Tre'Dessa's I-Search Blog: May 2013

List of Commonly know "Black" stereotypes

This is a list of common stereotypes given to black females.

RULES: The object of the game is to ask a black female that is close to you (who will not get offeneded) how many of these things does she do/like/have on the list then ask yourself the same thing. You then take your to scores of how many things you do on the list and compare it to each other's. If she has a score of less than 5 and you do always you must take the pledge that is posted above then comment your name.

Fried Chicken, Watermelon, and Grape Soda is their idea Meal.
Lazy and Uneducated.
You'll only fine them watching BET and reading Jet and Essence Magazines.
Invented the fashion fad, "Sagging."
Only listen to Rap Music.
All women wear bright color weave.
Collects Welfare for a living.
Lives only in poverty commonly referred to as ,"The Ghetto."
Are great runners because they are always running from the Law.
They make very good Basketball players.

Tre’Dessa Smalls

Ms.McKoy

English 2

13 May 2013

Do you really know her?

When you see a black woman what do you think? Do you let her dark toned skin define who she is? Do you see the stereotypical black women or do you look deeper? When I look at every black woman I see each of their own unique struggles. I see someone who has been cast down to the depths of hell and back all because of one characteristic that people use to label her. We hear stereotypes about the loud, ghetto, and hood rat black girl, but many people never look deeper. These stigmas and stereotypes start to make many black women define themselves as who people say they are. Negative stigmas and stereotypes that surround black females cause them to have lower self-esteem because they feel as they get less respect, leads to higher suicide rates, and leads them to portray themselves according to those stereotypes.

When negativity strikes no one wants to be around so why would anyone want a negative stigma to surround the forefront of their race? No one would want this. This is exactly how many African American females feel. In a survey I conducted I asked the question: “Do you believe that black girls get less respect than girls of other races?” One of the responses I got was “African American women are born with two strikes against them. They are African American and a woman. There are many different negative stereotypes of both of those. Society (especially in the south) already has an image of which people are based off of these stereotypes, and therefore African American women are treated with less respect than African American men or Caucasian women.” This response proved to me that my blog was relevant and it was a debatable topic. I believe that the way a black girl is treated directly correlates with them having a lower self-esteem. How do we get black females to the place where they can quote Ralph Ellison saying “I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed,” and genially mean it. People talked about the stereotypical black girl as black girls being mean, rude, and loud but studies show that violence and aggression directly link with low self- esteem. “The present research explored the controversial link between global self-esteem and externalizing problems such as aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. In three studies, we found a robust relation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems” (Donnellan).

Suicide is caused by low self-esteem most of the times and in recent days suicide rates for black teens have been alarmingly high. “Historically, black teens and young adults have lower suicide rates than white teens, but in recent decades, the suicide rate for black youth has increased dramatically” (Lee, National Institutes of Health). I firmly believe that stereotypes and stigma surrounded with the African American race is the cause for the increase in suicide rates among African American and black teens. “According to the study, in a given year, African American teen girls are most likely to attempt suicide, followed by Caribbean teen girls, African American teen boys, and Caribbean teen boys” (Lee, National Institutes of Health). According to research suicide coincides with low self-esteem. “Low self-esteem was closely related to feelings of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal tendencies” (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 923). In past studies white females were known to have lower self-esteem. Black women tend to act the way stereotypes label them to be. Black girls tend to have lower self-esteem because of the stigmas and stereotypes that are place upon them. People should support my topic because it would help solve world problems and lower the animosity with African-Americans and other races. This would help bring peace and solutions.

The stereotypical black girl is known as being loud, ghetto, wanting to fight and all the bad things about people in a nutshell, but if people stopped long enough to look at the reasons behind the emotional appeal of black girls they would understand. “Those with low self-esteem can become defensive when merely being asked for an opinion, for an idea, or merely for their input on a decision. Expecting that they might be criticized or their suggestion might receive disapproval, they do not like to expose themselves in this way.” (Sorensen). This quote above proves that there is a reason behind “sassy” black girls. When a person pointed out because of their flaws which are categorized by their race it makes them more likely to be defensive. There is no reason that we should say someone is being black, but there is a good answer for the attitude of black girls. After being beat and battered for their skin color for so long many black women start to act the way society deems fit. In an article I read written by Wanda Brooks it said, “[A]… young adult story renders a potentially volatile period in a teenager’s life, one heavily shaped by particularities of living as a darker skinned African American female at the dawn of the 21st century”(Brooks 660). When females are treated differently and are expected to act “less than” or out of character that’s what they do. As a black female its hard living with dark skin also it is hard living with the low expectations of society. Being a black female is a tough task and they have to fight (figuratively) for everything they want in life.

The negative stigmas and stereotypes that surround black females continue to be a problem that needs to be fixed. It has been proven that black women have lower self-esteem but no one knows the actual reason behind them having low self-esteem. The argument that I am presenting with my blog is that black girls have low self-esteem because they feel as they get less respect, leads to higher suicide rates, and leads them to portray themselves according to those stereotypes. People agree with the claims that are presented in this paper because there are many psychological factors and studies that back that point up. So, what is acting black? The world will never know because there is not a true definition, but I can assure anyone that it is not what society labels black as today. Urban dictionary defines the word ratchet as “A madam of the nasty ghetto species” not some of the black decent. Ghetto is defined as “poor; of or relating to the poor life” (Urban Dictionary) not as a black female, so why do we relate these words to the race? The next time anyone labels a black girl remember that there is not a definition to “acting black” and they are lowering her self-esteem even more than society has already done. Low self-esteem continues to be a big deal for women all over, but a huge one for black women in particular!