Sonali Kolhatkar is the host and producer of Rising Up with Sonali, a weekly television and radio program that airs on Free Speech TV and on Pacifica Radio station affiliates around the United States. Winner of numerous awards, including Best TV Anchor and Best National Political Commentary from the LA Press Club, she is currently the Racial Justice editor at Yes! Magazine and a Writing Fellow with the Independent Media Institute. Co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence with Jim Ingalls, Kolhatkar is Co-Director of the Afghan Women's Mission. She resides with her husband and two sons in Pasadena, California.

Rinku Sen is the Executive Director of the Narrative Initiative, where she helps social justice movements develop the power to move ideas. Formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and publisher of its award-winning news site Colorlines, Sen is the author of Stir it Up and The Accidental. She is Co-President of the Women’s March and serves on the boards of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the Foundation for National Progress. She resides in New York City.

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.