Media can present racism as both wrong and acceptable if temporary

Evidence

Two rationales are articulated throughout this episode of NYPD Blue. One rationale is that racism is understandable given the trauma and injury inflicted by the Arab Muslim perpetrators of 9/11. The other rationale, and the preferred meaning in the episode, is that racism is wrong and is not to be conflated with patriotism. The backlash against Arab and Muslim Americans is situated as (yet another) exceptional time in U.S. history, but like the others, one whose prejudice will eventually subside. The notion that “this too shall pass” encourages viewers to accept racism against Arabs and Muslims because it is presumably temporary. Mourning is central to this logic as well; the ideal viewer is positioned to mourn the fact that Arab and Muslim Americans are victims and that other Americans react to fear with racism. However, according to NYPD Blue, at the other side of mourning is hope for a new day and a return to racial equality as the norm. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 462

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The ‘this too shall pass’ logic — framing racism as regrettable yet acceptable because temporary — is a genuinely disturbing rhetorical move worth sitting with: it positions the mourning liberal viewer as the ideal consumer of racism.
• SEED: A possible essay: how the phrase ‘this too shall pass’ as deployed toward victims of racism functions as a demand for patience rather than a promise of change — a comfort that asks the victim to absorb the harm.
• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s work on how institutions make temporary or exceptional measures persist; also echoes Hannah Arendt’s analysis of how exceptional measures become normalized.