rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_be83768d-2458-5115-bbee-9860e794cdce">1994) so eloquently wrote, “… a candid examination of race matters takes us to the core of the crisis of American Democracy (p. 156).” Race matters and it will always matter because our societal structure is built on a system of Democracy that depends on it.
The media exemplars studied in each chapter of this book will show that racial phenomena, racial effects, and racial hierarchies are not necessarily the product of racists or racism. Instead racialism, routine images and messages about race have been shaped and sustained through the media over decades then accepted as mainstream ideology and developed into comfortable social behavior.
This book is definitely not an effort to let racists and racism off the hook, but rather a means to expose, deconstruct, and critique other factors that make up racialism. We are technically already there. When scholars use concepts like modern racism, colorblind racism, enlightened racism, averse racism, or subtle racism they are taking a step away. Yet, that one word, racism, still pervades the overall meaning, so I propose this repositioning. We need to think beyond racism in order to better understand the world we live in today. My goal is for Racialism and the Media to provoke a serious change when it comes to the problematic racial images and messages that we have all come to know and love.
References
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Contemporary Zip Coons: The Problem with Funny
Many stereotypes are normalized in our society, especially through the media. Stereotypes are generalizations or overgeneralizations of a group or culture (Brigham, 1971). Unfortunately, many of the normalized stereotypes of African American culture confirm accepted distortions. In his research on implicit stereotypes, Hinton (2017) argues that “culture in mind” is key to influencing the cognition of cultural group members. He believes that stereotypes are predictions and the brain uses predictions based on the structures and meanings experienced in the world (p. 6). Therefore, stereotypes become a resource that enables the transmission of cultural information, specifically within a network where common understandings exist (Kashima & Young, 2010).
Burr (2001) identifies
