Covert Racism, Sexism, and Oppression

1. Covert Racism, Sexism, and Oppression Media

2. Teleliteracy Pretest • Provide the next line from the following TV themes. • 1) “Come listen to a story/’bout a man named Jed…..” • 2) “Green Acres is the place to be…” • 3) “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood/ a beautiful day for a neighbor…” • 4) “Hey, hey we’re the Monkees/And people say we monkey around….”

3. Definitions • Overt - Definitions: 1. unconcealed: done openly and without any attempt at concealment ... 2. open and intentional • Covert - Definitions: secret: not intended to be known, seen, or found out ... noun (plural coverts) Info taken from Encarta

4. Television and Covert Discrim. • A survey by the NAACP's Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter found that of 839 writers currently working on primetime shows, just 55 are black, 11 Latino, three Asian-American and none Native American, meaning minorities make up just 7 percent of primetime network writers. Info taken from www.fair.org

5. Television and Discrim. Cont. • According to the Screen Actors Guild, the number of primetime parts for blacks and Latinos declined in 1998, with blacks filling around 12 percent, and Latinos just 3 percent. Asian-Americans represented a little more than 1 percent of parts on primetime shows. A 1998 Directors Guild of America report showed that minority (and women) directors (in TV and film) worked fewer days in 1997 than the year before, despite an increase in work for directors overall (L.A. Daily News, 7/17/98).

6. Discrimination, for example, also takes the form of segregation. • The vast majority (83 percent) of the 55 African-American primetime writers worked on shows with primarily black casts. • "White writers, however, routinely make the crossover to write on shows with predominantly minority casts," as the Los Angeles Times observed (10/27/99). • CBS has 144 writers; the two that are black both worked on Cosby.

7. And of course there are countless anecdotal examples that suggest pervasive problems. Like Jay Dyer, the successful African-American writer whose agent was told flatly: "This isn't a black show. We don't need a black writer." (Entertainment Weekly, 7/30/99) • Or the casting director who wasn't satisfied that auditioning actor Garrett Wang was doing a "Japanese accent" until "I took the most exaggerated Cantonese-Chinese accent, you know... 'Oh I give you two free egg roll if you bring laundry into my store.'… And she said, 'That's it. That's the one.'" (All Things Considered, 10/27/99)

8. Black, Latino, Asian-American and Native American actors cite the frustration of being considered only for "specifically ethnic" roles, the countless opportunities they miss because of someone's parochial idea of what a "neighbor" or a "bank teller" should look like (see, e.g., Hollywood Reporter, 9/14/1999). • On the flip side, minority writers say they can only get started in the business by avoiding issues relating to ethnicity: "If you do a spec script for a white show with white characters, at least you'll get a foot in," writer Daryl Nickens told the Chicago Tribune (8/8/93).

9. ‘Caucasian savior' complex • The Hollywood-inspired belief that only white people can save brown ones. • Examples: The Last Samuri, Dances with Wolves, etc. Info taken from mixedreviews.net

10. Sports teams…………..

11. Why is this offensive? • The American Indian community for 50 years has worked to banish images and names like Cleveland's chief wahoo, Washington redskins, Kansas City chiefs, Atlanta braves. • They work to remind people of consciousness of the use of the symbols resemblance to other historic, racist images of the past. • Chief wahoo offends Indian people the same way that little black sambo offended African Americans and the frito bandito offended the Latino community and should have offended all of us. It assaults the principle of justice. Info taken from: http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/

12. NASW Condemns the use of Native American Mascots • In September of 2007 the NASW Board of Directors voted to approve a statement that condemns the use of Native American icons and calls for the discontinuation of the use of Native American nicknames, logos, and mascots in sport settings. • Chair Betty Garcia wrote, “at issue are the denigrating ways that American Indian images are utilized that promote negative stereotyping of indigenous First Nation people.”

13. The Indians or Warriors is this an insult or a tribute? • “I don’t call it a mascot. That’s demeaning. I would rather call it a symbol of all the athletes in our history who have strived and been successful” said Don Rodawig, a retired physician who has lived in Spirit Lake since 1931. • “If I were saying something that was offensive to any other group and I were asked to stop, I would stop.” said John Blackhawk of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

14. Continued… • According to the Iowa Dept of Education there is no rule against having an American Indian nickname or mascot, but the department counsels schools to be respectful in their portrayals. • There are at least 8 schools with Indian nicknames in Iowa; Braves, Indians, Savages, Warriors. • Info taken from the Des Moines Register, March 7, 2006

15. What if our team mascot was a Bishop?

16. We could sell grape juice at the concession stand with Ritz crackers. • We could paint crosses on our foreheads for the football games. • A non-Catholic man could be dressed in one of those robes and ride out on the field at a football game and throw a flaming crucifix into the turf to get the game started. • Nuns could be cheerleaders in nice short black skirts. • Hymns could be modified for the pep fests and the words could be changed to promote school spirit. • We could swing rosaries for crowd comraderie. • We could make the sign of the cross after we score. • We could have a silhouette of a bishop with blood dripping down his chin on our jerseys. This will instill fear in our opponents. • We could have buttons that say we crucify our opponents.The goal posts on the football field could be crucifixes. Information taken from: http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm

17. Where is the covert racism in the story the “Grinch That Stole Christmas”?

18. Movies – Views from Paul Kivel • Paul discusses the example of how films use visual images of white being good and dark or black being bad. • The Lion King – Throughout the movie • Lightness is associated with good , darkness with evil. • Everything from the lightness or lions’ kingdom versus the murky land of the hyenas, reflects the racial andmoral hierarchy of the film. • Language of the characters: the lions talk in middle-class “white” English and the hyenas in a more street dialect. • These racial, color-coded values can be found consistently in Disney movies going back to Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo (remember the crows) and introduce young children to our racial hierarchy in a way that seems natural.

19. Marketing – info taken from Minority Nurse, Fall 2007 • A number of studies have shown that tobacco companies have aggressively targeted African-Americans in their marketing. • 90% of tobacco billboards are located in African-American communities. • Ebony, Jet, and Essence received higher revenues from cigarette advertisements than did other magazines.

20. How Does Marketing Affect People? • Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been the leading cause of death for all racial and ethnic groups in the United States. • African-Americans have the highest mortality rate from heart-related diseases than any other racial/ethnic group. Information taken from Minority Nurse, Fall 2007

21. Sexism in the media • How are women portrayed? • How are young girls portrayed versus young boys? • Barbie vs. Bratz • Halloween costumes

22. Other forms of media • Movies • Television shows and commercials • Radio (music, ads, commentary, etc.) • Video games (Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto) • Books, newspaper, magazines • Marketing in stores, toys, etc. • What else????