Race

Race has been portrayed in many ways in the media throughout the years, and I find it interesting to think about why the media portrays each race the way they do. For instance, is it a self-fulfilling prophecy when stereotypical people of a certain race are featured in the media?... and then people of that same race look at media and think, "Oh, maybe I'm supposed to act that way!" So it's a vicious cycle of stereotypes fulfilling themselves... Maybe conspiracy, maybe over-analyzation.

I thought about this today because yesterday one of my supervisors, a black man, came into work with baggy jeans and Timberlands on, untied and loose on his feet. He stomped around the office all day with a walk that seemed to say, "I own this place." He's very confident, and he usually walks that way in the office, but this time it was more noticeable to me--I think it's because he usually dresses very professionally, unlike he did yesterday. I thought to myself, "Wow, I don't ever see him dressed this way, and usually I have a lot of respect for him but today for some reason I don't feel like showing him that same amount of respect." Believe me--I'm not proud of thinking this way. It was completely wrong of me to think that just because of what he was wearing. But then he made a comment that almost pissed me off... he said something about why he had to do a certain project and he said, "I know it's just cuz I'm black." I was shocked that he said that. The project is part of his job--it's not like someone was making him do it because of the color of his skin. I'm sure he was kidding, but it still made me think...

I don't know why this frustrates me so much, but it really got to me yesterday. He was dressed very unprofessionally, and I guarantee if a white man had walked in dressed that way, he would have been asked to leave. But it's ok for this man to "because he's black." I don't think it's a legitimate excuse to dress that way... I'm sorry. This is a very controversial issue, I know, but I just don't see how people will ever be treated with equality when race is still used as an excuse or defense mechanism.