No Boundaries November: Stereotypes

STEREOTYPE

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

We are all given stereotypes at sometime in our lives. Our race, ethnicity, size, aesthetics, sexuality, religion...stereotypes are the dark side of society. I have been dealt a great deal of adversity in my lifetime all deriving from the twisted source that is an oversimplified idea about who I am, where I come from -- what I am capable of. People can tell you that you can't do something because you're too black, too white, too fat, too skinny, too nerdy, too introverted, too tall, too short, too gay, too religious...the list goes on and on. But let me just say this one thing to you all. Stereotypes are a fixed part society, they come from ignorance. When people do not understand something they look to their television screens, to pop culture websites, even the news -- ALL places not worthy of such research. Media is the biggest promoter of stereotypes. We live in a world where a death can't make prime-time news unless it has enough "shock factor," enough wow to make viewer ratings go up. So please, don't try to learn about me and my culture through your media venues. You will come out thinking that I am supposed to only love rap music, that because I am slightly larger that I am not agile, flexible, athletic in any way, that just because I am black I will not be successful or have the potential to be a millionaire. Well let me tell you something, all my life have been called something. Lazy, stupid, gay, nigger, loser, white-washed. But none of that matters. Look at where I am! I am at the University of Washington, working in a worldly known graduate lab as an undergraduate! My point is, throw whatever stereotype you want at me -- give me a challenge! I will twist and turn your mind until you see that I am nothing like the person you saw on tv, nothing like that cookie cutter image of a young black man in society that makes you feel secure. We shouldn't have to give groups of people labels to make ourselves feel comfortable.

This past weekend I watched an episode of Oprah's Next Chapter with Rob Bell and I was enlightened by something that he said. "We're wired for the mysterious. We love it. We're drawn to it. You can't stifle it." This is beyond true in every way. We as humans have a need to understand the mysterious -- what we cannot explain. We want the easiest way to find out the truth, to find out how we all tick. Unfortunately, sometimes we crave it so much that we take short cuts to get a quick gratification for our guilty pleasures. This is where stereotypes come from. We don't want to have to do the work to figure out each every person in this world, so we give oversimplified labels to something beautiful -- our originality. 

A war is what we are fighting. Get your weapons ready because the army's shadow has already cast over the horizon. Brace yourselves. Do your research, find out what the past has brought us before. Read about your culture, where you come from, and find out for yourself where you are going -- AND FIGHT FOR IT. We all need a reason to fight, and I know for damn sure that my future is enough for me, what about you? Do you have enough ambition to stand up against ignorance, to make people see that you are one of a kind? We are perfection: perfectly crafted, perfectly sculpted, perfectly painted -- a work of art. Don't let stereotypes make you forget, if you do, then this war has already been lost.

Listen to this, listen to the lyrics, you are a Warrior. You are an Ambitious Daydreamer.