The “Ain’t nobody got time for that” meme has become a world-wide phenomena, from studying for tests to bronchitis, this meme has become an excuse for everything.
Apparently now, it’s become an excuse for racism. But as shockingly offensive as this is, it’s nothing new. For centuries, Blacks have been stereotyped in some of the worst ways possible. For example, in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he described African natives as creatures, not even daring to consider them human.
“While I stood horror-struck, one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees, and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink. He lapped out of his hand, then sat up in the sunlight, crossing his shins in front of him, and after a time let his woolly head fall on his breastbone.” (1.39-41)
However, as a reader we can hardly blame Conrad. His views were based entirely on cultural ignorance. However, cultural ignorance also was one of the main reasons Africans were enslaved in the first place. Hence, that doesn’t seem like a very valid excuse in our times, where things like Things Fall Apart and you know, that whole civil rights movement thing exist.
On the other hand, even though slavery has been abolished, Black stereotypes have not. People even use modern science to dehumanize African Americans, saying that genetically they are more closely related to apes( ,By the way, this is an incorrect assumption. Just because all humans originated in Africa and then adapted to their environment does not mean they are more or less “ape-like”).
But don’t take my word for it. Pick up To Kill a Mocking Bird, read The Help, type Successful Black Man meme into google, look at the white actors who used to paint themselves black, or watch this clip.
The worst part is, that now the African American stereotypes have shifted from making fun a of a “primitive” culture and skin color, to associating a skin color and facial features to a socioeconomic class. Even more disturbing is the fact that many African Americans are most frustrated by the fact that the stereotype is pushed on them by their own people more than by other races and cultures.
“And I ask why am I black, they say I was born in sin, and shamed inquity. One of the main songs we used to sing in church makes me sick, “love wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”
– Peter Tosh
Perhaps it’s a way to deal with the identities forced upon them. It’s hard to accept that you are you’re stereotype. Some embrace it, choosing to act “ghetto” because it’s who they are because their skin is a few shades darker than mine. Others engage in a discrete sense of self-loathing. Many Black men prefer women with lighter skin, long straight hair, and “non-ethnic” features. Some black women share the same views about themselves, going as far as to buy weaves to get the “beautiful” hair they want. And yet, they will still hear the phrase ” You’re pretty, I mean… for a black girl” more times than they would ever care to count.
When it comes to Stereotypes concerning African Americans, I wish I could say ignorance was the sole reason for stereotypes. Sadly, I believe the leading cause is hatred combined with just a touch of fear. People see African Americans in impoverished areas, they generalize everything they see, and label what they simply don’t understand.
Yes, a lot of it is based on stupidity, but there is a lot of awareness and programs to help people who are trapped by the stereotypes that define them. The increasing number of African American graduating from high school, college, and grad school shows that we as a nation are moving toward changing how we define a skin color. From our half Black president, to our beloved Beyonce, the public’s views on African Americans is changing, which is somewhat of a miracle. No stereotype will go away, especially if people continue to embrace it, but as long as we strive as a nation to inform others and reduce ignorance as well as hatred and fear, we can continue to grow and move on.
As a side note, I ran into this post while doing research for this post. Although yes, some fair skinned or mixed children with African ascent are born lighter until more melanin is produced in the body, most Black babies are NOT born white…
The top meme is essentially a perfect encompassing statement as to the state of racial stereotypes in this day in age. It is incredibly unfortunate that immediately we associate minority based raced(especially African Americans), which duragatory terms and fried chicken and watermelon. I think this post does a fantastic job of display the rampent problem of racism in the world, and I wish everyone adhered to this opinion.
Another great post with evidence! Black stereotypes are no doubt very common on the internet and in society. They are possibly the most common stereotypes known and used by other ethnicities. It is clear that they are not going away soon. Partially the reason for this is that some black people embrace this stereotype by “joking” with it with other black people. Another reason this is not going away is because this is the most broad and possibly true stereotypes. The majority of people, regardless of race enjoy fried chicken, resulting in an automatic joke when black people are eating it. Statistically, the “successful black man” meme may also be partially true because there are more blacks incarcerated than receiving college degrees.
