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This course has helped me understand and analyze media in ways that I was not doing so before. I believe that the content we have learned specifically about racial and gender stereotypes in the news and other media have shown me that there is still a lot of work to be done by journalists and media scholars. The amount of hidden messages and framing that is happening right in front of us is alarming. We are made to believe by some media channels that we are progressing as a society in contexts of diversity, equity and inclusivity. But, in my opinion, these negative frames are still happening but are likely being targeted either through algorithms or other newer technologies to be shown to the specific audience that the media is intending to speak to.

Take the case of Facebook or any of the popular social media platforms, at times, it may feel like they are actively listening to some of our conversations. In reality, they are simply connecting the dots from the websites we visit, what we spend more time watching on their platform, and other tracking tools such as cookies. They compile these data points and then show you what you didn’t know you wanted to see but were subconsciously gravitating towards.

In some cases, the content shown to us is exactly what we like to see, at times it fails, but we make it smarter when we tell it that we do not want to see that post or image.

All of this to say, that I believe a lot of these stereotypes are not necessarily being reduced, rather they are even more directed to their intended audience to the point of an almost one on one connection that others are not seeing. Creating the illusion that these displays of racial and gender stereotypes are being reduced from the general public view.

Growing up, I was nine years older than my closest sibling. I remember watching many Disney movies with them. From my perspective, at the time, some of these movies had different meanings from when I first watched them when I was their age. I believe that due to my experiences, how few they may have been at the time, had restructured the way that I was viewing these films.

I would often ask them what they would think about different parts, and we would talk about the meaning behind some of the symbols that they were showing. At the time, I was not able to explain some of these complicated subjects, such as in The Lion King, one of my brothers asked me why Scar was a different color compared to Mufasa. Looking back, the reason goes further than the movie itself lets on because they are not brothers by blood, but at the time, the best method I found of discussing this topic was to compare the relationships we had with the movie.

I believe that using real world examples or correlations helps in these discussions because it allows the child to create those parallels and at times, helps them understand the real world with those metaphors. Unfortunately, in some of the older classic Disney movies, before The Lion King, some of the symbols were of patriarchy and superiority, and the reduction of responsibility of the woman. These conversations are best to have with explanations of why these things were being done back then and compare them to the progress we have made thus far. In doing so, the child may easily see that the current way is an improvement to what they were attempting to portray in earlier movies. Another way would be to compare different movies from opposite eras, such as Sleeping Beauty with Moana, for example.

As a continuation of the previous post, Latinx/Hispanic people are able to be portrayed in the media in many positive ways. For example, during moments of crisis, similar to how Louisiana and Texas assisted each other during Hurricane Katrina, Latinx/Hispanic communities, whether in the US or in their respective countries, have a moral obligation to aid each other. I remember during Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, my grandparent’s neighbor’s power generator failed. My grandparents, having a generator of their own, provided their neighbor with an extension cord to keep their refrigerator running. The best part of this scenario is that my grandparent’s neighbors are from Cuba, not originally from Puerto Rico, and that did not matter in the moment of need.

Investigating events like these, allow the media to show a positive side of the Latinx/Hispanic people and how even with differences, we can help each other. Simply because a person may be from Argentina, or from Venezuela, the Latinx/Hispanic community cares for each other just the same. Due to the large span of the Spanish conquests, Spanish became the principal language used in almost every country in South and Central America, in my opinion, the principles of the general Latinx/Hispanic people came from the ability to easily communicate with each other creating a connection between all of these countries, which vary in culture and background.

Another great way to portray the achievements of the Latinx/Hispanic people is by showcasing successful people such as Sonia Sotomayor, a Supreme Court Justice. By bringing these people to the general public through media, we can begin to reshape the realities of those who marginalize the Latinx/Hispanic people by considering them as gangsters or drug cartels, and forgetting that they, too, are humans. The origins of the language should not create division, but rather it should allow for learning opportunities and diversification that can be beneficial to the greater society.

In the mass media, some of the common stereotypes that I have seen focus around the uneducated, unable to speak English, cleaning lady. I have also seen, such as Gloria from Modern Family, the heavy accented woman who is often portrayed as unintelligent. In the news media, we constantly see, especially in our area, the portrayal of poor families with several children, lacking basic needs. The media also frames the Latinx/Hispanic communities as all from the same country, sometimes this can vary from location to location. I remember in high school seeing an interaction with a person wearing a Colombian flag shirt, who was asked if they spoke Mexican. Unfortunately, this interaction and stereotype can be connected to the constant exposure to the negative frames that the mass media uses to fuel the immigration topic.
Situations and stereotypes like these can be reduced or combatted by providing segments or programs that show how these Latinx/Hispanic communities are flourishing right here in the US, some of which come from nearby countries hoping to achieve the American dream that their own media promotes. Most of these families or individuals, venture out to an unknown country, whether illegal or legal, and find any jobs they can to begin work on the dream. At times, these families achieve further than they imagined and manage to fully integrate to the US, while doing so they find that they can provide a resource or aid to new families that may be doing a similar move. Keeping the framing in a positive, and true manner rather than only showing the negative aspects of being an immigrant in the US. In the same line, we can provide resources to those who are wanting to become legal citizens but possibly lack the understanding, or even, language expertise to navigate these complicated legal situations.

Before this course, I was aware of some of the social issues that Muslims have on a day to day. In my life, mainly my adult life, I have been interested in understanding as many religions and cultures as possible. Of course, this is no easy feat, but knowing people from all different cultures and backgrounds allows our knowledge to expand in ways that are unimaginable. During my early college years, I was very interested in taking a course called world religions and I was able to learn from as many as the course would provide.

