Stereotypes Case

Three stereotypes that I have encountered in my life have had to do with African Americans. I myself am an African American male. One of the most common stereotypes that I have encounter was African American males are violent. African American males are commonly associated with crime, even though it is proven by the FBI that the majority of crimes in the United States are caused by Caucasians and Hispanics. According to the FBI, in 2008 there were a total of 10,662,206 arrests in the United States, 69.2% of the people arrested were Caucasians, 28.3 % African Americans, 1.3% American Indians or Alaskan Natives and 1.1% Asian or Pacific Islanders. Despite of the FBIs' records of crimes and arrests, people tend to relate African American men with violence. I have had people accuse me of being violent due to some of my actions but I have never been violent towards anyone ever. My mother raised me better than that and taught me to just walk away because violence isn't worth my time.

Another stereotype that I have encountered is all African American men are good at basketball. Honestly I am horrible at basketball. It is true that the largest percentage of professional basketball players currently in the NBA is African-American (well over 80%). And it is also true that the majority of the top college basketball programs also feature a healthy percentage of African Americans. However, this does not mean that every man (or woman) of color happens to be able to dribble and shoot a basketball better than their contemporaries of other races. For every Michael Jordan, there are 25 black guys who couldn't hit the side of a very large barn with a basketball. Playing basketball is a skill and not a racially imparted genetic marker. There are plenty of good basketball players of other races - both professionally and on collegiate level. Nevertheless, this particular stereotype is a good means of getting selected for a pick-up game at the local b-ball court if most of the available players aren't black!

My last stereotype that I have encountered was African American men are well endowed. This one is bound to start some discussion. Upon googling 'Black men big penis true?' you'll find a range of references to an unemployed white man from Brooklyn named John Doe, who's apparently the owner of the world's largest. Research however will tell you that there is in fact no truth to the debate about differences in size across the races. It is certainly not a guarantee that the next black man you meet will outdo John Doe in the size department but in terms of a continued discussion about this myth, we'll leave it with you.

On another hand One would suppose this could be true or not, depending on the individual. It is probably safe to say that those individuals who find this stereotype lacking would certainly wish otherwise. Black guys have definitely used this particular stereotype