I sometimes sit and wonder how I would be seen if I were to stand on a national stage – a literal national stage. I think to myself: “How would I be viewed?” “What would people see when I stood there?”
The sad truth is, I’m pretty sure that people would “see” me as nothing more than another angry, promiscuous, rude, ghetto, sex-driven, I’ll-take-your-man-type of female.

This is not because of the way I wear my hair or how I present my body in clothing, but for one plain and simple reason: I’m Black. To much of society, I’m just another number, bound to become a baby momma struggling to provide for my family or a stripper dancing for money to provide me with my next high.
While this national stage is not in my present world, the sentiment does extend to where I find myself today. Although I live and attend school in a diverse area, this doesn’t stop some people from holding a biased mindset toward me and others.

People build their bias off of what they see in the media and through their upbringing and experiences. The truth is – some people are just ignorant. I don’t mean ignorant as in “dumb” or “stupid”. I mean that they have little-to-no experience or interaction with people who are different from them. This lack of exposure to others creates a lack of understanding and, ultimately, a lack of tolerance for difference.
When someone’s sole exposure to black women is seeing a black woman behaving badly on a foolish, ratings-driven television show or beating some other woman hairless on World Star, they are going to have an “ignorant” view of them. When one’s only exposure to someone is through the media or what their friends or family tell them, then their world view is going to be quite small and isolated.
The problem is that people who lack exposure to people who are different from them lack clarity. While negative depictions of black women are just a click away on social media and television networks that are all-too-ready to broadcast any unruly behavior to the ratings gods, it is rare that you see the success of an average black woman in the media.

The media always finds a way to catch black women “slippin” or in our worst moments and then classify these moments as typical. When you really think about it, it’s ridiculous.
The stereotypes put on black women as a whole are far from true and work to undermine our role in society. The media is far too quick to highlight so much of the bad and then advertise it like it is entertainment, which makes it seem like that’s who we really are. This truly affects the way people feel.
All of the negative associations and stereotypes have an adverse effect on how I personally feel, who I am and how I see myself.

It’s hard to get through to society, though. The concept of “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” exists because it happens all of the time. Many people quote it, but I still get a stereotype placed above my head.

Why can’t I be seen as another Zendaya, a black woman who holds high standards in her work and is well-educated, or a Tyra Banks, who is a beautiful and successful black woman who rose from the world of modeling to be an advocate for all women, or the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, a black woman who is strong and graceful in all that she does. These women are face-to-face with cameras on a daily basis and they not only prove the stereotype of black women wrong, they annihilate it.
If people can take time out of their day to watch movies that star these women or watch talk shows that involve these women, why can’t people stop and take a brief moment to ask me my plans for the future or my views on issues in the world today?

Why must so many look at me not as an extension of who these insightful and intelligent women are but as an extension of the stereotypical women the media so often broadcasts? I guess the difference is that they are famous and successful and, the truth is, they still face it themselves.
It shouldn’t take fame to get to know a person and replace the stereotype that’s dangled above their head with thoughtful questions and friendly talk. Get to know people before you decide to characterize them. It sounds so easy.