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Is institutional racism is a significant social problem?

Racism is considered a scornful yet permanent part of the United States' social fabric.

Though the country was founded on the principles of liberty and equality, these privileges

remained a luxury for ethnic minorities of America. Though the state’s long affiliation with

slavery ended with the emancipation proclamation of 1865, the racial segregation between

African and European Americans remained a major part of United States culture, especially in

the South (Sears 24). However, things started to change after the Second World War when

multiple African leaders like Dr. King started a new wave of Black struggle throughout the

federation. In 1957 Segregation laws were ended and one of the last legal barriers in racial

equality was removed. But these legal affirmations were not enough to change the cultural

perception of race in the USA. This cultural orientation towards racism backed by the long

history of segregation created an institutionalized form of racism in America. The manifestation

of this institutional racism can be observed in multiple social and cultural values of the country.

Institutions like the justice system, policing, education, and even entertainment industry are filled

with racist values that have evolved over the last two hundred years. Most of the time racism is

not even prominent to majority ethnicities because it is so deeply rooted in the cultural context

that it becomes a part of “normal attitude”. Even when the last few years have shown promising
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achievements including the first black President, this problem with institutional racism remains

the same. Though Hollywood itself is considered a “white men’s playground” due to its biased

attitude towards other races and stereotypical portrayal of people of color, many of its

productions focus on the idea of race (Yuen 8). Sitcoms have been an important source of social

critique on ideas of racism and racial tensions. These sitcoms have been playing a valuable role

in highlighting the impact of institutional racism on a larger audience. This paper aims to

understand how these sitcoms reveal institutional racism in the USA and what impact it creates

on people. The paper aims to look at how racism is projected through Sitcoms by using examples

from various shows and their analysis.

Sitcoms are unarguably the most popular genre of TV shows. Every day millions of

people tune into their devices to watch their favorite characters create laughter on screen. As per

Alharto (13) sitcoms are watched by 23 million people globally. This means that they create a

significant impact on our daily lives and cultural attitudes. Many Sitcoms like Friends and Office

were able to get so huge that they become a part of our everyday cultural references and jokes.

Considering this influence, every action or dialogue depicted in these shows must be carefully

watched and analyze for their eventual repercussions on our national subconscious. Historically

many Sitcoms have used racist undertones and stereotypes to create a false perception of certain

ethnicities. However, multiple sitcoms helped in creating awareness about institutional racism

(Kim 3). A great example of this would be Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The Sitcom

narrates the story of Prince a young African American boy from the hood that moves into

Beverly Hills’ with his uncle. The show reveals how the racist attitudes towards African

Americans are the same in all social classes. In the episode 6 of season 1 we see how Prince gets
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caught by police on a driving issue and is treated differently than his white friends. The story

narrates the deep roots of this racism when his uncle reveals how he was also treated the same by

police in his youth. In another episode, we see how Prince and his cousin are treated with racist

undertones in their college admission process./ The casual racism was though invisible for white

people it was a concern for the young kids. The series as a whole is a beautiful narration of the

everyday events that happen in the life of a family of color and their struggle through racism and

institutional imbalance. Another similar and more contemporary example is Blackish. The show

narrates the struggle of an upper-middle-class black family and discusses the idea of “Blackness”

from an inter race perspective. The show is a wonderful critique of racism and racial impacts on

the individual. In one episode, we observe the black family’s struggle when Bow and Janine try

to return Diane’s white doll for a black one. We observe how even in small things like dolls and

children's toys. Here we can observe the form of institutional racism at how the idea of beauty is

subjected to being white. As () that one major element of racism is the creation of a

superstructure with help of capitalism that is only responsive to the demands of the meant race.

Similarly, in another example of Blackish, we observe how Dre was afraid of a little white girl in

the lift. The event though presented funnily depicted how African Americans have to be extra

careful; in their actions as they are often perceived as threats. This revelation seems inconsistent

with everyday events of America where white people call police on African American people

without any specific issue. As () studies that the idea of an African American as a potential threat

to the “civilized” masses is created and propagated through hundreds of years of social

conventions and norms formulated by slave owners. Much like Blqackish, we can observe

examples of racism in everyday black lives in shows like Everybody Hates Chris and Fresh Off

the Boat -Hi, My Name Is. In one episode of the former, we are revealed how African Americans
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are stereotyped even in education institutes. Chris is selected for the basketball team because of

his color despite his lack of interest in the game. The episode reveals the problematic nature of “

Black identity” in American culture that often takes over the individual identity of a person. Like

it is perceived that your black friend will be interested in Jazz or your Black neighbor loves

spices, even if their identities do not show these traits. 

Professor () says that the biggest hurdle in ending racism is the lack of awareness of typical

white families about the racist foundations of American institutions. What an African American

or Asian observes every day is something that is hidden from the eyes of an average white

America. These shows have managed to create awareness about the everyday racism that is

presented in American society and revealed that we are still far away from racial liberty and

equality
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Works Cited:

Deo, Meera E., et al. "Missing in action:" Framing" race on prime-time television." Social

justice 35.2 (112 (2008): 145-162.

Trawalter, Sophie, et al. "Attending to threat: Race-based patterns of selective

attention." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44.5 (2008): 1322-1327.

Chesler, Mark A., Melissa Peet, and Todd Sevig. "Blinded by whiteness: The development of

white college students’ racial awareness." White out: The continuing significance of

racism (2003): 215-230.

Mistaken Identity, Episode 6, Season 1, Fresh prince of Bel-Air. (1990)

 "Blood Is Thicker Than Mud" Season 4, Episode 8, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994)

ToysRn'tUs, Season 3 Episode 17, Blackish. (2017)

“Everybody Hates Basketball” Season 1 Episode 2, Everybody Hates Chris (2015)

Yuen, Nancy Wang. Reel inequality: Hollywood actors and racism. Rutgers University Press, 2016.

Alharthi, A. A. A. (2016). Challenges and strategies of subtitling humour: a case study of the American sitcom

Seinfeld, with particular reference to English and Arabic (Doctoral dissertation, University of Salford).