African American Stereotypes

Asians always have perfect scores on the test and aspire to be doctors. African Americans have serious attitudes, are thugs and live in poverty. While all Hispanics are illegal immigrants, who can not speak English and commit vicious crimes. If you watch much television, all of these previous statements may seem true. Television is a powerful source of knowledge that in some ways help us understand others in humanity and ourselves.

Stereotypes seem to be very present in our country, especially stereotypes towards African-Americans. For the longest time, like it has been instilled as a fact in my brain, black people have been directly related to the words “ghetto” or “hood”. I don’t remember a time where I actually can remember the words “ghetto” or “hood” without the picture in my mind of an African-American person. I think that this is a big problem in today’s society because it is not true but still seems to be taught. In politics, society, and everyday life, it feels like African-American’s are being slammed for being hoodlums. This is a problem because there are millions of African-American people who do not fit this stereotype, but still get degraded and treated badly because of this age old belief.

How are African American men portrayed? They have many stereotypes under their race and specifically the men of African Americans. There are numerous reasons why African Americans have dominant racial stereotypes. However, it does not make it right that African American men should be the scapegoat for every problem. Being a scapegoat is taking the sins of others. How can African Americans get equal rights and respect if all they get is racism, disrespect, and get blamed? They do not get equal rights in education, job force, etc. Some African Americans may be in a lower class than Caucasians but often time African Americans make it to the high-class hierarchy but they are still not appreciated or respected as much. This other stereotype that African American men may be boxed into is black masculinity. Conversely, if an African American man acts different from usual African Americans, their own people and Caucasians judge them for being different. African American men are getting blamed way too often for many things and even crimes they did not commit. The society needs to stop view African American men as the scapegoat because it is absolutely not fair to them. Even if those men are purely innocent, people think they are not masculine. African American men should not be blamed or deal with punishment that they did not commit.

George focuses on implicit bias largely in the educational sector and how that effects African Americans with the emphasis on specifically the black female. Educationally facilities tend to apply restrictions regarding disciplines on a sort of equality across the board basis; however, the failure of recognition is that this method is not effective and results in long term psychological disparities that will prove to affect an individual’s well-being well beyond their school years. Racism is certainly still prevalent in society and perhaps even unintentionally woven into the very fabric that has a huge impact on our

The way entertainment in the media portrays us has greatly affected how others identify us. Movies and shows like; Madea’s family Reunion, Bringing down the House, Love and Hip Hop, and Basketball Wives all portray us in a degrading way. People sometimes find it comical of course, but the fact that it is comical does not justify it being debasing. This image of us has evolved from things in the media, and its’ power to shape people’s idea of us. We as a race must stop living up to our stereotypes. As soon as we take action in not succumbing to our own stereotype, people will not think we are “Ghetto” or any other undignified term they think of us; therefore in the media we won’t be perceived in that way. As Colin Powell once said, “Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.” Although African American stereotyping is prevalent in the media now because of its’ entertaining quality; it perpetuates a cycle of harmful stereotypes. As long as this cycle continues, our culture will always be illustrated negatively.

Popular culture has dictated and reinforced upon society the stereotype that African American men lack any type of higher level education, and are in their majority incarcerated. Among these stereotypes, is the one that says that African American men are not apt father figures, and that they display a tendency to be more-than-likely to walk out on their families. In fact, it is quite the opposite: while 1.7 million African American fathers are not present in their child’s lives, 2.5 million are; out of those 2.5 million, 70.4% bathed, diapered or dressed their children daily, compared to 60% percent of white fathers, and 78.2% fed and ate with their children daily, compared to 73.9% of white fathers (National Health Statistics Reports, pg.12-14).

In my graduating class, there were seven girls: four Arabs, one Somali, one Bengali, and myself, an African American who also has Ethiopian heritage. While in high school, I continuously dealt with a majority of my classmates, as well as some teachers, making remarks that I considered to be racially offensive and made me quite uncomfortable.

