Last week, FOX News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace announced “Race and Violence in Our Cities” as one of the six topics he will introduce as moderator of the first Presidential Debate. From being maligned as “thugs” in a series of Donald Trump tweets to being misrepresented by mass media as violent criminals, Black Americans have been vilified, dehumanized, and stereotyped by news and opinion media. Since the fate of our civil rights rests largely on the outcome of this election, Chris Wallace’s framing of the debate topic was irresponsible, harmful, and anti-Black.

News and opinion media harbor certain biases against the Black community. Black families are 1.32 times more likely to be associated with criminality than white families, Black people are 1.58 times more likely to be represented as poor, and white people are 1.5 times more likely to be represented as an illustration of social stability than are Black people. In other words, mass media depicts Black Americans as depraved criminals, while omitting the structural barriers and overt racism we must overcome to survive and thrive in this country. This leaves the general public potentially biased against Black people and voters misinformed about the lived-experiences of the Black community.

News outlets and pundits must take accountability for their perpetuation of anti-Black stereotypes and rhetoric. Since FOX News disproportionately depicts Black family members as criminals more than any other network, the change starts here. Chris Wallace must apologize for his tone-deaf framing of the debate topic, adopt a racial justice framework when discussing issues pertinent to the Black community, and recognize the violence to which Black people are subject by the police state.

Black people are disproportionately dying from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the police violence epidemic; our livelihood, economic stability, and health depend on the outcome of this election. We cannot allow Chris Wallace and FOX News to allow anti-Black stereotypes and rhetoric to take center stage. Stand with us and hold them accountable. 

Here is the Petition:

Dear Fox News Executives:

On September 22, 2020, FOX News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace announced “Race and Violence in Our Cities” as one of six topics he will introduce as moderator of the first Presidential Debate. Though news outlets, editors, and pundits are obliged to report on those adversities and experiences of all communities without perpetuating inaccurate and dehumanizing anti-Black stereotypes, Chris Wallace’s framing of the debate topic was anti-Black and prejudicial.

News and opinion media overrepresent the association between Black families and criminality by 11 percent, while significantly underrepresenting that of white families by a whopping 49 percent. The implications are two-fold: (i) the general public consumes a distorted depiction of crime and those who commit crimes and (ii) voters are more inclined to support crime policies rooted in anti-Black stereotypes and the notion of Black family instability, as opposed to a knowledge framework that acknowledges structural barriers to economic inclusions and systemic racism as adversities Black people experience. The media must be held accountable for the political, social, and economic harm done unto Black people.

Since FOX News disproportionately depicts Black family members as criminals more than any other television network—airing seven representations of Black criminal family members for every representation of a white family member—the change must start with this network.  

• I urge you to immediately:
• (i) Recognize the dangers inherent in allowing Chris Wallace—a white, heterosexual, cisgender man—to facilitate a conversation between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on a matter as sensitive as racism in the United States.
• (ii) Demand that Chris Wallace apologize for his tone-deaf wording of the debate topic: “Race and Violence in Our Cities”
• (iii) Urge Chris Wallace to adopt a racial justice framework during this conversation, one that recognizes law enforcement officials as perpetrators of violent crimes against Black people in cities across the nation.
• You have an ethical and professional responsibility to do so.