Race analysis

The very first time i became aware how important my race was in this world was in the 5th grade. One day I went to target with my brother and dad , while me and my dad were walking around the clothing area my older brother Brandon was in the Video game section. My brother Brandon has never stolen a thing in his life and was a good kid , a football player. I walk around the isles to be with my brother in the video game section and I see he's talking to a tall skinny white man. Finally i go and stand next to my brother and hear their conversation my brother asks this guy to open the glass case so he can get the video game and the guy keeps telling him “i don't have to do what you tell me boy.” My brother starts calling my dads name .. my dad runs over angrily because he had to run over he asks “what's wrong son”. The tall man that worked there calls security and says “ we have three crazy black people in the electronic area”, my dad gets outraged and starts screaming and cursing. The security comes up and asks if everything is okay and my dad whips his badge out and says “yes everything is okay” the target guy slowly asks my dad if was a cop and my dad says no i'm a sheriff for cook county. My older brother flips the guy off and we walk out and go get food at Chili's but on the ride there my dad gave me a speech about people like him.

everybody hates chris, promoting sterotypes or breaking them?

Everybody hates chris is an American sitcom based on the troubled teenage experiences of comedian chris rock aired on september 22, 2005, the show is set between 1982 and 1987. Everybody hates chris is based on the racial stereotypes we see and think of everyday. The popular sitcom is about a boy named " Chris" ( Tv comedian Chris Rock child impersonater) who is midunderstood by the " white community" and his daily struggles with being an only black kid in a all white school.

Everybody hates chris portrays the typical “ african american lifestyle” that other races see them as. African Americans are seen as ghetto, poor, uneducated, and fatherless. The media portrays this type of image so we as the audience start to believe it and think it’s funny because we see it to be true. In the video above it shows different scenes of  Chris's teacher Ms.Morello sterotyping chris and when chris shuts down the stereotype she thinks he's lying because he's embarrass to admit it being the truth. One example from this episode is when Chris ran for president and the student's were going to impeach him because he couldn't give them what he promised to give them. In this episode chris has to write a speech as to why they shouldn;t impeach him and Ms.Morello saids " can i give a suggestion, maybe this time you should try rhyming." Giving the stereotype that all African American men are rappers or drug dealers this quote shows how she views chris, she views him as being just another African American male stereotype.

The stereotype of Black people only being good for being comedians, being good at sports, or being musically talented goes back to slave days in the south beiginning in 1619. Blacks were known for always being happy and funny due to Jim crow; Jim crow was a character made up my white comedian Thomas Dartmouth Rice, "Rice darkened his face, acted like a buffoon, and spoke with an exaggerated and distorted imitation of African American Vernacular English. In his Jim Crow persona, he also sang "Negro ditties" such as "Jump Jim Crow." http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/origins.htm No one really knew what was really going on on the plantations and thought the slaves wanted to be enslaved and that being enslaved would be good for the Africans. They also used music to communicate with other slaves.

In the famous sitcom " Everyone Hates Chris" they promote stereotypes by making fun of them and also break stereotpes by showing the truth about Chris and his family. People find the stereotypes they promote in the Tv show to be funny because we as a country have come to beileve the stereotypes that our media puts out about different races. Everybody Hates Chris breaks them because people in the TV show think that chris is fatherless, living on foodstamps, has alot of brothers and sisters, can't afford clothing, etc but the TV show shows that Chris has a father, his parents are married, doesn't have a whole bunch of " half siblings", has a home, and his parents have jobs.

Is Non-Reality Showing Reality?

The shows that are shown on TV today seem to be all reality shows. Made all dramatic and not showing the truth behind anything. Seems like the shows that aren’t reality portray a more realistic view on the world. The hit TV show Black-ish for example, shows a black family in today’s world. As the father, tries to teach his children what it means to be black he also tries to set cultural for his family. He also teaches his children their family history. Each show starts with references about African-American history. While the show shows various black stereotypes, it also corrects many of them. It shows a family with both parents that work, four children that go to multi-race public school, and a house.

The Racism in American Dad

The show American Dad is promotes stereotypes.

American Dad is largely based on stereotypes, which are mostly not the true/good stereotypes.

This is a show that has been out for sometime now, and was meant for grown ups to watch, it is aired on a television channel named Adult Swim. But lately, the show’s audience is becoming younger and younger. Another show that is in the same trend as American Dad is Family Guy, which is created by the same person that created American Dad.

There is a character of Asian descent in the show that goes by the name of Toshi, in which by itself, sounds stereotypical. In the episode, “Best Little Horror House in Langely Falls”, Steve, one of the main characters, takes a liking to Toshi’s sister, Akiko, another stereotypical name. Toshi’s finds out and tries to get revenge on Steve. The way he tries to take, is being a samurai, more stereotypical. If that wasn’t enough stereotypes, like the “typical” Japanese fighter, Toshi did not give up until he completed his mission, or until he was defeated.

Cultural Analysis: Wild Card

The comedians Key and Peele had made numerous knee-slapper videos. The anger translator video they did back in 2012 shows the brute stereotype, where the translator is kinda wild and uncontrollable; like a wild card. This work kinda reinforces the stereotype, even though it is making fun of it. Being in the media makes it so well know to many people giving them the idea. It reflects the identities in society and helps shape how society views some African American men, connects to how a lot of the violence in the media mostly shown on the news is an African American man, or a person of color who is very violent. In the video the Obama character (Peele) is calm and collected, but then comes the translator (Key) who is like showing the feeling on the inside. Even though that Obama is the president, he is under pressure and can’t express that much emotion, even if he is overly excited people would automatically fit him into a stereotype. Not only can this be shown in comedy, people get so much information in media today whether it be songs, movie, a TV show that  people are always making assumptions of others even if they don’t know it.

