African American Stereotypes Essay

Historically police officers and the excessive use of force has been a key tool used to disrupt the black community and promote fear amongst anyone who dear to speak out for equality. The same police force that were sworn to protect and uphold the law were the same officers who savagely beat African American citizens with billy clubs and tormented the community with attack dogs just because of the difference in skin color. According to Almalcar Scott “It was the police , for example, who held the fire hoes that mowed down civil rights protestors in the 1960”. In recent times the fire hoes has been replaced with fire arms and the force used to torment the community are officer related shootings. With the advancement of smart phones society

Continued discrimination and the ramification from past abuse have allowed the black communities psych to deteriorate. One way in the continued abuse is in the systematic integration of negative stereotypes of the African American Community. A stereotype is a relatively fixed, simplistic overgeneralization of something or someone that is not necessarily true or based on facts. These negative stereotypes were placed on slaves to justify the violence against them and the so called inferiority of the race. You can find the same concept being used today. Society is constantly bombarded with images in the media that portrays the African American community in a negative light. Majority of the images we see of African Americans are images of gang bangers, drug dealers, and loose women. These images can result in a sense of helplessness in a person leading some to contribute to the stereotype by fulfilling the prophecy and becoming the very thing they witnessed. Some may even gain a sense of a negative self-worth allowing them to fall prey to psychological disorders similar to depression. According to McCreary and Write “Researchers, Scholars, and counselors have lauded the connection between structural oppression and the internalization of negative stereotypes as a contributor to disenfranchising behavior and feelings”. The authors go on to write “Many African Americans accept the negative stereotype as true. The stereotype subsequently becomes self-fulfilling prophecies. Some African Americans, expecting to fail, exhibit criminal