Negative Stereotypes about African Americans Essay Example

For some time now, there has been lots of stereotypes for different social and ethnic groups. My ethnic group happens to be the race of African Americans. African Americans have been on the receiving end of stereotyping for such a long period of time and have gotten a bad reputation for it. Some of the stereotypes that have been told about African Americans can be potentially dangerous and harmful. Judging an ethnic group based off mainly lies that’s been said for a long time portraying to be true is extremely wrong because everybody is different in their own ways.

Negative stereotypes seem to cause harm to African Americans at any time. For instance, some but not all police officers stereotype mainly African American males as dangerous or criminals. There have been numerous incidents in recent times that an officer believes an African American male has a weapon on them, and jumps to conclusions and begins to open fire. Then, after later findings, evidence comes to prove that the African American male had no weapons with them and died because of bad judgment on the officer’s part. Now, people have to go through the rest of their lives with no husband or children with no father. The point is stereotyping is not only harmful by what people say but, it can be also be fatal to an ethnic group of people. 

Stereotyping can also play a very significant role involving the education of a Black American. An African American student could be smarter than a White American student but still have a disadvantage of making it to college just by the stereotypes of their race. For example, a person who may work in the admissions office of a school may notice a stellar application to their school. But, they would still deny it because they think it may be a waste of a spot and time for them. It is very difficult to succeed in getting a good education when the opportunities are limited for other types of ethnic groups.

The stereotype that portrays that African Americans are poor or broke is most likely the most well known one that’s been said for ages and ages. People have always believed the stereotype that Black Americans are tremendously poor people and all live in the “hood.” Additionally, if a person came up and decided to ask someone to think of some of the richest people in the world; the first thing that would pop into their head is a White American such as Donald Trump or Bill Gates. The idea of a rich African American wouldn’t nearly cross their mind when being asked a question like that. People who believe in this stereotype will think the only way for an African American to get money is either illegally or being talented at sports. It is unknown for some people to believe that a Black American went to school, got their degree, and got their own money legitimately the right way.

In conclusion, stereotyping plays a substantial role in the lives of ethnic groups especially with African Americans. Bad reputations have sadly led to the taking of people’s lives in some cases. Some have made it harder for ethnic groups to receive the same amount of opportunities as others. Lastly, some also create false misleading beliefs about people based off what’s been said for time. If stereotyping were to have ceased to exist, the world would be a better place for all ethnic groups so there’s no sense of unfairness from one to another.