Transformers, Racism in Disguise

Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films directed by Michael Bay, and based on the toys created by Hasbro . The movies revolve around robots that can change into different vehicles bringing their war to Earth. The Transformers series promotes racial stereotypes through its movies. From the “urban” transformers mudflap and skids to the Samurai transformer named Drift. In the transformers movie Revenge of the fallen two new Transformers are introduced into the audience named Mudflap and Skid. Although voiced by white voiceover comedian Tom Kenny, a.k.a. the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, they speak stereotypically “black”. the two transformers are stereotypical and offensive in many ways like how one of the robots has a gold tooth or the scene where the main character ask if they can read ancient glyphs, they nervously respond, "Read?! Nuh-uh..." "No, we don't really do much reading'!" to add to this they also constantly fight and snap on each other in inappropriate situations, and even refer to Leo, the Latino college student played by Ramon Rodriguez, as a "shrimp taco." It has seemed though that Michael bay has not learned from his mistakes as the cast of the latest transformer movie “Age of Extinction” has a transforme named Drift who also promotes racial stereotypes. In the movie Drift can be heard calling other transformers sensi while donning a completely yellow face literally. the way Michael Bay uses racial stereotypes to just get laughs without at least trying to defy or question these stereotypes is appalling. 

The Simpson's Sterotypes

The Simpsons are known for it's humor, but have you really thought about the meanings of their humor? The Simpsons has many characters, including Groundskeeper Willie (angry Scotsman), Bumblebee Man (clumsy Hispanic), Dr. Hibert (all black doctors gotta sound like Cliff Huxtable?), Krusty (self-loathing Jewish comedian), Cooki Kwan (are all Asians this competitive?), Luigi (is his brother's name Mario?), Fat Tony (all Italians are mobsters, huh?), and Cletus (white people have feelings too!).  Once digging deep into their humor, it's all making fun of the race of a person. They make them sound and act how they're "suppose" to based on society's opinion. It's funny until is your race that's being made in fun of. 

The Racism of Power Rangers

If you haven't realized by now many of the shows we watch today are racist. One clear example of this is the power rangers. Its also pretty obvious. The yellow ranger is an Asian, which is racist because Asians are known as yellow faces.  The black ranger is actually “black” and they made him have lots of rhythm and he was known for dancing a lot. The pink ranger was a perfect pretty white girl, a very common stereotype. Then there is the most racist of them all, The white ranger. I say this because the white ranger was actually “white”, and he had the most skills and powers. This basically made him the best power ranger. This is proving the point that society is really obsessed with race and stereotypes. Until now I wouldn't have even payed attention to it but after research it became really obvious to me. This is bad, especially since it is a children's show, so it seems like the idea of race starts off really young, and continues throughout life.

How does the media view us

Today many racist stereotypes still exist in the media. The show “The proud family” is a perfect example of the way that the media can perpetuate the racial stereotypes. The father, oscar, is made out to be a complete clown rather than a father. The way that he carries himself is much like the way a Sambo would have acted. He is a carefree idiot. The grandma “Suga Momma” is a representation of the Mammy Stereotype in the way that she is the disciplinarian of the household and is completely desexualized. In the same way that the show shows blacks in a negative light it also shows the white character, Zoey, in a negative light. Zoey is smart, awkward and dorky. She was very clumsy and made it seem like all white people are unathletic and awkward. The whole show has a very racist look on black people but it also shows white people through a racial lens. These looks on life need to be taken out of our media so we can stop perpetuating stereotypes.

Hispanic Stereotypes In Family Guy

The TV show Family Guy promotes stereotypes of Hispanics by only showing Hispanic characters with irregular physical features and of way of speaking and by the same character being in stereotypical roles such as a maid and other service workers.

Hispanic domestics are a sample of depictions of American families. One example is the comedy show that a lot of people watch a lot, Family Guy. Family Guy is a show based on a white family with different skills and a way of speaking about others and making fun of their cultures or ethnicities. Here is an example of a stereotype in Family Guy, are the Hispanics and how they’re depicted in the show.



An example of the picture above shows G.I JOSE speaking to each other; and if you have seen Family Guy then you can remember how the Hispanic soldier spoke. He spoke with a Hispanic accent. Other physical features such as his body shape making the character look fat, and also have a moustache with long sideburns, also a black hairy belly and black hairy arms and last making them have one skin color too. It promotes these kinds of stereotypes by showing the lack of intelligence in Hispanics and making them look stupid and also with one skin tone too. They also make Hispanics not attractive either.



Another example with stereotypes in Family Guy are what roles the Hispanics characters play in. In the picture above shows Peter Griffin and Consuela speaking. Typically how it portrays Hispanic characters as maids or other service workers. Such as Consuela above in the picture is in a maid outfit and wearing plastic gloves and with a rag in one hand too. 

These stereotypes are not only evidence in Family Guy. Many other Comedy Central shows, such as South Park and Tosh.0, participate in this trend.

Racial Superbowl commercial

During the 2008 Superbowl they released a commercial about the Chinese and what they do. They included about almost every stereotype about the Chinese. This commercial offended many viewers of the Superbowl of the Chinese race. This commercial was saying that since the Chinese are so smart and all. So the commercial described one of the pandas complaining about having no customers and that they would have to close the store. The other panda said "no i don't want to go back to the zoo." Then the other panda called another panda to solve their problem, told them to go to "salesgenie. com to get sales and to stop eating furniture."Once after that they started getting customers again and then they left in a car thanking salesgenie and then went to the zoo to visit the grizzly bears.

