STAND UP AND FIGHT RACISM

                                        

                   RACISM THE MEDIA AND THE INTERNET 

 

Racist rhetoric is spread through computer-mediated means and includes some or all of the following characteristics: racial uniqueness, racist attitudes toward specific social categories, racist stereotypes, hate-speech, nationalism and common destiny, racial supremacy, superiority, and separation, conceptions of racial otherness, and an anti-establishment worldview. Racism over the internet can have the same consequences as hurtful words spoken in person.

Racism in the workplace, Although there have been research and tactics for blocking and confronting cyber racism on an individual level, there have been few studies that go into detail about how to counteract cyber racism's roots in institutional racism. An expansion in the literature on the relationship between cyber racism and institutional racism will open up new research possibilities for combating cyber racism on a systemic level. In the work of Jessie Daniels, a sociology professor at Hunter College, for example, cyber racism's links to institutional racism have been observed. 

Stereotypes on the internet Racist prejudice and cyber racism can be caused by online stereotypes. For example, scientists and campaigners have warned that referring to advance-fee  scammers as "Nigerian Princes" is racist, stating that "limiting Nigeria to a nation of scammers and fraudulent princes, as some people still do online, is a stereotype that needs to be called out." Profiting from Black Aesthetics and Black-fishing Celebrities that are White/White Adjacent and have been accused of Blackfishing. According to CNN.com, "Blackfishing" occurs when a white or white-associated celebrity or influencer purposefully misrepresents their race by appropriating the skin tone, hair texture, and general aesthetics associated with and/or owned by Black Women. It's a very common occurrence on social media. Many non-Black celebrities have been caught tannish their skin to make themselves appear darker than they are ethical. According to insider.com, the most prevalent offenders are celebrities like Ariana Grande, Khloe Kardashian, and Jesy Nelson (shown on the right). It is thought that the rise of social media marketing has paved the way for more current racist involving aesthetic monetization.

Anonymity on the internet Because of the anonymity provided by the Internet, racist attitudes are frequent and often more extreme. City University of New York associate professor Jessie Daniels claimed in a 2009 book about "common misconceptions about white supremacy online, [its] threats to today's youth; and possible solutions on navigating through the Internet, a large space where so much information is easily accessible (including hate-speech and other offensive content)" that the number of white supremacy sites online was then rising; especially in the United States after the 2008 presidential election. 

Alternative-right online communities

Because of the popularity of sites used by alt-right communities, mainstream media has begun to pay attention to cyber racism. For example, after combining "Pepe in with Nazi propaganda" on 4chan, the alt-right appropriated the "Pepe the frog" meme as a hate symbol. After a journalist posted about the association, it received a lot of attention on Twitter. This was seen as a "success" by alt-right users since it forced the public to discuss their ideas.

Bias in algorithms, Daniels outlines how algorithms "speed up the dissemination of White nationalist ideas" by delivering search results that support cyber racism in her article "Rise of the Alt-Right."

According to Daniels, algorithms steer alt-right viewers to sites that share their viewpoints. This allows people to connect and develop communities on platforms like Reddit and 4chan, which have few or no limitations on speech. Daniels cites white supremacist Dylann Roof's internet searches as an illustration of how algorithms propagate cyber racism. She states that his search for "black on white crime" on the internet led him to racist websites that confirmed and amplified his racist beliefs. Furthermore, Harvard scholar Latanya Sweeney discovered that internet adverts generated by algorithms tend to display more.