Time’s Health & Science article on stereotypes by John Cloud is an interesting one on so many levels.  It resonates personally with me as I have been knee deep in researching my family history and what I’ve found hangs heavily with stereotypes, i.e., word-of-mouth statements made by family members that are not based in fact.  I won’t go into the whole of that now except to ask the rhetorical question why black folks back in the day wanted to be anything but black?  Again, I will save that for a later time.

Returning to Cloud’s article in Time entitled “How Stereotypes Defeat the Stereotyped“, Cloud discusses an experiment conducted by research psychologists at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.  The research team recruited 103 volunteers ages 60 to 82 “to perform simple arithmetic and recall tests. To conduct the experiment, the psychologists manipulated about half of the participants into feeling stereotype threat by telling them that the entire purpose of the tests was ‘to examine aging effects on memory.’”  The latter statement “to examine aging effects on memory” was designed to “prime the participants’ worry that their advanced age would affect their performance.”  The researchers also asked the participants to write down their age before beginning the tests.  That was one group.

The other group of participants were told the tests were constructed to “correct for any biases that might be associated with age.”  This too was a statement made to damp down stereotype threat and these participants were not asked to write down their age.

Of course, participants in the first group performed significantly worse on the memory tests than those who did not receive the “triggers”.  It was also found that those “between the ages of 60 and 70 were far more susceptible to stereotype threat than those aged 71 to 82.”

This takes me back to Jane Elliott’s exercise entitled “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes“.   Her exercise labeled participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposed them to the experience of being a minority.  Once the labels were given, participants either felt superior or inferior to their peers based on eye color.  Some even became hostile or combative.  In children, fights broke out during recess with a good deal of bullying and name calling.

Stereotypes are truly interesting because they can often determine how people perform in life.  For instance, I had a conversation not long ago with a man who was born and raised in Hawaii.  He said President Obama was not raised like black folks here, meaning here on the mainland.  He said in Hawaii “we didn’t care about race.”  The not caring about race had a lot to do with most of the people in Hawaii were from somewhere else anyway.  I am of the belief Barack Obama’s success is due in large part to not receiving the “white folks” seed or, put another way, he was raised by “white folks” which means he did not hear the words “white folks will never let you have anything,” or “white folks will always have their foot on a black man’s neck,” and so on and so forth.  He did not get that at home.  It’s kind of hard to tell a child you can be anything you want in one breath while telling them “white folks won’t let you. . .” [fill in the blank] in the next breath.

Hearing those or similar words were not uncommon in many black families.  I heard them.  I’ve heard the stories of cutting down family members from trees after a “good ole boy lynch party.”  Those stories were passed down from generation to generation and there was no escaping them and if you didn’t want to hear it you were labeled delusional, not realistic, etc.  Please don’t talk about how times have changed because you will be made to feel as if you brought down the wrath of God.  “What’s wrong with you girl, you been drinking the white folks water?  Ain’t nothing changed.”  Yep, heard that very statement about two years ago and as a result of that and similar statements, “white folks” have been stereotyped as demons by those whose anger has been passed down from generation to generation.

I could go into a further perpetuation of black stereotypes within the black community, particularly when I hear black folks state — in front of their children — “I don’t hire black folks to do anything for me.”  Oh my God.  They won’t shop at black stores, businesses, or hire black contractors.  The stereotype here is that somehow black folks do shotty work, are lazy, or sell substandard products.  You really cannot have a productive thought about growing up and becoming an entrepreneur when you have heard, time and time again, you will not be supported by folks in your own community.  Of course, when met with competition in your professional life, you could easily fall back on what you heard as a child and believe your progress is being impeded due to racism.  It may.  It may not.

When I was first diagnosed with lupus, I was put on medication, namely prednisone, which caused me to gain a good deal of weight.  Being a bit stupid, I still saw myself as the athletic person I had always been.  In my mind I was still about 160 though, in truth, I was miles away from that weight.  It did not sink in until the prednisone was reduced that people really treated me different because of the weight gain.  Men allowed doors to close in my face, folks did not hold the elevator for me, and some folks I knew did not want to be seen publicly with me.  When the prednisone was reduced and I started losing weight, men held doors for me, allowed me off the elevator before them, and those who wouldn’t speak prior were now speaking to me publicly.  The stereotype or label given me then, unbeknownst to me, was fat.  No one knew or understood my disease, the medication, etc. and therefore assumed I was letting myself go and eating myself into a tizzy.  I was not and no one asked.

Returning to the Time article, I get it.  When I allowed my hair to go gray, I got no respect from young folks and it did make me very angry.  My mother experiences this quite a bit and it often makes her very angry.  After dying my hair and returning to the same establishments, miraculously I received better treatment than I did when my hair was gray.  Apparently, some folks see older people as something undesirable.  When my mother and I are together — particularly when my hair is dyed — people tend to address me when my mother asked the question.  Somehow these folks believe the older woman is somehow stupid and lacks comprehension because she’s older.

How do we overcome stereotypes and will we ever overcome them?  At some point in our lives we will face them.  Whether you’re black, white, whatever color or nationality, you will face them.  You will face it whether you are young or old — yes, there are some young people stereotypes out there too and it makes young folks very angry.  And if you have not faced them as a result of color, body size, sexual preference, etc., if you live long enough you will experience stereotypes based on age.  You can ignore them, pretend they don’t exist, fight against them, etc., but they will persist because — and hold onto your hats — you helped to promote or perpetuate them at some point in your life.

Considering that I have lived though most of the above, I do fight against them.  When I hear folks make assumptions about people based on age, I challenge them, particularly those who love throwing around the word “senile.”  I ask them how they know this.  Holding people accountable often causes folks to back down, at least around me. When folks make assumptions about someones weight with comments like “she doesn’t need to order any more food” I again challenge asking how they know she’s (or he) is the size she is because of food when it could be medical.  You see, prednisone stirs up your appetite too.  Again, I hold people accountable for their statements.  Either give me true knowledge or shut up with your assumptions.

When it comes to my folk I’m probably a little more ruthless because self-perpetuated slave mentalities are something I have little use for and I don’t suffer them well.  That said, when I hear someone tell me “I don’t hire black folks to do nothing for me”, particularly when their son or daughter is standing nearby, I will turn to their child and ask do you want to be an entrepreneur or business owner when you grow up?  That usually changes the direction of the conversation.

Holding people accountable — yourself included — might be unrealistic for some because they have weak guts, no balls or lack short-hairs of steel.  Those with weak guts, etc., will laugh, agree, and will allow it to continue.  However, for those who do not have weak guts please stand up, be counted, hold people accountable for their actions, words and deeds.  The life you save could be your mother, sister, daughter, son, father, and to take it further, a whole generation yet to come.