A Cultural Analysis on Skins

Skins is a influential British TV from the mid 2000’s displaying the lives of a group of teenagers of different races/cultures  just trying to figure out how life goes and how to handle everything while finding their adulthood. Every two seasons comes with a new round of kids with generally the same plot line basis: kids just trying to figure things out. (But each characters own subplots differ tremendously), with a comeback season following the most highlighted characters life’s finally as adults out in the independent world. Google describes it as “The lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, England, are followed through two years of sixth form, with the storyline of this critically acclaimed series delving into such controversial subjects as substance abuse, sexuality, teenage pregnancy, personality and eating disorders, and mental illness. "Skins" is unique in its casting of amateur actors, and the fact that the cast is replaced every two seasons, when the characters leave school.” (Google Home Page) I feel that this is something that's very relevant to us; particularly because were also teenagers going through a lot of the same problems as many of these teens portrayed on this show, ei, social, educational, and family struggles. The interesting thing about this series is that each character gets an episode within the season highlighting them and their specific problems.  This series - while highlighting some racial stereotypes, but not exactly promoting them, crushes a lot of typical racial stereotypes. The four characters analyzed in this article will reiterate that.

This series shows some typical racial stereotypes, but it more feels like these stereotypes are being more portrayed than reinforced. While the existence of them is generally not so noticeable in the series itself unless you were looking out for it? They’re still prevalent. Here's an analysis of some of characters that support modern stereotypes:

• Cassie Ainsworth: Portraying: The Manic Pixie Dream girl, a typical sort of stock character, the cute eccentric (almost always) small white girl who has something so very wrong with her but if usually unnoticeable or goes unnoticed by the character who's lusting after her. (Cassie suffers from suffering from several mental disorders — most notably, anorexia nervosa — and multiple problems, including low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction.)
• Cassie’s problems are best highlighted in “Cassie” the second episode of the first season. Where many things happened to her that are caused by her eating disorder, a sticky note on her back that reads “EAT!”, or when she goes to her clinic with her underwear filled with weights as to fool her disorder clinic into thinking she's eating and gaining weight. (Stereotype that girls with eating disorders are crazy and just cannot recover properly) And gets to a point where she begins to get constant text messages telling her to eat, eat, eat. But is then resolved in the end that she's sending these to herself and just really had no idea due to some of her mental disorders.

• Liv Malone: Portraying: A typical party girl played by a black girl. Typical booze party girl, living recklessly, life and mind usually set of some sort of reckless abandon. (Which ties back to the “reckless” tendencies of black portrayal like Zambo, Zipcoon, etc)
• Livs stereotypical ways are highlighted throughout the season, but just like Cassie and most of the characters her ways are most brightly highlighted in her characters episode of “Liv” (episode four, season five) Where she deals with sleeping with her bestfriends boyfriend (stereotypically untrustable), introducing Marijuana into her group of friends and around her little sister. (Who she actually removes from the drugs scene, and leaves her at a sci-fi marathon, which she fails to notice is 24 hours long, and then goes to visit her sister in prison.) (Also stereotyping that blacks end up in prison.) Where then on a bus trip she meets a guy, (who also happens to be a POC) and they somehow end up acquiring a large amount of ecstasy which they then take (stereotyping that POC takes drugs whenever handed to them) and then proceed to shoplift and rob two different shops. (In the second shop the owner tries to rape Liv, which prompts them to basically knock him out, and then rob his store.)  

These two characters portray a lot of typical racial stereotypes. But now I’d like to introduce you to a different pair of characters from the same series who defy and crush many racial stereotypes:

• Jal Fazer: (defying the stereotype that people of color (POC) are lazy, unambitious, and the idea that that can generally not reach their desired goals.) The smart ambitious black girl who plays clarinet like a dream. (more like nobody's business) She is obviously the most affluent character out of all of her friends “As a highly talented and intellectual teenager, she defies various stereotypes. Her school is quick to take pride in (and responsibility for) a young black student being so successful, despite carrying little interest in the naturally gifted Jal. She is very straightforward and self aware.” (Skins Wiki)
• Jal defying stereotypes is seen throughout the show but is most prevalent in her episode “Jal” (season one, episode three) where her main focal point is to win “Young Musician of the Year” award for clarinet performance. (Defies the stereotype that POC are unambitious) In the Skins Wiki synopsis of the episode they mention “Back at school, Jal is taken to see the school rector. The rector tells Jal that she’s delighted they’ve got such a talented pupil. The school want Jal to do a couple of interviews to make the school look like it’s helping ethnic minority pupils achieve. She’s even prepared a checklist of ways in which the school has helped her overcome her “handicaps”. “ This slightly bothers me because they're just using a talented black student to make their school like a little bit higher than the rest just because they have an outstanding student who happens to not be white. (Defies the stereotype that POC don't succeed as often as who are white do.)

