How to Beat a Stereotype
I know some of you may find this hard to believe, but at one point in time I actually was a young black male. Now granted I was more Carlton and Cosby than Cooley High, but still a young black male nonetheless. And one of the messages that was always bombarded at me was that I would have to be faced with stereotypes that I was lazy, dangerous and trifling (Look it up). I always thought that was odd, since none of it was true so I figured at an early age that that I would let my actions speak louder than my words and I figured the best way to beat the stereotype was to not act like one.
So guess what, I did. I went to school and did well. I didn’t carry myself in a manner where I could be mistaken for a suspect on Cops. I never shot anybody. I didn’t have children with anyone I wasn’t married to. Spoke English like it was my first language. Didn’t wear my pants around my knees. I didn’t embarrass my parents or anyone else who fought in the civil rights movement. I took personal responsibility for my actions. And I made it a point to look for a wife with a blue tooth and not a gold tooth. Ironically, I ended up getting more grief from Black liberals because my name is Abdul-Hakim Shabazz and my politics are more conservative than they feel comfortable with, go figure.
Now why I am stirring the hornets nest again? Well as you guess this all comes in the wake of two incidents that have shown up on my radar screens. The shooting in Florida of Trayvon Martin and the attempted murder charges filed against Dai-twon Williams in Indianapolis for the shooting last Saturday on the canal. I fully understand the outrage and anger in the Martin case. Although I start to worry when Al “Shakedown” Sharpton shows up to the scene. I am more puzzled that the anger and outrage in Indianapolis over the Williams shooting isn’t as great. Had his aim been a little steadier he would be staring down five murder charges instead of attempted murder.
Where the two connect is that a lot of folks, including my colleague Erika D. Smith at the Indianapolis Star are saying part of this is the result of young black men being universally labelled with stereotypes like the ones I mentioned above. Unfortunately, for every Trayvon who isn’t a stereotype there is a Dai-twon that perpetuates it. If we want the larger culture to know that young black men aren’t dangerous, violent predators, then some of us need to do our parts to dispel the myths.
How do you dispel a myth, well the first thing you do is stop perpetuating it and act like you have some home training. Secondly, parents need to start acting like parents. These are your children, you made the decision not to use birth control and have them, so guess what, you need to raise them instead of being out at the club trying make more of them. And when young people get out of line, Black leadership needs to hold them accountable, not make excuses for bad behavior. Granted there are some other long term steps that can be taken, such as education reform, but that’s another column for another time. But if we want to break a stereotype, then we need to do our job not to perpetuate it.
