The Angry Black Woman (amongst the other stereotypes of the black race)

Why is it that every time there is a portrayal about black people, 9/10 times it peeves me off? We have the ‘angry black women’, to the ‘misguided youth’ to the ‘black gangsta’. If the saying that TV is a reflection of what is going on in the society is true, then I will be the first to say that black people scare me! The fact that we are so misrepresented not only is damaging to our reputation by giving credence to the ignorant out there claiming that‘black are failing’, but is also has a negative impact on the younger generation as what is being shown to them is the definition of 'being black'.

This of course is not true as I have met black doctors, barristers and dare I say it gentle, black women who debunk those silly stereotypes. Whilst, I can’t ignore that a minority of black people are like that, it is not representative of us all. The media has got it wrong for so long now that I do wonder when we are going to take a stand.

While it is easy to point the finger at the media (which is pretty much run by the white man) and cry racism, sadly, I think that some of us actually like to reinforce these stereotypes in the media. All you have to do is go on to the music channel and see a black man who may never has seen a gun in his life trying to be ‘hard’. Some of the black comedies that exist have at least one black woman depicting the ‘neck moving angry black sista’.

I guess my main qualm is that don’t have a real balance in the media. For every black dude selling crack we should have a black doctor trying to save lives then maybe such negative stereotypes can be removed. But until that happens I will continue to cringe at my TV...

United Race?

Listening to my favourite Hip Hop and R&B radio station; I was slightly taken aback when I heard this conversation:

Radio DJ: So do you like the Big Brother contestant Makosi?

Caller: Nah man! She is African!

Given that the caller was also Black herself, it would seem absurd that she would harbour a dislike for someone who is Black too, based on where she was born. Sadly, this is a hidden truth amongst the Afro-Caribbean community, where there seems to be a deep rooted fascism propagated by certain groups.

There is no innocent party as I have been told that I could marry who ever I want as long as they are not Jamaican because all they do is ‘smoke weed and get girls pregnant’. Certain Caribbean’s look down at Africans as they feel that they are’ loud and brash,’ and generally are ‘poor people’

Whilst there are some culture clashes between the two groups, I wonder whether the root to the animosity is much deeper than that. It would seem that some Caribbean’s have not forgiven the present Africans for their ancestor’s greed, who were willing to sell their brothers into slavery. Certain Africans may feel that the Caribbean culture is very different to their own, weary to accept that a group of black people, have a culture much more familiar to their white counterparts.

As much as it disheartening to find that a minority of people like the caller above harbour such ignorant views, the progressive steps taken by Afro-Caribbean organisations promoting social cohesion, will make sure it stays like that. A minority