When riots broke out in London on August 6, Charmaine Scott watched as a diverse group of people took hold of her hometown, smashing glass windows and setting buildings and automobiles ablaze.
Amid the chaos, she noticed that talk about a racial backlash surged. The widespread discontent was being painted black by the media, even though it involved people of various races and ethnicities.
"The depiction of rioters has been disproportionately black and surprisingly female as well," said Scott, 31, as she described large-scale photos appearing in newspapers. "There has been a pernicious representation of black women even in the riots, and an overall depriving image of black people in general."
The images and conversation that followed the three-day looting spree still remind Scott, a black woman of Caribbean descent, of the constant battle the black community faces in the UK: negative stereotypes brought on by inaccurate representation in the media
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