Bowling for Columbine: Racism and Fear The United States likes to pride itself in being post-racial and

open-minded. The election (and now the re-election) of President Obama is often cited as proof for how far America has come in terms of racism. However, Michael Moores film Bowling for Columbine says otherwise. The documentary explores the issue of gun control, but oddly enough, never states that the presence of guns was the problem (Moore). It tries to suggest that it is a deeper issue within the society. The movie touches on the fear that resides within the American public that causes its violence and unceasing fear of something. That fear is the fear of the other. In this case, anyone who is not white. The issue of racially triggered fear stems mainly from the institutionalized and internalized racism and misrepresentation of people of color (POC) in the media. The documentary features several examples outlining the cause of the fear of the other. It starts with a comical and historical reason for the development of anxiety in white Americans towards blacks and other races (Ibid). It presents white peoples fear as a byproduct of guilt from past injustices on their part that triggered a fear against those that they had and continue to oppress. This fear made white people isolate themselves and see other races as a threat to their privileges and their position in society that is upheld by the institutionalized racism and white supremacy. The unofficial segregation of the white and other community may have caused similar sentiments in POC against white people. This trepidation is apparent in the web series The Unwritten Rules, which documents the life of a black woman in the American workplace and her struggle to understand her white colleagues and take her guard down (Davis). This makes it impossible to see past their prejudices and contributes to the fear of each other. One other way was the odd fashion that Africanized bees were portrayed (Moore). While, yes, Africanized bees, or killer bees, are a more aggressive hybrid of African and European bees, the way it was reiterated countless times while using the term Africanized, while subtly comparing it to the docile European bee, imprinted in the viewers mind that anything that comes out of the continent is inherently violent even

human beings (Hedding). The main idea to be pointed out here is not that the term Africanized was used to portray violent beings. It was the fact that thats what the people perceive it as. If it werent for the internalized stereotyping and dehumanization of POC, the thought of connecting killer bees with black people would not have entered a viewers mind. But unfortunately society has been hardwired to see POC in a certain way and to never deviate from that idea of them. The government does a great job of upholding this propaganda against POC. Moore uses George Bush as an example of a perpetrator of fear, mainly against Muslims and Arabs by using terms like evil- doers (Moore). Although the stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs (as if those two things cannot exist exclusively) has been going on for decades, the events of 9/11 and the coverage after it triggered horror across the nation. It was the kind of horror that nobody even tried to hide. Not the subtle clutching of the bag when seeing a black man on an elevator. Not rolling up car windows when a Latino passes by. No, this fear and Islamophobia is very outwardly expressive. From the violent protest against the mosque near Ground Zero to the alarming propaganda posters by Pamela Geller on the NYC subway, the American public is no longer interested in hiding its hostility (Nelson). The incessant and demonizing way that the media portrays Muslims and Arabs creates a cloud of paranoia that forever hovers above the average Americans head. This paranoia got the best of Erika Mendez when she pushed a Hindu man in front of an oncoming train because she assumed he was Muslim (Santora). The media also plays a huge role in how the public perceives certain groups of people. It is quite obvious that the portrayal of POC is very narrow and most of the times contributing to negative stereotypes. These stereotypes include but are not limited to teen hoodlum, ex-convict, welfare queen, drug addict, Angry Black Woman/Man, and the Lazy Black Man. One might say that these portrayals are irrelevant, light humor, and in no way affect peoples lives. That is entirely wrong. Not only do POC not have a positive image of themselves, but this creates a narrowing of vision for those outside of the community when they look into POC communities. This creates hostility and even affects how the law works when it comes to dealing with POC.

For example, it is not a surprise that POC make up 60% of the American prisons (The Sentencing Project). They only make up 30% of the population but when it comes to incarceration, the rates are disproportionately high (Ibid). Black children also receive harsher school punishment than their white classmates and are more likely to be tried as adults after committing a crime (Adams). This is because of the constant portrayal of black and Hispanic youth as inherently violent and inevitably on a path towards deviance and corruption. This also explains the disparate likeliness of black and Hispanic youth stopped and frisked in New York when compared to their white counterparts, even though statistics show that whites are more likely to be found guilty during the frisk (New York Civil Liberties Union). This sort of snap judgment and demonization of POC leads to incidents like Jeffery Tomlinson (Mandell). When asked about a neighborhood shooting by a Chicago reporter, the black 4-year old responded in details about everything he saw, including the guns (Ibid). When the reporter asked little Jeffrey whether he planned on owning a gun, Jeffrey enthusiastically replied yes. The problem arose when the news station conveniently cut out the part where Jefferey says, because I want to be a policeman in order to depict him in a negative and stereotypical light (Ibid). What has the American media come to if it has to resort to misquoting a 4-year old to uphold a racist propaganda? But I had never understood their fear. I had never seen them as fellow human beings struggling with the issues of being human and having fears just as I struggled with being human and my fears. As we know, if fear is allowed to rule in our life it leads to much negative and violent behaviour (Meeks). This is a quote by journalist Catherine Meeks describing her sentiments towards the KKK while growing up as a black woman in the South. She states that the problem was that people are not stepping out of comfort zones to see each other eye to eye but instead are content with what the government and media feeds their minds (Ibid). This sort of perpetual fear leads to cases like Trayvon Martin and many cases like his who will go unreported. It makes one wonder whether guns are really present to protect individuals or to soothe their paranoia of a nonexistent threat.

WORKS CITED Adams, Caralee J. "Civil Rights Data Show Retention Disparities." 6 March 2012. Educaton Week. 23 Feb 2013 <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/07/23data_ep.h31.html?tkn=RNRFpTpIviHS EInUrVg%2BbNsoHrUv6d7QWbPa&cmp=clp-- edweek&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss>. Bowling for Columbine. Dir. Michael Moore. 2002. Hedding, Judy. "Killer Bees: What Are They and Why Are They Here? ." n.d. About.com. 23 Feb 2013 <http://phoenix.about.com/cs/desert/a/killerbees01.htm>. New York Civil Liberties Union. "Stop And Frisk Facts." 2012. New York Civil Liberties Union. 23 Feb 2013 <http://www.nyclu.org/node/1598>. Nelson, Rebecca. "Anti-- Muslim Ads Return to NYC Subways." 10 January 2013. TIME. 23 February 2013 <http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/10/anti-- muslim-- ads-- return-- to-- nyc-- subways/>. Mandell, Nina. "Chicago TV station takes four-- year-- old's quote out of context in story about shooting Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/chicago-- tv-- station-- takes-- four-- year-- old-- quote-- context-- story-- shooting-- article-- 1.949384#ixzz2LjR4FDyq." 21 August 2011. New York Daily News. 23 February 2013 <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/chicago-- tv-- station-- takes-- four- year-- old-- quote-- context-- story-- shooting-- article-- 1.949384>. Meeks, Catherine. "Racism Is Fueld By Fear." 5 October 2011. Huffington Post. 23 February 2013 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-- meeks-- phd/post_2501_b_992066.html>. Santora, Marc. "Woman Is Charged With Murder as a Hate Crime in a Fatal Subway Push." 29 Dec 2012. New York Times . 23 Feb 2013 <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/nyregion/woman-- is-- held-- in-- death-- of-- man-- pushed-- onto-- subway-- tracks-- in-- queens.html?_r=0>. The Unwritten Rules. Dir. Kim Williams. Perf. Aasha Davis. 2012. The Sentencing Project. "RACIAL DISPARITY." n.d. The Sentencing Project. 23 Feb 2013 <http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122>.