Teaching Our Children To Critically Analyze the Media and the Affects on Our Minds

[TShango]

Stereotypes in the Media

- Information compiled in notes by student Kyra Thomas in Baba T'Shango's class. Information was taught to Baba T'Shango by Dr. Jules Harrell

“He who controls images, controls minds”

-Robert Townsend

Stereotypes: Sweeping generalizations of a group of people that often use the word “All”.
Reoccurring Theme: When a certain idea is shown over and over such as music playing during scary parts of a movie or the good guy winning and the bad guy losing.
*All Stereotypes are Negative- they take away from individual achievements and affect confidence
*Not all Reoccurring Themes are negative
Great examples of stereotypes and reoccurring themes are “Bogle’s Big Five.”
1) Uncle Tom: The Uncle Tom character originated in the novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, written in 1851. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman who had never experienced or seen slavery. The story Uncle Tom’s Cabin is about a slave who takes care of the master’s children. One day the master’s son falls into a lake and Tom saves the boy. That day the master told Tom he could have his freedom as a reward for saving master’s son. The next day the master dies and the master’s wife tells Tom he can not have his freedom because he is needed on the plantation and Tom never receives he freedom.
Characteristics of the Uncle Tom
ŸUncle Tom is more loyal to the master than himself or his people
ŸUncle Tom is in service of the white supremacist’s agenda
ŸUncle Tom is willing to give his own life for the master
ŸUncle Tom believes what is good for the master is good for him and what is bad for the master is bad for him
ŸUncle Tom raises the next generation of white slave masters/oppressors/ the master’s son.
Modern examples of an Uncle Tom are Tyrese in the movie 2 Fast 2Furious . Another example of a modern day Uncle Tom is Uncle Ben’s Rice, Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, Morpheus in Matrix, Mekhi Phifer in 8 Mile.
Other names for the Uncle Tom are (Buddy, Sidekick, and Chocolate covered white Man, hat in hand Negro)

2) Mammy: The mammy character is supposed to be what every woman does not want to be. The mammy on the plantation took care of the master’s children first and then her own children second. She also took care of the master’s wife. She was a slave and was forced to breast feed the master’s children. Oftentimes, the mammy would breast feed the master’s babies and not have enough milk for her own children. The mammy is supposed to be ugly because she has African features.
The African features are:
1.big nose,
2.big lips,
3.dark skin,
4.hair so nappy she is ashamed to show it and keeps it covered by head scarf.

All of these characteristics are to make the Black woman feel ashamed of her African features which are really beautiful.

The Mammy raised the next generation of white supremacist, and at the same time she reminds African people that their place, their culture, and their history are less important.
Characteristics of the Mammy character
ŸMammy is ashamed of her hair texture and always is shown with a scarf
ŸMammy is big and over weight
ŸMammy takes care of master’s children yet treats her own children unkind and thinks about them after the master’s children.
Ÿ Mammy is nurturing and loving of only the white culture

A moderrn day example of the mammy is Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind, Oprah Winfrey on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Whoopi Goldberg is Karina, Karina

3) Coon: The Coon character is supposed to be the comedian. The Coon is supposed to portray a lazy, ignorant, and incompetent slave. The Coon consumes but does not produce. The Coon bases his self-esteem on what he can get from the Master. They are often shown eating watermelon and dancing around but avoiding their duties. In most movies the Coon is usually very dark with overemphasized African features to make black people feel ashamed. The Coon does not know what freedom is and is too dumb to free himself or others. Even if the Coon had money he would still not be able to become independent of the slave master.
Characteristics of the Coon
ŸThe Coon has big red lips
ŸCoons are shown lazy
ŸThe Coon says jokes that denigrate his own race, black people
ŸCoon is shown eating watermelon and chicken
ŸCoons are often shown tap dancing and shuffling
ŸThe Coon often mis-pronounces words and uses malapropisms.
ŸCoons lack creativity and the audience laughs at the Coon.
Examples of early coons include Jim Crow, Step and Fetch it, Amos and Andy
The Coon character can be broken down into different modern day categories
Cutting Comic Air Head
1.Martin Lawrence 1. Snoop Dogg
2.D. L Hughley
3.The Waynes Brothers
Crack head/ Junkie
1.Samuel L. Jackson
2. Chris Rock
3. Dave Chappel

