The most widely accepted inclusive term for all of the groups that are otherwise referred to as "minorities" is "people of color." We have made a deliberate choice not to use the term -minority" except in a quote or to describe a population that is smaller compared to a larger population. Some of the thesaurus synonyms for "minority" arc "underground" and "marginal," while one of the dictionary definitions actually labels it an "offensive term." The term "minority" has historically been used to imply that people of color are somehow less than, inferior to, or actually "minor" in comparison to whites.

And, finally, we will most often use the term "white" and occasionally the term "Eu-ropean American" for groups and individuals with European heritage.

When even the language for racial groups is so contested and often emotional and the research about groups so uneven, how do we sort through what is available, make sense of what is not available, and begin to have some understanding of the construct of race in popular media without oversimplifying or making it so complex that it becomes inaccessible and daunting?

In order to take a close look that is historical, analytical, and experiential, we have framed this section on entertainment media and race around eight questions:

1. What role does entertainment media play in socializing the people in the United States about race?

2. What are the messages and themes about various races in entertainment media?

3. How do these messages and themes differ by race?

4 How have these messages and themes changed over time?

5. How are these messages and themes conveyed in different forms of popular culture-film, television, and music?

6. What are the messages of the dominant culture with regard to race, and how do themes and characters in entertainment media reinforce these messages?

7. What are some examples of entertainment media that challenge dominant culture messages about race?

8. What is the impact of entertainment media and race on audiences?

We will use content analysis, media history, economics, and cultural studies as the primary methods to analyze entertainment media and race. Readers are invited and challenged to consciously and deliberately bring their understanding of their personal experiences and their current intellectual understanding of race to this study and to bring forward new information in the form of history and theories and concepts about race.

That is the context and overview. Here is an extraterrestrial thought that Linda has contemplated over time: if someone from another planet wanted to study the United States and determine what is most important to us and perhaps what we worship, they might come to a surprising conclusion. They would look at U.S. homes, apartments. mobile homes, and dorm rooms and find an object in each of these domiciles. Many of these homes have several: they occupy a central space in living rooms, family rooms, bedrooms. kitchens and, sometimes, even bathrooms.