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Breanah Boyd

English 102

Dr. Wayne

16 March 2017

FIXING RACISM

Racism is the number one infectious disease in our country today. The effects of this disease

has poisoned the minds of various individuals into thinking that the pigment of one's skin is a

detrimental factor in how they should be treated or viewed as person. This lethal illness has

destroyed and divided our country in a variety of ways. Though many have diagnosed the

problem very little treatment has been taken to cure our country of this disease. When the laws of

slavery and segregation were removed very little was done to assure that the American people

integrated properly. Various stereotypes and preconceived notions of the other group were

created and have expanded and continue to get worse today. If we don't put an end to these racial

stereotypes there will never be peace between the two ethnic groups. In order for us to move

forward in fixing racism these three questions must be addressed.

1. What needs to happen for racism to be fixed

2. How has racism damaged the country

3. What role does the media play in racism

What needs to happen for racism to be fixed?

When reading the various sources a common solution to racism was trying to refute the

stereotypes and generations of hatred and mistakes between the two groups. Since African
Americans were brought to the Americas white people were viewed as the enemy. The African

American community went through decades of abuse and mistreatment. The hatred towards the

two groups today is hard to reverse because no one from the two side wants to sit down and have

a conversation on how to mend the relationship because it will require both sides admitting to

their own wrongs and those wrongs are typically uncomfortable to talk about. Said: It Includes

watching the struggle of white people to maintain dominance and understanding the struggle of

color people to gain equal opportunity, justice, safety and protection ( Kivel, 2002). Yet those are

the conversations that are avoided and need to be had so people can move forward on effectively

integrating the American people. A quote from the interview with Ebony Graves states it best by

saying: No progress will be made until both sides are willing to sit down and listen instead of

searching for blame.

How has racism damaged the country?

There were a few different points listed on how racism has negatively impacted our country.

One of the most detrimental ones was the war between police and the African American

community. This is one of the most lethal of all. Since the Africans were brought to the Americas

they were discriminated against by the white forms of law enforcement. This constant threat

cause Africans to begin to retaliate back and develop a feeling of unease around the police. From

the black panthers and Malcolm X to common day gang members the African American

community and police officers cannot seem to get along. A big cause of this is that police officers

often views black males specifically as a threat and the African American community often

views the police as someone who cannot be trusted and the reason why so many African

American males are incarcerated. Because these views the two groups have no respect for each
other and simple encounters can become dangerous. It was said that Adaptive behavior and

psychological well-being of African Americans can be affected by prejudice and discrimination

(Van Dijk, 1989). This still applies for white Americans as well. These toxic attitudes towards

each other must change. Another way racism damages is our country has to do with the

stereotypes targeted towards muslim and people from middle eastern countries. Trump's recent

muslim ban is proof that their are some strong feelings in the United states towards muslim

people. Yet that gives them not right to directly target and label them as terrorist. Studies show

that American Muslims are portrayed as an alien other within the media. It suggests that this

misrepresentation can be linked to the development of a racism, namely, Islamophobia(Saeed,

2007). By doing so not only do we cause havoc on our own soil, but we also begin to generate

problems with other countries that could eventually cause them to react and wage war on the

United States which could put every single citizen at risk.

What Role does the media play in racism?

The media plays a detrimental role in racism.One of the secondary sources stated that:

Research from a cultivation perspective generally suggests that longer term cumulative viewing

of television content can lead to distorted perceptions of social reality that mirror the patterns or

portrayal featured in television content (Hartmann, 1974). It helps in aiding the development of

stereotypes between the two groups and continues to add fuel to the fire of racism. The media

rarely ever portrays positive interactions between white and African American people or between

white people and muslims. This keeps the cycle of hatred between the two groups generated. The

media continues to she a negative light on the African American community. Forcing white

Americans to make assumptions. When African Americans are constantly portrayed at menaces
to society or welfare babies people tend to assume that all African Americans fit under these

categories and that the ones who dont are rare exceptions. If we want to prevent these

stereotypes from forming we have to become more conscious on how we portray ourselves as a

race to the world. Music, movies and media needs to stop posting these negative images of the

black community or the rest of the world will continue to see us as a threat or as a government

assistant dependent population. The media also rarely ever displays a positive interaction

between white and black people. The same way the media spreads racism it can end it as well.

One author stated that The media can be viewed as a catalyst to end racism by discontinuing its

negative imaging on the issue, and replacing it with positive examples. The media also plays a

role in muslims being viewed as terrorist. Every time a terrorist attack happens the first thing on

the headlines is a muslim looking suspect. When lately the most recent attacks have not even

been by middle eastern people. The continuously associate terrorism with muslims and middle

eastern people forcing people in our country to believe that those people are these people are

dangerous and to take caution of them. When being muslim is a religion and not a terrorist group.

WORK CITED

Graves, Ebony. In person interview. 15 March, 2017.

Hartmann, Paul, and Charles Husband. "Racism and the mass media." (1974).

Kivel, Paul. "How white people can serve as allies to people of color in the struggle to end
racism." White privilege: Essential readings on the other side of racism (2002): 127-136.

Saeed, Amir. "Media, racism and Islamophobia: The representation of Islam and Muslims in the

media." Sociology Compass 1.2 (2007): 443-462.

Van Dijk, Teun A. "Mediating racism: The role of the media in the reproduction of racism."

Language, Power and Ideology. Studies in Political Discourse. Amersterdam, Phil (1989):

199-226.

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