This month, we are interviewing multiple African American people from a vast expanse of jobs in honor of Black History Month. Last week, the News Media class collectively interviewed the wonderful Detective Christine Smith. You can view the full interview here.  Detective Smith provided much of her time to thoroughly answer the questions we had for her, and I noted multiple of the points she brought to light to include in this article.

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For one, Detective Smith stated that the most integral part of celebrating Black History Month is learning Black History. Not just for a month, but continuously, throughout the year. I think this is extremely true, as it is important to understand the history they have had in this country. As it begins in the early 1600s, there is a lot to understand about their experiences here. Making the attempt to understand more fulfills the point of Black History Month.

To add on to this, Detective Smith also said that it’s important to know more than just your Martin Luther Kings. Granted, he was absolutely incredible, however there were also multiple other African American figures who accomplished phenomenal things.

One question that was asked is “Do you think that racism has been exaggerated in the media?” In her answer, Detective Smith then mentioned that the media tends to include a lot more negative topics.  I completely agree with this, as nowadays the media tends to show more bad things than good. This ends up influencing our view of anything, not only racism, so it tends to be portrayed strangely digitally. The fact that this is true exaggerates a lot more to audiences.

Of course, since Detective Smith has a sought after field of work, we asked her some questions about it as well. She mentioned that being a detective was not as fast-paced as it seems on TV, which is rather unfortunate. Crime shows are usually just unrealistic, though there are some that are close to the real thing. One of these shows is True Crime, as stated by Detective Smith.

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All in all, Detective Smith provided some wonderful points, so do watch the full interview some time. Happy Black History Month!