Racism is one of the world’s major issues today. In the past there have been countless acts of racism. Racism can be defined as racial discrimination over skin color, ethnic background and race, or a belief that some races are by nature superior. Racism occurs all over the world; can happen to anyone, and will always exist. Racism has taken on several forms in America over the past several hundred years. However, r, there are still many stereotypes against African-American which influence American cultureculture. Therefore, several questions need to be examined herein. For example, what effect (if any) do these stereotypes have on both West Indian blacks and African-Americans today? Has America developed a habit of using race to classify individuals? Moreover, has the media become accustomed to stereotyping blacks into expected crime related roles?.
According to Malcolm Gladwell, (1996) who is the author of the short essay, “Black Like Them,” tThis essay is about to addresses distinction between people of the same race, the significant diversity between the West Indian blacks living in America and African-Americans. There are still many stereotypes are against African-Americans which influence American culture today. In this short essay, he argues thatshows, racism was still taking place in America. For example, iIn 1996, Garden City, New YorkY was mainly a white dominated area. Noel’s hours were had hours from his job cut at Kennedy Airport after his boss usedcalled him the racial slur “nigger” (p.age 1). Noel discoveredfound out that a he was replaced by a white male performingdoing the same job. as him. After hearing this, Noel quit his job at Kennedy Airport knowing that he could non’t bebe successful due to the reality of racism (p.age 1). The question pondered was “issue occurred Wwhat does it take for West Indian, Chinese, Afro-Caribbean immigrants to make it in America?” Noel’s simple solution The answer was to defeat racism m which was raised by noel (p.page 1). Gladwell (1996) also discussestalks about some of the reasons whywhy the West Indian blacks are living in America. He believes that because they, unlike African-Americans, have arrived and been successful in have breakingoken down the stereotypes of the black race. “The implication of West Indian success is that racism does not really exist at all-at least, not in the form that we have assumed it does.” (p.age 2). In this passage,Here Gladwell (1996)he expounds on explains the primary reason why the West Indian blacks living in America hHave succeeded in breaking down racial barriers. Moreover, he challenges the reader to consider that s because the West Indian blacksy have been able to perceive racism as a problem that is within the black people themselves and not within the white people as most people think it is. Gladwell specifically implies that if an individuals of any racial category must is to throw away the idea that they are demoralized by racism because of injustice. Moreover, he and provides evidence to the contrary of ways that such negative patterns of thinking are born rather compelof their own misperceptions upon themselves. Additionally, sThis is said to believe by sociologists conducted a study and determined that blacks that used to live in areas such as Brooklyn, New York were very aggressive and thus, causeding numerous troubles thereby causing. Now the new blacks that are movingcoming in to the area to paying the pricetoll for their prior actionsit (p.age 3).
In “Racial Formation,” Michael Omi and Howard Winant (1994) primarily discuss mainly they talks about racism throughout their article. Racism began astarted long time ago in ancient times when associate nations acted differently or treated poorbadly to those that came from a different origin than them. This is also how the idea of different races was introducedcame on. For example, slavery was a major social issue in America. In the movie Raintree Country, Elizabeth Taylorit’s stated that “The worst of fates to befall whites as having a little negra blood in ya” (p.age 3). Here, white people are cursing blacks as “nigger” and w. White people are considered as “pure” and any other mixture are known asbeing called as “nonwhite.” . In thise essay, Omi and Winant define race as a being a part of a social structure that repeatedly alters and transforms throughout time and political changes.
Additionally, Omni and Winant (1994)They also stated that racial projects as being racist only when it “creates or reproduces structures of domination based on essentialist categories of race” (pP.age 15). The. The idea of racial is that when people notice the same people of their own culture (p.page 12). Without racial identity, there is the risk in trouble of losing one’s identity , because race is an important aspect of to one’s identity (p.page 12). In America, bBlack people are referrcalled to as those who have an African background. However,When they are also referred to as people that have an Afro-Caribbean background. This is, in fact, a form of racism toward numerous groups of people. These terms are very ingenious by racial hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (p.PAGE 13). The U.S. media’s tendency is to stereotype and address all as black people and, thus, they assign racial characteristics to particular groups.
