Rising Up

Rising Up offers a timely exploration of how truthful narratives by and about people of color can be used to advance social justice in the United States. 

While people of color are fast becoming the majority population in the United States, the perspectives of white America still dominate the vast majority of the media created and consumed every day. Media makers of color, long shut out of the decision-making process, are rising up to advance a set of different narratives, offering stories and perspectives to counter the racism and disinformation that have long dominated America’s political and cultural landscape. 

In Rising Up, award-winning journalist Sonali Kolhatkar delivers a guide to racial justice narrative-setting. With a focus on shifting perspectives in news media, entertainment, and individual discourse, she highlights the writers, creators, educators, and influencers who are successfully building a culture of affirmation and inclusion. 

“Sonali Kolhatkar reminds us we are the stories we tell. Our stories can cast a spell of hate, division, and fear, or they can break the powerful grip of racial injustices that have held us since our country’s beginning. With personal and collective wisdom, Kolhatkar guides us in the storytelling that liberates.”—Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loco/Gang Days in L.A. 

“Rising Up challenges the reader to not only rethink their assumptions, but to understand the critical importance of the creation of progressive narratives as an instrument in the struggles for human liberation.”—Bill Fletcher, Jr., author of The Man Who Fell From the Sky

PREFACE 

I introduce myself to readers with a look at my racial, ethnic, and family background, as well as my journalistic ethos, and how my work as a broadcaster and writer is a part of the narrative shifting that furthers racial justice. 

INTRODUCTION: Driving Like an Asian 

I share a personal experience where a racist stereotype about Asians directly impacted me. This leads to an explanation of how racist narratives affect people of color in devastating ways. I also define and explain what narratives mean, with examples to illustrate narrative shifting, and how the ultimate goal of racial justice narratives is equity. I also preview each chapter for readers. 

ONE 

Faux News Vs. News That’s Fit to Print 

This first chapter is a critique of how right-wing media and corporate media both serve to preserve and perpetuate racist narratives. I trace the rise of racist media narratives from shock jock Bob Grant to Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. I also analyze how establishment outlets like The New York Times have often tolerated racist coverage, resisting for too long, labels such as “racist” for openly xenophobic leaders like Donald Trump. Since the racial justice protests of 2020, some media outlets have finally begun to apologize for their racist coverage. 

TWO 

Independent Media Makers on the Front Lines 

This chapter illustrates why independent media have often been a countervailing force against establishment media by centering racial justice narratives in our coverage. For example, years before corporate media “discovered” Patrisse Cullors, leader of Black Lives Matter, she was a guest on my show. I also share the story of how independent media led the fight against the dehumanizing term “illegals” to describe undocumented immigrants in news coverage.  I also present a study in contrasts, analyzing an NPR interview of sports writer Howard Bryant’s book versus my own, more nuanced interview with Bryant. Finally, I showcase a podcast that illustrates how racial justice activists are creating their own media. 

THREE 

White Hollywood’s Copaganda 

Television and film play a huge role in shaping race-based narratives. In this chapter I focus on how scripted crime TV shows in particular perpetuate false and racist narratives about police, even casting Black actors to play cops on TV to confer innocence on law enforcement. Such pro-police narratives—dubbed “copaganda”—are the direct consequence of white domination in Hollywood’s writers’ rooms. I also summarize the myriad stereotypes that Hollywood has perpetuated about people of color. 

FOUR 

Hollywood’s Changing Hues 

Filmmakers of color have forced their way into Hollywood and begun changing race-based narratives to great effect in recent years. I showcase one of the earliest such TV shows—Black-ish—and how it paved the way for a host of new shows created by Black and Brown writers and showrunners. In film, pioneering creators like Ave DuVernay and Ryan Coogler, have re-written the rules of how people of color are portrayed. There are pitfalls however, in the form of diverse casting to obscure racist stories, and the appropriation of non-white cultures. Ultimately, Hollywood is changing, thanks in part to campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite. 

FIVE 

Social Media and Collective Power 

I explore the digital phenomenon of Black Twitter and how new technology is enabling people of color like Darnella Frazier in Minneapolis to bypass gatekeepers and tell their own unfiltered stories of racial injustices. I profile figures like #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, TikTok dance creator Jalaiah Harmon, and TV writer Janet Mock, who have used digital technology to assert their truths and shape narratives about Black women. Such technology can also be a useful tool to hold powerful people accountable, and “cancel” the careers of racist hatemongers. But digital platforms are ultimately controlled by elites and are often guilty of algorithmic bias toward racist narratives. 

SIX 

Changing Narratives, One Person at a Time 

There are person-to-person means of narrative shifting that can be extremely powerful. I quote academics like Robin D. G. Kelley, Oriel Mária Siu, and Yohuru Williams who discuss education and Critical Race Theory as means for narrative shifting. I also profile Loretta Ross’s “Calling In” courses that teach people how to reach allies without alienating them, and how social scientists have studied an approach called “deep canvassing” that is extremely effective in changing people’s minds about racism and other social issues. 

CONCLUSION 

Rising Up for Our Stories, Our Lives 

I conclude the book with a personal story of how I was deeply moved during a Black Lives Matter march in 2020 by a powerful vocal protest that gave voice to a yearning for racial justice. The U.S. is in the midst of a messy and profound change as the nation’s demographic shift is yet to be reflected in the halls of power and of narrative-setting industries. I make the case that narrative shifting without movement building is merely public relations and that it must be an intimate part of organizing for racial justice. 

EPILOGUE 

I close with a personal understanding of how white supremacy is often based on an irrational fear of losing power as the U.S. heads toward a future where white people are a minority. Ultimately, we can rise to a better (racially just) future, together. 

RESOURCES 

A useful list of organizations, campaigns, and media outlets engaged in the work of narrative shifting for racial justice.