Dr. Barbara Love on Hollywood and media negative images of African Americans

Dear friends,

In the paragraph below, My longtime, dear friend Dr. Barbara Loveb comments about Hollywood and media negative images of African American people...She writes: 

 The negative images that we hold about ourselves did not originate with us. We internalized the false images that were created to support and justify racism. Several things are true: bad images hurt us; we did not create the bad images that hurt us. When we internalize the negative images created about us to justify the oppression of us, we act out and reflect those negative images. Because we act out and reflect those negative images does not mean that we create the negative images. The negative images existed before we internalized them. And yes, we can say with certainty that if Zimmerman lived more than one day in U.S. society, then he was exposed to negative messages about Black people. If he lived more than two days in U.S. society, he internalized negative messages about Black people without ever having met or interacted with a Black person. Every person in U.S. society- Black, white and all others- are taught by the daily socialization of U.S. society to hate Black people. That is the foundation and sustenance of racism. To our credit, so many of us, black and white and others, resist the message to hate Black people. to our credit, many of us, not only resist the message to hate Black people, but manage to love and cherish Black people. To our credit, many of us figure out how to help other people become aware of the messages of hate and use that awareness as a shield against the daily assault on our minds about Black people. And to our everlasting credit, many of us are trying to heal from the damage done to our minds and to our hearts by the messages we receive to hate Black people.