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If you’re in the Bay Area, you’ve heard the story: A young Southeast Asian Alameda woman murdered on Halloween caused a media storm and an aggressive investigation by the Alameda Police Department. It was the sleepy Bay Area enclave’s first and only homicide case of 2007. Dubbed the “Halloween Shooting” by the media, the story followed a classic whodunit narrative, complete with usual suspects and media bias against young people of color.
Two young Southeast Asian activists were charged and, despite the court’s finding of innocence, had their names printed in the paper. Media coverage falsely labeled them gang members; one young man’s mother was even fired from her job as a result. As part of the Center for Media Justice’s strategy to confront media bias and advance racial and social justice messages and frames quickly and effectively, we supported an ad hoc committee of Asian and Pacific Islander organizers and activists to conduct a rapid action communications campaign with strategy support, press work, and talking points.
“With the Center for Media Justice’s guidance and with an ad hoc strategy committee made up of Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership, Asian Health Services, Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, Youth Together, and Lao Family, we were able to shift the conversation from young people being falsely portrayed as gang members to addressing the Alameda Police Department’s harassment and profiling of the Southeast Asian youth community in Oakland,” said Jay Conui, AYPAL’s codirector.
CMJ also brokered relationships between AYPAL leaders and Oakland Tribune editors, and laid the groundwork for new standards for reporting on youth crime to be adopted by the Bay Area News Group, which owns local newspapers throughout the area.
Check out how CMJ helped our partners change the story on this issue