4) Tragic Mulatto: The tragic mulatto is supposed to be the ideal beauty in the black community. She is considered beautiful not because of her African features but because of her European features. European features are her light skin, straight hair, thin nose, thin body frame, green or hazel eyes, and red or blond hair. She is considered Tragic because she does not know what race she belongs to. She does not know if she is Black or White. “They are doomed to a pointless effort of trying to be part of the white race.” The name “Mulatto” is what you get when a horse and a donkey breed to make a mule. A baby mule is called a Mulatto. A mule is sterile. The tragic mulatto often wears red as the color of the seductress. She is supposed to be so beautiful it is not the Masters fault for raping her.
The characteristics of the Tragic Mulatto
ŸLong and straight hair
ŸBlue or Green eyes
ŸThin
ŸHer skin color is light
ŸFlirtatious, values herself by her beauty not by her mind
ŸThe opposite of the mammy
ŸThe idea white society puts forth in her image is the whiter you become the more successful you can become.

It tells us that with White features we will be acceptable in the White society and people like Ashanti and Lil’ Kim. Lil’ Kim bleaches her skin to become light because she thinks that it is a way to make her prettier. She says she “wants to be the next Pamela Anderson” We as woman have allowed our society to stoop to a low point of changing ourselves to fall into this category of beauty. Other examples are singers like Beyonce, Monica, Christina Milian, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah and Mariah Carey.

5) Buck: The last of Bogle’s Big Five is the well known “Buck.” The Buck is the big male slave that the master forced to rape numerous female slaves. The Buck is the biggest male slave on the plantation. The Master used the Buck to make more slaves. The master allows him to have any woman he pleases because he wants for the Buck to create bigger and better generations of slaves. The master valued the Buck because the Buck made him rich. The Slave Master would call the Buck “you my nigger.” As many young brothers still address one another today. The Buck prided himself on how many women he slept with. He never was allowed to father any of these babies. The babies were often sold down the river. The Master gave the Buck nicer clothes than the other slaves and let him drive the carriage while other slaves walked. The master was always afraid the Buck would have sex with his wife or daughter. That was the master’s biggest fear.

Modern day examples of the buck include the Pimp, the Rapper, and the professional athlete. The Pimp/Prostitution idea came from after physical slavery was over, master could no longer rape black women, as they had done for hundreds of years. The master would tell the Buck “I will make it very challenging for you to become a lawyer or a doctor but I will allow you to gather your women and keep letting me have sex with them when I come to town.” That is how the idea of a Pimp was formed.
Examples of modern day Bucks include:

• Young Buck
• Snoop Dogg
• 50 Cent
• Kobe Bryant
• Magic Don Juan

These are all stereotypes created by the media to categorize African people. Our media world is controlled by 10 media giants. They have the choice to give us certain information and to make actors portray Bogle’s Big five stereotypes. They have control until we choose to stop it and think for ourselves and create our own media. The 10 Media Giants are

1AOL Time Warner
2Viacom (owns BET and MTV)
3Walt Disney
4News Corp
5Bertlesman
6Vivendi Universal
7Sony
8AT&T Corporation
9General Electric
10Liberty Media Corporation

We need to create our own media stations that portray a variety of positive images of all people, especially people of African descent who have been displayed in a negative fashion for so long in this year.

Other interesting facts:
àThe first Black person to be a news reporter was by mistake. During the Cuban Missile Crisis all the news reporters at one certain station were on vacation. The Black man who cleaned the floors was put in front of the camera. It was not until the Watts race riots that black people were made news reporters on a consistent basis.
àAmos and Andy started as a radio show. When the television became popular they moved to a television program. Amos and Andy were played by two white men on the radio and on television. They painted their faces Black.
àJim Crow was originally the name of a coon character before it became laws that forbid black people from equal treatment in America.
àBob Johnson sold B.E.T for 1.2 Billion dollars to Viacom. He was the first Black owner of a major television station. Bill Cosby tried to buy NBC shortly after Bob Johnson sold B.E.T but NBC was taken off the market for sale when he placed the highest bid. It costs on average 100,000,000 million to buy a television station.

Worked Cited Books
1Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
2 The Black Image In The White Mind By George M. Fedrickson
3The American Directory Of Certified Uncle Toms
4Manichean Psychology by Dr. Jules Harrell
5Bogle’s Big Five Stereotypes

Work Cited Movies
1Bamboozled by Spike Lee
2Hollywood Shuffle by Robert Townsend
3Ethnic Notions: Black People in White Minds
4Classified X By Melvin Van Peebles