Convenient Uses of the Passive Voice: and other corporate media tricks slowing down the dismantling of white supremacy
A version of this article was published May 31 at Medium . On May 26, the New York Times summarized the night-time, back-roads death of a Black man, a 49-year-old barber named Ronald Greene — who, when he finally expired from numerous and savage injuries, was surrounded by “at least six” white cops — like this: “Relatives were initially told that he had died [on May 10, 2019] from injuries he sustained in a crash after he failed to stop for a traffic violation outside Monroe, Louisiana, according to a lawyer for the family.” Ronald Greene, AUBM killed by Louisiana Troopers In their u se of the passive voice ( relatives were told ), the Times omits mention of who lied to Greene’s family about how he died. We are expected (also in the passive voice; active voice: The Times expects us …) to assume the obvious, that of course the police lied to the family. This use of the passive is widespread, and sometimes good reasons exist for its use. But in its omission of who did the