Too often in our society, African-Americans or people of color in general, are confronted with situations where they are told they're being or acting “white.”
What does that mean? Do actions have color or belong to a certain race or nationality? More importantly, why are we giving certain actions or attributes to a certain race?
By dictionary definition, a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. The idea of stereotypes can be dated back to the 18th century and remain prevalent today.
Stereotypes not only fill our generation with ignorance but also psychologically limits people to specific actions based on their appearance, therefore unknowingly creating a platform for prejudice, discrimination, and racism.
As a young black woman, I constantly hear the phrase "you speak like a white girl." Does that mean just because I speak properly that I am a white girl?
So only white people can sound educated when they speak? From that, I can assume that speaking "black" means speaking like you are from the hood or "the ghetto."
Why has it become the norm that everything white is positive and everything black is negative? From peers, to strangers, to family members, I have experienced this most of my life when I was just trying to be myself.
What I would like people to understand is white is NOT a language. Unfortunately, we as people of color fuel that fire as well.
It is bad enough when someone of the opposite race says it to us, but when we say it to each other, we just continue to perpetuate the stereotype that speaking properly and educated is specifically a white thing and we as black people shouldn't be uneducated as the stereotype portrays us to be. Stereotypes are detrimental. Stop giving actions color.
We constantly perpetuate stereotypes through social media as if it is a joke. I have heard the term “white girl wasted” and drinking Starbucks as being a white attribute.
White girl wasted? No. If you're drunk, you are drunk! If you are sloppy and throwing up, it is because you cannot hold your liquor and that does not make you "wasted like a white girl" it makes you drunk. No matter your color, where you are from, or how you speak, you are drunk.
I do not like coffee, but my mother who is an African-American woman lives off of it. Does that make her a basic white girl or take away from her blackness?
Here is an image from my Facebook search. Look how many people are talking about this? Using this hashtag #basicwhitegirl
Did you know most of these photos include people holding Starbucks? Black and white girls alike.
It is important that we realize we are fueling a fire. Actions need to stop being associated with colors.
As trivial as a Starbucks stereotype may sound, it is a euphemism for a much larger problem. It starts off with a stereotype about Starbucks and ends with a stereotype that black people are thugs and gangsters or that Mexicans are criminals and rapists.
Stereotypes are dangerous no matter how minuscule. Possible prejudice effects of stereotypes can be a justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance, unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped groups, and preventing some people from stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in activities or fields.
The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one.
