Stoever demonstrates that racism is not only visual discrimination towards a different race, but also auditory in, “The Sonic Color Line and the Listening Ear”. Furthermore, Stoever’s Sonic Color Line focuses on how sound plays a role between races, specifically how one race cannot look past the stereotypes of another due to an accumulation of nurtured hate. As of a result of this, an ingenuine hatred between the two races is formed. As Stoever states, “The Sonic Color Line connects sound with race in American culture, showing how listening operates as an organ of racial discernment, categorization, and resistance in the shadow of vision’s alleged cultural dominance” (Stoever 4). Stoever proposes how the Sonic Color Line’s purpose is to maintain the tension between whites and blacks. Additionally, she points out how the line consists of racist social practices that are invisible to the naked eye due to generations of racist behaviors being passed down. Consequently, these practices eventually become principal beliefs that results in the unequal treatment of certain races. A question that relates to Stoever’s Sonic Color Line is if there are methods to “decolor” certain phrases or voices. Is there a way we can deconstruct the social belief that certain sounds belong to a race?
