DeNayia Holmes
Carol Swain Lewis
Advanced college writing
October 25, 2015

Stereotyping people
In the modern America that we live in you are judged by your appearance. Whether it be the clothes you wear, the places you work, or the color of your skin. More often than other many will be stereotyped by the color of their skin; as it is believed that, one can learn all they need to know about a person, just by their skin. Stereotyping is the evil monster no one wants to admit to, seeing how it is constitutionally wrong, it’s easy to pretend it’s not a part of our everyday lives. The other side to this that nobody wants to admit, is that the people stereotyped the hardest are people of color. Stereotyping people of color is so common, that it is has become so forcibly embedded into American society, that its presence in law enforcement, social media, and community finds it to be natural. Taking a backseat view to stereotyping people of color make it clear just how serious it is.
Although banned in the United States racial profiling is often used in law enforcement. the number one group that is pursued in stop and frisk situations are young African American males (NYCLU 2.) in new York the epidemic got so bad that the law was made officially, that police officers could no longer stop and frisk solely because of ethnicity and gender under the fourth amendment (Cornell 1.) while this is an active law several men of colored are still subjected to this act. For a long time men of color were not allowed to become officers because it was known that they would stand against such stereotyping. Many had to fight to earn higher ranks in law enforcement. After a long battle, from a time when most law enforcement agencies were nearly if not all white, there are now people of color at the highest of commands. People of color are now members on the Supreme Court, generals, and commanders.
Social media runs this day in age. Many have referred our generation as “the generation of technology.” all over the internet you can see post about: light skin, dark skin, growing up black, growing up colored. While most is geared as a comedic outlook of ironic insights to life as a colored person, or being a certain shade of said color; most do not realize the negative light that is portrayed with these post. The stereotype for light skinned African Americans is said that they are said to spend more time on grooming, are very soft spoken, and tend to be very emotional (Melvin 3). on the other hand when one looks at dark skinned blacks the stereotype is that they are more aggressive, care little about others, and are untrustworthy(Melvin 3.) both sides of this sheds a negative light on the other. If a person is dark skin, then by this logic they are dirty. If a person is light skin then they are believed to be pushovers. Assigning a worldwide handbook to a shade of color may sound extreme on paper, however in reality, it is a growing tread that continues to be glorified.
Realizing that stereotyping people of color is a natural event is the first shocking truth. Next would be realizing how present it is. In our everyday community, simply taking a walk down the street a person of color will automatically be stereotyped. This is not only done to African Americans, but all people of color. One might see a Hispanic man and assume that he is going to work. Another might see an Arab and fear they are planning to plant a bomb somewhere. One might think that whites are the only race that doesn't get stereotyped, but like all the others, they do. Whites are assumed to be off beat, bow tie wearing, baseball players, showing that no race goes un-stereotyped. The idea that black men are lazy and can't hold down jobs is a well-known stereotype in the world. Employers are quick to jump to this same conclusion and will overlook a man of color and give it to a white man who is assumed to be better suited for the job. The idea that laziness runs in ones genes is both a juvenile and ridiculous assumption.
Nobody tends to think twice when they assign a stereotype to a person of color, and nobody thinks about the negative sides to these labels. Often overlooked, is that many of these stereotypes are dramatically exaggerated, and some not even true. Black people can swim, Hispanics take days off, and not all white people play baseball.

Work cited

http://www.chillfam.com/blog/lightskin-vs-darkskin-stereotypes http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stop_and_frisk