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By David Shoemaker, shoemadf@miamioh.edu
Whether it is the TV, the movie theater or the newspaper, the past few months have been a difficult time for anyone to avoid the topic of race in a modern-day United States of America.
Within the past week, the ongoing events in Ferguson, Missouri and the U.S. Supreme Court's new ruling on voter ID laws in Texas have triggered discussions on political, criminal and judicial policies in the U.S. These discussions have focused on whether these policies disproportionately impact communities of color.
However, pop culture has initiated similar discussions that provide awareness to evident issues of identity, privilege and oppression in U.S. race relations.
On TV, ABC's fall shows display this conscious diversity in stories that examine people of color's experiences and formation of identity in a predominantly white environment.
Scholars and social activists use the term "people of color" to describe any group of people who do not identify as Caucasian or of European parentage.
As the U.S.'s Latino population continues to expand and thrive, ABC's "Cristela" follows Cristela (Cristela Alonzo), a young Latina woman, who is at conflict with her tight-knit family's values as she puts her desires for a successful law career first.
"Black-ish" looks into the life of the Johnson family, an upper-middle-class black family living in the predominantly white Los Angeles suburbs and their struggle not to forget their roots. Unlike "The Cosby Show," which was criticized for not discussing racism, "Black-ish" is nothing short of race-related insight.
Although all three shows may perpetuate cliché stereotypes to white audiences unfamiliar with black or Latino culture, they also illuminate the challenges minorities face to break these same demeaning stereotypes while still holding on to cultural values.
In "Cristela," we see this when a white character mistakes Cristela for a maid and then for a valet. In "Black-ish," a white co-worker irritates Dre with a "Dr. Dre" nickname and obnoxious hip-hop ad-libs.
While these examples are not what we usually think of as brutish "racism," these micro-aggressions, instances where a dominant culture says or does something that assumes a characteristic of any marginalized group, alienate and belittle these characters and their racial identity.
In addition to TV shows portraying problems in race relations today, a recently released movie with an in-your-face title contextualizes similar problems in a college campus setting. "Dear White People," in the words of first-time director, producer and writer Justin Simien, "is not actually a rant towards white people" but actually focuses on "the difficulty of finding yourself in a place that doesn't necessarily reflect you."
Taking place at a fictional Ivy League-type school, the movie's protagonist is Sam White, a spunky activist with a radio show called "Dear White People" that points out examples of micro-aggressions, hypocrisy and appropriation to the predominantly white student body.
In "Dear White People," the movie's main conflict and climax is a fraternity party with a "hip-hop" theme that is in reality a disparaging blackface party.
Inspired by similar parties at the real-life Arizona State and UC San Diego universities, the blackface party exemplifies the ignorance, insensitivity and ironic appropriation that occur towards black culture.
This type of cultural appropriation occurs when one culture takes or copies certain aspects of another culture without asking permission of that culture and often times misrepresents it. Think of it as pop culture's plagiarism of twerking, which was first developed by black New Orleans hip-hop artists in 1993 and that did not reach national popularity until Miley Cyrus' famed twerking in 2013.
On our own campus, examples of micro-aggressions, appropriation and pure bigotry occur regularly.
With a domestic student body that is 81 percent white, many Miami students of color face similar situations to the characters in "Dear White People." From posts on the anonymous app Yik Yak to a former twitter account called "Oxford Asian," which tweeted degrading stereotypes about Miami's Asian students, our school is proof that we do not live in a "post-racial" country.
Although there are overtly racist Yik Yak posts with racial slurs, many are micro-aggressions or what Simien calls "covert racism" that would include a past post about "high fiving every black person after the Miami football team won." Whether we, as the predominantly white student body, engage in this pigeonholing behavior or not, we need to realize its detrimental effects.
Those who recently watched The Daily Show episode with guest Bill O'Reilly understand that as the 81 percent, we benefit from white privilege, which in social context means we "get to wear whatever hat [we] want" as rapper Childish Gambino cleverly puts.
However, white privilege is more than not having a stereotype attached to you 24/7.
It is given to any person of visible Caucasian skin tone, no matter how poor or affluent, and stems from past systematic oppression towards people of color in our country.
Although all Caucasian people consciously or unconsciously benefit from it, white privilege does have varying degrees of significance relative to each individual in educational institutions, political and judicial systems and the entertainment industry.
Therefore, here is a self-conscious "Dear Miami Students" for us in the 81 percent. When we are watching one of the aforementioned shows or movies, we must understand that their goal is to illustrate the daily trials of defining yourself in a world that tells you who to be based upon the color of your skin.
Although we may feel uncomfortable or become upset, we must understand how uncomfortable or upsetting it can be for Miami students of color who want to be more than the "go-to" for math homework, pick-up basketball or expertise in racism.
With Halloween approaching, we should stay far away from costumes that inappropriate and offend people of color such as a "Native American princess," "pimp daddy" or "member of ISIS."
If we see a bigoted post on Yik Yak or hear a friend spewing out prejudiced remarks, we must stand up for our fellow Miamians.
Finally, rather than assume, we must keep an open mind as we learn from our peers about their uniquely personal beliefs, interests and experiences.