Color Guard Stereotypes

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

“People with great passion can make the impossible happen.” This quote refers to having a strong passion for doing a certain thing and when you give it your all, it will be greatly rewarded by making things that you thought weren't possible, happen. My strong passion for performing as a Color Guard member is what causes me to relate to this. Every time I perform I get uncontrollably nervous. Once I get on the show mat, I immediately forget about anything in life that might be causing me stress. As I begin to perform I can feel the crowd's energy and that is what pushes me to make every performance better than the last. These improvements are what cause me to make every performance more successful than the last, and they make those impossible achievements happen.

The movie ‘’The Color Purple’’ is a 1985 drama film that portrays the historical period. This film sheds light on the struggles that African American women faced during the 1930s. The Color Purple is about the life of Celie Harris, a poor black girl who married against her wish to an older black man. This movie was a great portrayal of history, which was directed by Steven Spielberg in a new light, this movie also shows realism and grit.

Only about half of the girls on the team had any kind of background relating dance or Color Guard before they joined the team. Each and every team member started with a blank canvas. They all had to pick up skills associated with Color Guard as they went. Many of the girls had to learn how to do flag tosses and spins at the Color Guard auditions.

This time I hated how it felt to be stereotyped. I really felt what people say about police officers. Police officers supposed to be the nice men or women in uniform. This time it felt awful to be on the side of questioning and feeling like a criminal just for minding our business. A group of friends and I were at Fort Lauderdale Airport, waiting for the arrival of two friends coming from their trip. While we waited in the garage filled with cars a security guard in his patrol car came and told us to move before the officers came. The Police officers approached us and asked us why we are here? We all politely answered that we were waiting for our friend to arrive. Thinking that the matter is resolved the officer radioed for backup. In a matter

I've been involved in my high school's marching band since the start of my freshman year, and it takes an extreme amount of time, hard work, and dedication. I'm considering joining the “Pride of the Southland” band or a drum corps group to continue bettering myself in color guard. It is not a recognized sport, but it is a huge part of who I am, and I wouldn't want to be spending my time anywhere else then on the band field. Being captian of my guard of twenty girls, has taught be great responsibility, how to earn people’s respect,and what it takes to be a great leader. I truly do believe I could be a wonderful assest to a major color guard by taking everything I've learned,and all my experiences in the last four years from my current marching

In 2005 Ottawa resident Chad Aiken alleged he was pulled over while driving his mother's Mercedes, then taunted and punched in the chest by an Ottawa police officer. As part of a settlement that was reached in 2010, the Ottawa Police Service had agreed to collect race-based data on traffic stops for at least two years with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in relation to this case. The Ottawa Police Services have not carried out this new plan as of yet police chief is asking for public feedback on how to carry out this controversial project to track the race of people they stop during enforcement of traffic rules.

When I went to Pike High School I participated in an activity called color guard for four years. Color guard is a performing arts activity that incorporates dance while using flags, rifles, and sabers. When I began this activity I barely understood what I was getting myself into. Our team got abandoned by our coach for most of the winter season my freshman year, so our show was pretty awful. We went to competitions with expectations of losing and embarrassment among our peers. At this point everyone was discouraged about how our winter season ended. It was not far to the seniors who gave their whole high school years for this activity. Something had to be changed to in order for our team to progress in the future. Second semester our guard Director, Mr. Emmert, hired Nick Bledsoe as our new coach. Though he was a skinny short white guy with blond hair something about him was intimidating. He walked into the guard room like he owned the place. He sat up with such a great posture that I straightened up from my usual slouch. The seniors did not like Nick too much, but their only wish for him was to not give up on us. From that day forward Nick dedicated his work towards our team regardless of how challenging it was to manage. My guard coach Nick was amazing because of how passionate he was about his profession at my high school.

