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Richard Medina

Professor

English 101

26 Mar 2019

Nobody is the Same

Stereotypes are part of everyday life. They are used to make generalizations about

a group of people that can influence people’s social lives, emotions, and how people

interact with their environment. Everybody is formulated individually, and our unique

diversity such as culture, music, and way of life should be embraced instead of utilized as

a weapon to speculate our behavior and cause negative judgments that foster division

among us. In the essay “Who Shot Johnny,” writer Debra Dickson is incorrect when she

assumes the actions directed towards her family are typical of inner-city African

Americans who do nothing but hurt others, and their actions alone justify why people

perceive all African Americas to be this way. As Shirley Chisholm once said, “We must

reject not only the stereotypes that others have of us but also those that we have of

ourselves.” We must be judged based solely on our actions rather than be categorized into

one group altogether as stereotypes affect us socially and economically.

Our past experiences can affect how we view on another. When we encounter

stereotypical behavior from one of our peers, we begin to start to make assumptions that

everyone in our environment behaves that way. This type of attitude can damage our

relations with each other and can lead stereotypical thinking. For example, in the essay
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“Who Shot Johnny,” writer Dickson states "When the call came, my first thought was the

same on I'd had when I'd heard about Rosa Parks's beating: a brother did it.” Many times,

when we have past negative experience, they can influence our thinking. When Dickson

nephew was shot, she immediately pointed to the shooter as African American due to her

past. We must never assume that a group of people are responsible for only this behavior

as it causes negative perceptions. These negative perceptions invite others who don’t

have experiences with people from different cultures to make judgements based on what

they hear rather than their personal experience. We must continue to support one another

rather than draw conclusions without facts. When we start drawing conclusions and

made assumptions, we can impact of what society thinks of one’s own. For example,

Dickerson also says “We despise and disown this anomalous loser but, for many, he is

black America.”. Many times, we are responsible for the way we are portrayed. By not

supporting one another we feed into discrimination and racism by allowing other groups

of people by to draw conclusions based on attitude we have towards each other. We need

to remain positive towards one another then we can eliminate unnecessary stereotypes

that affect us all.

Moreover, stereotyping has the potential to result in negative generalizations that

can negatively affect people's lives when it comes to employment and social

understanding. In the essay “Blackman in Public Spaces” Brent Staples talks about how

stereotypes and judgments are hard to overcome no matter your qualifications or

academic achievements. Something as taking a simple walk at night can lead to strangers

making assumptions that they are up to no good or a typical street thug looking to cause

trouble. Despite taking steps to ensure people around will not view him as a threat,
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stereotypes continue to follow him. For example, Brent states “I was twenty-two years

old, a graduate student newly arrived at the University of Chicago. It was in the echo of

that terrified woman’s footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I

would come into – the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.”. No matter the actions

someone takes to address stereotypes people will not always be open to changing their

thinking. It is essential that we have an open mind and begin to look at everyone

individually rather than let them believe they are all the problem.

Even though the author had achieved academic success and was beginning to

overcome typical norms held about African American males when it comes to

employment, stereotypes continue to be enforced by society. Another example, Staples

states “Relatively speaking. However, I never fared as badly as another black male

journalist. He went to nearby Waukegan, Illinois, a couple of summers ago to work on a

story about a murderer who was born there. Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police

officers hauled him from his car at gunpoint”. African Americans are continuously

profiled no matter if they are on the street walking around or if trying to work to make a

living. The actions by police officers due to stereotyping can lead disputes due to a

misunderstanding that can result in physical force and harm. By jumping to conclusions,

we contribute to efforts that adversely affect one another wellbeing. We must continue to

realize everyone is different and not make assumptions of whom people are based on

appearance, and it leads to conflict within our society.

We must not let outside sources of stereotypes affect our judgment. The media

(newspapers, television, movies) also help influence how we characterize one another.

We often see things on tv, and we do not realize how all of the stereotypical behavior that
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is shown to us daily can affect our day of thinking. For example, in the article "Do not

Let Stereotypes Wrap our Judgement" Heilbroner states "Early in life, as every parent

whose child has watched a TV Western knows, we learn to spot the Good Guys from the

Bad Guys." As children, we watch the news and begin to see patterns of criminals which

we start to associate with crimes. This can negatively influence our minds to associate

people with specific behaviors and make prejudgments based on this resource. Growing

up, I witnessed on television how badly cities in Los Angeles are represented. I found

that many friends from different states made assumptions of how I was living based on

what they would see or hear.

Rather than making assumptions and stereotyping one another, we can learn to

accept differences and realize how much stereotyping divides us apart. When we begin to

stereotype it can affect people viewing themselves in a negative way and also create lost

economical opportunities based on personal judgments. We must first eliminate

stereotyping among fellow peers, and this allow others to realize that everyone is

different and to draw their own personal conclusions on people rather than let outsiders’

influences do so.