It is practically staring us in the face. Race is shown to us regularly in television, films, and even our laws. Problems arise from all these methods of portrayal. There is a long history of showing negative stereotypes in both film and television. The particular negative images used in television and films...come from a long legacy of social inequality and oppression, and their retelling strengthens these beliefs in white supremacy. By showing the negative stereotypes of minorities, the majority is able to justify the subordination of racial minority groups. When stereotypes are shown to us so regularly, negative images of racial minorities become a part of the collective consciousness. For an example of media portrayal of negative minority stereotypes, we can look at the 1992 riot in Los Angeles. In this case the media encouraged the perception that the black community was solely responsible for the riots and disturbances, even though the police reports show that of those arrested only 36% were black. This is just one example. Many television shows and video games show an overwhelming amount of African Americans and Hispanics as criminals. This is one way that race has become a social construction that is ingrained within our …show more content…
Race matters because people are still judged by the color of their skin. The next question that arises when we are made aware of this is whether we, as a society, should try to get rid of things that perpetuate race as a social construct. As you can see, the argument that race promotes racism is carried over into the social construct side of things as well. I do not believe that it would be possible to get rid of racism by disallowing the term race. The creation of a "color-blind" society, one that ignores race, would not get rid of racism because it has been ingrained within so many people for so long. I will acknowledge that it might be better to have a society that ignores race. I also agree that this might eventually be obtainable, but I am confident in my assertion that this is not possible at this point in