America is chock full of double standards.
We’re the land of the free, yet slavery existed for over 400 years. In Arizona, Latinos have to present proof that they are legal residents of the United States.
Being a country lead by men, women still cannot do what the opposite sex can do based on their lower status in society.
Non-white people can pretty much forget about justice in this country.
Unless you have lots of money, your best bet is to stay out of the legal system regardless of your color.
Why am I on this topic? Because the playing field in American society will NEVER be even no matter how much people accomplish and progress. The media play a major role in making sure that white people maintain their “superior” status in society by portraying all other races, nationalities, and colors “less than.” This is done through misrepresentation, under-representation, or no representation.
Don’t believe me? Read The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki.
The authors reported on page 53 that “the continued power of prototypical thinking that considers whites the normal, and prototypical, human.” They gave the example of how Time and Newsweek magazines used anonymous white images for their cover topics. There were a total of 30 such covers over a three year period. The only black people that made the covers during this period were famous – Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey.
Television is horrible. Just look at all of the reports about crimes in black communities on network news. All black people are not bad. However, anybody watching network news would get that impression. The tragedy of the situation is that the negative images are all viewers have to go on because there are very few positive images about black people – period. There are even fewer stories about bad things happening in non-black communities.
And “urban” radio is the devil’s playground with all of the songs about sexual acts, violence and disrespect to women. They don’t have all of that on other stations. I don’t listen to those stations, but I know women are not disrespected on that level, if at all.
To close, I just wanted to share my thoughts about the double standards in America. Unfortunately, media portrayals do not help at all. They create divisions instead of understanding. While these topics may not be discussed on mainstream media, you can voice your thoughts about double standards in America here on As NOT Seen on TV.