Homeland--Showing how racial profiling is rooted in the CIA

This week, among jumbling internship tasks and homework assignments, I found some time to stream my current show: Homeland, on Showtime. Homeland is a series that focuses on a former Marine and prisoner of war, Nicholas Brody, who comes back to the United States after eight years in captivity. CIA agent, Carrie, has a bad feeling about him. When Carrie was on a previous assignment, one of her sources told her that al-Qaeda had turned an American Marine. The entire show develops as Brody returns and assimilates to life back with his family, under the secluded but vigilant eye of Carrie and the CIA.

From a glance, the show seems harmless, like all the other 'war on terrorism' shows and movies that have been released in the last decade. With the topics we cover in class, I can see that this show emphasizes the one of the three pillars of white supremacy: Orientalism/War. The view that is present throughout the show criminalizes people of color and the Middle East. In one line, specifically, a CIA agent urged his analysts to look for more suspects. He explicitly told them, "We don't have any time, just look for the brown ones." Another analyst protested, explaining how that was racial profiling, another term we discussed in class. "That's not racial profiling, it's straight up profiling." I could not find a clip from this exact moment, but it happened in the first season. Although the show is highly entertaining and thrilling, after hearing these remarks, I am hesitant to continue watching.