Todd's guilt rating was not affected by the priming. .
Ford explains these results: "the stereotypical portrayals of African-Americans primed or activated a stereotypical representation of the African American category, making that representation more likely to be used to interpret information about the African American target person"(Ford 271). The subjects recalled the violent stereotypical image they had just seen when they tried to determine the likelihood that Tyrone committed a violent act.
The prevalence of negative stereotypical images of Black Americans on television, especially as criminals, is undeniable. From the beginnings of television, Blacks have been singled out for their "blackness". This singling out based solely on race and not individual characteristics only widens the racial gap and legitimates the division of humans based on a defining principle that some scientists doubt the very existence of- that being race. The first Black images on television were of Amos and Andy, scamming, dancing, and acting like buffoons. Buffoons whose previous radio characters had been played by white actors. From to Beulah to 21 Jump Street to Seinfeld, normative portrayals of people of color have been noticeably absent.
While historically limited to comedic roles, some Black actors have managed to include themselves in the TV drama. There has yet to be a dramatic television series with an all or mostly Black cast. When Black characters are introduced into white dramatic television settings, however, they are usually dealing with issues of race (Ross 142). The resolutions to these problems of racism are almost always reduced to the prejudices of an individual and rarely do they discuss the significance of racism on the institutional level. These programs depict the need for change at the individual level, and if each person could only change their own prejudices, everything would be all right (Gray 85).