Race and ethnicity in the United States Census Essay

The media is an industry where the competition is intense and it has been used by the government individuals, organizations, institutions, society, and family etc. for various purposes. However, due to the increasing competition in the industry, many at times the functions and duties which the media owes to the society are significantly overlooked. There are various functions of the media some will be discussed later on in this paper. The aim of the media has to a fearfully large extent shifted from fulfilling its roles to the society, rather their focus is often on how much entertainment they can offer to their audience and how much money they can make and how quickly they can make it. Entertainment and money making is definitely key in the existence, survival and growth of this industry, nevertheless, this should not be achieved by inappropriately portraying a group’s identity in any form. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Construction – To make or create, by putting together ideas, components or arguments. Group Identity – This refers to a person’s sense of belonging to a group. Media- Are communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data or promotional messages are disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting and narrow casting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax and internet (business dictionary, 2015). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY BY TAJFEL & TURNER (1979) This theory was propounded in order to understand the psychological reasons and basis for inter- group discrimination. The components of this theory goes thus: Categorization- This is the process of putting ourselves and others into categories, our self-image is associated with the categories we belong to. Identification – This is the process by which we associate ourselves with certain groups of people. Nevertheless there are some groups we don’t want to be identified with (out groups) and there are some we would want to be identified with (in groups). Comparison- This is the process through which we compare our groups with other groups, thereby creating a positive bias towards the groups in which we are members of. This aspect of this work will focus on two salient functions of the media amidst the various ones there are. Social heritage function- The onus lies on the media to transmit positive racial and ethnic values about every existing race and ethnic group. The act of highlighting and spotlighting the various negativities of races and ethnic groups should be avoided. Surveillance function- This is the duty the media owes to the society in circulating news and information when necessary, the media is responsible for providing information about events. THE CONSTRUCTION OF GROUP IDENTITY BY HOLLYWOOD (A STUDY OF THE LATINO RACE) There are five acclaimed races in the world: 1) Mongoloid (Asian and American Indian) 2) Caucasoid (European) 3) Australoid (Australian and oceanic) 4) Negroid (East African black). 5) Capoid (South African black) The Latinos could be said to belong to the Mongoloid race and most of the 315 million people who live in the United States of America are either immigrants or have ancestry to another country. In actual fact, the only truly American people are the Native ones. This country is based on the idea of migration in pursuit of a better social and economic life. According to U. S. Census Bureau (2012), there are roughly 52 million Hispanics/Latinos living in the United States, representing approximately 16. 7% of the total population of United States of America, and making them the nation’s largest ethnic minority. Among Hispanic subgroups, Mexicans rated as the largest at 63%, followed by Puerto Ricans (9. 2%), Cubans (3. 5%), Salvadorans (3. 3%), Dominicans (2. 8%), and the remaining 18. 2% were Colombians, Guatemalans, Portuguese, Honduras, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Brazilian. The main reason for their migration has been either that they are politically endangered or have financial problems. For instance the Cubans who ended up in America wanted to escape from the political conditions in their country. Escaping from the communist government practiced in Cuba, they were considered as ‘political refugees’ in America for three and a half decades until 1995. As a result of America’s opposition to the Cuban government, they were treated in America better than almost any other ethnic group. This has also been partly because of their high level of education and professionalism before migration (Martins, 2006 as seen in Mousavi & Sadeghi, 2013). Latinos, Mexicans in particular, mostly live in the Southwest; almost half in California and Texas. Puerto Ricans are mostly in the East and Cubans are in Florida. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, legal Hispanic household income is only 75 percent of White American income. There is also a high rate of poverty and unemployment among them, and their socio economic status is at a low level. The cause for this situation is partially their jobs being the lowest paid ones, their low education level, and employment discrimination (Camarillo and Bonilla, 2001). They are present in the news, advertisements, election campaigns, political debates, television and films. The common major feature that is present in all of these portrayals is the problems related to them that should be solved and not to be glorified, exaggerated or exploited by Hollywood. Before now African Americans were more likely to be portrayed as domestic workers in Hollywood. African Americans played major roles in television sitcoms