Racial Inequalities In America

Have you ever been forced to change your personality while you are around a certain group of people? Growing up I questioned the every detail about my life and my race. I did not know who or what I was. Being an African American girl in America everyone expected me to be illiterate and ghetto. Ghetto is a term used describe someone who is loud and obnoxious. Whenever I spoke my friends would stop me. They said that I was acting white and that I spoke that way. They told me to come back to acting black. There was not a day that went by that I was not called an oreo. An oreo is an African American who is black on the outside but white on the inside. Why was my intelligence defined by a stereotype? Every time I did something that normal African
Race proves as a barrier when it comes to employment and even education. In her article, Race, Higher Education and American Society, Yolanda T. Moses mentions fiscal conservatism (738). The government will not put money where they believe it will be useless. American society is socially constructed on race. Even if we believe that we are not passing our judgement on race, we are but unintentionally. The color of your skin can open up many opportunities but can also turn down many without your knowledge. For instance, if a black man and a white man went up for the same job, who do you believe would get it? Even if they had the same education, the white man would get it because of the stereotypes that blacks are uneducated. Race in America leads to stereotypes about a particular social group. Even if the individual has disproved all stereotypes he or she is still subject to them because of their skin
Wright conducted a study about academic achievement among successful African American male adolescents. In his article, I Know Who I Am, Wright denotes that “For many young African American men, academic success can come at high costs…” (612). The cost is not only high for young African American men but also young women. When a young black man or woman is seen a successful they are deemed as a threat to their peers. They become a social outcast within their own race. According to Wright, academic success within in the black race to those who are not successful is seen as “acting white” (I Know Who I Am 612). Racial stereotypes are hindering the advancement of the African American race because of the need for a high racial-ethnic identity (HREI). Therefore the racial stereotype that African Americans are uneducated prevents those who have the desire to be educated from getting there, because of the need to be accepted by their race. Why does an educated African American have pretend to be a stereotype when he or she is beyond