Media Effect On Race

acism has always been, and continues to be, a relevant issue in today’s society. While racism is not as prevalent as it was in the 1860’s, it is not any less significant. The relevance of racism today can partially be blamed on how the media portrays race. Media comes in all forms; print media, broadcast media, social media, etc., all of which play an important role in our society. Media is the current educator in today’s society because society looks to media for information. The problem with media is that it does not always have the proper answers in regards to certain issues, especially race When it comes to the issue of race, society should not look to media for answers. The media does not portray racial problems accurately because it

A racial double standard is when a strict set of rules is applied differently to people of different races. For example, if two different individuals of two different races committed the same crime, one of the individuals would get a different sentence based on their race alone; even though the law should not discriminate based on race. A racial double standard can easily be detected by comparing the treatment of two males regarding crime. In July of 2014, Eric Garner, an African-American male, was arrested for selling loose cigarettes. Even though Garner was unarmed, one of the police officers physically took him into custody by putting him in a choke-hold, which caused Garner to die from lack of air. The police officer was not charged for Garner’s death, even though Garner died from the result of the choke-hold. In July of 2015, Dylann Storm Roof, a white male, allegedly killed nine African-Americans in a shooting. However, in this case, the police officers reacted quite differently. Photographs show police officers “respectfully handling Roof, protecting him from photographers, and providing him with a bullet-proof vest” (Noman). Even though the white male committed a crime much worse than the black male, he was treated with more respect than the black male.There is a significant problem with how the police handle race and how the media reports

Because media is full of racist propaganda, racism is a relevant problem in today’s society. Media does not represent race in a proper way; it is based on opinions, it negatively influences our society in regards to the outlook on race, and it groups races into unfair categories. Until the media discontinues the inaccurate portrayal of race, society will continue to have an uninformed view of race that ultimately leads to racism. ‘What we know- what we have seen- is that America can change…what we have already achieved, gives us hope.. for what we can and must achieve tomorrow” (Obama). It is true that society has come a long way in regards to racism, but it has not yet come far enough. Racism is still a relevant issue in society and racism will not end until it ends in