last night, i just happened to look up from my greek homework in time to see the most racist commercial on TV. the commercial was for a company selling alarm systems and here's how it went: a white mother and her daughter were happily going about their business when suddenly an intruder kicked in the front door of their house. the commercial could have easily shown the door being kicked in without showing the intruder. but instead, the door swung open and there ready to (i assume) rob, rape, or murder these innocent white people was a thugged out black male. seriously? did they really just go there? and then it showed the mother and daughter running upstairs and talking to the police on the phone as they huddled close together in absolute terror. of course, in the end everything was OK because their alarm system was awesome.
the fact that this commerical went on the air flabbergasts me. i just cannot get over how much racial stereotyping is going on -- innocent, helpless white family vs. up-to-no-good, gangsta black male. oh my gosh, i just can't get over it. what's particularly troubling about this is that i'm sure many people who see this commercial don't think twice about it, which is what's so scary about racism: it's so engrained in us. on a related note, i have wanted to write (for awhile) a post about how much i hate it when white people take pictures of themselves pretending to be gangstas. you know the pictures i'm talking about -- evil eyes, puckered lips, and the hand signs. i have taken a few of these kind of pictures myself, and i'm now ashamed. it is beyond me why anyone would want to glorify a culture that exists primarily for violence, and has been born out of the need of so many american youths (many of them minorities) to be accepted and loved because they never found either of these things in their homes. gang culture is just another visible sign that racism is still alive and kicking in america -- that minorities still have not gained equal footing with whites and are thus destined to believe that the only way to "make it" in america is through violence and crime.
after i posted the above, i googled the commericial hoping to find the name of the company so i could write them a complaint. you would not believe the number of people who have complained about a brinks security commercial that shows white males as the "bad guys." this is what's so wrong with our society as it relates to racism. when a person sees a white male depicted as the "bad guy," they never assume that represents all white people; rather, they assume that guy must be one bad apple among a bunch of good ones, which is why they get all up in arms about having a white male be the "bad guy" (and why i can't find a single complaint about the commerical i saw). however, because of prevailing racist attitudes about minorities, when a black male is portrayed as the "bad guy," most people assume that he represents the majority of black people. and if there is a "good" black person, that person must be the good apple among a bunch of bad ones. you can see how this plays out all the time in our society if you just listen to the way people talk...
(i should also say that the decision to adopt 2 black children has confronted me with my own sin related to racism, and i continue to struggle with how deep racism exists in my soul.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have seen the same commercial from that company, only with a white male intruder here in Ohio. I wonder if there is a regional difference in their ads? The 'victims' are always white... maybe they think white people are the only ones who can afford a security system?
ReplyDeleteI also saw a similar commercial where the man breaking in is identified as the womans ex-boyfriend. That was pretty interesting, considering how much violence against women is considered 'domestic violence'.
Monica B. in Ohio