What has the Media Come To?

                When you think of racism, the first thing that comes to mind is the discrimination between blacks and whites. You look at how whites treated blacks over time pre-civil rights movement and post-civil rights movement. Everything about racism is usually focused on blacks and whites but yet it’s so much racism out here that we sometimes overlook it. One of the most subliminal yet noticeable racist things are right in our face on our television screens every day. The media has found ways to subliminally (yet not so subliminal) show us how easy it is to be racist without being called out for it. It’s in T.V. shows/commercials, adult and children’s cartoons, and even sports (Yes Sports guys!). We sit and laugh at cartoons as they call out racist things. One cartoon that I can say does this in almost every episode is Family Guy. I must admit that Family Guy is one of my favorite cartoons and I’ve seen just about every episode, however it is a very subliminal cartoon and only adults who are opened minded and knowledgeable will be able to understand and notice it. There are multiple episodes of this cartoon that makes fun of Jewish and African American people, including skin color and religion. But because the show is so funny we notice it, laugh, probably make a slight comment about it and still continue to watch it, with no complaints. Everything is all good until our children start becoming what we allow them to watch. In this image, Cleveland (character on Family Guy) was being beaten for being a black male. During the occurrence of this beating a gun was placed next to him, which was planted by the robot. This shows how the media portrays African Americans and how they are treated by law enforcement. Cleveland did not do anything for this to happen to him, wait yes he did. He was being African American.

  

 But I’m done talking about cartoons. Let’s get to what we are all interested in…Sports! Yes everyone racism does exist in the world of sports, and some of it is more open than subliminal. There have been many incidents that have occurred and although most of the time people are called out for it, there is no real penalty for other occurrences. The whole Don Imus incident was one of the most open acts of racism I have ever seen on television. The fact that he openly called this basketball team of young black women “nappy head hoes” on television says a lot about how comfortable people are in turns of throwing blows at another race. Yes, he apologized for it, but if it wasn’t called out, would he have apologized for what he said? And the whole Richard Sherman rant incident caused a lot of racial remarks to be stated, just because he was black, loud and being interviewed by a white woman. Yea we notice these aspects of racism in sports, but what about the mascots. Have you ever sat back and examined the names and mascots of these sports teams and what they represent. Well if not, let me name a few: Cleveland Indians, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins (inserts confused look) shall I continue? A lot of racism in sports mascots and names are geared toward Native American people. We are color blinded in so many ways when it comes to these types of things. I’m sure some Native Americans take some type of offense to the ridiculing of their race in these mascots and names that we love so dearly.

 

In Gallagher’s Rethinking the Color line, it states that Media sources also affect racial identity and how much of an impact that television has on how people view themselves (Gallagher Part C, 39 p. 302). Media influences our views and understanding of other racial groups as well. So if we are exposed to negativity about other races. As much as technology has taking over, we find children being exposed to many different things. The media socially controls how we respond to one another. We are color-blind and think that these things don’t matter to society when it in fact does. It has a lot of control but it is up to the people to determine the importance of addressing it.

 

Gallagher, C.A. (2012). Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity. 5^th Ed. McGraw Hill