Insights Into U.S. Racial Hierarchy: Racial Profiling, News Sources, and September 11

Abstract

The events of September 11, 2001, seem likely to have reverberating implications for U.S. race relations, in particular the relative hierarchy of differing racial and ethnic groups. With this in mind, in this study the researchers focused on the manner in which "racial profiling" was talked about-by government and societal leaders, nongovernment opinion leaders, and average citizens-in several leading U.S. news outlets for the 5 months prior to September 11 and for the 5 months afterward. The findings indicate that (a) citizens increased markedly as sources in news coverage after September 11; (b) Arab Americans spoke from more favorable positions of status than African Americans; and (c) racial minorities may face a situation in which they de facto "compete" with other minorities for space in news coverage. The authors discuss implications for the role of news media in race relations.

America in Black and White: Locating Race in the Modern Presidency, 1933-2011

“…1 Consistent with previous scholarship (e.g., Bobo, 1997;Domke et al, 2003), we use the term ''race'' to signify both race and ethnicity. We do this because both terms are social constructions that are used and experienced quite similarly in public discourse.…”

“…At the most basic level, SIT holds that people's memberships in various groups-from their occupation to their political ideology to their race-help define who they are and inform the way they understand their place in a community (Tajfel, 1982;Turner, 1987). People have a natural inclination to draw distinctions between in-groups and out-groups; in the political sphere, these distinctions can affect attitudes by generating a sense of threat, stirring resentment, or reinforcing a perceived need to compete over scarce resources (see Domke et al, 2003;Fujioka, 2005;Shah & Thornton, 1994). These concrete political outcomes highlight the importance of public discussions about race-discussions that ultimately ''express the meaning of the American community and the expectations held of one another in that community'' (Prager, 1987, p. 63).…”

The World as the American Frontier: Racialized Presidential War Rhetoric

“…While on the one hand, media sources and political actors agree that "terrorists" can come from any country and any racial or ethnic background, the figure of the terrorist is frequently racialized in the public mind. 28 Domestic "white" terrorists, for example, are treated as aberrant, and the assumption that "terrorists" are nonwhite is prevalent. 29 Presidents imagine the racialized enemy as a stable, clearly identifiable subject who must be conquered.…”

Anti‐Americanism, Political Cartoons, and a Socio‐Geographic Imagination: An Invitation to Further Work*

“…We use intuitive strategies and are often unaware of precisely how we arrive at decisions about politics (Baldassarri and Schadee 2006;Burdein, Lodge, and Taber 2006). There is ample evidence suggesting that political thinking and decision making is influenced by individual belief systems (Bourne, Healy, and Beer 2003;Domke, McCoy, and Torres 1999;Domke et al 2003;Johnson 2006).…”