Washington Week . Student Voices

James Madison U. group combats negative portrayal of blacks
Sharon Schiff
The Breeze (James Madison U.)
02/13/2005

(U-WIRE) HARRISONBURG, Va. — The Neo Underground Railroad Conductors (NURC), headed by James Madison University students, has rounded up nearly 50 colleges and universities around the nation to reverse popular media images of black people.

After attending a black leadership conference in January 2004, junior Wesli Spencer, founder of NURC, said he was inspired to jumpstart a movement to better the condition of black Americans.

Since then, he has worked with college students all around the country to help change the stereotypical images of blacks.

"Although we have come a long way, there is still a lot more work to be done," Spencer said. "Our generation needs to take the next step in the civil rights movement." Nationwide, NURC is working on a letter-writing campaign, "Launch the Envelope." It has drafted a letter, addressing its concerns of how blacks are portrayed in the media.

Spencer explained that children are exposed to stereotypical images and are limited to thinking they can only be the images the media portrays like a rap star or basketball player. "Our goal with the letter-writing campaign is to ask for more alternatives to be given to the black identity," Spencer said. "The national efforts of this come out as a necessity because it is a national problem. Our goal is to free the mind."

NURC plans to send 600 letters to various media conglomerates, as well as public figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby. The group will be holding a letter-stuffing session Feb. 21. Colleges and universities around the nation will be partaking in the campaign. "We are passionate about what is affecting us right now, how media portrays black Americans," Spencer said. "Granted, there are some positive images, but we are saying we would like to see more alternatives."

Spencer said 70 percent of blacks live in single-parent households and, while a white person watches an average of four hours of television per week, a black person watches 11. The media's effects on black populations are enormous, Spencer said. Ultimately, black Americans buy into the images portrayed in the media and are faced with an identity crisis, "an identity that is being sold to us," Spencer said.

"One of the most amazing things is this problem affects everyone until we all join in an effort to change the things in society in a positive direction," Spencer added. Chris Carter, assistant director of multicultural programs and an advocate and resource for the NURC, said, "It's a national thing spreading like wildfire. People are adopting this as a movement."

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