Misunderstanding Racial Identity
Misunderstanding Racial Identity
The wrong interpretation of race has caused racism and prejudice problems, which have been passed from generation to generation. In America, where there is a large diversity, more people are guilty of “categorizing” others by using race and stereotypes. The incorrect “sorting” of individuals has become more evident on T.V, daily life, and current political and public views. In this text, I will explore some of the ways in which popular culture contributes to the dangerous trend of perpetuating and promoting unjust classifications through the use of stereotypes.
Today, we identify people in such a way that people’s emotions are affected. Media has an immense impact on this because that is how people keep up-to-date with popular culture. Also agreeing with my perspective is Omi, who states that “Popular culture has been an important realm within which racial ideologies [that] provide a framework of symbols, concepts, and images through which we understand, interpret, and represent aspects of our “racial existence” (Pg. 628). The way that media present people from different cultures influences the way we develop prejudices. By looking at these features, we come up with ideas (or stereotypes) about the people that are being presented. I consider myself as a person that gets categorized by other people and also participate in categorizing because I am like any other human being that criticizes people’s actions, appearance, the way they speak, etc. While judging others, we come up with assumptions about them and classify them into a group or category. Based on the image that we form, we construct their identity in our minds and consequently treat people based on that image we have created of them. The classification of people into groups is so grave that global issues have occurred and are likely to keep occurring. For example, consider slavery; Europeans made a hierarchy of races putting African Americans at the bottom of the list.
The wrong interpretation of race has caused racism and prejudice problems, which have been passed from generation to generation. In America, where there is a large diversity, more people are guilty of “categorizing” others by using race and stereotypes. The incorrect “sorting” of individuals has become more evident on T.V, daily life, and current political and public views. In this text, I will explore some of the ways in which popular culture contributes to the dangerous trend of perpetuating and promoting unjust classifications through the use of stereotypes.
Today, we identify people in such a way that people’s emotions are affected. Media has an immense impact on this because that is how people keep up-to-date with popular culture. Also agreeing with my perspective is Omi, who states that “Popular culture has been an important realm within which racial ideologies [that] provide a framework of symbols, concepts, and images through which we understand, interpret, and represent aspects of our “racial existence” (Pg. 628). The way that media present people from different cultures influences the way we develop prejudices. By looking at these features, we come up with ideas (or stereotypes) about the people that are being presented. I consider myself as a person that gets categorized by other people and also participate in categorizing because I am like any other human being that criticizes people’s actions, appearance, the way they speak, etc. While judging others, we come up with assumptions about them and classify them into a group or category. Based on the image that we form, we construct their identity in our minds and consequently treat people based on that image we have created of them. The classification of people into groups is so grave that global issues have occurred and are likely to keep occurring. For example, consider slavery; Europeans made a hierarchy of races putting African Americans at the bottom of the list.
Cited: CNN, Wire Staff. "San Bernardino Files for Bankruptcy." CNN. Cable News Network, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. . Omi, Michael. "In Living Color: Race and American Culture." Signs of Life in the U.S.A: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. By Sonia Maasik and J. Fisher Solomon. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. N. 626. Print. Obama, Barack. "A More Perfect Union." Huffingtonpost.com. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 25 May 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. .