with this guy named Steven he was tall
dark handsome he looked like Wesley
Snipes had a baby with the chocolate
cake now he asked me to homecoming in my
computer science class and at that point
in my life if you said bless you I was
ready to pick out bridesmaids and a
wedding registry
now I fell head over heels for him but I
don’t think he felt the same about me
especially when he ditched me at
homecoming and started making out with a
random girl but he he said he liked me
you know he would buy me snacks at lunch
and take me home from school and he
always said hided me in the hallway
that’s what love is isn’t it well it was
Valentine’s Day and I am spoken to him
in three days so I started to separate
myself from Steve junior in our house in
the country but then there he was he
walked into the middle of my chemistry
class with a box of chocolates and a
little teddy bear holding my heart that
said I love you and immediately everyone
once said oh my gosh he’s so romantic
that’s so sweet and I was like I know
we’re so happy we’re so in love at least
I thought I go to third period and I see
three girls with identical chocolate
boxes and teddy bears holding little
hearts that say I love you and a friend
pulled me aside and said Steve got you a
gift to see what I had perceived as a
declaration of love was really just a
guy being nice to me and three other
girls in my grade see I was wrong about
Steve but that wasn’t the first time or
the last time I’ve kind of become
acquainted with being wrong
I’m a reporter for the Plano Starr
courier so I cover everything from
breaking news city council scoreboard
anything in the community and my job is
to get it right names dates people’s
faces people’s quotes and my work is
more important than ever because what I
write helps shape people’s perspective
of their community with a single
headline I can make or break a residents
belief in their city council their
school board their neighborhood or the
fundamental reason they moved to a
community now we’re living in a time
with a lot of mistrust in the media
alternative facts and fake news are
casually thrown around and we saw a ton
of it during the recent election cycle
so much so that Stanford and NYU did a
study on social media and fake news in
the 2016 election now we saw headlines
like Trump says if black lives don’t
matter here go back to Africa or even
tens of thousands of fraudulent Clinton
votes found in Ohio warehouse which just
between us like these are terrible
headlines like their trash trash
headlines and all people still believed
them and shared them millions of times
particularly on Facebook now officials
came out and said there are no votes
found this is absolutely incorrect you
know different representatives from each
camp said none of this that he said or
she said was true
but from the study they found that
people saw and remembered 92% of Pro
Trump stories and 23% of Pro Clinton
stories so what does that tell us mainly
that people may have doubted the truth
in these stories but they still believed
they were possible so yeah maybe Trump
didn’t say those exact words but he’s
still a bigot or no Clinton probably
didn’t have those votes but she’s still
untrustworthy and that’s the thing we’re
creating perspectives based on nothing
but lies
and that’s kind of how we’re starting
to use news we’re using media to
reinforce our personal biases instead of
adjusting our beliefs to fit the
evidence in front of us so what is our
Savior
how do we stop the spread of fake news
how do we stay grounded in reality
instead of a world that we make up in
our heads I think the first step is
self-reflection it’s everyone taking a
step back and asking themselves what if
I am the problem what if I am out of
line what if I am wrong now the way that
we share news is incredibly rapid pace
there is no gatekeeper so essentially
everyone is their own gatekeeper and
especially when there’s mistrust in the
media it’s very common for people to
turn inwards and to start to only rely
on sources they’ve always trusted so
those new stations they’ve always
believed friends relatives people they
know love and trust with similar
backgrounds and similar beliefs and it
goes far beyond media how many of us
don’t even go to a restaurant unless it
has at least four stars on Yelp or we
don’t read a book or watch a movie or
even been just show on Netflix unless
someone says you’ve just got to watch
this it’s so easy for us to share news
with a simple click of a button we can
share good news bad news
messy news and when we were kids we were
always told sharing is caring but how
much care do we put behind the things
that we share growing up my parents were
a bit of over sharers they were always
talking to us about the real I remember
being sat down as a child and my parents
telling me Kelsey you will always have
to work twice as hard to be considered
just as good no I didn’t believe them
