Stereotypes and then some

So on a message board I frequent, the topic of stereotypes came up. One of those listed was that "certain" folks aren't intelligent. Another was that "certain" folks don't read. Well, they are stereotypes. There is likely some tidbit of truth at their core, but they can be spread across humanity, every ethnicity and truth can be found when limiting the group to a smaller sub group, etc, etc blah blah do dah.

Well, I came across an article called "Black Like Them". It was about West Indians and their treatment, acceptance and role in discrimination of African Americans that are native to the country. I asked a series of questions, focused them around the aritcle and urged everyone to read the article and let's talk about it. I get 20 replies. Their answers. "Yes, they are black". Hmmm. Not what I asked. What I asked what this:Are West Indians and Jamaicans Black (African American)?

Are they treated the same as African Americans?

Does their treatment from others change after they are 1 or 2 generations removed from the West Indies or Jamaica ( read any other locale as well)?

Do these immigrants to the US believe themselves different than African Americans born here and descended from slaves? Should they?

After reading the article, did any of your perspectives change or were they supported?

I wanted to talk about what the article said about "certain other" people hiring people from the Ghetto they didn't know vs the Ghetto they did know. To that, these employers would rather hire people that live distances further away from the place of employment because they felt it improved the quality of applicants. Racists and disgusting, but this is part of the article. It said much more than that and I found one of the studies done that supported the authors perspectives. I wanted to get into the meat of the discussion. Do we allow our differences to divide us? Do we give permission to "certain other" people to have basis in their prejudice by assuming us to be different from the lot or somehow not like the rest.

Most of us have heard that from time to time. "You're not like other "certain" people" It's bs. We know it when we hear it and it tells us more about the person saying it than they care to admit. I wanted to discuss it.

Instead, I got anger. I received "I'm not reading the article, but yes, we're all the same". Damnit anyway. We give credence to stereotypes everyday. People are always watching. Someone is always paying attention to things we do blindly and unconsciously. We have to be more conscious. It's not even a thought...we have to. Two people did read the article. Their responses were dazzling and they found the original article as amazing as I did. Informative and shocking were my words. The authors last sentence was profound and prophetic. We have to be leery of giving into "certain" things because as the author puts it, "In the new racism, as in the old, somebody always has to be the nigger." Uggh. It's worth the read. Check it out.


http://www.gladwell.com/1996/1996_04_29_a_black.htm Article