Media 's Influence On African Americans Essay

Although Western society as a whole has progressed from those days, it was only within the last few decades that the Civil Rights movement somewhat successfully promoted integration within America. Even as the melting pot of a plethora of cultures and ethnicities, America is quite divided in its cultural acceptance and identity. Racism may no longer be explicitly condoned, but it does exist in many forms within the world. Unfortunately, though society’s legal actions have since lawfully prevented discrimination as such, the same cultural disparity that existed in segregated times is present today. Whether through social media or public interactions, there is a distinct difference in the nation’s view of Black culture versus the white majority of America. Spurred by centuries old beliefs, stereotypes dominate the social world in mediums such as television and music. Despite the abundance of influences within Western society, America subconsciously continues to promote a negative cultural image of the Black

There are large racial disparities in incarceration and related detainments for African Americans. They are more likely to be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections than any other racial or ethnic group (H.West, Sabol, & Greenman, 2010). Institutional racism is believed to be the reason why African Americans, especially males, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. On balance, the public believes that discrimination against black people is based on the prejudice of the individual person, correlates to the discrimination built into the nation’s laws and institutions (Pew’s Research Center, 2017). This belief is actually supported through several experimental studies that provide evidence that African Americans are to be seen as more criminal and threatening than others thus more likely to be arrested or even shot (Greenwald, Oakes, & Hoffman, 2003). Racism within the criminal justice system very much exists and is still relevant.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek” Barack Obama. The question is always asked does the media reflect the reality of society, or does society try and imitate the reality shown by the media? There are a number of stereotypes associated with African Americans in our society such as African American men are athletes, rappers, criminals, deviant, streetwise, uneducated, and unemployed just to name a few. African Americans in the media have changed through the years. The history of African Americans on TV or minorities in general is hampered by the racial conflicts and segregation that are embedded in American society. Historically, black actors have been grouped stereotypically and assigned to comedy. This has often been traced to the genre of black minstrelsy that was popular in the early 20th century.

They squirmed, pencils tapping their desks anxiously; none of their papers contained more than five names. Eventually, all thirteen pairs of eyes made their way from the papers, to the faces of their friends, and eventually, they restlessly shifted over to me and stopped. “This is hard,” whined one seventh grade voice. Another chimed in, “It’s all the same, I can’t think of any more.” The question I had asked was simple: “Please list as many young African American males that you see on TV as possible.”

Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be

The media has always played a significant role in influencing and shaping individuals’ perceptions of race in U.S. society. The way the media interacts and portrays people of color (POC) reinforces the universal stereotypes and systematic racism that take place in both the media and other social systems. These systems unconsciously privilege Whites and oppress POC while maintaining racial tensions and inequality. By understanding and engaging in critical self-reflection, the role of media can play a part in improving the racial consciousness in order to improve the social realities of people of color.

African American men have been disproportionately displayed with prejudice public perceptions in television media dating all the way back to the early 1900’s. Racial pejoratives, stereotypes and bigotry are just a few adjectives to describe what television has infused with the image of African American men. “These preconceived stereotypes are related to a number of political and social issues such as historical events (civil rights), economic status (citizens on welfare vs. citizens not on welfare), educational levels (academic achievements, people with or without college and graduate degrees), employment (unemployment rate), etc. (Dubriel, 2006)”. With using quantitative and qualitative methods to find correlation in the numerous impacts made

Media has conditioned society into thinking racial stereotypes are the norm. “Irish people are drunks” and “Asians are good at math” are all classic examples of common racial stereotypes. Author Michael Omi of “In Living Color: Race and American Culture” asserts how media presentation of minorities establishes peoples ' perspectives of “these groups”. However, where do racial stereotypes media portray originate from? It comes from the establishment of America oppressing others. Minorities have been feeling oppressed from the “dominant race” for generations. But, has gotten better? No, it has not. Minorities, more importantly, Black Americans are being discriminated in institutions; in a multitude of southern states they cannot vote without being accused of voter fraud, and schools are “inferential racist”. As mentioned in “Actin’ White” author Stuart Buck tackles the pros and cons of desegregating the school system. Buck expresses how the lack of representation in high level school officials can affect black children negatively. By highlighting racial stereotypes throughout the media, Omi address how “inferential racism” is seen throughout daily “intuitional life” which Buck strengthens in his article when he confronts the negative repercussions of desegregation.

