Stereotype
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Stereotype
A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend and I ran into a guy who literally knocked us off our feet. He was the most polite and funny person we’d ever met. That is unusual in this town because not many people come up to you out of the blue and start talking to you. He was very intelligent and very happy when he was talking. He had a different accent which is not common in Colorado Springs, and so we asked him where he was from. Sudan, Africa is what he replied.
Immediately we both thought of the African Safari’s and all the wild animals there. My boyfriend asked him about living amongst the giraffes and stuff.. and Basheir started laughing.. He explained to us that Africa is not all wild animals and safari’s like people think. There are major cities there. He was from Sudan. We were both shocked to hear this. What we see on TV is not all there is. We didn’t know this. Because of TV, media and our own ignorance (mine included) we tend to stereotype people based on what we know.. and in some cases, we rely on TV and media to give us those stereotype views.
I was so impressed with Basheir, once I found out he was actually the business owner of the store we were standing in front of. I asked him if I could interview him for my blog. It would give him more exposure and help with his business if people knew about him. He’s not your typical business owner! Here is the interview that we had fun with!! My boyfriend Tom, is the “customer”. Pretty funny.. enjoy!
We all tend to stereotype at times
This is true unfortunately. You’re driving down the road and you’re at a stoplight.. and a car pulls up next to you.. windows down music and bass blaring and your own car is shaking from it. You immediately think that person must be a ___________. We stereotype!
Stereotyping isn’t necessarily prejudice, but I can see why some people think it is. We think, what we are programmed to. What we learn from TV, or other sources. It’s not always a good thing. We need to broaden our mindset and open up for new “programming” based on the truth, not just what we hear on the radio, TV, or news. It’s not always true! We need to get our minds out of that silly stereotype mindset and start living life as we should! Don’t let a silly stereotype get in our way!
This blog post was done because of my own ignorance to what we think about people from Africa. My mind is now open and I have actually sat down and started doing more studies on Africa.. because I WANT to know!
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