Social media has impacted our lives dramatically and has shaped the way we look at certain situations and other people.

The way we perceive other races has been shaped by how they are portrayed in the media. Since our main source of news and information comes from the media, you can see this pattern that is broadcasted throughout the different platforms of social media.

The US has struggled with racism and has mistreated others based on its history as a whole. The divide between Black, White, Asian, Native Americans, and Latinos has been caused by this outbreak of how they are viewed in the media.

“Many media outlets reinforce the public’s racial misconceptions about crime by presenting African Americans and Latinos differently than whites — both quantitatively and qualitatively,” said Nazgol Ghandnoosh in the report of the Race and Punishment. You can see that pattern in new headlines, articles, and people’s perceptions of crime.

The media has created this mindset that minorities are seen as crime suspects, and whites are always seen as a crime suspect. They are seen as monsters and vicious people, when with whites, they tend to sugarcoat it.

Since this is embedded into someone’s brain, this affects the behavior of one’s being. People may act a certain way towards these groups of people. Blacks and latinos are more likely to be mistreated by police.

“Numerous studies have shown that media contribute marginalizing particular ethnic and cultural groups depicting them primarily as problems for and threats to the dominant,” said Raymond Nairn in the study of Media, Racism and Public Health Psychology.

Racial minorities are most likely charged more for the same crime that were to be conducted by someone of the white race. The system is so corrupt that it is solely made for only white people. It is structured this way to benefit them while leaving these other types of groups to suffer.  

“Being black and being of this community, I do see this pattern of the media portraying my kind as monsters. I feel like when this happens nobody wants to speak up about it. Nobody actually wants to hear the truth about the situations that is happening,” said Sarah Sfeir, a sophomore at the iSchool.

This corrupt system not only affects these minorities, but also the oppressors as well. These oppressors are being mended and fall deeper into this racist mindset. One might not even realize you have this mindset until it is spoken up about.

“I can definitely see how people see my kind. It really hurts to see people actually thinking these things of you, you know. I hope that people would stop and realize all of the racial discrimination they have on my people and in my community,” said by Danasia Patrick, a freshman at the iSchool.

Society tries to shut down this being spoken about and being spread. Oppressors don’t want people to shut out that they all have in a sense. They don’t want other races to get on this “pedestal” that they so called have or they made of themselves.

This latch that social media and society has on people is so tight that it is very hard to escape this. Trying to escape this corrupt system is nearly impossible no matter how hard you distance yourself from it. It will always creep into one’s life, which is the sad truth of today’s world.

People have given the media way too much power that is it impossible to control.    

These communities don’t have the amount of support and acknowledgment that is needed for them to strive which leads to underrepresentation.

“I feel like minorities don’t get the amount of acknowledge that should be given to them. Since I see this happen a lot in not only the media but like in tv shows, minorities are always the villain or someone that doesn’t have a lead role,” said by Jess Zhuang, a sophomore at the iSchool.

“During the beginning stages of film and media, African Americans struggled to represent their own stories, beliefs, opinions and identities because White people controlled the entertainment industry and choose what images of black people to portray,” said in Racism and the Media: A Textual Analysis by Kassia E. Kulaszewicz.

Although this topic is vaguely put out in the media, when it is, it doesn’t spread nor it is heard by anyone. It is being shut out and dismissed. The media has created people to be heartless.

Society only glorifies the good in white people when only broadcasting the bad and the negative for the minorities such as black and latinos. Unfair treatment and these inequitable actions should not accepted by anyone.

“A study of television news found that black crime suspects were presented in more threatening contexts than whites: black suspects were disproportionately shown in mug shots and in cases where the victim was a stranger,” according to the study of Race and Punishment by Nazgol Ghandnoosh.

Throughout media, there will always this depiction that minorities are vilified. As the years go by and more chaos happens, it adds on to how we see others. Since this is what we are being put up to see, you we believe it?