Race Relations In The United States (Rise in Social Media)

Race Relations In this country is at an all-time low throughout the past 20 years. There is a huge rise with famous people in our society using social media as a platform to step outside of the typical medium used to conversate about issues in our country, which was typically the scholars of the day and those who held government positions and then this would be channeled to the public via forms of news media. We live in a day in age where social media has allowed for so much conversation between the majority of the United States population as well as breaking barriers allowing for conversation at the click of a button to individuals throughout the globe. With this rise in media, famous athletes have begun to use their influence to try and promote change in positive ways. “Must they run their mouths like that? Unfortunately, a lot of kids — and some adults — take these ignorant comments seriously,” Ingraham said then. “And it’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid a hundred million dollars a year to bounce a ball.”
“Oh, and LeBron and Kevin: You’re great players, but no one voted for you,” she continued. “Millions elected Trump to be their coach. … So keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”

This is a quote by Fox News analyst Laura Ingraham. This is extremely detrimental on a race level a class level, as well as a political level. This comment is very negative towards athletes, specifically African-American athletes when looking at the intersectional context of the news analyst, versus the athlete. The news analyst is a Caucasian female who is on the conservative side of the political spectrum. She has the privilege of being an affluent white individual in our society. Her comments are toward a very influential and popular athlete who is an African-American male. He does have an affluent privilege, however, he is at an overall disadvantage to be successful due to the systemic issues facing African - Americans in our society compared to white people. They experience higher rates of poverty, incarceration, police violence, lower wages to name a view main areas. Lebron James has given back so much to the community of Akron Ohio where he grew up. He overcame unfavorable odds and rose to abundant success which has lead to him creating a school in Akron to give low-income families kids a chance to succeed in a country where the odds are already stacked against them. For an "educated" person to be so ignorant and make these ridiculous comments implying that athletes have no say in this country and that they should simply stick to what they're "good at" is one of the most disgusting comments, I have observed. This is a quote by Fox News analyst Laura Ingraham. This is extremely detrimental on a race level a class level, as well as a political level. This comment is very negative towards athletes, specifically African-American athletes when looking at the intersectional context of the news analyst, versus the athlete. The news analyst is a Caucasian female who is on the conservative side of the political spectrum. She has the privilege of being an affluent white individual in our society. Her comments are toward a very influential and popular athlete who is an African-American male. He does have an affluent privilege, however, he is at an overall disadvantage to be successful due to the systemic issues facing African - Americans in our society compared to white people. They experience higher rates of poverty, incarceration, police violence, lower wages to name a view main areas. Lebron James has given back so much to the community of Akron Ohio where he grew up. He overcame unfavorable odds and rose to abundant success which has lead to him creating a school in Akron to give low-income families kids a chance to succeed in a country where the odds are already stacked against them. For an "educated" person to be so ignorant and make these ridiculous comments implying that athletes have no say in this country and that they should simply stick to what they're "good at" is one of the most disgusting comments, I have observed.



Rothenberg, P. S. (1998). Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study. New
York: St. Martin's Press.

Bieler, D. (2018, August 07). LeBron James turns 'Shut up and dribble' insult into title of Showtime series. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/08/07/lebron-james-turns-shut-up-and-dribble-insult-into-title-of-showtime-series/?utm_term=.d0c8a2399c8d



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