• Anwar Kharral: (defying the obedient Muslim child stereotype, also defying the “all Muslims are terrorists stereotype.) The young Muslim boy dealing with overbearing Pakistani parents. “With parents that attempt to regulate both his faith and his life inside of the Mosque. He is not a very devout Muslim, he takes drugs whenever at a big party, drinks and has premarital sex; although he does pray five times a day and believes that homosexuality goes against his religion.” (Skins Wiki) Anwar is just a typical teenage boy who just happens to pray five times a day. His religion doesn't really hold him back from all life has to offer .
• Anwar defies a few common stereotypes that Muslim people hold, and him defying these stereotypes are most prevalent (like the last three characters mentioned) in his episode - split with his best friend - entitled “Maxxie and Anwar”. Where we see Maxxie (Anwar's bestfriend who happens to be gay.) and Anwar friendship beginning to dwindle due to Anwsar becoming severely uncomfortable with Maxxies sexuality. (Which actually promotes a stereotype about Muslims being uncomfortable with homosexuality.) In the same episode the gang travels to Russia with there school at which point once they land Anwar is taken into custody and then released. “Anwar says they all look disappointed that he’s not a terrorist, but Tony that’s probably because he’s a very dull Muslim.” (Skins Wiki) (Also promoting the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorist, even though Anwar turns out to not be one.) Later Anwar meet a girl who he falls in love with and does end up having premarital sex with. (Despite his religion (defying the obedient Muslim child stereotype)) And also ends up doing drugs and drinking. (At which point Maxxie calls him out. “Maxxie finds him talking about drugs and has a go at him for being all Muslim about gays, but still doing other non-Muslim things such as taking drugs and drinking. He calls him a hypocrite and leaves,”.) Anwar both promotes and defies Muslim stereotypes.

So in conclusion this TV show portrays a lot of racially based stereotypes as well as crushing many to, and with a generally diverse cast. I think this show did a pretty good job of not coming out as ‘too’ racially bias of a show. So yeah. Skins man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQFB4qEek8

The Portrayal of Black People

Black people are portrayed many different ways in movies, TV shows, etc. Some are good, some are bad, but rarely, they are both. In the TV show, "House. M.D." There is one black man who is portrayed in both a good, and a bad way. Dr. Eric Foreman was the person portrayed both ways. Eric grew up on the streets in the ghetto, he robbed houses in his youth, but he decided to turn his life around as an adult. His boss, Gregory House, wanted to solve his medical cases using any means necessary. He keeps bringing Eric's past life into the work place by telling him to break into patient's houses and find evidence.

He was also portrayed as a good man as well. A few seasons in, he became the head of the hospital. He went from being a house robber to being the head of a hospital. This shows that black people are not always portrayed as bad people that don't really get anywhere in their lives.

Stereotypes in Country Songs

If you ever take the time to listen and think about the lyrics to country music, you'll realize that all the songs are actually different. Listening to the song "Chicken Fried" by: Zac Brown Band I realized that they are singing about growing up in the south, but are very stereotypical about it. One lyric is "... sweet tea, pecan pie, and homemade wine - where the peaches grow ..." stereotypes what come from the south, Georgia more specifically. Yes, Georgia is known as the peach state but saying "iced tea" it groups together all the southern people and it becomes known as a Southern Thing. Another line was "... so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love, like our chicken fried ..." this implies that everyone from the south loves and eating fried chicken. There are many people who do but not only in the south. Also not everyone from the south drinks iced tea or eats fried chicken. This song probably wasn't written to group together all people in the South and stereotype them but when you really listen it's easier to realize that is what it's doing. More often times than not we just sing along to the lyrics without listening and really thinking into them. There are many other songs, both country and any other genre in music that stereotype race and religion in their songs and no one stops to think about it and realize that is actually what the song is saying. We don't always realize it but stereotypes are in everything and anything, we just have to listen for them.

Racist Commercial: 2013

 A Mountain Dew ad released by PepsiCo in 2013 raised a lot of anger from the viewers that saw the ad before being taken down shortly after. This is not nearly the first time a company has been accused of making an inappropriate commercial. The ad portrayed many racially bias images. For example there is a part that consists of a guy looking through a glass window at many possible suspect of a fake crime. Every suspect is of color and dressed like they are in a gang. The only one that isn't is of color is a goat that whispering to the other suspects saying,"snitches get stitches foo." These obviously racist depictions can create harsh dialogue when discussing racism in the media today. PepsiCo took down the commercial after being pelted with angered viewers. Some blame the director of the ad rap-star Tyler the Creater for the inappropriate images in the ad. But PepsiCo must have thought that giving Tyler the lead would create an ad that teens could relate to. They thought wrong according to the video covering the racist ad on abc news.

The Domestic

The TV show "Family Guy" displays many hurtful race prejeduces and plays them off as funny. For example the cleaning lady named Consuela might actually validate the lingering racism of some viewers, in fact it seems it seeks to. After all, the Consuela joke seems to work only if the viewer can buy in to the concept and relate – “Hey, don’t you guys know a Mexican lady like this?” At this point, we’ve taken a step past simple black humor and into minstrelsy, haven’t we? Although the show plays this stereotype off as funny, in the real world its nothing to laugh at. By showing viewers this its only adding to the stereotype and people will therefore continue to enforce it. So the stereotype will have a hard time changing because of what we put on the media. 

Tragic Isis

The US needs to prevent isis from doing their normal actions that they love to achieve. Many horrific videos and pictures have shown what isis has done to victims after kidnapping them and just taking their lives away in a unpleasant way. This needs to stop immediately because its getting out of control on what isis is doing to Americans and we need to give them their own taste of their "style". Obama on progressive.com on a article by Phyllis Bennis said the "bottom line to stopping isis is there is no immediate action that will make ISIS disappear, even if U.S. airstrikes manage to get the right target somewhere and take out an APC or a truckload of guys with RPGs or whatever." It also said "Its a long term solutions, something not so easy to do in a political year." Also on Cnn.com they reported that the president needs to identify the threat that America is facing radical Islam but instead President Obama has decided to make peace with them when they still go ahead and kill Americans in a tragic way. We need to save people from isis before they attack again and isis needs to be shut down immediately and must plan a sneak attack that would take long term. 

