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Negative Stereotypes Of African Americans

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Stereotypes. They have attached themselves to you since birth, determined on how you look, how you act, your nationality, or the most common factor, the color of your skin. However, it’s not entirely the general populus’ fault. We put labels based on what we see. Things like television shows and movies contribute to this; whether it be a hispanic man portrayed as being illegal, or an asian man portrayed as an owner of a laundromat. Therefore, it is our view the negative stereotypes of African Americans in movies and TV shows has a impact on how they view themselves and can adversely affect their holistic development. The bias towards African Americans, whether it may be conscious or unconscious, is real. Modern day media has a major role to play in this, since what we see can have effects on our lives. For many years now, the media has been lambasted for their representation of African Americans to the general public. Basically put, even though the number of African Americans on television had drastically increased, the way they are portrayed has not changed.(Greenberg, Mastro, & Brand, 2002; Mastro & Troop, 2004; Weigel, Kim, & Frost, 1995). From research, I have discovered that from most television shows, African Americans are usually portrayed in “blue collar occupations” such as such as a house cleaner or a postal worker. “Similarly, in an extensive review of Blacks in the media, Warren (1988) found that the media often portrayed African Americans in occupational

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