CSA - Sierra Loiselle

What language and imagery in American political history have been used to portray racial understandings of white = superior and black = inferior? Why has such imagery and associated stereotyping so often been effective?

There is an extraordinary amount of language and imagery in American political history that have been used to portray that white = superior and black = inferior. Through the use of fear, the media has created the image that black individuals are more violent and dangerous. I will highlight some of the imagery or language that stands out to me the most: A Birth of a Nation and news media. 

The first is the film A Birth of Nation, ironically one of the section's titles of the CSA film. This 1915 film had a large impact on American culture. The film depicts black men (white men in blackface) attempting to rape white women and portrays the Klansman as the hero. This film was a large factor in the resurgence of the KKK. Although it portrayed such horrendous stereotypes and violence against black people, President Woodrow Wilson screened this film at The White House. A famous quote from him about this film is, “It's like writing history with lightning. My only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” 

Another large section of American history that continued to encourage stereotypes against black people was during the war on drugs. The criminalization of drugs was a way for politicians to push “law and order” in urban areas that were in an uproar due to the Civil Rights Movement. A Nixon advisor later admitted that the war on drugs was a way to criminalize black individuals. 

John Ehrlichman said, “The Nixon campaign in 1968 and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the anti-war left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. Getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” 

By constantly showing media of black individuals being arrested or committing crimes, these stereotypes were perpetuated and people subconsciously associated black people with crime. However, by saying you were supporting “law and order”, you could cover the blatant racism. 

This continued with the Reagan and Clinton administration. Crack cocaine was introduced. Because crack cocaine was more prevalent in urban areas, it became more heavily criminalized. However, because powder cocaine was more popular in suburban areas that had a higher white population; it was not as heavily criminalized. This allowed the media to continue to show black people being arrested continuously. 

Reagan’s campaign strategist, Lee Atwater, was caught on tape saying this, “You start out in 1954 by saying [n-word], [n-word], [n-word], by 1968, you can’t say [n-word], that hurts you. It backfires. So you say stuff like forced-bussing, state’s rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now. You’re talking about cutting taxes and all of these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and the by-product of them is that blacks get hurt more than whites.”  

Through Clinton's administration, the idea of black men raping white women came back. The term "superpredator" was common in the media. It was mainly attributed to young black men who were participating in violent behavior. This rhetoric continued and was very popular; interracial crimes were covered heavily in the media. Legislation also continued to be passed that hurt black communities. Clinton later admitted that his 1994 crime bill had an awful impact on black communities at the NAACP conference in 2015. However, the damage was done.

As we can see, our American history is just less blatant than the CSA film. America covers its racism with other terms: law and order, state’s rights, etc. However, the product is similar in the fact that we continue to show imagery of black people as being less than white people. We continue to stereotype because it is ingrained in our media and history. This then leads to policy that disproportionally affects communities of color.