Here, Eat It.

A short article that I have recently come across was titled 'Dining While Black'. This immediately drew my attention. The article described a poll taken in North Carolina stating that "After polling 200 servers in 18 North Carolina restaurants, researchers found that a shocking 38.5% discriminated against black customers."

What surprised me the most about this statistic, was the fact that the servers openly admitted to giving black customers poorer service. The article then describes the server's reasoning for doing so. Waiters said that many gave black customers poorer service due to  their expectations that black diners would be poor tippers, demanding and rude.  How could someone who is paid to provide service to customers, be prejudice towards them simply because their race is "known" for being demanding and tipping less?

This stereotype of black-Americans is one that I have heard before, however have not had much personal experience to back it up. I have been out to dinner with one friend who was equally as polite as the rest of us at the table. However, when my friend's mother ordered, she was in fact very rude and demanding. I found that my differing experiences made it difficult to see whether or not this stereotype is actually that common among the black community. What do you think, are black people demanding and rude simply because they're.... black?

Read The Article Here!

I Can't Get Enough Fried Chicken!

A common stereotype affiliated with Black-Americans, is that all blacks love fried chicken and watermelon. This stereotype was taken too far when displayed in a newscast shown in 2009. The news update spoke of how the fast food chain Popeye's ran out of chicken on the day that they advertised to have a special deal.

Without seeing the video, this would sound like a completely appropriate news cast. However, when the news team interviewed those who went to Popeye's and left unhappy, I noticed something very interesting. Every single person interviewed was black. Black men, black women, black families, and not a single person of a different race.

Now, personally I love chicken and I'm about as white as one can be! I am pale with blonde hair...I am borderline albino. Yet I've been to Popeye's before! I found this newscast extremely racist because it portrayed the black community as the only people upset by the lack of chicken. I am sure that people of other races went to Popeye's that day, so why didn't the newscast interview them? Even if they did... why didn't they show their interviews to the public? 

My initial thought was that by interviewing black-Americans, the news cast would appeal more to those who eat chicken. Once again, this brings in the stereotype that all black people love chicken. Did anyone else find this newscast extremely racist?

Watch The Video Here!

You Do Know He's Black, Right?

Recently I came across an article posted a few days ago, since it is National Adoption Week.

In the UK, a young Black-man posed an article describing how he, a black man, grew up in a white household. His foster parents had to go through a much lengthier adoption process in order to adopt a child of a different race. His foster parents, Barbara and Eric had to fight to adopt the child that they fell in love with purely because they were white and he was black. 

"Their objections had nothing to do with moral fibre, financial stability or — perish the thought — the love the prospective parents had to offer. No, it was because I was black and they were white." 

Both Barbara and Eric were told that an ethnic match of an adopted child and their new parents was "desirable" for a family. Desirable? What exactly is desirable today? There are plenty of multicultural couples in the United States today! However, adopting a black child into a white family certainly defies the social norm.

This was not easy for people growing up to understand Ben's situation because it so greatly defies the norms in society:
"I have been called a coconut — an offensive term about being brown on the outside and white on the inside — more times than I care to remember by those from the black community who oppose my stance."

Now, even though this does take place in the UK, the same values can be seen in the US. How many white families do you see with a black child? It may not be desirable to the majority,  but to deny a family the right to adopt a child because of their skin color.... that is just wrong.

Read The Article Here!

The White Kids Always Get Picked Last

Why is it that we assume the black kid HAS to be good at sports? 

Black-American are generally stereotyped as more athletic than any other race. 

Before practice, a few kids on my swim team went into the gym at the Recreation Center and to play basketball. Usually, the court is fairly empty, however tonight it was occupied by five teenagers. 

The five boys on my swim who are generally more serious about playing basketball approached the 5 strangers and asked if they wanted to play. The ten boys chose one swimmer and one stranger as captains. Automatically, the first captain took the black kid...and so did the other captain. 

NOW THESE WERE COMPLETE STRANGERS. 

They had no idea what talent this kid may or may not possess, but since he was black he was automatically picked first.

The problem was... the two black kids were the most talented of all 10 players! They were faster runners, they stole the ball from the opposing team multiple times, and made almost every shot they took. Now, these two boys fit the black-american stereotype perfectly. Does that mean that the stereotype is actually an accurate description?