical treatment for common, vexing eye condition
2014-03-31
Baltimore, MD, 31 March 2014. – A new report reveals a potential breakthrough in the treatment of a common eye ailment known as pterygium (Surfer's eye) that impacts the vision, eye health, and cosmetic appearance of countless sufferers. The newly published report shows that eye drops containing the anti-anginal drug dipyridamole (Persantin®, Cardoxin®) led to almost total disappearance of an inflamed pterygium in a 35 year old otherwise healthy woman. Dipyridamole is a drug in use over the past 55 years to treat other disorders, but now found to have this remarkable ...

Lowering your cholesterol may improve your sex life

2014-03-31
A new Rutgers study is giving hope to older men concerned about the effects of cholesterol-lowering medications on their sexual health. The research, conducted at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, found that statin medication prescribed to lower cholesterol and decrease the chance of heart attack and stroke, also improves a man's erectile function. The researchers reported their findings at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific session in Washington DC March 29 and in the April issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. "Older men who have poor ...

Genetic cause of heart valve defects

Genetic cause of heart valve defects
2014-03-31
Heart valve defects are a common cause of death in newborns. Scientists at the University of Bonn and the caesar research center have discovered "Creld1" is a key gene for the development of heart valves in mice. The researchers were able to show that a similar Creld1 gene found in humans functions via the same signaling pathway as in the mouse. This discovery is an important step forward in the molecular understanding of the pathogenesis of heart valve defects. The findings have been published in the journal "Developmental Cell". Atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) ...

Satellite shows high productivity from US corn belt

Satellite shows high productivity from US corn belt
2014-03-31
Data from satellite sensors show that during the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, the Midwest region of the United States boasts more photosynthetic activity than any other spot on Earth, according to NASA and university scientists. Healthy plants convert light to energy via photosynthesis, but chlorophyll also emits a fraction of absorbed light as fluorescent glow that is invisible to the naked eye. The magnitude of the glow is an excellent indicator of the amount of photosynthesis, or gross productivity, of plants in a given region. Research in 2013 led by Joanna ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no 

Women with obesity do not need to gain weight during pregnancy, new study suggests

Individuals with multiple sclerosis face substantially greater risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19, despite high rates of vaccination

Study shows obesity in childhood associated with a more than doubling of risk of developing multiple sclerosis in early adulthood

Rice Emerging Scholars Program receives $2.5M NSF grant to boost STEM education

Virtual rehabilitation provides benefits for stroke recovery

Generative AI develops potential new drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Biofuels could help island nations survive a global catastrophe, study suggests

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment

Social media use may help to empower plastic surgery patients

Q&A: How to train AI when you don't have enough data

Wayne State University researchers uncover potential treatment targets for Zika virus-related eye abnormalities

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

Small birds spice up the already diverse diet of spotted hyenas in Namibia

Imaging detects transient “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain

Dissolved organic matter could be used to track and improve the health of freshwaters

Indoor air quality standards in public buildings would boost health and economy, say international experts

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

New imaging method illuminates oxygen's journey in the brain

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Cell division quality control ‘stopwatch’ uncovered

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

New study shows how the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy proves effective for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma

Study flips treatment paradigm in bilateral Wilms tumor, shows resistance to chemotherapy may point toward favorable outcomes

Doctors received approximately $12.1 billion from drug and device makers between 2013-2022

[Press-News.org] Black police officers good for entertainment only -- at least that's what movies tell us