Discrimination Based on Colour

Crystal Ngai 60005519 Wiki Project

The purpose of the wiki page is to discuss the impact on discrimination based on colour whether it is stereotypes in mass media or in the job industries. It illustrates the role that discrimination plays in society and in serious cases, how lives can be impacted from discrimination.

What is Discrimination Based on Colour?

Discrimination is defined as "the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex." Discrimination happens to all of us in various shapes and forms. One of the most common types of discrimination is discriminating someone based on the colour of their skin. This is formally known as racism. Racism is "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races."

Why Does Discrimination Happen?

Discrimination can be intentional but it can also be unintentional. Every single person has discriminated someone based on gender, ethnicity, religion and various other reasoning. We may do it purposefully but sometimes it happens because of the environment we grew up in. Discrimination is carried on from generation to generation. It can be learned through peers and institutions. Discrimination can educate us on certain things but it can also limit our perspective. From stereotyping certain ethnic groups due to the actions or attributes of individuals which come from the same ethnic group, discrimination is produced due to society believing these stereotypes to be true. However, stereotypes can not be applied to individuals just because they come from the same ethnic backgrounds. It is hard to control ourselves from discriminating others because stereotyping is still present in society and as long as it is present, it will lead to certain beliefs that result to certain discriminations. Nonetheless, it is important that we make sure that we remain kind and respectful, and acknowledge the differences we have with others.

Discrimination Based on Colour in Mass Media

Mass media undoubtedly has a huge role in society. It acts as an outlet for people in society to connect with one another and for people to collect information. Due to this, it also allows discrimination to be reproduced. News outlets can often impact the society's view on issues such as racism due to its power to reach millions of people at once. When news such as terrorist attacks are reported, racial definitions are often given. This results to racial profiling on certain groups of people in society and they are then isolated as a group in correlation to the negative news.

Media has also been criticized as portraying minorities in a stereotypical spotlight. For example, Blacks are portrayed as gangsters or basketball players and Asians are shown to be great in martial arts and smart. However, this does not apply to every black or asian person. Not all Black people are gangsters or basketball players nor is all Asians smart and great at martial arts. Stereotyping an individual and wrongfully portraying that race can also lead to discrimination. In recent years, police have been criticized of racial profiling due to many cases of black teens being killed by police when they had not committed a crime. Arguably, this may have happened due to our exposure of these stereotypes, allowing one to believe that this is the truth of a certain group even though it does not directly apply to each and every individual in that ethnic minority.

Although mass media can can provide negativity that may power discrimination, it also shows how discrimination can negatively affect lives. A movie that certainly addressed the issue of discrimination based on colour was a movie called The Hate U Give. The movie is told from the point of a girl who had lost her friend one night when he had been driving her home. They had been pulled over by the police and her friend jokingly had reached for a brush in the car despite her pleas for him to stop as she feared he would get shot. Sadly, what she feared most had happened and she was faced with the dilemma of keeping quiet or speaking out. This movie truly illustrated the impact of how discrimination also impact the lives of many as the police officer had pulled pulled them over due to racial profiling and had shot the teen due to the stereotyping.

Discrimination Based on Colour in Job Industries

One of the most difficult struggle for people of colour is obtaining a job. A struggle for minorities when finding jobs are the fact that they may not be fluent in English, this is especially the case for immigrants. There have been stories on the news on a study of how a person's last name may determine whether or not they can get a job. People's last name that identified them as a minority have been shown to have a lower chance of getting a job compared to others. This is another factor of stereotyping an individual and ethnic groups as non-fluent English speakers, therefore discriminating them from being hired as an employee even if they meet the qualifications for the job.

In addition, discrimination not only creates a barrier for people of colour to enter an industry, as well as when they do get the job for a position, it can be due to a unfavourable reason. For example, Hollywood minority representations have been criticized for stereotyping ethnic groups and may not be correctly representing the culture. There has been a lack of roles played by minorities and most roles that was given to them were often roles in which they played very demeaning representations of ethnic minorities. This can also be shown in movies such as the The Last Airbender in which a Caucasian actor was casted as the leading role, Aang, whose character was an Asian boy raised in a monk monastery. Surely, young Asian actors could have portrayed the role but the director and producers still decided to cast a Caucasian actor. It was not until recent years that minorities have been able to obtain major roles in TV shows and movies. A movie released this year called Crazy Rich Asians, received much praise due to the entire cast consisting only of minorities, which was very rare in Hollywood. This movie did follow certain stereotypes that are often connected to Asians however, most were due to the fact that the producers wanted to show the cultural differences. The movie also broke stereotypes such as Asian males being portrayed as strong and muscular in comparison to the stereotypical portrayal of them being skinny and fragile which was certainly a change in the industry. The realization of stereotypes not always being true in society has allowed ethnic minorities to break down barriers in certain job industries.