The book club is one of the most common places for meeting individuals and socializing at various levels. The purpose of the Bad Bugs Book Club is to have individuals to have an interest in scientific aspects of life inclusive of microbiology. The books read in the club involve infectious diseases. The book club also seeks to link events that are currently occurring to the books read in order to make it more interesting. Blige has been my friend for some time, she is the one who made me gain interest in the activities of the book club and convinced me into joining it.
At the time of beginning to interview Blige, we were discussing the Hot Zone by Clarke Arthur. It is a story that describes the inception of the Ebola virus and the story involves various interviews between the writer and key individuals. The story incorporates various graphics for better elaboration and scientific explanations. The story in the book is horrifying and interesting. Before we begin reading the book we first watched the movie Outbreak that had various comparative aspects to the inception of Ebola.
Blige is an African American woman and both of her parents were black but born in the United States. She also identifies as a lesbian. Blige is a confident black woman with strong values against racism and very bitter about how lesbians are treated in the country. She is a member of a group of lesbians that meet once a week to discuss the issues they are facing. Blige was optimistic about having the interview with me and was ready to share with me what she had in mind.
Literature Review
The media is the mainstream information giving a platform for the information on the segregation of black people including racial profiling (Vincent, Peterson & Parrott, 2009). For several years, the media have received criticism for the method in which they represent black people on television. Researchers suggest that despite the number of African Americans on television has increased, the quality has remained the same over time (Vincent, Peterson & Parrott, 2009). Theories of communication and research elaborate that the media is an essential information source on African Americans and hence has vast influence on the perceptions that the audience has on black people. The images of black people on television could lead to the alteration and reinforcement of opinions and beliefs on the African Americans (Vincent, Peterson & Parrott, 2009).
`Most black people on television are portrayed differently and stereotyped on the roles they play in films. The perception is often negative and the personalities played are characterized negatively as individuals who are low achievers. In a research on occupational roles, the findings showed that African Americans on various programs are depicted to undertake blue-collar jobs and our service people. The black people were given roles including cooks, servants, crooks, entertainers, exhibitionists, corrupt individuals, musicians, and athletes (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). The African Americans are also portrayed as people who are not proud of their culture and seek to embrace the white people cultures. Black people are perceived and portrayed to own guns and in gangs including the involvement in drugs and substance abuse and sales.
Further research affirms that many of the stereotypes on the black community are intensified by the media. The high-end occupation roles are not issued to the black people (Williams, 2011). Most of the management roles and other occupations are attributed to the white and the blacks act as employees and servants. In the rare cases where the African Americans assume the recognized occupational roles, they are depicted to have obtained the posts through mercy or extensive hard work. In the roles, the film directors create the impression that it takes more hard work for a black individual to succeed in comparison to a white.
Negativity is also a central role played by the African Americans in various levels of personalities that they play. In a research by the civil rights commission of the United States made findings that the television industry typically portrays and depicts the black people as inferior, comical, stupid, dishonest, and immoral. Further research shows that other stereotypes are inclusive of the African Americans being violent, disrespectful, greedy, ignorant, and driven by power (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). After the determination by the media that the blacks are perceived as immoral, buffoonish, sexual, rebellious, untidy, noisy and uneducated the researchers highlighted that there is a negative perception of the African Americans.
Blacks are perceived to be low achievers and have low social and economic statuses. In comparison to the white people, the black people are seen to have lower status in comparison other races and ethnicities in America. The United States is the most diverse nation in the world in the context of race (Nicole, 2016). Black women in the television are perceived to have a low achievement and the females that are white have less domination that the black women (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). Research shows that the audience perception of the white women characters in television in comparison to the black is very different.
Researchers argue that the perceptions of the black and white people are as a result of the images portrayed by the characters and roles they play on the television. Education levels of the black individuals in the television were lower in comparison to the white (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). They are also perceived not to be able to afford good education and the schools that are in the black people neighborhoods are viewed not to offer quality education.
