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.

African Americans are not the only ethnicity group to be singled out with behavior. Racial and ethnic minority students report experiencing low teacher expectations, having less access to educational resources, being placed on lower educational tracks, and being steered toward low-paying employment (Kozol, 1991; Olsen, 2008).This low expectation is causing

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.

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific types of individuals. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. African Americans have been perceived to be someone they are not in the media, history, and in everyday life. Although some stereotypes are true, many are harmful and inaccurate.

African Americans have been oppressed ever since slavery was abolished and it seems to be a never-ending cycle. White Americans oppressed the black population because they needed a way to remind everyone of their so-called supremacy. They did this through many different ways but the most common were by theatrical performances. Ever since the minstrelsy shows the negative stereotypes of African Americans seem to keep growing. According to the book Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, “in almost every American movie in which a black had appeared, filmmakers had been trying to maintain the myth that Negroes were naturally rhythmic and natural-born entertainers.”

As we all know, African Americans did not originate from the United States. We were abducted from our homeland and brought here on slave ships by the hundreds. Before we were taken we were living a sustainable lifestyle that fit our basic needs. We ate fruits, vegetables, and meat from game that we hunted and gathered from the land. We also used herbs and natural remedies to cure us of our ailments instead of prescribed medication and radiation treatments. Today, many African Americans face countless health issues such as diabetes, asthma, HIV/aids, high blood pressure, obesity, and the list goes on. Many of these health issues come from the lack of education of our past, where we reside, and many stereotypes that are embedded in us in society.

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

African Americans are often portrayed on television unfavorably. According to previous research, television often presents African Americans in stereotypical roles. These unfavorable representations can have an influence on the perceptions of viewers. Research indicates that television viewers have used these images as indications of real portrayals of life and of others, causing viewers to rely on these stereotypical images in face-to-face interactions. Although prior studies have considered the impact that these images have had in the minds of people different from the images, little research has considered how images of African Americans have influenced the perceptions of African Americans. This proposed study was designed to focus on the

Our society is fabricated with the many stereotypes that exist regarding each and every race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. African American youth are among the greater numbers that are instantly judged and labeled with those stereotypes. There are a handful that may be considered positive, however, the vast majority of stereotypes are built off of the imperfections of a given group of individuals. That being said, a higher education will grant a better reputation for African American youth, compared to the reputation that has already been set for them. Education is by far, the most valuable asset that anyone can have in a lifetime, especially for groups of individuals such as African American youth.

Black people have been known to be able to do incredible things from themselves and others. They are able to turn nothing into something and use it for the greater good of their own communities. Since the Great Renaissance and the inception of the Black Wall Street, African-Americans were a force to American society. Through the Black Wall Street, with their own money, Blacks were able to open up jobs and business that would recreate and maintain the socioeconomic flow within their own communities. Businesses, shops, banks, and health care facilities came out of the Black Wall Street. Since its destruction in 1921, African-Americans and their sense of having something that they can call their own has not been revitalized. Till this day, Blacks rely on their white counterparts to fulfill their needs in day-to-day living. There are a few ways that African-Americans can give to themselves, which will continue to give throughout the year. In return, this will make them (as a people) stronger, more unified, and powerful than ever before.

Another behavioural tendency that exposes one as a racist would be if one is verbally abusive, threatening, or ridiculing while using derogatory language towards a particular group of people in the community based on their race and cultural belief and practices. Stereotypical comments and racist propaganda such as symbols, signs, and graffiti is another form of behavioural character of a racist. For example, many stereotypes have a belief that all Asians know martial arts such as Kung Fu and that they all come from China. Similarly, most stereotypes believe that an African American’s first instinct is to fight or kill someone if they do not see eye to eye typically because they believe that all African Americans come from poor and violent backgrounds.

Over the years, stereotyping has reached an all-time high especially in this contemporary society. Everyone is stereotyped in different ways whether it is their race, religion,  gender or culture  and unfortunately this only results in negative outcomes.For example African Americans are stereotyped as violent and wild individuals that are uneducated gang bangers, but the real question is how did this stereotype come about and why is it still relevant today? In the movie "Crash it gives great examples of stereotyping and prejudice behavior towards different racial groups. They had two different examples of  a group of people that are the same race living completely different lifestyles. What people fail to realize

Stereotypes. Labels. Many have experienced being labeled, while practically all of us have labeled others in the past. Whether it be a person we’ve never met, a person we saw for the first time, or even a friend, labels along with their accompanying stereotypes are frequently placed upon various types of people. However, stereotypes are never random; there seems to be some sort of perceived knowledge about the nature of a person when the stereotype is formulated.

Today a Black man has killed someone. Today a Black woman gave birth to a fatherless child. Today a Black child was arrested for stealing. Is this really how the media presents Black people? Throughout the century, Black people have been portrayed as violent,ignorant, and mis educated negroes because those are the only things the media will broadcast.