The topic of racism is touchy and most of the statements made are of my personal opinion. I apologize in advance for leaving out any minority group that is not mentioned or for making any statement that is against your beliefs. However, I really just wanted to focus on African Americans and I’m writing about what I believe to be true.
Ghetto, lazy, loud and boisterous, savaging, conniving, thieving, ignorant, watermelon-chicken loving people; those are just a few examples in which the media portrays African Americans. These stereotypes have affected the ways that people view African Americans as well as in the ways that African Americans view themselves. As stated in the film Ethnic Notions by Marlon Riggs “after seeing those images so much, black people begin to look that way even though they are not.” Such images as stated at the beginning have been implanted into our society and are the foundations to which African Americans are viewed in the majority of other people’s minds. Throughout history, the media whether it has been through cartoons, music, films, commercials, books, etc. African Americans have been depicted in negative ways.
The scrutiny of African Americans in the past is similar to the same ways in which we are presented now, but just not in an over exaggerated way. Some of the avenues used mostly post slavery were movies, books, and in cartoons. It might not be well known but in the 1920’s and 1930’s cartoons were frequently used to stereotype African Americans. These images were made for people to laugh at and they were shown to those mostly influenced by their environment, children. In one Warner Brother episode Bugs Bunny pretends to be in black face and his dialect is that of a tongue tied black person. Even today cartoons such as The Simpson’s, Boondocks, and South Park are racially charged.
Being an African American woman is already hard enough, so why does the media show us in such a bad way? I am not a neck rolling, loud mouth woman who wants to control everyone and everything around her. I might be a little defensive at times but it is because society has conditioned me to be that way, but I do not believe that all black women fall into one of those categories. The earlier images of black women were that of the fat woman, cooking and cleaning, being a Mammie protecting the whites she worked for. Hattie McDaniel was criticized for the roles she played because it made black women look bad. The image of the Mammie is still seen today even though she does not wear her hair up in a bandanna saying yes boss. Before I chose my topic I was watching Hannah Montana and in the episode Hannah’s nanny was short, black, loud, controlling and protective of Hannah. I was offended when I saw it and I thought about how black women are viewed and the reason that they are viewed in that manner is because of the media.
Flicking through the channels I decide to see what is on the news and guess who the reporters are interviewing at the scene of a crime; an inarticulate, toothless, messed up looking African American. Every time I watch the news and something bad happens in a black area that is what I see and it makes me so upset. That example is something that my mother and I talk about frequently and that type of figure gives blacks as a whole a bad image. I actually become embarrassed because that one person is a representation of all of us in the black community whether others choose to agree or disagree. I believe that those in charge (whites) like to show blacks at their lowest point. The show Cops is also a very good example. In one episode police officers went into a low income black neighborhood with a truck full of food. In the sting operation young African American men were arrested for taking some of the food off of the truck. Many watching the show might have thought of the young males as thieves who were up to no good; however, they were put into a tough situation. Some people would say that Cops does not show a negative image of blacks, but in that one episode it seemed as if the show was deliberately setting these low income black persons up.
There is a distorted image of African Americans and this causes others to look down on us. In Literary Pan-Africanisim: History, Context, and Criticism by Dr. Christel Temple, one section of the text gave examples of how people from Africa view African Americans. From what Africans learn from the media is that blacks are lazy, thieves, drug dealers, and good for nothing. The images shown in Africa of black Americans are negative. I read a story once of an African American going to Africa and how the Africans would refer to him as the N word and to females as the B word. The African American asked the African why he used those words and the African said it was because that is what he saw on television.
The media has just begun to show African Americans in a more positive spotlight but more has to be done. There are not that many black shows on television and if they are good shows with positive characters the shows do not last long. Other avenues of media like music and film are still not showing blacks in a good way. Media biases are havocking in the black community. What people do not realize is that the media is a subtle influence and it does affect us subconsciously. Those in charge put out certain images so that they can remain on top. I believe that things are changing even though they are changing in a slow pace. Hopefully we will see more positive images of blacks in the media one day.