My perception, however, changed when I met some of my friends and acquaintances that are Muslim. My neighbors, in fact, are from Jordan and have taught me about their beliefs and about the similarities with Christianity. Helping me understand that the differences that create these frames of Islamophobia, are centered with the intent to oppress. These tactics are constantly used by governments and other politically related entities to achieve certain goals. Some of which we have seen in recent decades, in relation to the oil in the Middle East.

I was told by my friend, who is Muslim, that the intentions and goals create shifts or changes in the meaning of islamophobia. At times, if there’s an expectation or intention of war, they tend to fuel the media with violence. Thinking back to the war in the early 90s and 00s, we saw this in the form of incorrect correlation between extremist groups and the Muslim communities. According to our course, acts of terrorism, such as those by ISIS, in the name of Islam are mostly against what the general Muslim community believes to be correct. My friends have always given me their opinion on the topic and have always agreed that these acts, which are sometimes directed to Muslims, are not of Muslim practice.

Finding a job has been notably difficult for those with darker skin complexion. In my specific case, my cultural and ethnic background comes from Puerto Rico. Being from the Caribbean I have three known branches of ethnicity, the Spaniard, African, and Native Puerto Rican or Taino. I have been in situations where I was in a job interview group and was not chosen over a lesser qualified (I knew them personally) and of the White/Caucasian skin tone.

I’ve seen this in terms of education level as well. When considering the amount of education needed to equate the level of income or job for minority groups compared to the White male population is interesting. Hispanic/Latinx and other minorities have to achieve higher levels of education that some are unable to afford, from my experience. I have experienced this myself, some of the White male friends that I attended college with have established high level corporate jobs, and my friends that are part of minority groups are struggling to find equal level jobs. There are always exceptions to the rule given than there are others who are either connected somehow or have been in the right place at the right time.

The way I see it, it’s tough to navigate the current job markets and some of the world’s moves as a minority. We should all strive to understand and be inclusive (without extremes) to everyone and have less bias towards these minorities over the White male population. If there are qualified individuals, whatever ethnic background they have, they should be considered for the job or opportunity.

Understanding that there are no genetic differences between people based on their race is very important when we talk about racism.

I have seen diagrams before where they show two humans of different races next to each other but with all physical aspects removed and show the skeleton side by side. While there are regional skeletal differences there are little differences in terms of the general human descriptions.

Humans throughout history have figured that if they look different than them then they must be different. Unfortunately they’ve gone to the extreme to create social differences where they established slavery and other societal limitations. These differences help those in power establish clear definitions to separate these groups of people. They created artificial restrictions and stereotypes that help society agree or confirm certain aspects towards the marginalized groups.

In Puerto Rico, there is a history of slavery in the plantations that produced sugar cane and tobacco. In my family history, my great-great grandfather, a dark skin tone Puerto Rican, was described in the census as “mulato” also known as mixed. However, when he married a woman from a plantation owning family, a lighter skinned, possibly white from Spanish descent, he was written in as White in the next census. I found that while searching through my genealogy tree and found this interesting social reality.

I believe that every human being, no matter their race, skin color, country of origin, cultural or ethnic background, should be treated as a human being and nothing should be out of reach for them simply because they have a difference that is superficial.

In recent years sports teams with certain mascots have been in the focus of some media channels. Specifically, those teams with mascots that represent Native American/Indigenous peoples. These teams are usually located near the locations where these figures are most prominent. For example, the Florida State University Seminoles; Seminoles’ reservation is in Florida.

Some of these teams have been part of the modern Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion discourse and have been forced by either organizations or government entities to change the mascots as it may lead to issues with DEI.

I agree with what most of these Native American nations have done. In cases such as the Seminoles, they accept and refuse to support the removal of these mascots. They feel identified and included in these teams. In contrast, some teams have removed the mascot even before any issues happen. In my opinion, considering my ancestry, I would enjoy to see a native Puerto Rican, also known as Taïno as a mascot for a team. It feels as though we are honoring the heritage of our ancestors and allows people to learn about it if they are curious.

In those cases where removal or modification is necessary due to inaccurate depictions, I would allow input from those tribes or groups. If removal is necessary then we should accept the decision of those groups. That way there can be the best of both worlds and everyone should feel as though it’s not an issue.

In recent years I’ve heard the term colorblindness a lot. Sometimes even within my friend group.

I find it interesting because thinking back at my youth, back in Puerto Rico, we had similar concepts. In our case, the Dominican population is considered Black. Interestingly, people of darker skin tone that were born and raised in Puerto Rico were not considered Black, we would just ignore the fact that they had a darker skin tone.

Comparing that to the recent definitions of colorblindness, outside of the Puerto Rico cultural space, the US mainland population use it quite frequently for people of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. For the most part, these minorities have different skin tones or complexions.The amount of times I’ve heard or been told that “they are colorblind when it comes to race” is too many to count. Unfortunately, no one is perfect and we’ve all, at some point or another, caused someone else with a different cultural or ethnic background to feel awkwardly, even if we did not mean to.

As humans with an overwhelming amount of cultures, countries, ethnicities, and all of the wonderful things that makes up the world’s diversity, we should not be trying to ignore color but rather embrace it and strive to understand what background that person has. I’ve been on both sides of the situation. I remember during high school, being asked if I spoke ‘Mexican’; makes sense since I was attending a predominantly White school in, then, rural Justin, TX. I had conversations where they assumed Puerto Rico was a country or place near or in Mexico. And if I had come here through the Texas border.