Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie), HuffPost
Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie)
Editor’s Note: Lisa Wade, PhD originally wrote this posted this lump on The Society Pages in 2010. In the wake of last week’s verdict in the George Zimmerman case, she republished it there and has given permission to HuffPost to do the same.
Leontine G. sent in a troubling example of the framing of children’s deviance, and their own complicity in this framing. She included two links: one to a “Today” demonstrate story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police, and one to a CNN story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police. Different 7-year-olds. One white, one black.
The white boy, Preston, is interviewed with his family on the set of the “Today” showcase. Knowing his kid is safe, his Dad describes the event as “funny” and tells the audience that if this could happen to a “cotton candy all-American kid like Preston,” then “it could happen to anybody.”
When the host, Meredith Vieira, asks Preston why he hid from the police, he says, “cause I dreamed to,” and she says, “I don’t blame you actually.” With Preston not too forthcoming, his Mom steps in to say that he told her that “he just wished to know what it felt like to drive a car.” When Vieira asks him why he fled from the police, he replies with a shrug. Vieira fills in the response, “You wished to get home?”
Vieira then comments on how they all then went to church. The penalty? Grounded for four days without TV or movie games. Vieira asks the child, “Do you think that’s fair?” He says yes. And she resumes, “Do you now understand what you did?” He nods and agrees. “And that maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing?” He nods and agrees. “You gonna get behind the wheel of a car again?” He says no. Then she taunts him about attempting out model fucktoy cars.
They conclude that this incident just goes to display that “Any little kid, you never know what can happen…” and close: “I’ll be observing you at church pal boy!”
All in all, exactly what you’d expect from the “Today” display: a heartwarming, human interest story with a glad ending. The child is framed as a fundamentally good kid who was nosey and perhaps a bit impetuous. When he has no answers for Vieira’s questions, she slots in virginal ones. And the mild penalty is seen as incidental to the more significant idea that he learned something.
This story contrasts dramatically to the CNN story about Latarian Milton, a black 7-year-old who took his family’s car on a joy rail. I’ll put the movie very first, but be forewarned, it’s disturbing not only because of the different framework placed on the boy’s deeds, but because of the boy’s embracing of the spoiled identity (apology for the commercial):
With an absolutely polar introduction of “Not your typical 7-year-old,” this story is filmed on the street. Whereas the “Today” display screened the pursue footage in real time, this one is sped up, making it seem even more extreme.
The interviewer, off-camera, asks Latarian why he took the car. He replied: “I dreamed to do it ’cause it’s joy, it’s joy to do bad things.” The interviewer asks further, “Did you know that you could perhaps kill somebody?” And he replies: “Yes, but I wished to do hoodrat stuff with my friends.”
The interviewer asks him what penalty he should receive and Latarian offers a penalty very similar to Preston’s: “Just a little bit… no movie games for a entire weekend.” In a longer version of this news story, now taken down, the camera concentrates on a reporter who explains that the police plan to go forward with charges of grand theft against him. While he’s “too youthful to go into any type of juvenile facility,” he says, “police say they do want to get him into the system, so that they can get him some type of help.”
The implication here, of course, is that this child is not virginal or impetuous like Preston, he’s a pre-criminal who needs “some type of help.” The sooner they get Latarian into “the (prison?) system,” the better. No cotton candy kid this one.
Unluckily, Latarian says all the right things to make the narrative fit. He says he likes to do “bad” things, calls himself a “hoodrat,” and seems unremorseful, even provoking, for at least part of the interview (he looks a bit sheepish in the end when he finds out his grandmother is going to have to pay for the harm he did to other cars).
One way to interpret this is to say that Latarian IS a pre-criminal. That he DOES need to get into the system because he’s clearly a bad kid. Someone inclined to believe that black people were, in fact, more prone to criminal behavior could witness these two movies and feel confirmed in their view.
But there is good evidence that people, beginning as children, internalize the stereotypes that others have of them. As Ann Ferguson shows in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, black children, especially boys, are stereotyped as pre-criminals; not adorably kinky, like white boys, but unsafely bad from the beginning. And studies with children have shown that they often internalize this idea, as in the famous doll experiment in which both black and white children were more likely than not to identify the black doll as bad (see this similar demonstration of white preference on CNN and a discussion of the original doll experiment at ABC). So I think this terribly sad story of Latarian is demonstrating us how children learn to think of themselves as abnormal and bad from the society around them. Latarian, reminisce, is 7, just like Preston. They’re both children, but they are being treated very differently, as these programs illustrate, and it is already commencing to bury in.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can go after her on Twitter and Facebook.
Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie), HuffPost
Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie)
Editor’s Note: Lisa Wade, PhD originally wrote this posted this lump on The Society Pages in 2010. In the wake of last week’s verdict in the George Zimmerman case, she republished it there and has given permission to HuffPost to do the same.
Leontine G. sent in a troubling example of the framing of children’s deviance, and their own complicity in this framing. She included two links: one to a “Today” showcase story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police, and one to a CNN story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police. Different 7-year-olds. One white, one black.
The white boy, Preston, is interviewed with his family on the set of the “Today” display. Knowing his kid is safe, his Dad describes the event as “funny” and tells the audience that if this could happen to a “cotton candy all-American kid like Preston,” then “it could happen to anybody.”
When the host, Meredith Vieira, asks Preston why he hid from the police, he says, “cause I wished to,” and she says, “I don’t blame you actually.” With Preston not too forthcoming, his Mom steps in to say that he told her that “he just desired to know what it felt like to drive a car.” When Vieira asks him why he fled from the police, he replies with a shrug. Vieira fills in the reaction, “You wished to get home?”
Vieira then comments on how they all then went to church. The penalty? Grounded for four days without TV or movie games. Vieira asks the child, “Do you think that’s fair?” He says yes. And she proceeds, “Do you now understand what you did?” He nods and agrees. “And that maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing?” He nods and agrees. “You gonna get behind the wheel of a car again?” He says no. Then she taunts him about attempting out model fucktoy cars.
They conclude that this incident just goes to demonstrate that “Any little kid, you never know what can happen…” and close: “I’ll be witnessing you at church friend boy!”
All in all, exactly what you’d expect from the “Today” demonstrate: a heartwarming, human interest story with a blessed ending. The child is framed as a fundamentally good kid who was nosey and perhaps a bit impetuous. When he has no answers for Vieira’s questions, she slots in harmless ones. And the mild penalty is seen as incidental to the more significant idea that he learned something.
This story contrasts dramatically to the CNN story about Latarian Milton, a black 7-year-old who took his family’s car on a joy rail. I’ll put the movie very first, but be forewarned, it’s disturbing not only because of the different framework placed on the boy’s deeds, but because of the boy’s embracing of the spoiled identity (apology for the commercial):
With an absolutely polar introduction of “Not your typical 7-year-old,” this story is filmed on the street. Whereas the “Today” display screened the pursue footage in real time, this one is sped up, making it seem even more extreme.
The interviewer, off-camera, asks Latarian why he took the car. He replied: “I desired to do it ’cause it’s joy, it’s joy to do bad things.” The interviewer asks further, “Did you know that you could perhaps kill somebody?” And he replies: “Yes, but I dreamed to do hoodrat stuff with my friends.”
The interviewer asks him what penalty he should receive and Latarian offers a penalty very similar to Preston’s: “Just a little bit… no movie games for a entire weekend.” In a longer version of this news story, now taken down, the camera concentrates on a reporter who explains that the police plan to go forward with charges of grand theft against him. While he’s “too youthfull to go into any type of juvenile facility,” he says, “police say they do want to get him into the system, so that they can get him some type of help.”
The implication here, of course, is that this child is not guiltless or impetuous like Preston, he’s a pre-criminal who needs “some type of help.” The sooner they get Latarian into “the (prison?) system,” the better. No cotton candy kid this one.
Unluckily, Latarian says all the right things to make the narrative fit. He says he likes to do “bad” things, calls himself a “hoodrat,” and seems unremorseful, even provoking, for at least part of the interview (he looks a bit sheepish in the end when he finds out his grandmother is going to have to pay for the harm he did to other cars).
One way to interpret this is to say that Latarian IS a pre-criminal. That he DOES need to get into the system because he’s clearly a bad kid. Someone inclined to believe that black people were, in fact, more prone to criminal behavior could see these two movies and feel confirmed in their view.
But there is good evidence that people, beginning as children, internalize the stereotypes that others have of them. As Ann Ferguson shows in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, black children, especially boys, are stereotyped as pre-criminals; not adorably insane, like white boys, but unsafely bad from the beginning. And studies with children have shown that they often internalize this idea, as in the famous doll experiment in which both black and white children were more likely than not to identify the black doll as bad (see this similar demonstration of white preference on CNN and a discussion of the original doll experiment at ABC). So I think this terribly sad story of Latarian is displaying us how children learn to think of themselves as perverted and bad from the society around them. Latarian, recall, is 7, just like Preston. They’re both children, but they are being treated very differently, as these programs illustrate, and it is already beginning to bury in.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can go after her on Twitter and Facebook.
Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie), HuffPost
Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories (Movie)
Editor’s Note: Lisa Wade, PhD originally wrote this posted this lump on The Society Pages in 2010. In the wake of last week’s verdict in the George Zimmerman case, she republished it there and has given permission to HuffPost to do the same.
Leontine G. sent in a troubling example of the framing of children’s deviance, and their own complicity in this framing. She included two links: one to a “Today” display story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police, and one to a CNN story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police. Different 7-year-olds. One white, one black.
The white boy, Preston, is interviewed with his family on the set of the “Today” demonstrate. Knowing his kid is safe, his Dad describes the event as “funny” and tells the audience that if this could happen to a “cotton candy all-American kid like Preston,” then “it could happen to anybody.”
When the host, Meredith Vieira, asks Preston why he hid from the police, he says, “cause I wished to,” and she says, “I don’t blame you actually.” With Preston not too forthcoming, his Mom steps in to say that he told her that “he just wished to know what it felt like to drive a car.” When Vieira asks him why he fled from the police, he replies with a shrug. Vieira fills in the reaction, “You wished to get home?”
Vieira then comments on how they all then went to church. The penalty? Grounded for four days without TV or movie games. Vieira asks the child, “Do you think that’s fair?” He says yes. And she resumes, “Do you now understand what you did?” He nods and agrees. “And that maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing?” He nods and agrees. “You gonna get behind the wheel of a car again?” He says no. Then she taunts him about attempting out model fucktoy cars.
They conclude that this incident just goes to showcase that “Any little kid, you never know what can happen…” and close: “I’ll be watching you at church pal boy!”
All in all, exactly what you’d expect from the “Today” demonstrate: a heartwarming, human interest story with a glad ending. The child is framed as a fundamentally good kid who was nosey and perhaps a bit impetuous. When he has no answers for Vieira’s questions, she slots in harmless ones. And the mild penalty is seen as incidental to the more significant idea that he learned something.
This story contrasts dramatically to the CNN story about Latarian Milton, a black 7-year-old who took his family’s car on a joy rail. I’ll put the movie very first, but be forewarned, it’s disturbing not only because of the different framework placed on the boy’s deeds, but because of the boy’s embracing of the spoiled identity (apology for the commercial):
With an absolutely polar introduction of “Not your typical 7-year-old,” this story is filmed on the street. Whereas the “Today” demonstrate screened the pursue footage in real time, this one is sped up, making it seem even more extreme.
The interviewer, off-camera, asks Latarian why he took the car. He replied: “I dreamed to do it ’cause it’s joy, it’s joy to do bad things.” The interviewer asks further, “Did you know that you could perhaps kill somebody?” And he replies: “Yes, but I wished to do hoodrat stuff with my friends.”
The interviewer asks him what penalty he should receive and Latarian offers a penalty very similar to Preston’s: “Just a little bit… no movie games for a entire weekend.” In a longer version of this news story, now taken down, the camera concentrates on a reporter who explains that the police plan to go forward with charges of grand theft against him. While he’s “too youthful to go into any type of juvenile facility,” he says, “police say they do want to get him into the system, so that they can get him some type of help.”
The implication here, of course, is that this child is not harmless or impetuous like Preston, he’s a pre-criminal who needs “some type of help.” The sooner they get Latarian into “the (prison?) system,” the better. No cotton candy kid this one.
Unluckily, Latarian says all the right things to make the narrative fit. He says he likes to do “bad” things, calls himself a “hoodrat,” and seems unremorseful, even provoking, for at least part of the interview (he looks a bit sheepish in the end when he finds out his grandmother is going to have to pay for the harm he did to other cars).
One way to interpret this is to say that Latarian IS a pre-criminal. That he DOES need to get into the system because he’s clearly a bad kid. Someone inclined to believe that black people were, in fact, more prone to criminal behavior could witness these two movies and feel confirmed in their view.
But there is good evidence that people, beginning as children, internalize the stereotypes that others have of them. As Ann Ferguson shows in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, black children, especially boys, are stereotyped as pre-criminals; not adorably insatiable, like white boys, but unsafely bad from the beginning. And studies with children have shown that they often internalize this idea, as in the famous doll experiment in which both black and white children were more likely than not to identify the black doll as bad (see this similar demonstration of white preference on CNN and a discussion of the original doll experiment at ABC). So I think this terribly sad story of Latarian is demonstrating us how children learn to think of themselves as perverted and bad from the society around them. Latarian, reminisce, is 7, just like Preston. They’re both children, but they are being treated very differently, as these programs illustrate, and it is already commencing to submerge in.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can go after her on Twitter and Facebook.