My shrine was inspired by a semiotic analysis I did in my Sociology class. Semiotic analysis explores how ideology and power is formatted into images. The images we see promote to society the idea of what is one’s respective place, a place that tells people that they are either powerful or subordinate. Whites liken others to be subservient to them, and throughout the nation’s history African Americans have been othered in media.

 In my shrine I depict certain African American caricatures, which have been othered in popular American media, such as the picaninny, the brute, the sambo, the coon. My shrine contains both traditional and contemporary images of these caricatures.  Though the older images inside the shrine are easily recognizable, the modern images on top of the box need deeper analysis to recognize.  R. Kelly, R & B singer, can be stereotyped as a brute, as he is a rapist. Though the 30-something year old Kelly has repeatedly been found to have sexual relationships with minors, he has not faced much backlash or criminal action. This could be because his victims were all Black. Not only does this say that Black females are sexually accessible, it also shows that Kelly is being racialized and stereotyped as a sexual predator, whose acts are not shocking, but normal because he is a Black male. Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., two “gangsta” rappers or brutes whose murders in the mid-1990’s have not been solved,  are also quite revealing about the othering and stereotyping of Black males in the media. The media and the police did little to solve their murders associating them with gang violence, accepting these racialized stereotypes of Black men who warranted their deaths because of their lifestyles. The white media portrays rap as demeaning of women, promoting drugs, alcohol and violence and racism against whites.  Though much of the lyrics may imply such ideas, the media ignores how white socio-economic and political oppression has led to such ideologies and conditions in the urban communities the artists rap about.

Eddie Murphy, comedian/actor, has not only depicted the picaninny (his Saturday Night Live skit as Buckwheat) but has also portrayed the coon in many of his films. In these films he is street wise, poor and a con artist; it is only through the intervention of white elites that he discovers a conscience. Other comedian actors such as Martin Lawrence and Eddie Griffin play similar characters in their movies. Also,  television stereotypes of African Americans, for example, in Webster or Different Strokes, depict Black children who are orphaned or midgets who get adopted by rich white families. Their portrayal is also unique because their physical (medical) differences allowed them to play characters much younger than themselves. The depiction of the African American as the perpetual child is another popular and belittling image in the media.  Until the dominant culture in America, white society, is willing to see African Americans beyond a coon, the picaninny or a brute, there will be little change in the ideology promoted by the popular media.

The colors I used in decorating my shrine are also significant. The white walls hold the television and the jukebox; they represent two popular forms of media where Black stereotypes are portrayed. Just as the white walls hold up these images, whites maintain these images in the media. I use red, representing courage, to depict revolution and blood. I used black to represent the African American people, yet this material is sheer; this forces you to not only see black but also whatever is behind it. What is behind the black sheer covering the box is red.  It not only represents the struggle of African Americans but also courage, hope and determination for change, not only change in the way in which their community is depicted but also change in the power structure which allows these depictions to be accepted as truth.

The possession or lack of power shapes the conditions in which identities emerge and are portrayed. The construction of the other has been extremely significant in the development of the self for both Blacks and whites. The portrayal of African Americans as the picaninny, the coon, the sambo and the brute allows difference to be created. The subordinate group's own identity is formed negatively because of the unequal power shared with the dominant group. African Americans are thus portrayed negatively in the media, because they do not have the power or privilege to be portrayed otherwise.