Racial Ads  

The thing about racism in america is that it is almost impossible to make it go away. There will always be a small amount of racism somewhere in america. And sometimes we even make fun of that. Racism can be funny in the right conditions. If it is no in those conditions then people from all different races start to get upset. looking around on the internet there are truly some terrible, way over the line ads. Like Key and Peele and SNL. they are funny because they don’t go over the line. But when an ad is made, there has to be someone who has to look at it and make sure that it doesn't offend anyone. When an ad is put out into the public, people's first thoughts when seeing it shouldn’t be that's racist.  with some of the stuff that is put out today or even thought up, it’s really messed up.      

Cultural Analysis

Hairspray

The movie ¨Hairspray¨ was very popular when it came out in 1988, and blew up over the media when it came back in 2007. The movie is full of fun characters and songs, all exploiting the obvious signs of racism. The movie is based in Baltimore in 1962, when racism was at it´s peak in the United States. The main character, Tracy and her group of friends are some of the few high school students in their predominantly white school who believe segregation is wrong. The main issue of Hairspray is the racial segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a time in America where the whites controlled the political system and social institutions, making it impossible for African American´s to live up to their full potential. The Corny Collins show, a popular TV time special that is shown in the movie, portrays the same idea. In the dancing show, they have a specific segment where the African American´s dance because they were never allowed to dance with the white people. There was even one instance where the white people stole one of their songs and tried to make it sound more Caucasian and friendly. My favorite scene in particular, is the scene where Tracy gets sent to detention. In this scene, it is very ironic that when she goes to the detention room, the only people in there are African American, and there are a lot of them. Although this seems like a punishment, all the African American´s in the room were used to it, almost as if they got sent there everyday. They sing and dance the whole time. When Tracy and her friends try to join in, they are unsure at first, and then accepting of who they are, which is not what the white people would have done. Eventually, Tracy gets the people at the Corny Collins show to warm up to the idea of mixing both races and dancing together. It creates a positive outcome, but not from everyone. The moral of the story is we make progress, but we have yet to reach our final goal. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Dxsmk-EZ8 (Detention scene)

Coke and America

During the 2014 Super Bowl, Coca-Cola released an ad were America the Beautiful is sung in multiple languages. Generally, the ad over simplifies the current situation of race in America.

At the beginning of the ad images of open waters and a forest are shown. The entire ad has clear vocals over it. At 0:07 two children, most likely of Latin American descent, are sitting in a movie theater eating popcorn. Clips of these type of things are shown throughout the ad, African American children dancing in the streets, an American Indian looking out the window, etc.

While this ad isn't particularly perpetuating any stereotypes, it does separate each racial group. No one group was ever shown with another. This furthers the ideology that people are separated by skin color. On the other hand, this ad shows the value of Americans being able to hold onto their cultural heritage.

Another good thing this advertisement promoted is that Muslims can be and are Americans too. Since 9/11, many Americans see museums as terrorists, but Coca-Cola rejected this idea and presented all Americans as American.

Greys Anatomy plays a role in Racial Stereotypes

In today society, racial stereotypes takes place in music, movie, shows, media, etc. People are portrayed in a way that has to do with their race and being treated in different ways.  One typical stereotype that is known in America is that Asians are known to be smart and "geeky". In some shows they are shown as the nerds or the problem solvers. In the show "Greys Anatomy" Doctor Christina Yang is a young Korean women who is one of the most intelligent doctors on the show. She is the only Korean character as well and as seen on the show she is shown to make no flaws, she does not care about her appearance, and her talent and knowledge is the most important thing to her. Yang quotes, "Oh, screw beautiful. I'm brilliant. If you want to appease me, compliment my brain" (Season 6). Her intelligence is what she is known for. Yang also explains in an interview that "She doesn't care about her appearance is on the show". In the TV industry the way that people are played has to do with examples of everyday life and they want it to be as real as possible to the word. Christina Yang has been playing the role of the person people "think" she is because of her race.

Fantasia Barrino Story : Life is Not a Fairy Tale

At the age of sixteen a lot of issues come up as being teens , especially with us teen girls who have full figured body’s like were 21. One of of those challenges Fantasia had occurred.

In the year of 2009 August 19th to be exact , Lifetime Movie presented the Fantasia Barrino Story : Life is Not a Fairy Tale. This movie is about a teenage girl who is a very known artist to this day who dropped out of high school and was raped by a fellow student and end up conceiving a child with her boyfriend Rodney. Rodney was the brute and mammy of all evil. He made sure that she had everything she wanted and needed , but at the same time threw her down every possible chance he could. Life with Rodney for Fantasia was bitter , but yet sweet.

Fantasia is human just like the rest of the world and what sticks out as a sore thumb for her is that she drop out of high school. In 2009-2010 42,000 or 15 percent of 19-to-24 year old youth in the city of Chicago did not have a regular high school diploma. Even though Fantasia is not from Chicago she is still apart of the category who have dropped. That's the stereotype that people see African Americans as. In this movie Fantasia was very fast and got pregnant at the age of 16. That's what most people betray as African- American young teens to be, especially in the 21st century. Im proud to say that I am not part of this generation or any other generation who ended up 16 and pregnant. Many people doubted Fantasia , just like many people doubt African-Americans today as a whole. Fantasia pushed passed the negativity and became something in life and what she became is the winner of American Idol and became very successful whose net worth is worth 5 million dollars. Many people see the negative side of African- Americans but never focus on their success , but Black Lives Do Matter.

