YAAAMS — Who We Are

YAAAMS Mission:

Young African-Americans Against Media Stereotypes (YAAAMS) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to scrutinize media coverage for fairness and accuracy. African-Americans depend on the media for information and entertainment-like most people-yet we are ten times more likely to be stereotyped than non-African-Americans.

YAAAMS intends to be an organization that can freely discuss with those African-Americans in the public spotlight how the bad things they do will definitely be covered by the media and may be reported differently than similar activities of famous white counterparts. In working with these African-American public figures, we are not doing so to condone any negative behavior; we acknowledge that individuals are responsible for their own actions.

But we believe the media, as a powerful force, must ensure its coverage-which story it chooses to ignore, which story it chooses to report, how the story is presented-does not mislead and distort the truth either. Accordingly, when appropriate, we also plan to take the media to task for its reporting of African-Americans.

For years, the media has portrayed many African- Americans as criminals, gangbangers, welfare recipients, sex and drug addicts, and other unsavory characters. We believe this coverage is part of the reason why there is a negative image of African-Americans. More importantly, there's another thing at work here: It is not so much what others think of us, but what many of us are thinking of ourselves.

We have a whole generation of young African-Americans thinking that the only thing they can be is a professional athlete, actor, singer, rapper, comedian, or gangster. These roles constitute most of what we see of young African-Americans in the media. There have been improvements in the media over the years, but a lot of damage has already been done.

The YAAAMS Goals:

• To rid the media of biases, inaccuracies, and over-publicized and sensationalized stories of African-Americans that at times are not even recognized as such or are poorly explained.
• To encourage a healthy skepticism about African-American media images.
• To force African-Americans to comprehend that negative media images-if accepted as truth subconsciously and never questioned-can and do have the power to lower self-esteem, thereby undermining our full potential.
• To enlighten African-American parents about the effects of negative media images on their children, so they can effectively counteract these influences.
• To encourage African-Americans to voice their opinions and get involved, even if they disagree with us.
• To identify and take to task those media outlets-even those owned or run by African-Americans-that unfairly depict African-Americans.