Social Media is a vital part of the lives of most young adults, and it is all too often that a person’s timeline or page will be plagued with an array of racial and stereotypical posts and or comments. This alarming fact sparked our interests and we were determined to find out why something such as this could go virtually unchecked.
In the earlier stages of our research we collected primary research, going straight to the main sites (Vine, Facebook, and Twitter) to collect evidence. The first thing that we noted as an occurring pattern, was the collective effort put into these racial postings and videos. There would be a member of the dominant group (white) and a member(s) from the minority (Black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern). These observations lead us to the conclusion that racial remarks are acceptable as long as the dominant group has the cooperation from a minority member and vice versa. Another part of our research was to see how people responded to these “subtle” acts of racism. We found that racial posts and videos would often times have more likes, views, and positive comments than videos and posts on other matters. These acts of societal acceptance are what we believe perpetuates this problem even more. We turned to our fellow classmates for answers.
We asked Samora Johnson: Do you feel like social media is a new outlet for racism?
She responded, “Social media has always been an outlet for racism; it’s just that people have learned to use it better and more efficiently. It’s easier to say something is “just a joke” on a social network than before”.
We asked Javon Daniel the same question. He responded, “Yes, because people feel invincible behind a computer screen they say what they want knowing they can get away with it”.
We also asked Samora: Do you think social media intervenes or perpetuates racism.
“Social media allows racism to perpetuate due to the way the media portrays all groups of people. Each group has the typical stereotypes and this leads to racism, and this is visible on every social network. Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram are prime examples of how people make jokes about certain races that are believed to be ‘funny’ ”.
We asked Jeremy Johnson the same question. He responded, “I think for the most part social media intervenes for the most part. Obviously, you have blogs and hate groups out there for ignorant people who are to narrow- minded to understand that we are all a part of one race, the human race, k ,8and that race is a man-made structure. These videos are funny videos that shed light on just how silly racism and stereotypes really are, and that’s the kind of message we want people of our generation and future generations to realize”.
We asked Jeremy, Samora, and Javon: Have you ever been a victim of racism?
Their responses
Jeremy: “I’m a Caucasian male, not to be crude but I’ve won the race and gender lottery, I’m a white man. There is nothing better you can be in society and it’s sad that it is that way. As a white male, the most egregious act of racism I’ve ever “suffered” from was not being picked on a team for the outdoor court games next to Monty’s. Is that a hardship, no, I just didn’t get to play a game, to tell you