The current state of racism By: Dominique Fyffe

  • Nivea ad- pg 1
  • Adia ad-pg 2
  • Chinese Laundry Commercial-pg3
  • Avril Lavigne Music Video-pg4
nivea mens ad

This ad shows a clean shaven black male chucking his former self away in order to "re-civilize" himself. The ad makes it clear that his natural hair in an afro is uncivilized and savage sort of like a caveman or a wild animal. It sends a message to black men that their natural selves are not acceptable and that they they should change to fit the social norm. This ad is especially offensive because of the history of the terms uncivilized and savage have with the portrayal of black people.

This ad is clearly discriminatory as it explicitly says that you can only be normal if you are white.This sends a message that black men in particular are not regularly welcome in high up business jobs because they are not "normal", we can assume that this would be due to the stereotype associated with black men. This ad could have a negative impact on the mindset of young black men who could start to believe that they will never be normal or good enough because of their skin colour this reinforces the systematic racism that keeps a good majority of the black population in north america, in lower paying jobs and jails

This commercial is extremely inappropriate to have on in any country it illustrates the idea that black people are dirty and undesirable and that fear skin is clean and sought after. This type of advertisement can have a negative affect on the self esteem and self worth of a black person because it is implying that there is something wrong with them and it is something that can not be changed.

This music video portrays the japans culture and people as objects it romanticizes their culture and makes them look like play things. The music video is based solely off of stereotypical japanese traits which are highly offensive to them as a people.

Racism today is just as bad if not worse than it was many years ago, tho only difference is that it has found new ways to affect us in our daily lives. Although people are not being physically enslaved and beaten any more they are suffering the effects of systematic racism. Racialized individuals in north america especially are far worse off than their white counter parts. Racialized individuals are constantly faced with racism whether it be upfront or behind closed doors it seen everywhere.Negative stereotypes follow every race and have deteremntal affects in the everyday treatment from the dominant race. To make matters worse racialized individuals still make up most of the prison pollution in the united states with black people being the highest and they also make less money overall in whatever profession they are in. The school system has a big affect on the economic standing of racialized groups, these groups have a higher chance of being pushed ito lower level classes which in turn limits their opportunities when they get into the workforce. with that being said some efforts are being made by certain school boards like peel, who are reaching out to their most affected group which are young black males who have been failed by the school system time and time again.There are also groups like BLM who are fighting for equal representation and treatment for racialized people in their individual communities and throughout the country.Despite the many efforts for change racism is still alive and well and has recently been fuelled with the election of president Donald Trump. His campaign resulted in many white power groups that many thought to be extinct to come out of the wood works, groups like the KKK have caused racially based terror throughout the US and some parts of Canada and they have stated that they are supporting president trump.these groups aren't the only issue there has been a massive increase in documented police shootings of innocent people, more specifically unarmed black men. in addition to this Islamophobia is seen rising as well, it is clearly documented in all media sources and seen in day to day life. The rise of isis and other terrorist groups have unjustly made brown people the target for prejudice even if they are not muslim. the dominant culture fears what it can not understand and what is not normal to them and due to their high population in positions of authority they have greater say over how these people are treated,it is because of these people why institutionalized racism is such a big issue today.to conclude it can be said that the current state of racism is worsening day by day regardless of any efforts made by anti racism groups because of the undying power of the dominant racist culture.

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Created with images by Taymaz Valley - "Stop Racism"

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