OREO GIRL

Why is this relevant? That's a good question i asked myself the same thing.It is relevant because this is a commercial were a little girl is just worried about her father’s health and just wants him to be healthy. You’d think race shouldn't matter right?!?!? WRONG.

Just recently that happened in a cheerios commercial featuring a mixed race family this is the 21 century their are black and white kids everywhere rather you realize it or not but the fact of the matter is that they should not target any young child for any reason race, religion etc.

In American history black men were known to leave their families and leave the mother to raise the children by herself or stereotypes where the black men would be brutal to the wife or both. Also blacks in general were not on the same level as whites. Whites were seen as more superior than blacks.Biracial couples and or children were rare especially on national TV very few are even broadcast .

People are afraid/ shock to see a happy family. Black people weren't allowed to be in relation with the opposite race(whites). This is where we get to the brute how black men were consider women beaters or that a black man isn't worthy to be with a white woman.

This time in society this shouldn't happen point blank.It should really never be a thought other than look at the cute little girl. I guess some people still have to cope with the thought i guess. But one thing my mama always taught me was that if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all:-).

 

Blacks being treated badly

Black people were/still are treated badly today. I say this because we black people are still being named called, we are being called names like "Blackie", "Niggers", and "Monkeys". I remember  a time while I was in class, and this white girl said that she doesn't like black people. She said that we remind her of monkeys, and that we also look like monkeys. Another reason why I said we were treated badly is from a 1900's movie called "Roots", starring Levar Burton, Louis Gossett Jr., Chuck Connors, and Sandy Duncans. Its about a boy that was kidnapped from this village in Africa. His name was Kunta Kinte, he was sold into slavery, and then brought to America. He was mistreated wrongly, beaten all the time for no reason, and he was also being named called several of times.

Which race really has power?

The tv show “Scandal” which is set in the white house. The president is played by a white actor. He has the perfect family with his perfect wife and kids. So we think. There is a character named Olivia pope who plays a big role in helping the present to get elected. In the process of the election Ms.Pope and the president seem to get close. Maybe a little to close. We later on find out that Olivia Pope played by a black actress is presented as the president mistress.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZhVzYLMbo) I thought since this was a little stereotyped. I just thought that it was ironic that in this day and age that if they really casted the most powerful man as white for the show. I also thought it was ironic how they just so happened to cast the mistress as a black woman. They seem to focus on how she is mainly the mistress. They don't seem to focus enough on how she is one of the most powerful and feared women in the show. I thought this show for now of days was a little too stereotyped for my liking. But at the same time the present falls in love with Olivia the mistress but as the show continues you see that his perfect little wife doesn't like that so much. Even though she's no better. Sometimes in the show it makes me question if she doesn't like them half because of her race and because she the mistress. This show brings up a lot of questions.

1880 or 2007?

As far as I know, slavery ended in the 1880's but Intel seems to think differently. Back in 2007, Intel released an advertisement in which a white man is being bowed down to by 6 black athletes in an office.

The first stereotype begins with the black men bent over in a ready to race position. I see where Intel is coming from, as they try to represent the super fast technology Intel has to offer but the way they portray the athletes makes this a stereotype because the world sees black men as good, fast runners.

The second stereotype is shown with the white man standing in the middle of the black men being bowed down to in the office. This is the stereotype that white men have power and are usually the boss of the office. 

In a way, this advertisement is also representing slavery by saying "maximize the power of your employees" yet the one boss is white and everyone bowing down to him is black.

Intel claims they meant no wrong in releasing this ad but it portrays all types of stereotypes. They should have defiantly rethought about their ways in representing power and speed.

Country Music

Have you ever listened to the real meaning of country music songs? Probably not because so many people say it’s dumb and only talks about the same thing. The song Accidental Racist is probably the only song that defies the typical country music song. If you really listen to the lyrics and break down what Brad Paisley is trying to say, he is trying to break stereotypes. The main chorus of the song has a very strong meaning. Brad Paisley says that, “He is proud of where he’s from but not everything they have done.” Also “His generation didn’t start the nation but still paying for the mistakes.” The song is trying to show race as a long term goal that is still going trying to fix the problems of race, specifically in the south. Even though this song is trying to make a point about the Confederate flag still flying in the south even with tons of African American people. The song is trying to defy the stereotypes and see what it is like to walk in the shoes of African American walking around town and seeing those flags.

Towards the end of the song LL Cool J is featured. His part is a rap about how just because he has saggy pants, doesn’t mean that he is up to no good. Or that his chains are gold, he is just completely misunderstood. A strong line in this rap part is that LL Cool bean says, “I guess we're both judgin’ the cover not the book.” This line is especially meaningful because the song is both saying that we all judge African Americans by the “cover” (the color of their skin) and not their actual book (what talents they have or what they can’t achieve in life if they weren’t enslaved.)

Cultural Analysis

Little Rascals:

Have you ever seen the Little Rascals? Have you ever compared yourself to one of the characters when you were growing up? Im sure many people have, including me. Looking back on the movie it has many different stereotypes throughout the film. Not all of them seem to be negative. Each of the characters in the movie look very different from one another. There is a black boy, who seems to be looked at positively from the other children, but many people watching the show could see this as trying to break down on the black kid calling this a very racist film. There is also a little white freckled boy which people portray as your "typical white boy". The little sweet blonde white girl has a very positive attitude the whole story. The different white characters in the story tend to get a little racist throughout the show. There is a conversation that takes place between Dickie, and Stymie.

