Racism In America

Racism is taught in our society through media to shape our concepts of racial differences at an early age. Media plays an influential role in shaping how we think about and enact race in our everyday lives. Though the United States is a racially diverse country African Americans are still the most discriminated against and media is largely to blame for encouraging racist attitudes among citizens. Media has played a major role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans' continuing status as second-class citizens. In the United States and other Western Contexts, whites have historically been associated with superiority and privilege; people of color have historically been associated with
The classification system which racialized different groups according to their skin color and/or other defining features has a long history dating back to sixteen- fifty five. During this time period racism and racialization came together and subjected many different groups of color. This period different groups were being dominated and colonialism in order to enhance empire and national capital. It benefited the dominant group to legitimize a view of the subjugated peoples as being less than human and requiring domestication, containment, annihilation and/or assimilation. With the influences of early colonialism and racist attitudes towards minorities, people of color through out many years has had some sort of negative altercation that is attached to racism. The media now teaches racists stereotypes and attitudes in the form of novels, journals, diaries and the press uses its powers to communicate the dominant interpretation of minority groups as being inferior and labelling them as such. Racism its self refers to a systemic phenomenon. It permeates the values, beliefs, norms, attitudes and behaviors of members of the dominant society. It translates into everyday reality through the actions of individuals. But it is not confined to individuals. It is present in the institutional and cultural matrix of a
There are numerous spins to this story-line. Periodically, one can see newscasts of 'illegal refugees' in a line-up at the airport, carefully being checked by the immigration officer for the requisite documentation. Interestingly, the only unauthentic immigrants appear to be people of color. The coverage pertaining to immigrants and refugees from Europe hardly fits this filter. On the contrary, many of these 'preferred' immigrants/refugees are interviewed individually, are allowed to tell their stories, and the media generally work to evoke a sympathetic reaction from the audience. Not so for those who are people of color. Most of them are shown in large numbers, as being unable to speak English, and as having sketchy credentials. Quite often, the filters used by the mainstream media to dwell on people of color and aboriginal people as victimized but favored minorities. They are represented as receiving undue, and unfair advantages. The government, within this filter, is seen as privileging these groups above the "common" person. "They" are seen as people who sponge off the tax system creating an unfair burden on the rest of the population. "They" are the unassailable immigrants for whom the government has instituted special measures of protection so that they can carry on their cultural traditions and 'regressive' ways. There is also