When
was the last time you ever walked into a place were you felt like you didn’t
belong or you were a total outsider?
Or a time where you felt like your presence around a certain group of
people didn’t feel right? Unfortunately for some of my teammates and I go
through this more often than some since we live in a more Caucasian dominate
area. There’re times were we go into stores and restaurants in the community
and people instantly stop and look at us like they never seen African Americans
before. We sometimes guess to see if they instantly began to judge us base off
our looks and appearance, which brings me to my topic about judgment and
stereotypes. In my paper I will attempt
to persuade Caucasian American people in my community not to judge other races
base off their appearance & stereotypical beliefs.
Judging
someone by their appearance can lowers their self-esteem according to Melanie
J.V. Fennell “low self-esteem is a core beliefs, anxious predictions and self
criticism that appears to be an reflection of central negative beliefs.” Being judge in a negative way can
result into lowering ones self-esteem. For example possibly saying or giving
the vibe that they doesn’t belong can make them feel unwanted or less
important. When doing so they start to feel lesser of themselves and cause
their behavior to change negatively in way that they will go out and do things
out of character. I know for me when I feel that I’m not welcome or don’t
belong in a certain place I tend to leave and be alone. When I was younger I
was the type to walk around my household with an attitude towards my siblings
or starts fights with them when I felt down about myself. It was an unusual
emotion and behavior for me because I was always a happy & full of
enjoyment kid, so when I would act this way my parents always know something
was wrong.
In
Santa Cruz County population is estimated at 266,776 people in 2012. The
percentage of African American is 1.4 percent. The Caucasian American
percentage in Santa Cruz is 88.0. This is shown by chart of the US Census
Bureau. Based off these statistics shows that theirs rarely any African
American people who lives in Santa Cruz, therefore people who live here all
year long aren’t used to African Americans. When Caucasians see African Americans
they tend to judge base off what they see or hear on television. Television
tends to show that some African Americans are Thugs, Rappers, and criminals.
For example in the
show “Love & Hip-Hop” shows that African American rappers have a
thug/Gangster image who’s tend to commit crimes behind the scenes. But some
truth to it is that theirs some who does but not all. Cast start Rapper Joe
Budden who’s very intelligent and has a very broad vocabulary isn’t a criminal.
He raps about his personal life situations that he learned from early on in his
life and shares it with his fans so that they wont make the mistakes he did. As
for another co-star who is a writer/producer by the name Consequence who is
also very smart and family oriented man. He put his wife and son first before
his career. His wife of 3 years happens to be a Caucasian female in Queens, NY.
This is an example of two people from different race who don’t discriminate
based of color or race and are still able to find love for each other to have a
kid and be married.
Me being an
African American student Athlete in a primarily dominant Caucasian community I
instant look at myself as an outcast. I watch my every move because I’m not
sure who’s watching me or what the people around me are thinking. I’m from a city where’s its an even
balance of people from all different backgrounds and race so its normal to be
around those who don’t look the same way as you or be from a different race. By
that it benefits the society were people feel more welcome to be who they are
and not be something their not. People in Santa Cruz should be more open to
others that way its easier to get people to want to come & stay rather than
come and get the vibe that Santa Cruz isn’t the place for them. Also if people
were to be more open with accepting others people around town wouldn’t seem so
depressed. Likewise the people in downtown Santa Cruz tend to walk around like
the world is over from others staring and pointing as if they came from a
different planet. I’ve talked to several people down there and they are nice
and fun to talk to. They have interesting stories and views of life but they
think others look at them as psychos.
In the article “My
Heart Is As Black As Yours” it talks about how Mario Procaccio an state senate
candidate unintentionally insulted the black community by saying that “My heart
Is As Black as yours.” The Black community took his words as disrespect.
Reporters called his campaign group “Anti Blacks and Racist” groups. This an
example of misjudgment on the Black community goes wrong. Procaccio took it as
he felt and understood what the black community were going through and put it
in words that blacks didn’t agree with. In this situation he should have gotten
an viewpoint of how someone in the black community felt before making his
comment. This goes to show why you shouldn’t judge before speaking on a
situation because you never know how one may react to it.
My teammates and I
travel around the Santa Cruz area and get the feeling of being judge every time.
When we walk into the Safeway Grocery store we get the stare as if we are going
to steal. This is a stereotype African American gets a lot from movies and
other media sources. Personally when I walk up and down isles and I see workers
following I instantly get irritated. I get to the point where I don’t want to
shop anymore I rather send other people to do my shopping for me. After I leave
I feel like I’m never welcome into the store. People stop and stare for long
periods of time and it bothers my African American teammates and I a lot. If
people were nicer and didn’t look at me like the stereotypical African American
guy they see on television then ill be more than happy and feel comfortable
grocery shopping there all the time. Its times when we walk into the store and
the vibe from the people in the store is negative. It even makes me result into
having to go grocery shopping at midnight when it’s hardly any workers and no
other customers. Being friendly and not quick to assume/judge can easily
eliminate this feeling for most African Americans and not just us.
I personally feel
if people were to take the time out to get to know someone before assuming/
judging who they would have a more positive affect on the people they meet. For
example if one of the workers were to ask me how I was doing or where I from,
just small talk whenever I come into the store then ill feel a lot better when
I come and go into the store. This also can make me or anyone else whose going
through this feel better when going into a grocery store during the day when
its possibly busy and not at night when its empty.
