"Isn't it funny how in America the best golfer is black (Tiger Woods) and the best rapper is white (Eminem)." ~ Anonymous.
Race is a very major issue in America. It is present in our everyday lives. It is hard for anyone to honestly say that when they see a person they don't see color. We use profiles of people to describe them. When someone is black we describe him or her as black. No matter what race, religion, or sexual orientation we are we are looked at by society as that. I am a 19-year-old Caucasian male in America and that is how the community sees me. Caucasian people make up the bulk of this country's population, so in perspective, we should be setting most of the trends to follow. According to DeFleur and Dennis, popular culture is described as being "aimed at large audiences of mainly middle and lower classes of varied education and income. Thus, there was an attempt to reach the largest audience possible with pleasurable, easily understood fare." In America middle and lower class white people make the trends, but if you look at some of the main parts that make up pop culture, it is cool to be black. The most popular musical artists are of Hip Hop music in origin. Hip Hop is a genre of music strongly dominated by the black community. Only two white people have successfully infiltrated Hip Hop culture, Vanilla Ice did it back in the early 90's and Eminem (Marshall Mathers) is doing it now. Music is not the only area Hip Hop culture is present in pop culture. Clothing styles over the past decade have steadily gone black. Clothing companies such as For Us By Us (FUBU) and Ecko Unlimited have made their presence known in the clothing industry. Every Major sport in America (Baseball, Football, Basketball) outside of hockey and golf are dominated by black athletes. There are many new films every year that come out in America with the theme of racial issues. Each film is made differently with different tactics of film making to emphasize each issue.