Wanted: Understanding
Where’s the White Voices: Open Your Eyes
This article, written by Carmen Dixon, addresses an interesting point regarding representation in media. From the website Black Voices, it responds to the question: where is the website White Voices? Isn’t it still segregation by providing a completely black perspective? As the original author points out: No, it isn’t. The truth of the matter is that the majority of all mainstream media is controlled by and created for whites. As major media outlets are in business, they purposely decide what content should and should not be shown in order to appeal to the largest possible demographic.
As a result, much of the content is not aimed at what are considered minority demographics. Black Voices is attempting to fill this void, and provides a medium for black journalism that might otherwise not make it into mainstream media. This question is an example of what is becoming known as New Racism(i), wherein it as assumed by the white majority that the civil rights movements of decades past have essentially fixed the problem of racism. This is not true, as many of the basic systems and methods which are used by our society have been designed by whites, and while may not be inherently racist, may at the same time not provide an all-encompassing view racially, rather one that is slightly skewed or at the very least incomplete.
(i) Littlefield, Marci. (2008) The Media as a System of Racialization: Exploring Images of African American Women and the New Racism. American Behavioral Scientist. 51-5: 675 – 685.
Secret’s misunderstood
“Secrets’ secret is that it is a club making money playing black music, while it excludes black people.”
This article details a night spent in Ocean City where Gabrielle Beckles and her party were rejected from entering a nightclub due to one of the members not possessing proper ID. This sort of attitude is common, and I don’t mean the attitude of not allowing blacks to enter nightclubs. What the author of this post is failing to realize is that the member in her party was rejected not because of the color of her skin, but because she did not have the proper credentials required to enter.
A member of any other race would have also been rejected. The bouncer was doing his job and following company policy. The fact that the bouncer denied Gabrielle’s friend special treatment is not evidence of racism. This sort of attitude is a product of the current self-centered perspective of our generation, otherwise known as entitlement.
The author also betrays her own racist sentiments by characterizing what I assume to be rap and hip-hop as “black music.” While these two styles of music certainly have their roots in black culture, a forward thinking perspective highlights the growing diversity within this form of music and the need for it to be recognized as a medium shared by all, not a particular ethnic group.
Sorry, Gabrielle, you’re not entitled to be admitted to 21 and over nightclubs without proper identification, and you’re also a bit racist.
Irrelevant arguments set back actual race discussions in blog
This article essentially argues that the creation of the word “race” is fundamental to racism, and without it’s usage and inception into language, racism would… well, he doesn’t really leave us with what potential alternative benefits would be gained from the nonexistence of the word racism, however I suppose it is assumed that things would be better. Unfortunately, this article is another example of false racism, a phenomenon I am finding quite prevalent in blogs discussing the subject. William Cook gives us the flaw in his argument himself:
“Until the word “race” came into existence, people defined themselves by ethnicity.”
Can you see the gap in his logic? He is disassociating the idea that people have always defined themselves by ethnicity with the creation of the word race. This is not the case, following Occam’s Razor, rather than the term race being a loaded word created with a conspiracy to demean members of our community, it seems more likely that the term race came into use in order to easily identify the difference in ethnicity. The problem of racism is not with words, rather the ideas behind them. Attempting to blame a word is creating an ancillary conflict that does not address racism and is mainly in the author’s own head.
