DENVER — The cover art used for a Denver Westword article on youth and crime has drawn concerns from the community.
Patricia Calhoun, Westword editor-in-chief, said once she received a letter from community members about their concerns on Friday, April 12, she knew an apology was in order.
The imagery showed a young boy with purple skin and curly, black hair.
Some, including the Rocky Mountain NAACP, found the artwork to be inappropriate.
DU Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Director and Associate Sociology Professor Reggie Byron also saw the imagery as controversial.
"My initial thought was from the hairstyle to the hoodie, the image reflects harmful stereotypes that demonize black youth, and point them out as the only culprits of violent crime," Byron said.
Byron said the illustration exemplifies some of the theories he's discussed in class.
"The image actually reflects and reifies what sociologists Elijah Anderson calls 'The Iconic Negro,' who is perpetually up to no good, and whose alleged criminality follows him around like a shadow," Byron said.
Byron said he's currently teaching a course on quantitative methods, but had he been teaching his critical race and ethnic studies class, this magazine cover likely would have been a talking point.
"In those courses, we do talk about media constructions of criminality," Byron said. "We talk about how they play a role in how communities see themselves. And then we also talk about how these media constructions almost create the situation where people, again, who have little exposure to people of color, view that as accurate as an accurate representation of the people who they are not exposed to."
Byron said the image not only damages societal views of Black people, it also has an effect on how the Black community sees itself.
"It sort of paints us in a negative light as a whole," Byron explained. "And particularly for individuals who have Black children and Black boys as children. It's going to harm families as a whole and then communities outside of those families."
Calhoun's apology was published Thursday, April 17:
"We hear you, and we will do better. Our intention with “Armed and Dangerous” was to offer a deep dive into the crime stats, going below the surface to report on how challenges facing youth today could account for the rise in youth violence. From the comments we’ve received, our reporter captured the situation accurately. But our cover did not, and for that we apologize wholeheartedly to the BIPOC community, and the community at large.
Our concept was to use a figure of a young boy not tied to any specific race, but the final version clearly did not accomplish that. This illustration was an ignorant miss from the start, and I deeply regret allowing it to proceed. Again, we apologize for a major mistake that created harm and hurt.
So, moving forward, we are taking the unprecedented step of replacing that image in the online version of the story, which we think is important to keep available online. We are also improving our internal systems by having more voices included in the approval process, to make sure that our covers (and all illustrations, for that matter) accurately and fairly depict the stories.
And finally, through stronger outreach efforts, we will bring more diverse voices to Westword. If you are interested in contributing as a freelance artist or writer, or simply adding to the conversation, feel free to reach out to me at patricia.calhoun@westword.com.
In the meantime, the Colorado Black Round Table is hosting a Youth Violence Prevention Collaboration Meeting from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, at the Zion Senior Center, 5151 East 33rd Avenue. For more information, contact John Bailey at cbrt2014@gmail.com."
Calhoun explained that before a cover is published, it would be discussed by her or the art director and story author. She said before this issue went to print, she stepped away from the office, hours before deadline. Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek, Editorial Director of Voice Media Group which owns Westword, reached out to 9NEWS on May 8 to clarify that Calhoun had seen cover drafts before publication which had the same illustration and graphic as the final design.
"We have to sort of wait and see what kinds of again, internal checks, they're going to have to prevent this type of thing from happening again," Byron said. "We can't just sort of bank it on their blanket apology."
Rashad Younger, 2nd VP of the RMNAACP, said there are plans in place to meet with Westword to discuss the organization's concerns. Calhoun confirmed a meeting is set to be scheduled.
More reporting by Janelle Finch:
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: The Culture Report