"You're fired " became the catch phrase in the spring of 2004 as NBC's The Apprentice captured public and media attention. Even though The Apprentice was not exclusively about race, it communicated and reinforced racial messages that are part and parcel of the dominant American ideology. No matter which minority group is represented, the media in America offer the same bill of fare: first, exclusion; followed by stereotyping that makes a sharp distinction between "good" minority members and "bad" ones; and finally, the telling of stories that justify racial inequality in American society....