The Black Story

It is common trend in the media to portray black people as less intelligent than others. Internet memes,YouTube videos, and telivision  can be ruthless in the creation of the image of all black people coming from the ghetto, being lazy, uneducated, immoral, and poor.

Some examples:

Unfortunately, there are plenty more negative depictions of black people than the ones I have included. Part of the reason I feel they are so harmful is that in many areas, very few black people reside. So, people in these areas who see the media’s single story about black people may very well come to accept it as a reality. If they don’t know many (or perhaps any) black people from their own experiences, they will be particularly likely to accept the harmful stereotype.

In the case of my family, many years ago (before I was born), we lived in a neighborhood where there were no black people. My oldest brother, being very young at the time, had only ever seen black people on the television. One day, a black family moved into the neighborhood. My brother told my parents that he saw Bill Cosby moving in. Now, fortunately, my brother’s view of black people wasn’t all that negative. Rather, he just assumed the new black neighbors would be funny.

Another reason the stereotype is harmful is the effect in can have on black people. When people are told enough times that they are a certain way, they may come to accept that as truth. Memes with messages such as “black people can’t read” or “they’re just a stupid race” can cause serious damage. If a child feels that no one expects him/her to become educated, perhaps the child never will. Indeed, one may even act less intelligent than one is to ‘fit in’ with a stereotype they see on a continual basis. Being told that you “collect welfare checks” and “stea, shoot, and run” may very well lead you to believe that you’re not supposed to get a job.

Not all black people come from the ghetto. Not all black people collect a welfare check. Some black people are very intelligent. Some are very ambitious. But that doesn’t fit into the single story and, for that reason, these truths often remain untold.