How Does Stereotypes Affect Society

For the past 8 years, I’ve lived in a centrally Caucasian dominant area, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Starting in about 10th grade, I started to become interested in how many of my peers and friends in this area perceive black people and black culture as monolithic: they stereotypically imagine that all blacks are lazy, speak Ebonics, and "have an attitude". Throughout the course of my high school education, I was treated as "one of the exceptions", meaning that to my white peers, and even black peers, I don't seem like other black people. Growing up, I heard phrases like “you don’t talk like a black person”, “you don’t dress like a black person”, and “you don’t act like a black person”. I’m perceived as an “oreo”. Someone who is “black on the outside, and white on the inside”.
The other type are the polar opposites of the latter, and do not fit the stereotypical labels. That is the reason why I've become so interested in the way of how society has changed so much. Years ago, stereotypes didn't seem as apparent as they do now. Part of this change comes from teachings at home, social media, and peer pressure. People like to, want to, need to categorize the world, both the social and physical world, into preferably neat little groups. I eventually got over being called an “oreo”, though it still sounds strange and evokes some memories of previous experiences. I was able to get over it because I accepted and celebrated my difference: it’s better to be different rather than being a carbon copy of everyone else. Whenever I get called it, I just ignore it instead of showing that I was actually hurt by it like I used to be. If it were a few years ago, I would’ve tried acting different to prove that I’m not an oreo. Now I’m just like “okay”, because I’ve learned that despite what people may think, everyone is the same. There’s no such thing as an oreo. It’s just a term that reinforces the assumption that there’s absolute qualities to