Patricia Hill Collins Summary

In society, media plays an integral role and can reinforce our morals and norms. In this week’s readings, Patricia Hill Collins discussed a tragic assault, rape, and attempted murder of a female jogger known as the “Central Park Jogger” panic. The police believed that she had been beaten by twelve black and latino adolescents. They were convicted of most charges and they received sentences ranging from five to 15 years. However, years later another Hispanic male confessed to raping the jogger and admitted he did it alone.

This failure of justice was a memorable moment in New York’s race relations as it addressed issues of race, sexuality, gender, and class in the mass media. Media portrayed the fear of young black men based on their