I’m like we live in the suburbs we have
a two-story house I just figured that
was something old black people told
their kids
and my parents never shied away from
telling us the truth American history in
black history even outside of February
we learned about slavery and lynchings
and Selma and the march on Washington
and yet a part of me still felt like
racism couldn’t really touch me
so flash-forward I’m a sophomore in
college and we’re discussing the latest
news story out of Florida a little boy
has been killed by a neighborhood
watchman it’s the first time I’ve ever
heard Trayvon Martin’s name or anything
about a stand-your-ground law and as
we’re discussing the incident in the
context surrounding the case I
immediately think this doesn’t feel
right
something is wrong this cannot be real
and as soon as class is over I do what
everyone else does I hop on social media
to see who else is talking about this
and there is nothing on my facebook
nothing on my Twitter not even my
favorite youtubers are talking about
this and I’m heated because I’m like
this is a huge story this is such a
tragedy why is no one discussing this
but then it dawned on me I had created a
social media experience where racism and
injustice didn’t exist I’d cherry-picked
the friends I followed the conversations
on my timeline to exclude anything
negative or real and when I was
confronted with the reality that we
didn’t live in a post-racial society and
that racism was still alive and well and
that the world was not okay because
Berio was president I felt like I was
living a lie but even worse
I just wish someone would have told me
someone would have pulled me to the side
and said Kelsey what you’re thinking is
wrong and you need to get right that’s
not the way this is the way but I had to
realize
someone did try to help me my parents
who talked to me about slavery and
lynchings and Selma and the march on
Washington see my problem was that I
didn’t think I had anything else to
learn American history I passed that
class with an A and I thought I was done
learning about the world around me and
that’s just not true see today I can
fight a lot of those urges because as a
reporter I get a ton of practice I’m
constantly asking myself what if you’re
wrong it keeps me grounded
it keeps me looking for every
perspective to a story every perspective
to the truth not just the ones that suit
my fancy so what can we do what can we
do to stay truthful and stay real I
think it starts with self reflection I
think it starts with everyone taking an
introspective look at their beliefs
questioning and asking themselves are my
beliefs a reflection of the reality in
front of me or are they just stale
memories from middle school now maybe
being wrong doesn’t have to be something
dramatic like it was for me it could be
something simple like there has to be
different perspectives to this situation
or even just admitting the situation
isn’t as simple as I think it is it
helps us make sure that our beliefs are
a true reflection of the reality that
we’re living in and it’s worth it it’s
worth it to switch up where we get our
news you know and be more discerning
with the news that we absorb so like if
you get that story from real hip-hop
news calm like google it real quick
before you share it like read the
headline and the lead and the rest of it
before you talk about it I’m sure if the
story has only uh sources it’s probably
not real news and you guys don’t have to
share that messy story that you see
online the buck can stop with you we are
our loved ones gate
first we shouldn’t lead them astray it’s
also worth it to diversify where we get
our news so if you guys always watch fox
news try MSNBC or try both try lots of
perspectives to a story before you
create an opinion
it’s also worth it to try and get your
news from someone who doesn’t look like
you I haven’t always had the privilege
to absorb news from someone who looks
like me but I can tell you it adds a
completely different perspective to a
lot of stories we consistently see it
helps broaden the base of your
understanding there are tons of
reporters of color who are doing
incredible work and you should check
them out there’s people like Van Newkirk
the second at the Atlantic or Franchesca
Ramsey on MTV decoded
there’s podcasts like another round with
heaven and Tracy even YouTube channels
like flama or wongfuproductions by
diversifying my new space I am more than
confident that my beliefs are reflection
of the reality that I’m living in I have
been challenged and stretched and forced
to bend and I am better for it when I
was younger in church brother Reed our
youth director he would always tell us
you don’t change the Bible to fit your
life you change your life to fit the
Bible and I think the same can be said
for the truth and it’s not easy work if
it was easy everyone would do it but
it’s worthwhile work and it starts with
you it starts with me it starts with us thank you