Isabel Wilkerson (1993) is the author of the article, “Television; Black Life on TV: Realism or Stereotypes?”. This article discusses various ways thatis about how American media represents blacks as lower class whose have relationships with drug dealers and crime makers. TV media’s main subjectargett is black people and theyalways actively to searchlook for crime committed by blacks. In his article he arguestalks about that most of the dramas and movies portrayshows blacks as inferiors and victims.
AAccording to Wilkerson Isabel (1993), “After the success of street movies like “Boyz N the Hood,” television, particularly in a few bold steps by HBO, is making black dramas with the highest production values and an edgy pseudorealism, in which violence and pathology are inherent in being black and crack is a required character”(p.1). TIn this statement provides evidenceshows that TV media represents blacks are associatedrelated with violence and that only they can portray only do negative types of characters. The movie, “Strapped” is about a black teen-ager sellingsell weapons to bail out his girlfriend, who was arrested because of selling crack. TIn this particular movie it highlights shows that blacks participating incan do crime and social ill, which is intended to symbolize the black society as a whole. It seems that aAudiences always wind up withhad a negative viewidea about black people .TV media persuade the viewerrepresents that the reality is that blacks are stereotyped as lower class and connected with illegitimate business, but the actual reality is that they are hard working people and many even have a desire to will become sas a social workers in the society.
In comparison, each of among the three essays provide new evidence and discoveries concerning the fact that shows racism is occurring in one way or another. Moreover, each essay detailed And they talked about the mispresentation of black into the society. Wilkerson’s (1993) article mentionedThe three articles show that the media present bring out blacks to their audience as stereotypicale or racism as lower class citizens. Similarly,The similar idea has mentioned by Wilkerson(1993) mentioned in his article, “It seems a black movie or television show is not considered “authentic” without a rap score, slack shouldered teen-ager’s drugs, violence or some other social ill” (p.1). The whites oppress media and were shown only one segment of black families and addressed blacks as drug dealers and illicit businessmen.
AdditionallyHere, racism is clearly uncovered by white people through the media. In the “Racial Formation,” it is stated that blacks were reviled by many groups in the earlier period. The short essay “Black Like Them” says racism is still occurringhappens today. For example, people receivgetting unfairawful compensatione simplyjust because of their skin color. The Ku Klux Klan philosophy has managed to remain alive and wellkeep living even after all these years. In the “Black Like Them, “Rosie and Noel went to a mixed church filled with West Indians and Whites. Although the minister was white, the church was packed with incoming Caribbean immigrants. Interestingly, tThis didn’t cause a problemmake any trouble for Noel and Rosie; they actually enjoyed having a white minister. The previous example ofHere Rosie and Noel necessarily representsincludes thoese of us who minimize or emphasize the significance of their ethnicity.
In conclusion, the unfortunate truth is that racism still exists in American culture. Many Americans of all races would rather not admit that this is the case. As a country, we like to believe that we are civilized, and that we no longer let minor concerns such as race influence our views. However, the specific evidence detailed in the aforementioned three articles by Gladwell (1996), Wilkerson (1993), and Omi and Winant (1994) clearly reveal an opposing and less simplified stance on the many faces of racism. Moreover, these articles reveal that we, as a country, do allow race to influence our views and cloud our judgment. Furthermore, our egos have found security in classifying blacks for identification purposes. Therefore, it is not surprising to discover that America has indeed fallen into the trap of racism; we most certainly do perceive West Indians and American blacks in a different light. In other words, one group cannot be said to mirror the other.
Lastly, the media has indeed succumbed to stereotyping black characters as they deem necessary in everything from various negative crime-related character roles in movies to assorted TV mini-series. The evidence herein continues to support the fact that the United States has simply not taken the great strides one might hope for in becoming comfortable with variations in race despite our forefathers who bravely fought to provide us all with this priceless gift .
