Blunts, 40's, and Guns: Stereotypes in Popular Media

Sean Feirick

Blog 3

            Racism in the media is one of the most hidden forms of racism that exists in the world. Racist popular culture images exist in advertisements, television shows, movies, news broadcasts, and any other form of media in our society. Major chains across America are starting to try and appeal to certain demographics of people and the way they do that is they may put comments or pictures on their products that depict specific racial groups sometimes in offensive ways. One product that I read about that used this hidden form of racism is the product Ghettopoly. Ghettopoly is a version of the popular board game Monopoly, but it has been transformed in to an extreme form of racism. While playing Ghettopoly, “playas” are able to buy stolen property and merchandise, pimpin’ hoes, building crack houses and projects, paying protection fees, and getting car jacked. The game pieces include a pimp, a hoe, a machine gun, a 40 ounce malt liquor beverage, a marijuana leaf, a basketball, and a piece of a crack rock. The piece of crack rock is a form of cocaine that is popular among the African American culture because it is cheap and easy to get. This may imply that all African Americans are poor and are drug users. The basketball represents the sport that is popular among African Americans. All of the images that are in this game try and make African Americans seen as at an extreme low in the hierarchy. This game invokes stereotypical images that implicate the cultural deficiency of African Americans. The game is filled with racist stereotypes that teach children to be negative towards African Americans or basically all racial minorities.

            In movies, African Americans always tend to be the “crooked” people that steals and murders people. Whites are always depicted as the good person that the African American is victimizing. This is a form of racism that is not intended to be racist but society has depicted these stereotypes as normal. Racial minorities are always seen as gang bangers and heavy drug users. These racist views are making society believe that it is okay for one to view these racial minorities as extreme deviants. The thing that I found interesting was whites tend to partake in drug use and crime just as much as racial minorities, if not more. Society tends to overlook the fact that whites are on the same deviance level as racial minorities.

            One major form of racism in the media is a typical news broadcast. Whenever I watch the news all I see is all the negative views that are being placed on African Americans. A typical news broadcast may have a few stories about how some white people have raised money for charities or how white people are helping better their communities. The part of a news broad cast that is racist is any story that has to deal with an African American tends to be some form of violence. Stories about how black people have robbed a gas station and how a black person has shot someone or how they car jacked someone. The news is making it seem like everything that black people do is somehow negative, which is a false accusation. Overall the media plays a major role in our society when depicting the lifestyles of specific races. The media teaches people the way they should think and views others. 

http://www.cultureraceandmedia.com/

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2013/03/05/55599/the-medias-stereotypical-portrayals-of-race/