Race has always played a very critical role in the media,
mainly the perception that whites hold of African Americans and other minorities.
The main focus has always seemed to be based upon rural areas, Blacks and Hispanics
and their involvement with violence, drugs, and crimes of all sorts. The
overall public opinion of minorities displayed in the media has always been adverse.
Individuals who are part of any minority group in America and even abroad are looked
upon as second class citizens and inferior to those who are white. Topics of
race in the media have shaped Americans’ views of minority groups, especially
those who reside in the inner city neighborhoods across the nation. Media has
also portrayed individuals of a minority status in the most stereotypical light.
Most African American citizens and Hispanics alike have been depicted as
nothing more than jobless and uneducated criminals and welfare abusers. It seems
as though the media has completely turned a blind eye to anything positive that
may occur in the black community. Instead they focus on the most trivial events
that allow these individuals to be viewed as nothing more than troublemakers,
while conflicts and controversies are reported most often.
It is clear that the
economic structure of these communities are declining rapidly, but the means to
improving these conditions are in the hands of our government and local
leaders. Why doesn’t the media attempt to assist and not tear down? The media
has consistently failed to communicate to the world the true needs of these
communities, instead they make a mockery of the people in this society who need
the most help. It is a crying shame that the conditions of these neighborhoods
and the well-being of these individuals are looked upon as the fault of these
people alone. Many of us fail to realize the way that ideas about minorities
have been instilled and engrained in the minds of people for hundreds of years.
Have we also considered the fact that the media is made up of small group of
individuals, more than likely, white males who superimpose their hegemonic ideals
of white supremacy.
The saddest, but most realistic realization of how the
media represents people of color is that although the media is not overtly
racist anymore and blacks are not owned slaves and shown and sold at markets,
the media still puts blacks on display. Instead of murdering and lynching
blacks, they now watch them kill themselves. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a
solution to these problems? Wouldn’t it be amazing to one day see the media
present minorities in a more positive focus? I believe it would, but major
changes in the minds of the media would have to take place.
I conclude with this
thought:
The media has and always will illustrate minorities in an undesirable,
destructive stereotypical way. The social and economic dynamics of racism have developed
into more than just unfairness. The media is a lucrative business where the
elite desire to stay at the top and will continue to destroy the lower class to
capitalize on profits. Dr. Cornell West taught us that one percent of the elite
hold almost half of Americas wealth, which means that discrimination,
stereotypes and the media will endure so that whites may hold on to their riches.
No comments:
Post a Comment