such as â€Å"Beulah† in the 1950’s and â€Å"Gone with the wind† in 1939. In recent times Latinos have increasingly replaced African Americans as Hollywood domestics. Hollywood has presented an incorrect reality of the Latino people to the American people and to the world at large, it has exaggerated a poor image of this particular race. Although the Latinos who live in America get more roles to play in Hollywood, most of these roles are mentioned in the next paragraph. The Latino female is often presented as a temptress, vamp, lustful, promiscuous, unfaithful, manipulative, of loose morals or submissive at times in relation to a white male fantasy, low class, serving the whites. A list of Ten Latino Female artists who have played the role of a maid in Hollywood Movies/series. Jennifer Lopez – Maid in Manhattan, 2002 Aida Linares- Clueless, 1995 Lupe Ontiveros- As good as it gets, 1997 (She has played an estimate of 150 maid roles on television). Consuela-Family Guy, 2005-till present Nadine Valesquez-My name is Earl, 2005-2009 Paz Vega- Spanglish, 2004 Kate Del Castillo- La misma Luna, 2007 Adriana Barraza- Babel, 2006 Catalina Saavedra, The maid, 2009 Roselyn Sanchez, Devious Maids, 2013- till present Pania Ramirez – Devious Maids, 2013 till present THE MEDIA, DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE INITIATIVE (MDSCI)’S SIX YEAR STUDY REVEALS SOME STATISTICS. Among the racial and ethnic groups studied in the Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative’s report, released August 2014, Latinos made up only 4. 9% of movie characters across 100 of 2013’s top-grossing films. According to the U. S. Census Bureau’s estimates, there are roughly 52 million Latinos in the U. S. as of July 1, 2011, or just over 16% of the current U. S. population. That number is on track to reach 132. 8 million — or about 30% of the U. S. population — by July 1, 2050. LATINOS THAT ARE DEPICTED IN TOP-GROSSING MOVIES ARE MOSTLY NAKED. While the study does note that â€Å"Hispanic females (37. 3%) were more likely to be featured in popular films than were white females (29. 6%) or Asian females (32%),† Latinas are also more likely than females among any of the other groups studied (37. 5%, to be precise) to be shown partially dressed or nude on the big screen. LATINOS ARE ALSO HIGHLY LIKELY TO BE SEXUALIZED. The sexualization of Latinos does not stop with women. Latino men were the most likely among the studied groups (16. 5%) to be depicted wearing â€Å"tight, alluring or revealing clothing. † DANGERS OF THE NEGATIVE PORTRAYAL OF RACE & ETHNICITY BY THE MEDIA ?Since there is a tendency to believe what is represented or depicted by the media; as particular races or ethnic groups are often negatively portrayed, others who are not acquainted with such group of people are bound to believe they are actually the way the media has presented them. ? Another danger of negative portrayals of race/ethnic groups by the media is that the younger ones from such groups may not be able to see themselves better than the way the media has portrayed them. For example if a race is continually depicted as a maid or as vulgar murderer the younger generation of such groups may not see anything wrong with being that way and could actually end up as same. ? This particular race have existing challenges of employment, poor education; the continuous depictions as such does not help solve these problems, but only worsens them. ?It could be difficult for people who are negatively portrayed to keep relationships with or amongst other races who are depicted as superior to them. THE NOLLYWOOD CONSTRUCT OF ETHNICITY (A STUDY OF THE YORUBA, AND NORTHERN NIGERIANS) The founding fathers of Yoruba films in Nigeria i. e. Herbert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) Based their works on the constructive values of the Yoruba ethnic group without leaving their audience entertained. In recent times Nollywood has neglected the transfer of social heritage function in the production of Yoruba films. More often than necessary abusive statements, raining of curses and the invention of such and rascality has been synonymous with Yoruba films. The very rich Yoruba culture which the world could learn from is often being tarnished by our film industry. However there are various Yoruba producers who focus on spreading the positivity of the Yoruba culture i. e. Tunde Kelani, Tade Ogidan, Yinka Afolayan. Men from the Northern part of Nigeria are also often times portrayed as either a gateman or the security man of a well-established family. The character who could actually be Yoruba speaks like a man from the north to convince the audience that the gateman is a man from the Northern part of the Country. Little does Nollywood know that many of the gatemen in Lagos which I can speak for are not even Nigerians. I have observed that most of the gatemen/security men in reality are actually from Niger Republic many of them look like Nigerian Northerners, are able to speak Hausa language but they are not Nigerians. RECOMMENDATIONS ?Every race has some sort of value and norms that could be positive, the media should hereby seek out such and spread them. ? The media needs to respect the fact that every human person has dignity and should be portrayed as such. ?They never should never assume that a particular race or ethnicity is less than the other, regardless of the socio economic status of such groups. ?The media should seek to solve the challenges faced by some races and ethnic groups rather than exploit them. ?The media should be reminded that they are socially responsible to the society, thus they should be mindful of what they feed the society with.