1. The Gangsta-thug…Who’s affected?
The world has responded with shock and horror at the events surrounding the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014.
A white police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown, walking down the street in broad daylight.
An eyewitness saw the shooting and even captured a video on their phone. Where most media reports would end is where this story begins.
Ferguson’s residents’ response to this incident was strong and visible, with nightly protests calling for justice.
Those protests were met with a militarized police response which some commentators have described as ‘overkill’ or even as ‘thuggery’ by those opposing the protestors.
The word ‘thug’ comes from the Hindi word ‘thag,’ which in India refers to criminals who would rob and murder travelers on the roads.
2. What is a Gangsta-thug?
Also, no racial connotations were used to describe criminals of all ethnicities.
In the US, the word is often used to describe people of color and is often used in a racialized way.
The word ‘thug’ has been thrown around a lot in the media when describing the protestors in Ferguson.
“While the word ‘thug’ has been around for over a century, it has been popularized in the media in the past decade.
And most often, it is applied almost exclusively to racialized minorities; mainstream media sources and politicians often use the word ‘thug’ to describe Black people involved in violent crimes.
3. Thug behavior: What does it look like?
The media coverage of violence has given rise to many violent images of black protestors clashing with police, looting, and burning buildings.
An example of ‘the behavior is the kind of behavior described by the word ‘thug.’ The problem is that this behavior is not specific to black people only;
Nor is it not a specific cultural practice; it is not something exclusive to a certain race.
As a result, the reality is that …humans commit violent crimes. By comparison, human-being as a whole commit…
- Acts of aggression.
- Human beings loot, destroy property, and kill each other.
4. Examining the word ‘Gangsta-thug’ and its usage!
After all, is said and done, the issue is not that these things happened; it is how the word ‘thug‘ is used to describe these things that occur with Black men.
When we look at the word ‘thug’ in closer detail, we can see that it is a very racially biased word.
It is used almost exclusively to describe black people and other minorities.
The word ‘thug’ describes violent behavior typically directed toward white people.
5. The perpetuation of racialized language: Words matter!
On the contrary, words are very important in informing how we view the world around us. They are a symbol that represents a concept and a way of thinking.
Certain words have become racialized over time through their use in the media and other forms of public discourse.
These words include ‘thug,’ ‘savages,’ ‘barbarians,’ ‘criminals,’ ‘gangsters,’ and ‘gang members; words have a specific meaning for many people.
They trigger certain images in our minds. When we read the word ‘thug’ in the news, we have a specific image of a specific person in our minds.
And…
Those images are very often images of Black men.
In Conclusion…
The media has perpetuated the idea that thug is synonymous with black people.
But, the problem is that the word ‘thug’ is used to describe violent black people…however, some of those violent people are white thugs!
For the most part, the word ‘thug’ is used to represent a specific image of a specific person, and this image is almost always a black or brown person.
The bottom line is… Thug refers to anyone who commits a criminal act, not just people of color.
The media use the word ‘thug’ as an example of racialized language perpetuation.
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