These Ridiculous Stereotypes

Ferguson, Missouri. A city where 93% of the people arrested are African American while only 67% of the population is black. A city where 90% of documented force was against African Americans. A city where 95% of ridiculous “manner of walking in roadway” charges were again against blacks. A city where Michael Brown died from at least 7 bullet wounds. Evidently, a city where blacks are put under a microscope and perceived only through stereotypes especially as “perpetrators of violence” (Staples 572). However, Ferguson’s police force is not the only culprit of this severe discriminatory treatment. There are several more cases of unjustified black killings in several more cities or suburbs or rural areas. Many of them go by unnoticed and receive little attention. After all, blacks are three times more likely to be killed than whites, but that’s not all: even thirteen of the largest city police departments kill black men at higher rates than the US murder rate. Showing a huge gap between whites and blacks, these statistics demonstrate how these aggressive stereotypes against blacks exist even among the supposed “protective” and “innocent” police forces.

Yet, black discrimination is so prevalent that it goes past the police system and branches into every area of life. In too many minds, blacks are painted to be a specific and predetermined type of individual like unnecessarily violent and aggressive, but these stereotypes are certainly not always true. Yet, it’s just the opposite: stereotypes are most likely false; after all, they are simply presumed and unsupported claims. Just look at Staples, a “softy” who is assumed to be this violent attacker just from his race. In others’ eyes, the violent generalizations define him but, in reality, wreck and sadden him.