Broader Interpretations

Critical Race Theory

As mentioned previously, this research does not exist in a vacuum. Media generally depicts popular ideology that permeated the time. As a result, Critical Race Theory (CRT) can be applied to this analysis.

CRT emerged as a direct response to the slow social and legal process following the Civil Rights movements in the 1960s. CRT is used to critique the presence and pervasiveness of systematic racism that continues to be an ongoing issue today (Govenden 36; Grooms 404). CRT consists of several tenets that deal with “notions of white privilege, institutionalized racism, microaggressions, and intersectionality” (Govenden 36). The concept of “whiteness as property” is particularly applicable to this corpus analysis. After all, fundamentally, the formation of the United States is centered on the intersection between race and property — “first with European settlers taking land from Native Americans in the early 1600s” and continuing with the treatment of enslaved Africans as property (Grooms 404).

When CRT is applied “across dominant cultural modes of expression” (Govenden 36), the influence of media framing becomes clear: “frames reveal competing interests and biases of journalists, and corporate and political actors” and in places with a long history of racism, these biases can be identified as systemic racism (Govenden 41).

As Grooms explains, there are five frames by which the media presents information to the public:

1. Conflict between individuals, groups, or institutions
2. Human interest stories (i.e. an emotional angle) 
3. The economic consequences on a particular group
4. Moral or religious contexts
5. Attributing the responsibility for the solution to a problem to the government or to a specific group (Neuman et al., 1992 in Grooms 407).

All of the points above, except the fifth frame, were clearly represented in the corpus analysis. As such, it is possible to broadly apply this framework to this project.

Govenden performs a similar type of analysis in which the media was examined to determine how the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment program in South Africa was represented to the public. The author explains how media platforms are “crucial depositories of ideology” (Govenden 41) through which the content dispensed by the media reflects the interests of investors as well as advertisers. 

As seen through this corpus analysis, Native Americans are frequently referred to using racist ideology and concepts, confirming the presence of racism in America that is propagated through demeaning, harmful stereotypes. The timeline juxtaposing the various dates of publication with the dates of legislative acts involving Native Americans lends further insight into the pervasiveness and harshness of the rhetoric and actions of the United States government. From greatly reducing the complexity and diversity of Native American tribes to explicitly alluding to forceful assimilation, newspapers clearly reflected the widespread belief that Native Americans were racially and socially inferior, which in turn helped to reinforce America’s claim to land.

Decolonization 

Overall, engaging with CRT opens up “possibilities for genuine transformation and racial justice” (Govenden 42). This can be seen through the fourth tenet of CRT, which is a framework called “counter-storytelling.” This can be utilized to legitimize “the racial and subordinate experiences of marginalised groups” (Govenden 43). It is clear that race matters in the media and yet, there is a noticeable lack of indigenous perspectives in American media. 

There are many Native American publications today such as Indian Country Today, Native News Online, and Native Times among many others that are all operated by indigenous staff. It is clear that there has been much progress in terms of the inclusion of diverse perspectives, but there needs to be a considerable change to ensure that these voices are consistently heard by mainstream media outlets as well.

This is directly related to broader academic conversations about decolonization. Decolonization is a framework that critiques the centuries-old practice of imposing Western ideology on non-Western epistemologies. It acknowledges that there needs to be an academic reconstruction in order to incorporate complex, diverse narratives that accurately portray various non-Western cultures.

Govenden describes several scholars who have advanced this framework and argues that in order for print media to “move from its current ideology of non-racialism to openly confront systemic racism and exclusion” it is first necessary to accept the fact that colonialism continues to exist in the twenty-first century (Govenden 43). Decolonization is an important structure to utilize in order to diversify media representation of Native Americans and Native American issues.