The Reality of Perception

One of the most important social realities is the understanding of perception. The human animal tends to confuse perception with truth or reality. Eyewitness testimony is influenced by perception. As perception relies on sensory input, what we perceive can be influenced by emotional input as well as the frequency of the sensory input. A young African-American male with a "Do-rag" and sagging pants, may be described as a suspicious character, based solely on the perception of a "gang banger." How people and cultures are perceived, then, is weighted by imagery and the frequency with which the images are presented.



As a child of World War II, my father being a member of the United States Navy, I had the perception that all sailors were the same. I remember asking my mother one time, if the sailor riding the trolley car with us was my daddy. It mattered not that the sailor I saw on the trolley was white and I was, at the time, negro. Since my father was serving in the Pacific Theater of Operations at that time, the only sailors I had ever seen, where white. Only years after my father's return to his family, did I learn that he served in a segregated company. Except for my father's anecdotes and the proudly displayed picture of Company 777, my perception of the military was formed by the images on the silver screen and the news photos and video images of Korea, Viet Nam and the subsequent conflicts involving the United States military.

My perception of the military and it's heroes changed radically as I learned of friends who served and died and were seriously wounded in Viet Nam. I began to view movies and news footage with a more critical eye. Although my perception was morphing, the visual imagery remained constant. In reality, white Americans suffered more casualties and deaths than African-Americans, 86 percent Caucasian, 13 percent black. Perception, then, seems to mirror reality. It was my perception, however, that the 13 percent black participants received less than 13 percent of the visual imagery. My perception that the heroes of war did not include Americans of African descent remained unaltered.

Words to describe the pride and satisfaction I felt with the production of the "Tuskegee Airmen", escape me. I eagerly anticipated a wave of theatrical productions and documentaries dedicated to the African-American heroes of all wars. Need I state that disappointment followed anticipation? Subsequent to that brief interlude with racial pride, I began to ardently watch the various military channels offered on cable television. After countless hours of viewing, I noticed a distinct difference in publicity imagery and actual military footage. Because of the segregation of the military in WW II, I did not expect to see anything significantly different between publicity and reality. Depictions of the Korean, Viet Nam, and the Iraqi conflicts, however, provided and interesting perspective. The reenactment scenes were mostly devoid of African-American military personnel. Actual military footage, though, generally included African-Americans in varying proportions.

The difference between what I consider "manipulated" imagery and "actual" imagery reinforced my opinion that perception may easily become reality. My perception of the African-American in the military was initially molded by the imagery available to me in my youth. I don't suggest any overt racial propaganda, because, I consider the perceptions generated by the media to be of a universal nature. Southern impoverished whites seem to be depicted as "hillbillies" and "rednecks" with enough frequency to create the impression that anyone with a southern accent falls within one of the parameters. Examples abound in the human interactive experience: Muslims as terrorists, law enforcement officers as heroes, Asians as bad drivers, young blacks and Hispanics as gang bangers.

It is incumbent upon us as good citizens, to be aware of our perceptions of others and recognize when our perceptions are not our realities.