Are Stereotypes Important?
BY RHANIYA DAWSON, LINDBLOM MATH & SCIENCE ACADEMY
A
re stereotypes necessary? Do they make you who you are? Do stereotypes help or hurt the world? There are many types of stereotypes that include gender and age. But people often experience racial stereotypes the most. Just to be clear, “a stereotype is a judgment about an individual based on the real or imagined characteristics of a group,” according to facinghistory.org. Several Lindblom Math & Science Academy students have experienced racial stereotypes. Kylie Malone, 13, and her family took a short trip to Michigan. While there Malone said she experienced something she will never forget. “We stopped at a gas station, and there was a white man selling in the gas station. He said, [after] I got some chips and a drink to put it back because he didn’t serve Negroes.” Other African-American students, such as Keilani King and Justin Atoyebi, said they had a similar experience. 8 TRUE STAR JR.
King, 13, said that her friend’s grandfather, who is Mexican, told her friend to stay away from her and her brother because they were Black. Atoyebi, 13, said that he and some friends went into 7-Eleven but they were not let in. “We were told to get out, even though there were others in there,” said Atoyebi. He added that those already in the store were not AfricanAmerican. “And then we were strangely told 7-Eleven was closed,” Atoyebi said. Some racial groups are even associated with certain jobs. For example, most of the time Chinese people are associated with doing nails. Hispanic people are associated with cutting grass or maintenance. Indian people are associated usually with fixing your electronics. “We all hold misleading stereotypes of people that limit us as individuals in that we cheat ourselves out of the benefits different cultures can contribute. We can grow and learn from each culture, whether it be Chinese, Korean or AfricanAmerican,” according to facinghistory.org.