NEXT UP! 3 146 The invisible target Imagine for a moment that every time you watched the news, there was no one with whom you could identify, no one who represented you and your culture. How long would it take for you to feel invisible? Imagine that every time you caught the news, anything about your people was presented negatively, with bias or using stereotypes. How long would it take for you to feel inferior? Indigenous and minority peoples face this experience on a daily basis. They are stereotyped, targeted, made invisible. Wherever colonising powers settled, local populations did not stand a chance. Sovereignty, language, culture and land has been taken from indigenous cultures everywhere, and spiritual connections severed. To top it all off there is the trap of media representations and constant reminders of negative public attitudes. To illustrate, an American study of the top 100 films of 2014 showed that BAME characters were underrepresented. Precisely 73.1 per cent of characters were white, whereas the American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander representation added up to less than 1 per cent combined. The study found that these statistics had barely changed since 2007. Although underrepresented in film, indigenous people and minorities face plenty of negative portrayals in the news. The repeated use of stereotypes creates a simplified idea of aboriginal people. Whether in Australia, the US or Canada, indigenous people are portrayed as sick, drunk, uneducated, or in jail. Newsmakers focus on drug abuse, but not the communities working to solve it. They focus on crimes by but not crimes against. And in films, portrayals are of painted dancers in the desert, warriors and medicine men. Together, these depictions produce prejudice, Before reading How many TV shows can you think of that include black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) actors? Do you think that the news you see reflects people of all ethnicities in a just way? Freewrite for a few minutes. further reading bias – hlutdrægni stereotype – staðalímynd inferior – óæðri indigenous people – frumbyggjar to be targeted – verða fyrir neikvæðri athygli a colonising power – nýlenduveldi sovereignty – sjálfstjórn spiritual – andlegur an attitude – viðhorf BAME – skammstöfun fyrir black, Asian and minority ethnic (svartir, asískir og minnihlutahópar) whereas – á meðan a Pacific Islander – einstaklingur frá Kyrrahafseyjum barely – varla simplified – einfaldað aboriginal people – frumbyggjar a depiction – myndlýsing prejudice – fordómar
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