Week 6: Stereotypes/Prejudice

Article Title: Common Racial Stereotypes
Article URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=639338311&Fmt=3&clientId=8991&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The article I chose to read for this week’s discussion was about racial stereotyping. The author chooses the Oxford Dictionary definition to define a stereotype and then explains how people do that to entire ethnic groups. People will associate certain features or characteristics of one or a few people to an entire ethnic group. They will portray that image onto others of the same ethnicity without counting each person’s individuality. The sad thing is racial stereotypes are often negative. The author points out well known stereotypes about certain ethnicities and the negativity of the general public toward minorities and ethnic groups especially. A few examples he uses are ones we already heard, like “Native Americans are Alcoholics…Asian kids are nerds…Arabs are terrorists…African Americans are criminals”. All of these things sound completely absurd but a large part of the population tends to fall for these stereotypes and that’s why they’re well known to all of us. I really liked this article and believed it was very effective and perfect for this week’s topic. The author’s organization moves from the definition of stereotypes, into how they are applied to cultural groups, to what causes them, and then to what kinds of stereotypes we are familiar with. So what does cause racial stereotypes? It is said to be a communication barrier that two people from different cultures have between each other often causing misunderstanding and frustration. The differences in customs makes people believe that all of the people from the opposite group are the same, denying each person’s uniqueness. The most effective part of this article I thought was the steps the author advises people to take to avoid stereotyping. In these steps, all the problems where stereotypes come from can be addressed. They are, in order, Awareness, Saying, Education, Overseeing, and Conclusion. We need to be aware of the problems with the stereotypes we hear, we need to correct someone when we hear them saying something to stereotype, we need to educate ourselves of different cultures and add that into the public school curriculum, we need to oversee the misrepresentations in the media, and we need to conclude that although its human nature to want to judge other races, we need to check ourselves by using the previous steps. (377)

Influence of Media on Race Relations

Article name : COCHRAN WILL SPEAK AT UB ON THE POWER OF THE MEDIA TO INFLUENCE RACE RELATIONS

Article URL: http://proquest.umi.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/pqdweb?did=49827986&sid=6&Fmt=3&clientId=8991&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The article I chose to read was about the media’s influence on race relations. The author Kevin Collison, states that “The media can reveal real-life discrimination or create a fairy- tale TV world where minorities don't exist, depending on how it uses its power to influence race relations”. I agree with this statement and believe it’s important because for a lot of people who do not read or keep up with current events in newspaper articles or magazines, television is one of the only sources of education. Not to say they haven’t gone to college, but in our daily lives we learn things and sources like the media effect this learning greatly. It’s important to recognize that the media has the power to influence race relations so we can ensure what’s shown on commercials, shows, and the news coverage speaks well of diversity. The author speaks of Cochran, a high profile attorney that defended O.J. Simpson, represented the family of Cynthia Wiggins, and now is representing Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Cochran knows the media’s power and speaks of it at places like Universities to discuss “The Influence of the Media on Race Relations”. This was part of the 24th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration sponsored by groups like the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists. He pointed out in Wiggins’ case the media’s coverage of the minority-free jury and how this coverage could effect reforms on having more balanced juries in courtrooms in the future. Cochran said "The media can point out where we're falling short on the whole issue of diversity” in reference to the coverage of the all-white jury. Although he is pleased with this, he is also displeased with the way some TV shows like friends live in a minority-free world, as if they do not exist in the characters lives. In this article, the media was portrayed as both positive and negative. Is it a way of solving race relations or a way of showing sitcoms with all white casts? The media is definitely both, and I’m happy that at least part of the time it uses its power to recognize that diversity should be present on our TV screens, just as it is in real life.

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