In contrast, the black people also have positive stereotypes in the media. In an analysis of contents in television across 140 series, the researchers showed that the black men were portrayed as helping individuals and givers. The black women were portrayed to be virtuous. In a comparison between the American and British television, the white people were depicted to be more aggressive and rough on the black people (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). The white individuals treated them as inferiors and the black people often were victims. However, in violence, the white people were portrayed to be the victims of black people aggressive practices inclusive of robbery and killings.
A majority of the American population have experienced abuse online according to a research by the research center of Pew. The harassment takes various forms and some of the minority races in the country face harassment based on their ethnicity and race (Duggan, 2017). The African Americans are the most affected followed by the Hispanics at 10 percent and the white at 3 percent. Various respondents of the survey shared the experiences they have regarding racism online. A white respondent iterated that the issue of race is extensively experienced in Facebook and that it is an issue that should not be faced on the platform. A black respondent iterated that police brutality on black people who were unarmed was shared and the comments from different people of different races turned into a war of words. Black people were against the act while the white seemed to support it since they felt that the black people were violent and criminals.
The Hispanics and black people find the issue of harassment on online platforms as a depressing issue. In a survey 74 percent of African Americans find harassment on online platforms to be irritating followed by Hispanics at 72 percent and lastly the white people are 57 percent (Duggan, 2017). African Americans find it more welcoming if individuals could speak out what is in their minds compared to the white and Hispanics. The survey shows that six out of ten African American users of the internet that is approximately 59 percent iterate that they have experienced harassment online. It higher compared to 48 percent that is Hispanics and 41 percent that are white.
Progressively, on specific behaviors, the black users of the internet note that internet bullies use offensive names on them and embarrass them purposefully online. The black individuals have also faced other forms of harassment including stalking, threats, and sexual harassment. Harassment leaves an intensive impression more so on the African Americans and Hispanics (Duggan, 2017). The survey shows that 43 and 44 percent of blacks and Hispanics respectively felt that there was the potential for a similar event on them in comparison to whites at 33 percent. Harassment leaves scars and trauma on the victims and hence they become paranoid on the potential of an imminent attack on them again at another time.
The ideology of culture has different meanings that are dependent on the context it is incorporated. Stuart a cultural theorist elaborates culture as a distribution of the form of music, art, publishing, design, and literature. He further elaborates that leisure activities and entertainment that constitute the life of individuals is an explanation of culture. Stuart progressively explains that culture distinctively shows the way of life of nations, a particular society or community (Duggan, 2017). In the examination of the various cultural elements, the understanding of culture and its significance could be elaborated to the people of a society.
Culture, when viewed on the basis of race, becomes a complicated concept to elaborate and understand. Stuart's explanation elaborates the difference between the binary black and white to nature and culture. The cultural characteristics attributed to the white people are perceived to support shared values that are regarded as the best practices and characteristics that could be emulated in a group (Johnson, 2012).
Political, cultural and economic activities in the United States define the issues of race and ethnic division faced by the citizens of America in the 21st century (Johnson, 2012). There are various trends and event including the 9/11 attack that led to the development of the war on terror. In the attacks, Americans from across all the races were victimized and the situation in the country led to a rapid change on how Arabs and Muslims, when viewed on the basis of race, in the country.
Progressively is the election of the first African American president into White House. The campaigns by President Obama and the victory are viewed as historic in accordance with the racial profiling that has been in the United States for centuries. His election of the first black president brought cohesion in various but also led to the division of Americans based on their races and ethnicities. The election of president Trump and the perception that he hates the black nation has led to the significant further division of Americans (Desmond-Harris, 2016).
Unauthorized immigration has been an issue that has brought significant division among Americans based on race. It is evident that the white people do not want more black people and other communities to be allowed to the country. President Obama was perceived to be a sympathizer of the immigration policies while the election, President Trump seemed to tighten and strengthen the rules to bar the immigration of more individuals. The increase in the need for cheap labor led to an increase of immigrants mostly from Mexico to be able to meet the need (Desmond-Harris, 2016). Conflicts arose on whether the presence of the immigrants was a good or bad move for the country. President Trump during campaign pledged that he could build a wall between Mexico and The United States to prevent any more Mexicans from entering the country.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people of color
America currently is the more tolerant nation of the LGBTQ community and the African Americans. H...
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