I attended Christa McAuliffe middle school located in Brooklyn. The school was predominantly Asian – at least fifty percent of the school’s population. Yet I still remembered encountering racist or stereotypical comments all the time. Hanging out in the school yard there were racist kids who threw rocks at my friends and I. Non-asians apparently knew how to speak Chinese too – “ching chong” was a common phrase. If someone pulled the sides of their eyes, they became Asian. These stereotypes and racist jokes follow into high school and I still hear it on the streets from ignorant people nowadays. Somehow along the way, Chinese people were supposed to be smart in math because they were Chinese. How that stereotype even formed, I have no idea.

Society has a certain expectation (or stereotype) for each person based on their cultural backgrounds. People of Asian culture are expected to be quiet and polite. People from Hispanic and Black cultures are expected to be amazing dancers and appear to be ‘ghetto’. Mexican cultures are associated with beans.. and illegal immigrants. “Why shouldn’t you play uno with a mexican? Because they’ll steal all the green cards.” There are  misrepresentations of every culture. Jews are ‘ rich and cheap’ – a racist stereotype that goes back into the ancient times.

Let’s drift away from racial based cultures: the most recent stereotypes from sex-based cultures include women ‘making sandwiches’ and ‘staying in the kitchen’ because that fits their feminist nature. Men are superior and are supposed to take the initiative. Then there’s culture based upon location. Apparently, southern people are referred to as rednecks and thought to be ignorant. Even in New York we have our own elite thought – or the ‘Empire state of mind’ as sang by Alicia Keys and Jay Z.

There are stereotypes and cultural representations (which actually become misrepresentations) of every race and ethnicity. It sets a form of stability and standard in society. When a person strays from their norm, it comes at a shock or surprise to other people. All of this stems from society’s ignorance and will not be purged until we approach a society where physical appearance, culture, and ethnicity does not dictate our thoughts.