Racism In The Media Essay Example

For years humans have faced a global issue that can put peoples lives at risk. People have experienced online hate, threats, intimidation, physical assault, verbal abuse and even greater degrees of racism that resulted in death. Despite the fact that protests for equality have been persistent this past year, racism has not vanished and in ways it has gotten worse. Even though racism has been very normalized in the last few years, racism is still a huge issue and factors that contribute to racism's existence are the media, quick judgement, uneducation, and family opinions. A large portion of society's beliefs are influenced by the media industry and the way they can portray certain races.

The media is the main communication outlet where anyone with a piece of technology can keep racial stereotypes alive which will therefore fuel racism. For example, Black men are represented in the media as violent or they are shown in news stories as an example of poverty. This affects how Black people view themselves and how society will view that race. Racism in the media is also often shown in subtle ways without any hostile intent, but it affects the society incredibly in a negative way. One very  crucial part of the media is the entertainment industry. This industry has shown prejudice towards certain races, and the racism included in shows, moveis, etc were presented as so-called “jokes”. Another big reason why communities are racist and see racism as an everyday standard is because of the way our families and friends' opinions can affect us.

We as human beings tend to take on the views of the people around us and a lot of our attitudes are shaped when we’re young by family members, friends, etc. When our family or friends express racist opinions, it would be common that we would take those views for ourselves. For example, when a parent is acting racist at a store towards an asian woman, there is a big possibility that the child will inherit their actions/beliefs.  When a child is surrounded by racist family members or friends, they may believe those stereotypes/opinions for their lifetime.  The problem is that if they never step out of their comfort zone, and discover an opinion for themselves they will be a part of why racism is alive.