"First, it reduces threat (a lesson we learned from blackface minstrelsy), be it political, economic, moral, or religious. Second, the practice of stereotyping promotes ethnocentrism: the in-group is catapulted to a superior status that the out-group cannot obtain" (75).
Stereotyping allows people to perpetuate and strengthen generalizations. When white people make generalizations of the black community, it creates an attitude of superiority, because most likely all the generalizations made are negative attributes. Many of the attributes are also very contradictory such as being lazy, but aggressive.
An example that sticks in my mind is the stereotyping of African American women. When a black women does not sing well, is not athletic, does not fit the stereotypical physical assumptions that all black women have been lumped into, etc., people are thrown off. But, why? White women are 'allowed' to talented in almost areas, able to wear any style of clothing, enter into any field she chooses. But when a black woman likes country music, decides to wear cowboy boots etc., white women often are confused.
Since I was young, I have played volleyball. As strange as this sounds, I NEVER once had an African American girl on my team. Not only that, but there was not one black girl on any volleyball team in the ENTIRE league of five high schools. I also played basketball and ran track, both of which I played with multiple African American girls. My senior year, a black girl tried out for the team, and sadly, we all for the first time realized that we had never seen an African American girl play volleyball. This made my head spin. Why were there no African American girls going out for volleyball? I really do not know, but I believe it probably has to do with the stereotype set.
To even write about stereotyping by race makes me extremely uncomfortable, because I realize that I probably have similar thoughts to some of the problems I have with stereotyping. This is definitely an area I need to work on.
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