For various reasons, media of all types collectively offer a distorted representation of the lives and reality of black men. In turn, media consumption negatively affects the public’s understandings and attitudes related to black men. And these distorted understandings and attitudes towards black men lead to negative real- world consequences for us. These negative understandings of black men are consistently used to justify the racial inequities we encounter in a number of institutions, seen in the form of inflated rates of school discipline, underachievement in higher education, and higher rates of poverty, homicide, unemployment, and over involvement in the criminal

Today, African Americans and other minorities are over-represented in the criminal justice system, but under-represented politically in the United States of America. Since well before its inception in 1776, the United States of America has been a nation characterized by white supremacy. In fact, modern day America may not exist if not for the taking of land from the Indigenous Peoples on this very premise. Today, many Americans believe they live in a post-racial nation, citing the abolition of slavery in the 1860s. While racism has certainly been reduced in modern America, it is still ever-present in society, and more alarmingly, the criminal justice system.

The Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on Television, highlights that in the past, “African American television portrayals typically depicted the following stereotypic personality characteristics: inferior, stupid, comical immoral and dishonest” (Carter 263). Over time however, it was “later noted that other stereotypes of African Americans existed, including disrespectful, violent, greedy, ignorant, and power driven” (Carter 243). The violent, ignorant and disrespectful stereotypes are still very apparent in media today, specifically in news media. African Americans are more often than not in news stories that are related to crime, and depicted as savage, impolite and uninformed. Therefore, it is apparent that these “negative portrayals often lead to the continuation of stereotypes of African Americans in general” (Carter 251).

The criminal-justice system and racism is one of the most controversial topics today. Very few times in history has had Americans split in two with their opinions. These events have caused dissension towards police officers, African Americans, and the media itself. In 2006, blacks made were under 13% of America’s population, yet made up 37.5% of all federal and state prisoners. (Mac Donald) This statistic shows just how much African Americans are involved in law enforcement, while being such a minority group. Racism has been a problem in America for a long time. Even though all race are equal, many African Americans use racism as the go-to explanation of bad outcomes for them. This topic was chosen because of all the commotion it stirs and of all the lies that sometimes can come with it.

[Hunches forward, talks nasally] Dee-da-dee, a-dee-da-dee-da-dee." [Daniels] Reverend Jesse Jackson says that the media depicts African Americans in "5 deadly ways: less intelligent...less hardworking...less universal...less patriotic...and more violent than we are." [Gibbons, 65] Gibbons, documenting Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign and the media coverage of it, also said:"American journalism - excellent when it reports the facts, but is literally incapable of informed opinion without bias when dealing with matters concerning race." [80]Indians and African Americans are not alone. All minorities are depicted inaccurately. Asian Americans, for example, are represented "as perpetually foreign and never American." They are depicted "as murderous and mysterious, as amorous or amoral... symbols of danger, refuge, inspiration, and forgiveness." "[Lipsitz]Lipsitz finds this "degrading, insulting, and implicated in the most vicious and pernicious form," as he is expected to. The problem is

With the help of the renowned personages and authoritative documents, the African American students were allowed into all-White school to accept higher education as far as possible. However, there was something which were not as good as someone imagined. It was European American students who were unwilling to make a sincere relationship connection with African American students. The former looked down upon their inferior position, and a small group of European American students decided to tease easily bullied African American students. Take Chris Rock as an example, a leading man of American TV serious Everybody Hates Chris, he was often made fun by his classmate, Joey Caruso, because of his status. When he came into the school, Caruso had

Media has a detrimental effect on the black society. Blacks have very little, if any control in what the media displays. How many African American Television network companies are there? How many African American Television companies are competing with the big named companies who rack in millions or billions of dollars? It is logical to say whomever controls the media, controls the mind. Television is a common form of media . A lot of things that we watch has been carefully hand-picked and crafted for blacks but not by blacks. There are currently no Black owned television networks. The question is; who is feeding our minds? Television network companies are almost completely dominated by middle aged to elderly Caucasian male. Many may assume that BET is black owned; however as of 2001 BET has been taken over by Viacom . Who owns Viacom? Sumner Redstone, an elderly Caucasian male. BET is the most prominent network in targeting Black households and reaches over 90 Million households. Having no black owned television networks lead to a non-black persons’ perception of black people and black culture. This displays a fabricated experience and idealism of what these networks think black people are or should be. It is equivalent to an individual making a documentary on what it is like being Oprah Winfrey but they are not Oprah. Winfrey. (Viacom Accquires BET, 2015)