Dickie: “Hey fellas c’mere. Take a look at our uncle. Pop says he’s plenty wild, too.”Stymie: “He sure do look wild. What makes him so black?”

Dickie: “Mom says he’s the black sheep of the family.”

Stymie: “Them horns make him look more like a goat!”

As children watch this movie they develop different opinions. Children watching this can compare themselves to one of the characters, and when they do they want to act like them. When a child growing up usually tends to see something on the TV that catches their attention, whether it is because they look like them, act like them, or even just they want to be like them a child tends to start doing what the person is doing. When Dickie and Stymie are having the conversation that appears to be extremely racist, it plants a picture in the watches mind.




The little Rascals there are many different scenes that show stereotypes that are referring to Stymie which is that little African American boy. At one point in the movie all of the children are going around and they are explain different wishes they have. The wish that comes from Stymie is “I wish I had some chicken”. When viewers watching this see the young boy saying this it automatically gives them an image of something that someone who is African American enjoys. After analysing this movie I learned that there really is some stereotypes that are portrayed in the film.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhWY6yFJsDY Showing how Stymie wants friedchicken

Has ISIS Cornered The United States?

America has a huge role in today's world. We seem to find ourselves involved with almost everything. Some will argue that we find ourselves involved with too much while others will say that we need to do more to help the world get where they think that it should be. When it comes to America’s role with ISIS…the cards are split. Many people have ideas but are not sure on what to do about them. President Obama being one of those people. In a CNN News Report President Obama explains “we don’t have a strategy yet”. This shows that Obama knows that there is a problem and that it needs to get solved. Some would argue that currently America’s role in the world when it comes to ISIS is not present yet. That quote shows that President Obama also believes this. There are different options on what The United States could do but all options are another possible way to put The United States at risk again. Stephen Biddle explains, “This is going to be a long, nasty, dirty, war that in many ways is going to look a lot like the first go-around in Iraq”(2015 Off to a Troubling Start - US News). This quote shows that whether or not President Obama chooses to make a decision that it will put The United States in danger.

Global Warming

Global Warming is known issue around the world. The U.S needs to immediately address Global Warming because it could cause major damage to the earth. The important part of the solution is for the US to contribute to the Global Warming by reducing carbon dioxide, and greenhouse gases. For example, these are all believed to be the primary sources of Global Warming “ The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities. These types of gases can mess up things tremendously, because it can become toxic, and start a fire. Another example is recently humans have been of the reasons to climate change. “Climate has been fluctuating throughout earth's history” The climate does change frequently, for instance like in Chicago the temperature could be really got one day, and the next day it's extremely cold.

Sweat Shops or No Shops

The issue is sweatshops as a whole. The things with sweatshops you have to have a high school diploma to get a job, but a lot of people don’t have high school diplomas so settle for sweatshops. Sweatshops take up full advantages of labor, low income, and physical injuries. The things the United States should do to solve this issue is have more jobs opportunities for those who don’t have a high school diploma, increase their income, decrease the physical injuries.According to Carl Shelton a 48 year old woman , has experienced working inside sweatshops as a labor, who has had the bad end of the stick by experiencing low income having extreme physical issues and treated more like a slave than a human.Come home exhausted, her hands swollen from pushing stiff fabric past a moving needle. She had to work fast to meet quotas kept by a timekeeper, and if she slowed down or had to redo a seam, her hourly income dropped to the base rate, which usually hovered around minimum wage. Besides the low pay, the job gave her back pain from hunching over old sewing machines held together with spare parts and electrical tape(Boal).These are real life stories that people have/experience on a day to day basis. Someone has finally decided to speak up. The way people have been treated is very unfair and unacceptable. When does slavery stop in many cases. By paying lowkey income and treating these people like they are absolutly nothing is slavery it’s just not picking cotton in fields all day long and getting beating. According to Viederman , sweatshops are not bad they just have poor pay and poor quality work. Poorly treated workers typically make poor-quality goods, but U.S. companies that aren’t careful about sweatshops could face the costly job of reputation repair if a watchdog group links their brands to workplace abuses. Furthermore, desirable employees want to work for companies whose values they share, just as consumers want to buy from companies that put values into practice (Viederman). This describes how sweatshops can be good and how they have a positive but an negative affect at the same time.

The issue is sweatshops as a whole. The things with sweatshops you have to have a high school diploma to get a job, but a lot of people don’t have high school diplomas so settle for sweatshops. Sweatshops take up full advantages of labor, low income, and physical injuries. The things the United States should do to solve this issue is have more jobs opportunities for those who don’t have a high school diploma, increase their income, decrease the physical injuries.According to Carl Shelton a 48 year old woman , has experienced working inside sweatshops as a labor, who has had the bad end of the stick by experiencing low income having extreme physical issues and treated more like a slave than a human.Come home exhausted, her hands swollen from pushing stiff fabric past a moving needle. She had to work fast to meet quotas kept by a timekeeper, and if she slowed down or had to redo a seam, her hourly income dropped to the base rate, which usually hovered around minimum wage. Besides the low pay, the job gave her back pain from hunching over old sewing machines held together with spare parts and electrical tape(Boal).These are real life stories that people have/experience on a day to day basis. Someone has finally decided to speak up. The way people have been treated is very unfair and unacceptable. When does slavery stop in many cases. By paying lowkey income and treating these people like they are absolutly nothing is slavery it’s just not picking cotton in fields all day long and getting beating. According to Viederman , sweatshops are not bad they just have poor pay and poor quality work. Poorly treated workers typically make poor-quality goods, but U.S. companies that aren’t careful about sweatshops could face the costly job of reputation repair if a watchdog group links their brands to workplace abuses. Furthermore, desirable employees want to work for companies whose values they share, just as consumers want to buy from companies that put values into practice (Viederman). This describes how sweatshops can be good and how they have a positive but an negative affect at the same time.