Throughout the history of motion pictures, prejudice directors have used film to control how the general public views certain demographics of people. In particular, the black community has historically been viewed in a negative light. Stereotypes were created through literature and film that still affect African Americans. Directors and writers would create relatable stories and attach demeaning traits to black people that have qualities in common with Black Americans. This would force readers and viewers to subconsciously attach these stereotypes black people. Examples of these stereotypes can be found in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Birth of a Nation. Derogatory terms such as “Bucks,” “Toms,” “Coons,” and “Mulattos”, have put African

I believe that I contribute to fostering an inclusive and welcoming community on campus by being myself. As an African American, there is a lack of the artsy-nerdy types represented in our culture. By being myself, I’m taking part in the growing population of the diverse types of African Americans that exist. For our society, when it comes to the minorities, we focus primarily on the stereotypes given to a specific group of people. For example, all African Americans are lumped up into two categories: the criminal and the one who acts white. By being myself, I prove this standard wrong by demonstrating to other racial groups that African Americans can and are different. We are free to have likes and dislikes, speech patterns, economic status,

Throughout the world, society habitually puts every group into multiple categories. Those groups can vary from gender, to race, to religion, while those categories can fluctuate from what society believes each group is supposed to act by. This method is often referred to as stereotyping, which is a widely held label that each particular group follows in society’s eyes. Though many groups in society have stereotypes, the African American race has numerous. Though the way of living for African Americans have changed throughout time, the stereotypes from the past still haunt us today. Based off of societies stereotypes of the African American race, commonly known as “blacks”, each subgroup of this race reacts differently toward the stereotypes.

Societal values are cultural standards that indicate the general good deemed desirable for social life and these standards determine what is right, important, and ideal for society. Pop-culture creates and upholds these societal values, such as stereotypes that apply to different groups of people. The general public looks at news, celebrities, movies, and high influential people as a way to shape their thoughts on a race/ethnicity, gender, age, income/status, weight, or sexuality.

African Americans are underrepresented in various aspects of American society. On television I am bombarded with commercials, cartoons and other genres of visual entertainment and one fact is prominent, there are few African Americans seen on television. When Blacks are on television it is a criminal on the news or single Black person to meet the diversity quota of the network or not at all. Though some will argue that cartoons should not be in this category for the simple fact that they are understood to not have a race I disagree. When there is a fairy with light pink skin and Caucasian features that represents a Caucasian individual. Many times there are no cartoon with brown skinned characters which, in my opinion is a tragedy. Children

African American men have been disproportionately displayed with prejudice public perceptions in television media dating all the way back to the early 1900’s. Racial pejoratives, stereotypes and bigotry are just a few adjectives to describe what television has infused with the image of African American men. “These preconceived stereotypes are related to a number of political and social issues such as historical events (civil rights), economic status (citizens on welfare vs. citizens not on welfare), educational levels (academic achievements, people with or without college and graduate degrees), employment (unemployment rate), etc. (Dubriel, 2006)”. With using quantitative and qualitative methods to find correlation in the numerous impacts made

“LeBron is a beast,” is a common statement his fans say after the 6’8” 250 pound world-class athlete streaks down the basketball court, powers through defenders, and viscously dunks the ball, then stares down the opponent’s bench. There is no denying LeBron James is a fantastic athlete. He considered one of the best basketball players on the planet. He became not only a savoir figure for Cleveland, but an NBA all-star sensation known worldwide for his skills and his shoes. James has been prevalent in sports media dating back to his high school years when he made the decision to skip college and go straight to the NBA. He was on an NBA cover back then, and now I would like to present you a 2008 cover that presents a blatant stereotype of African Americans.

What Do You See When You See Me Everyone in some form or fashion has been stereotyped or experienced some unwarranted bias. The African-American community in my opinion is one of the biggest victims of this travesty, now while we are far from innocent in how we are depicted the media and others continue to drive false narratives. Stereotypes in print are anything from magazine covers and ads to the everyday commercials we see on the daily. Stereotypes in television from shows like “Empire” and “Power” or even shows as old as “The Wire”.