Explaining Racism Through Relatable Visual Compositions

Genre #1: Political Drawing

My first genre is a political drawing based on the ideals of my inquiry-based research essay. The purpose of this drawing is to bring awareness to misinformation surrounding the terms racism, reverse racism, and prejudice. Racism is usually seen as a term that means to treat an individual differently solely based on their race. However, that is only half of what racism is. Racism is systematic, institutional, and is a legacy left as a result of slavery in America. As a result of being misinformed on what racism means, many Americans use racism and prejudice incorrectly or even use the false term reverse racism. Many white Americans feel that discrimination against people of color is on a decline, while, discrimination against white Americans is increasing. This feeling of increased discrimination against white Americans on a systematic level is expressed through the term reverse racism. However, these “discriminations” are in fact systems put in place by the government to make white and black Americans equal. Even if white Americans were to face discrimination the correct term to express that is prejudice. White Americans can face discrimination from minority groups but one can not define that discrimination as reverse racism. The correct term to use would be prejudice because white Americans benefit from racism inherently since they are in the position of power and thus can not face discrimination from systematic and/or institutional racism.

This art piece expresses my stance on this subject. My stance being that many people of color still face racism today, however, many white Americans incorrectly claim reverse racism in situations where the government is trying to enforce equality or as a synonym to prejudice. The target audience for this genre are Americans but more specifically a more mature demographic of Americans starting from high school. My target audience starts with high school students because they dictate the future of America through their vote. However, as an educational piece, it also targets older Americans in the hope of correcting the discourse between the terms racism, prejudice and reverse racism. This political drawing has to be analyzed to be understood making it suitable for an older audience.   

Genre #2: Meme

My second genre is a meme that expresses the same ideals and purpose as my previous genre. However, the stance of this genre is not as straightforward as my previous genre. The purpose of this meme is to educate Americans on when to correctly use the terms racism and prejudice. All while making it clear that reverse racism is a false term used by white Americans to support inequality or as a synonym to prejudice. The stance of this meme is that I do not support claims of reverse racism and find it hypocritical for white Americans to claim reverse racism to programs that aim to enforce equality when they also claim that racism is nonexistent. This meme makes fun of said hypocrisy.

Specifically, the meme points fun at how the United States government has created programs, like affirmative action, to help eliminate the inequality people of color face only to be called a form of reverse racism by white Americans who also claim that racism is at its all-time low. Showing that white Americans can be hypocrites because they downplay racism and their institutional prioritization but once they see people of color being prioritized they freak out. The target audience for this genre is a younger American demographic than my first genre. I believe that young Americans have the power to steer this country into a more progressive one with the correct education. Which is why I chose for this genre to target a younger audience. Memes are a big part of younger American culture. By creating a meme based on my topic I am directly targeting a diverse group of young Americans who follow this national social media trend. Memes are relatable, simple, and funny ways to spread information. Some individuals may get the joke but for those who do not it, there is a very high chance that they will look up the context of the joke to get it, which will fulfill my purpose of educating Americans about reverse racism.

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