ABPW
Alfredo Perez
11/17/14
Afrs. 20
Dr. Cheek
8-9:15
Assertive Black/ Puzzled White
After reading Assertive Black Puzzled White by Dr. Donald Cheek, there were a variety of thoughts and questions that ran through my mind. I never have read a book that even came close to this topic, let alone how in depth the author went on a topic he is very passionate about. This book is valuable to many people in the sense of understanding why Black people talk and act the way they do. I thought the whole book was very clear on the message it was communicating, being that one must understand the Black mindset for their actions before you label them as aggressive instead of assertive. I feel that if more people read this book there will be more of an understanding between cultures and less judging especially among the White people, who are more prone to judge individuals of other cultures. Something that opened my eyes was on page two, how Black people are always exposed to White education but White people never learn about Black education and just wait around for Black History Month to try and learn something. Many of the authors that the author lists on page three are never talked about, the only author I have heard of from that list is Langston Hughes. I think it just shows how discriminated education truly is by only using White people as contributors. The newest piece of information that I learned from the reading was assertive training and how understanding Black people would be beneficial but also that assertive training would be more beneficial to Blacks. An example to that is on page 116 that trains a Black person to not come on too strong, but instead be polite and get the point across to a White person. With them not being used to it, it would make them feel like a suck up to a White person. I can’t specifically remember on what page it is but Dr. Cheek refers this as being bilingual between Blacks and Whites, because White people don’t respond well to assertive behavior
11/17/14
Afrs. 20
Dr. Cheek
8-9:15
Assertive Black/ Puzzled White
After reading Assertive Black Puzzled White by Dr. Donald Cheek, there were a variety of thoughts and questions that ran through my mind. I never have read a book that even came close to this topic, let alone how in depth the author went on a topic he is very passionate about. This book is valuable to many people in the sense of understanding why Black people talk and act the way they do. I thought the whole book was very clear on the message it was communicating, being that one must understand the Black mindset for their actions before you label them as aggressive instead of assertive. I feel that if more people read this book there will be more of an understanding between cultures and less judging especially among the White people, who are more prone to judge individuals of other cultures. Something that opened my eyes was on page two, how Black people are always exposed to White education but White people never learn about Black education and just wait around for Black History Month to try and learn something. Many of the authors that the author lists on page three are never talked about, the only author I have heard of from that list is Langston Hughes. I think it just shows how discriminated education truly is by only using White people as contributors. The newest piece of information that I learned from the reading was assertive training and how understanding Black people would be beneficial but also that assertive training would be more beneficial to Blacks. An example to that is on page 116 that trains a Black person to not come on too strong, but instead be polite and get the point across to a White person. With them not being used to it, it would make them feel like a suck up to a White person. I can’t specifically remember on what page it is but Dr. Cheek refers this as being bilingual between Blacks and Whites, because White people don’t respond well to assertive behavior