Basketball, football, and hockey are considered the most popular sports in America as of today. However, sports in the early 1950s were not as popular as they are now. According to “An Exercise in Subtleties and the Transmission of Racism: An Analysis of Sports Illustrated Covers” by Eric Primm, Summer DuBois, and Robert M. Regoli, they stated that American love their sport and that “each year they would spend billions of dollars on sports-related items and activities.” The media help promote the popularity of the sports in America. Consequently, sports media “plays a key role in perpetuating the types of racial stereotypes about minority athletes in sports” (Ismond, 115). The thesis of this writing project is with some racial stereotype reinforcement

Majority of the team names refer to historical meanings and representation of the state the team is in. Like for example, the Cleveland Indians baseball team got its name from the owner, Charles Somers, after he changed the name from “Naps” to “Indians” after a Native American, Louis Sockalexis played for Cleveland in 1914. In this case, the name was given to honor a Native American, but the choice of the name along with the mascot can be deceiving and negative if used in the wrong context. The team’s mascot is an Indian with red skin, long nose, and feather in his hair which is very stereotypical. The term “red skins” has a negative tone to it because years ago it was used as a racial slur. It’s like using the term “negros” or “red necks” as a team name.

Despite the daunting challenge of being in charge of sixty teenage girls, one of the extremely humbling parts of being a Captain of the Eagle Pride Color Guard is the ability to show girls that regardless of their background they can reach their full potential. As I transitioned from my freshman year on Color Guard into my veteran years, I began to realize that I was among a group of girls that had experienced obstacles and had found ways to overcome them. During my second year on guard everything began to come into focus: I observed girls who were struggling with the experience of learning a new skill the way I had the year before. Every year from then on, when I began teaching a new concept to a rookie, such as tossing a flag, I reiterated

What is a stereotype? In my definition it can be a term used to classify an object or thing, maybe even a person. A stereotype can be a person who has little knowledge of something or none at all. There are a lot of different stereotypes out there. For example, “White men can’t jump” is one used in sports such as basketball. This can be a stereotype to people who have never witnessed a white man dunk a basketball. Larry Bird was arguably one of the best basketball players in the history of the NBA with many awards and achievements to prove it. He was indeed a white man therefore, counterpointing the stereotypical phrase, “white men can't jump.” Just like this one, there are many stereotypes out there with a broad range of phrases or

Racial profiling is when a law enforcement official believes someone committed an offense based that person’s ethnicity or race; this is usually common with racial minorities, particularly with the African American communities throughout America.

Although the character of Sofia knows that her resistance will cause trouble, she feels it is more important to stand up for herself, than to bow down to repression of white authority. Had Sofia not fought back, she still would have been punished for cursing the Mayor’s wife. There was no pathway for Sofia to keep her dignity and not offend the Mayor and his wife. In that system, a black person had to remain inferior to whites, and in the South, follow the Jim Crow Laws that enforced segregation. C N Truman describes Jim Crow as “a minstrel show character from the 1830’s. He was portrayed as an elderly, crippled and clumsy African American slave and his portrayal showed all the negative stereotypes of African Americans – the black man with his white master with Jim Crow being thankful for his lot in life.” Sofia goes against these stereotypes as she is a strong-willed woman who throughout the text knows she is entitled to more. The only idea that Sofia follows, is that she unwillingly has a white master, but is never thankful for this.

I conceal my face with layers of makeup hoping that half a bottle of BB cream will be enough to make me as flawless as Kylie Jenner look on the cover of Seventeen magazine. I use innumerous acne medications, aspiring to be as unblemished as the girls in the Clean and Clear commercials. I reject bags of M&Ms and fudge brownies thinking that my sacrifices will make me “love my body” as much as the emaciated Victoria Secret models love theirs (see appendix A). I routinely shave my legs and armpits and pluck my eyebrows with fear of becoming the hairy woman the media deems horrendous. I do everything, yet feel like I am nothing. Nothing compared to the beautiful women pictured on television, magazines, and