Tuesday, May 31, 2011

I'm white and...

...I like rap music. I was raised in a neighborhood where there were drive-bys (is that hyphenated?) and I haven't owned a bike since I was 6 because they always got stolen in my neighborhood. Believe it or not, I was the minority in my high school. No one expects anyone from my high school to have done anything with their lives but I'm college educated, can form a complete sentence and I don't have a parole officer. I'd say I'm a Polar Bear success story.

You see the sterotypes all the time... the asian that is a terrible driver but fantastic at figuring out electronics. The white person who can't dance (actually, I live up to that one) but who is naively friendly to everyone? The black person that is cousins with every other black person you meet and can cook crazy good fried chicken? Yeah yeah, don't be offended, friends... we've been there. I mean, stereotypes exist for a reason... there are people that live up to them!

Then you meet the people who proudly live up to everything negative their stereotype says about them... the bigotted white guy who lives in a trailer, the black guy who's got a grill and a few illegitimate children with a few different baby mamas, the hispanic person that doesn't speak a word of English except to hit on you... we've been there too!


After meeting that second type of person, I know I feel bad for thinking the worst of them. But then they live up to it and I leave the situation shaking my head wondering WHY they are like that?! Why do people live up to stereotypes? These are the same people that complain about the stereotype itself! I love meeting people that aren't living up to their stereotype. They are typically people that have a lot of self respect and want to better themselves. They can recognize the negative stereotype and distinguish why it's negative. There are others who don't even realize what the stereotype is and why something they do gives people a negative outlook of them.

What's your stereotype? I wear my fair share of scarves (http://www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/) and want to raise my kids to be bilingual like thousands of other white people, but there are things about me that are atypical, and I like that. (Brace yourself for a hoaky motivational speaker-esque comment:) Today, try not living up to your stereotype and highlight the unique quality that makes you, you!

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