Stereotypes and Prejudice

This chapter was an important one for me. As a mother of two mixed race children it hits kind of close to home. In my years with my children's dad I encountered many people who were prejudice and who believed the stereotypes that are out there about black people. I was once told my a police man that he saw my children's father walking and stopped him and because he was putting his phone in his pocket they almost shot him thinking he was armed. This is sad to say but the local police knew him fairly well and knew him to never be armed. This was that officer thinking with a stereotype, it was a good thing that he had enough sense to think before he shot. That was the most extreme case of racial stereotyping that I encountered. There was a time when I was going to rent a house, I had just got my income taxes back and was going to pay my rent up for a few months in advance and the landlord had no problems until my ex went with me to give them the money and then the landlord asked if I had this money because of boyfriend and possible drug activities. When I asked that person why they said that they said well people of that color usually don't have access to lots of money unless they are a dealer. Needless to say we didn't take the place. With my children I have yet to experience any type of discrimination or stereotyping about them. I think that it helps there are more and more biracial children entering school every year, that it is becoming normal to see them.  I do also believe that people with those negative views about other races can change. My boyfriend now who my biracial children call dad was a racial person. He did not like black people, he grew up in a rural area and was not exposed to other races. Now he loves our children like they are his own and his feeling toward black people have changed dramatically. My parents grew up in a time when interracial couples were not the norm, they were very disapointed at first but then with more and more exposure they realized they were wrong in what they believed also. I will never forget going to my parents for Thanksgiving and my dad was on the phone with my brother and he said "Callie and the boys are here, time for the fried chicken and watermelon" He meant this as a joke and my son looked at him and said "I'm going home, I hate fried chicken and watermelon." So that just shows stereotypes are usually not true.