Fix global warming save the world

I believe that america's role in the world should be focusing on global warming. We should be focusing on this issue way more because our country starts crumbling away. The article on the global warming solutions website told us “ 2000, we’ve experienced 14 of the 15 warmest years on record – including 2014, the hottest year ever recorded. As the oceans warm, we’re learning that it’s no longer a question of if the Antarctic ice sheet will melt but how fast.”  This is a serious issue in the world right now and needs to be settled. The United States is often noted as the being the most significant contributor to historical emissions of global warming pollution. Most of these emissions occur when power plants burn coal or natural gas and when vehicles burn gasoline or diesel. These are all controllable things that we can fix to change the future if we just focus on it.Solutions to global warming in North America include reducing coal emissions, increasing the use of energy efficiency and renewable energy, greening transportation, and helping developing countries reduce deforestation.

An Analysis Of ¨ Precious¨ And It´s Relation To Racism Today.

When you are looking at the African American race and it’s history, You will find many triumphs, Many losses and many different examples of how diverse the culture is. For my Analysis I chose the movie Precious. This movie came out a couple years ago, and really shows the different Archetypes of African Americans. 

The movie is about a Overweight African american girl named Precious. Her father Is abusive to both Precious and her mother, and has raped Precious multiple times and even has 2 kids with precious. He was portrayed as the brute.  Throughout the movie, he is seen as a large, scary and villainous, just as the brute has been portrayed throughout history.

The mother, who is mentally and physically abusive to Precious could be seen as a mixture of the brute and Mammy. She is shown as Terribly abusive, and strangly nice and motherly. She herself is a paradox, because she is both Evil and good at the same time.

Precious, However, is not really identifiable in only one category.  She is overweight, which is a Stereotype of African americans. That they are sloppy, and don’t take care of themselves. At this point, she could almost be seen as a mammy. There is also a scene where she steals fried chicken from a restaurant. This portrays the stereotype that African Americans are thieves. She is also Not very smart, as seen in the film, which is also a known stereotype of African Americans. Precious and her family live in the “Hood”, which is another stereotype of African Americans. 

The people who contributed to writing this movie and the people who Added ideas to the movie, such as Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, Were very much conscious of the racial ideas and stereotypes in the movie. I believe that they did it to show those who have no idea that this happens everyday. For the people who haven’t seen the ruins that These people live in called “hoods”. For the people who don’t know about the Lack of opportunities in these areas.

This movie, while some could say over exaggerated, told the true story of The lives of these people, and Portrays almost all of the stereotypes known to us. Although a terrible truth, it is the truth. Though some choose to deny this truth, It is real, and will stay real until things change. Is it possible to remove these stereotypes from the culture of today? I don know. However, I know that everyone can do their part in trying.

Syrian Refugees: Second Holocaust?

I think the US needs to immediately address the problem in Syria because, hundreds are dying and the world doesn't need another holocaust. Make more jobs for the american population then give the Syrian refugees visas/green cards so they can escape the conflict. Elizabeth MacBride an author for CBNC and Janell Ross a Reporter for The Washington post argue for letting the Syrian refugees into the US. With Ross making points that contradicts trump’s opposition. And MacBride appealing to the ideal of humanitarian refugees the argument stands for letting the refugees into the US.







The Washinton Post





&





CBNC

Sweatshops AKA Horrorshops

¨A "sweatshop" is defined by the US Department of Labor as a factory that violates 2 or more labor laws.¨ (Do Something) Why does the US needs to immediately address the issue and what should it do to solve the issue? The US needs to immediately address the issue of sweatshops being run by American Corporations in other less developed countries due the to unsafe working conditions this people have to suffer through. And the ludicrous amount of pay theyŕe receiving. DoSomething. org talks about the many facts of Sweatshop laborers. Sourcing their information from reliable resources like The International Labor association. You should believe this source to be credible due to the fact that they are a non profit organization, ei; ¨Do Something is a non-profit organization with the goal of motivating young people to take action around social changes through national campaigns and grants for projects that make an impact. “ (Google Home Page)

While Wanda Embar from Vegan Peace talks about how workers all need to be informed and educated on their rights, including labor laws and how they should be treated and how to avoid being mistreated. “Workers need to be able to freely associate and advocate for rights and improvements to their working conditions” says Embar. Dosomething also talks about how ¨Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers.¨ and how ¨In developing countries, an estimated 168 million children ages 5 to 14 are forced to work. America has stronger labor laws than most undeveloped countries, but it is not free of sweatshop conditions. Many labor violations slip under the radar of the US Department of Labor.¨ but basically overall Sweatshops are hurting so many people and America really needs to start to help stop this problem by zoning in on American companies that support sweatshops by moving their productions over sea. America needs to move their production back to the US or follow our US labor laws to assure the safety of their workers.

Works Cited:

Embar, Wanda. "Sweatshops and Child Labor." Sweatshops and Child Labor. Wanda Embar, 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2015. <http://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops_and_child_labor.htm>.

"11 Facts About Sweatshops." DoSomething.org. DoSomething.org, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015. <https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-sweatshops>.