Wednesday, July 15, 2009

...in racial stereotypes news

Guh, today sucks. I'm trying to wait until after all is said and done to get into the whole Sotomayer thing and I'm sick of talking about plane crashes. So, I'm gonna go ahead and recommend you take a look at the article from cnn's series "Black in America". Today's topic is how it feels to be an African immigrant in America...

"I have been laughed at because of my accent and asked all the ignorant questions," said iReporter Ajah-Aminata N'daw, 25, of Fall River, Massachusetts. "Questions like: Did I live on a tree? Roam the jungles naked? Have wild animals at home?" [Ed. Note: To be fair, I was drunk and he started talking to me.] ...


Raphael Craig [native American and apparently not a "reader" - Ed.], 17, of Hyattsville, Maryland, said the television misinformed him as well. Before Craig visited [Africa] in 2005 and 2006, he thought of Africans as "half-naked, running around with tigers in the jungle," Craig said, confessing he was unaware tigers roam only Asia. [Ed. Note: I had a similar revelation when attempting to go whale watching in Lake Mead] [Source: cnn.com]

Come on cnn. Let’s not pretend like we only marginalize black people. We have plenty of racism and xenophobia to go around. Have you considered maybe not interviewing total morons?

“Imagine my surprise when I first moved to Italy and encountered no plumbers, no mafia members, and not one single person talking about spicy meat-a-balls.”

This article does serve to demonstrate how alarmingly uneducated Americans are but, to be fair, other countries suck just as much. I can’t tell you how many times I was told that I speak well “for an American”, that I’m physically fit “for an American”, that it’s surprising how logical and polite I am because “you know [I’m] an American”. Some Europeans practically crapped their pants when I didn’t enter a room wearing an American flag “don’t tread on me” t-shirt, cowboy hat, and carrying a ten-gauge.

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