Where Have the Minorities Gone?

So I was watching a rerun of Friends last night while trying to think of what this week’s blog topic should be when I realized that the answer was staring me in the face – where are Manhattan’s minorities? I’ve been to New York City in general, and Manhattan in particular. And when I looked around, the view was not solely attractive 30-something white people. There were members of all different ethnic and racial minorities surrounding me as I walked the streets of Manhattan, a fact that you might not believe if your only knowledge of the population of New York City was from watching T.V. shows like Friends.


There are a lot of strange happenings in the cast of Friends. Six very attractive and witty people who all have jobs but manage to spend the majority of their time in a coffee shop, and live in spacious, well-lit, clean apartments that even a coffee-shop waitress and a mostly out-of-work actor can afford to rent. And not a single one of these people, in eight years, dates or even converses regularly with a person who isn’t White. In fact, it appears that none of these people even pass a person of color on the street or see a minority getting coffee.


How can this be? Where have all the minorities gone? It isn’t until the ninth season that we see a recurring character who also happens to be a minority – a girl who ends up dating two of the central characters (though thankfully not at the same time). Why is ‘Charlie’ the first black person that we ever see the ‘Friends’ talk to more than once? Are the Friends characters racist, or is it simply an unspoken belief in mainstream TV that diversity isn’t necessary in popular sitcoms?


In fact, flipping through the channels, it’s pretty difficult to find a sitcom wherein the majority of the cast is White and the city where it’s set actually has a minority population. There are no poor people, no ethnic or racial minorities, and no people with disabilities. In fact, the only sitcoms where one is likely to find a minority are shows like Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, or The Wayans Brothers – wherein the minorities are given top billing and there are virtually no White people to be found (and not many other minorities either).


So, No, it’s not just the Friends cast that apparently doesn’t consort with people outside their race and ethnicity, this lack of minorities on the show is just a reflection of mainstream T.V.’s reflection of Mass Media’s rejection of minorities.


The question then becomes – would it be better or worse to include minorities in these shows, but keep their portrayals stereotypical or negative?


Which is worse? Negative portrayals of minorities, or a glaring absence of minorities at all?