I recently had a brief encounter with a mutual friend and soon the topic turned to the recent protests and race and representation. This mutual friend for anonymity I will call him Tom here and just to provide you with some context, Tom is an educated white person with a good job and is a seemingly all round nice guy and me and my friend are both people of colour. During this brief chat Tom says “I don’t understand why people of colour in this country want representation on the TV, you don’t see white people in India fighting for representation in the media, do you”? It was one of those moments where time momentarily stops and you question, did I hear that correctly, did he just say that?
Me and my friend give each other that look, that universal look where so much is said without a word spoken. I look back at Tom who has a blank, almost innocent look on his face and I find myself thinking, he just doesn’t get it. There’s a brief awkward silence as I’m gathering my thoughts and figuring how to approach this and just when I’m about to speak, sensing the awkwardness my friend changes the topic. This is my response to Tom and to anyone who doesn’t understand why representation of minorities in the media is important.
“People learn who they are by the images of themselves, the representations that they seek.” Harry Lennix
The way we see and perceive ourselves is shaped by our experiences. One of the biggest contributors to the perception we have of the world and ourselves is undeniably the media. What we see in the movies and on TV, what we consume online, all of it. Not being represented and seeing people who look like you and not seeing relatable stories to yours being told, can leave you feeling like an outsider looking in. Not really knowing where you fit in and through no fault of your own. It can be argued that this is one of the factors that so many minorities seldom mix with people outside of their communities. It is a different world to theirs, one that they don’t belong in because they look different, what they eat is different (this one is arguable, because who doesn’t love a curry) and sometimes the way they dress is different.
Representation plays a key role in how minorities are perceived by the rest of society. Some people will argue that well, we do see people of colour in movies and on TV, but so many of the times these characters are compounded by stereotypes. Why else do you think the beloved character Apu has been removed from The Simpsons? Only recently the creators of The Simpsons have agreed to stop using white actors to voice non-white characters. It is due to these racial prejudices that people of colour don’t feel seen or validated by society. As they have played in to the narrative that if you don’t look a certain way then you are not beautiful and your feelings are not really validated. Questioning if they will ever really be good enough despite their achievements and accomplishments.
We live in a multicultural and diverse society where everyone should feel accepted, there shouldn’t be a ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ but just a ‘We’. We are all people who want our stories to be told and ultimately, we all want the same things from society, acceptance and validation.
The rise of Social Media has allowed minorities to make their own platforms, to tell their own stories and to have a voice and most importantly to represent and be represented. Advertising with racial tones is increasingly being called out. Acceptance of people of all shapes and colours is now encouraged and promoted with people finding their communities and standing in solidarity. Diverse representation is now more important than ever for all types of people to feel accepted and included with our differences being embraced and celebrated.
