Examples Of African American Stereotypes

Cross Cultural Psychology
Position Paper
Long live the Stereotypes
The United States of America is known by many as the world’s melting pot. It is believed that all Americans are the proud and fortunate inhabitants of a place of asylum for people of all ethnicity and backgrounds. In spite of the many principles and social structures instituted to combat discrimination and promote societal equilibrium, the transcendent effects of stereotypes are still overtly visible within American society. Americans are much more susceptible to accepting and condoning racial and social stereotypes about African Americans than many of their counterparts in the developed world because of prederterminant social factors.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines
Although the introduction of African chattel slave labor into the United states since the fifteen hundreds is common knowledge, many people tend to ignore the lingering and shameful legacies that it has imprinted on American culture and society. Many parts of American ideals and perceptions today of African Americans stem solely from the institution of slavery and the oppressing racist intents of their originators. Stereotypes about African Americans are not as simple as people may view them to be. They are the results of a well rooted and hateful campaign against a group of people forced to provide free labor. They are the direct result of the attempt to dehumanize the slave and the encouragement of inferiority. In the book “Black Culture and Black Consciousness” Lawrence Levine writes: “ It is not necessary for a people to originate or invent all or even most of the elements of their culture. It is necessary only that these components become their own, embedded in their traditions, expressive of their world view and life style.” This is an observational statement which may be attributed to both the positive and the negative. Most negative personal beliefs and self portrayal of the African American is a direct derivative of what has been drilled in him for generations by the advantaged
Most white people will not generally take offense to or have a problem with other people ( black ot white) depicting blacks in a negative or prejudice manner. In reality, it is not usually because they are racist or ill intended, it is simply because they are unaffected by it. Most members of the majority group do not often realize the extent of their advantage over the minority groups. A perfect but simple example of this fact is a personal experience. One day my 6 year old little sister began to cry at the grocery store because she could not find bandaid that would be the same shade as her arm. She said that her friend Ariel always had “invisible bandaids.” It is certain that little Ariel had never given the fact that her bandaids matched her skin color or felt anymore special or advantaged because of it. The point of the matter is that it is something that she may never have to think about, because it will always be available to her. Something as meaningless like that is and will most likely never be a concern for Ariel, but as irrelevant as it may seem to others, it is an experience that will forever remain with me. It brought about some very real issues that my little, innocent sister will have to face for the rest of her life for the simple fact that