Rising Up

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.

• ANNOTATED CONTENTS 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.

Praise for Rising Up: "Journalist Sonali Kolhatkar knows the importance of storytelling. Even more so, she understands the necessity of controlling the narrative in the media, popular culture and in daily conversations. Now she’s written The Book on how to shift the narrative to bend toward justice."—Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine“Rising Up adds an important dimension to the ongoing debate about racism in the U.S. and gives readers a new awareness of how racial stereotypes thrive in the media.”—Rosemarie Lundgaard, Bust Magazine"In Rising Up, journalist Kolhatkar discusses the history of media created by predominantly white Americans, which has led to misrepresentation and racism. But more important, she introduces us to a new generation of POC voices fighting for racial justice, making the argument that to tell stories is to wield power.”—Alta Magazine"Journalist and activist Kolhatkar . . . argues persuasively for the necessity of 'narrative-shifting' in order 'to change public consciousness to the degree necessary for society to achieve justice' . . . A thoughtful prescription for social change."—Kirkus Reviews"Rising Up by Sonali Kolhatkar offers a timely exploration of how activists and the general public begin to narrate their personal stories about racism instead of the top-down official history, with the aim of advancing social justice in the United States where white supremacy dictates the thinking of the people in spite of the rise in the population of people of colour."—Shelley Walia, The Hindu“Prometheus transferred fire away from gods to mortals, but this book shows that we don’t need a Prometheus. We transfer narrative power from the few to the many—by claiming it and using it—in revolutionary acts that both catalyze the national consciousness and transform material conditions.” —Rinku Sen, Executive Director of Narratives Initiative, and author of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization“For two decades, Sonali Kolhatkar has been a leading voice for truth against the lies of the powerful, unflinchingly exploding prevailing myths that pass as prevailing wisdom. She understands that shifting the narrative is radical anti-racist work, and if you don’t believe it just look at the firing of schoolteachers and journalists for telling the truth about racism, slavery, gender, or Palestine.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination"Like her groundbreaking journalism, Sonali Kolhatkar's new book spotlights voices across various news, entertainment, and social-media platforms that exemplify movement building for racial justice through troubling narratives. This book could not come at a better time—let's all read, discuss, and act on it today!"—Kevin Kumashiro, Ph.D., author of Surrendered: Why Progressives are Losing the Biggest Battles in Education"A brilliantly outlined argument for independent media's historic role in humanizing those who have been othered through the society's architectures of power, Rising Up highlights the crucial role of courageous storytelling in combating white supremacy and building a more just world.”—Rupa Marya, co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice“Foundational and guiding, Sonali's book gifts us a piercing map of the dangers of illegitimate stories, as well as a guide towards the unrelenting power of truthful ones. This book I had been waiting for, and it is here to make its stay. Read it. Share it. And we shall surely rise.”—Dr. Oriel María Siu, PhD, author of Christopher the Ogre Cologre, It's Over!"Written in the thick of a new phase of reactionary cultural warfare within and beyond the United States, Rising Up provides diagnosis, context, and potential correctives. Contrary to common parlance, Sonali’s work demonstrates that there is no such thing as “the media,” only a disparate ensemble of competing narrative forces that consolidate in corporate news, Hollywood entertainment, independent grassroots journalism, and industrialized social media. Conceptualizing the terrain of storytelling as a dynamic, complex one that is constantly open to new forms of radical, autonomous, collective mobilization, Rising Up is a reinvigorated call for journalism, art, and aesthetics that advance abolitionist, decolonizing, and anti-racist movements."—Dylan Rodríguez, author of White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logic of Racial Genocide“Sonali is a well-known radio host on KPFK where she challenges main street media accounts of new stories. In Rising Up, she breaks down how media traditionally presents the POV of privilege. More importantly, she describes how narrative can be reclaimed by BIPOC, minorities and women to create a new, more inclusive, narrative. Her clear, engaging writing makes this a page-turner.”—Karrie Hyatt, Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CAPraise for Sonali Kolhatkar: "Kolhatkar’s conversations with guests go deep. Even when she's covering topics everyone else is covering—like impeachment—she infuses the discussion with economic, social, and racial justice perspectives that reframe and expand the debate."—John Nichols on the "Top Progressive People and Ideas Shaping the Future," The Nation