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The definition of “racism” is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” Individual racism, which includes but is not limited to actions, ideology and language, leads to institutional racism. Most Americans would adamantly reject the notion that they are in fact racist.
As a scholar and professor of intercultural and rhetorical communication, I study the intersections of language, action and ideology. These things are inextricably linked but not always explicitly discussed in tandem with one another. The interplay between language, action and ideology offers the missing piece in the analysis of these conversations that, in the age of “new” media, we’ve seen move from the private to the public sphere, such as the recent emails that have surfaced between film producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures Co-Chair Amy Pascal in which the two speculated that they should ask President Obama whether he likes movies such as Django Unchained,12 Years a Slave or The Butler.
The fact of the matter is that the media has a field day when high-profile executives and employees of high-profile companies are “outed” for making racist or prejudicial comments that move from the private to the public sphere. The attention to these stories rarely focuses on the actual problem with these moments, the actual ways in which language determines action and translates into hiring prejudice, firing prejudice, workplace exclusivity and institutional racism, among other things.
