Homeland: A Walk Through 10 Instances of Blatant Racism

While Showtime’s highly acclaimed series, “Homeland,” garnered praise for its gripping portrayal of international espionage and counter-terrorism, it also drew significant criticism for its perpetuation of racism and stereotypes. Below, we examine 10 instances where the show’s missteps took center stage:

1. The opening theme song, “Welcome to the Homeland,” features an excerpt of a muezzin’s call to prayer over frightening visuals of Islamic terrorism, playing directly into the Western narrative of fear-inducing Islam.
2. In Season 1, the character Lynne Reed (a Saudi spy) engages in an affair with a Saudi prince, supposedly to get close to him and use his resources for terrorist attacks—reinforcing the stereotype of the sexually promiscuous Arab woman in a world of opulent and dangerous Arab men.
3. In the same season, the protagonist Carrie Mathison racially profiles a young Muslim man at a mosque, simply due to his religious and ethnic background, portraying a prejudiced depiction of Muslims.
4. Repeatedly, the show conflates organizations such as Hezbollah with al-Qaeda, suggesting that all Islamist groups are monolithic and equally dangerous, ignoring the complexities and differences between them.
5. Season 2 showcased a depiction of Beirut as a dangerous, war-torn city, complete with Kalashnikov-toting militants on every street corner, ultimately having to apologize to the real-life residents of the city, who took offense to this warped representation.
6. Throughout the show, Arabic script and Islamic symbols are inaccurately and haphazardly displayed, demonstrating a lack of respect for the language and culture.
7. In the infamous Season 4 episode “The Good Soldier,” legendary CIA operative Peter Quinn encounters an entire Pakistani village of racist caricatures, depicting Pakistanis as irrational hotheads who harbor terrorists and are prone to violence.
8. In multiple episodes, the show depicts Islamabad as a dirty, impoverished city, when, in reality, it is a developing, modern capital that has been praised for its greenery and urban planning.
9. In Season 6, the show perpetuates the stereotype of the “dangerous black man” by casting the African-American actor, J. Mallory McCree, to play a young Muslim-American man named Sekou Bah who becomes radicalized and embarks on a path of violence.
10. Finally, the overarching theme of the show often reduces entire countries, cultures, and religions to their perceived connections to terrorism, while largely glossing over the violent impact of Western imperialism and intervention in these very same regions.

While “Homeland” offered viewers intense drama and suspense, it is crucial to recognize how the show’s careless and, at times, blatantly racist portrayals may have fed into harmful prejudices and heightened xenophobia in today’s world. As a society, we must strive to demand more thoughtful and accurate representations of diverse communities on television and film.