Racism is so damn frustrating. It’s not that people don’t want to change it. It’s just daunting because of how pervasive it is throughout our society. We have come a long way, which is fantastic. I think we are in a more “transitional” period, it seems. Overall, our culture is a lot more accepting of race than it was 50 years ago. But it won’t happen overnight. But then the question arises, how long do we have to wait? How can we “speed up” the process of doing away with racial stereotypes? And the thing that is really unfortunate is that it could be any racial group. If it’s not African Americans this century, it could be Latinos the next, or Whites the one after that. Ignorance (and SO many other factors) unfortunately feeds way too much into the issue.
I really don’t understand why people would even care if a baby is born with a lighter skin tone and then becomes darker. I especially don’t understand why they would even care (or even post it as fact) if the baby is born completely white and then becomes black. Who cares!?? To me, racism is extremely frustrating. I hate that people are being judged based off of their physical appearance. It shouldn’t matter. It has nothing to do with personality, unless you consider the reaction of the negative treatment that comes from having a different skin tone. I just don’t get it…
Anyways, nice post… you do a great job of including pictures and writing in a way that is easy for the reader to read and understand. You make very convincing points. Are you trying to focus completely on African American racism, or are you going to expand over the course of the semester? Either way, I look forward to reading your next post!
It is simply amazing to me the types of things that society will come up with. Racism is an awful thing, and its negative effects can be seen EVERYWHERE. I don’t know if people are just afraid of differences, or if they are ignorant in general, but I cannot seem to grasp the idea that you could make fun of someone or judge them solely based upon race. This is a great post that truly captures the way that racism still infects our country. I think the thing that got me the most was the google dropdown menu. I mean, come on….those are the things that people search?? It’s absurd! I’d really like to see the day that race is celebrated instead of shamed. America has come a long way, but there are still many improvements that need to be made.
The thing that sticks out to me the most is what you said that African Americans are pushing the stereotype on themselves. I do not understand why people would do this? It happens with all stereotypes not just African Americans. Like Asian’s being good at math or studying all the time. It is almost like they put that stereotype on themselves by agreeing with it! But I would like to say that this happens with all races, not just African Americans.
http://memejelly.com/post/24260712784/ok-theyre-always-using-it-0
That picture shows the stereotype of a white person. It is a redneck that is racist! This is a huge stereotype for caucasians and a lot of caucasians push this on themselves! Why would anyone do that?
I tend to call my mom a lot in between classes, and I can say that I’ve been given weird looks, and felt awkward because of it, due to the fact that I’m speaking an entirely different language. Worse, I don’t remember if I mentioned this in a comment or in a conversation, but people assumed that because I’m a particular color, I’m going to steal from DOLLAR TREE. Come on…really? Basically proves how a part of our society is very ignorant. I think this goes back to the types of jokes we were discussing in class. It could be valid to say that the types of jokes we make could be based off the stereotypes people make about African Americans, which are made so much that they become fact. People making these jokes don’t see that they’re degrading an entire society to something that most of them aren’t. However, we can’t put all the blame on caucasians. Some African Americans even laugh at the jokes directed at them which make it ok, and some even become the stereotype. It’s a serious controversial topic, so it’s hard to put a definite statement about the issue, but personally, I find it degrading and annoying that people honestly associate certain stereotypes with different races. Here comes the controversial part: again, the minorities also do it to caucasians, so I the question now becomes, “Who’s the real winner?”
It is so sad to me that stereotypes are so prevalent today. The judgements against races don’t make sense to me. I cannot and will not ever understand why skin color matters, why it ever mattered. Yes, it truly is wonderful how far the United States has come since the horrors of the past, yet negativity and fairly mild tension still exists in 2013. I hope our nation continues to grow and move forward. I like to think that the election of Obama was a great defining start.