A visual representation of my theory
The article “How to be angry” seemed inconsistent. “Hennessy Youngman” used his video “How to be a Successful Black Artist”, to train others to create a forced anger in order to perform, while the story of Serena Williams uses anger through personal experience to lead to her performance. Analyzing these, I saw a pattern of classification of Blacks which is demonstrated in my visual (Blacks for this example, but other minorities apply). Theoretically, there seem to be three stereotypes. First, of the Blacks’ that are “angry” like Serena Williams. Second, Blacks that see racism, but, respond in an intellectual way instead of having outbursts (the Black artist). Finally, there are the Blacks that don’t react at all. As most minorities are sorted into these groups, they are treated differently. The angry group is usually avoided and seen as unreasonable. The group that refrains from acting is thrown microaggressions and are not seen as “real Blacks”. The intellectual group falls in-between. The majority is politically correct around them, but they are willing to discuss race issues.
In all of these cases, real discussion on racial issues is flawed. By not censoring these conversations, people become offended and are unwilling to have them. But if we do censor them, there is less hope of getting to the core of the issue. By categorizing am I discriminating against the minority or the majority? Are these categories correct? And if they are, how can we go about having an uncensored, honest conversation?
Below I’m attaching a blog that I think is a great look at ways we offend others in our day-to-day lives without realizing:
http://microaggressions.tumblr.com/
Works Cited
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2014. Poetry Foundation.Web. 16 Mar 2014.
Youngman, Hennessey. “ART THOUGHTZ: How To Be A Successful Black Artist.” Online video clip.YouTube. YouTube, 7 Oct 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2014.
