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Nikki Jackson and Lischele Watkins

Katie Robisch
College Writing 11011
11 April 2014
The World Isnt Black and White

Many people have many different reactions to different situations. Some people
cry at a football game and some people laugh at a funeral. However, do certain ethnic
groups tend to be more expressive in their emotions than others? (Watkins 1). The
main stereotype topic focus is on African American reactions towards certain events is
more exaggerative than a Caucasians. When it comes to parenting, competitions,
relationships, or something as deceptive as a simple magic trick African Americans tend
to be more open and honest with their emotions and reactions.
When African Americans become parents, they like everyone else in the world,
only want what is best for their children. Since they are still faced with the hardships of
discrimination, parenting styles are a lot more stern and disciplined because African
American parents dont want their children to feel the prejudice that they felt when they
were their age so many years ago. If African American parents can be stern with their
children and teach them to behave in public and what not to do, they will have less
problems with discrimination in the future. The main objective of a black parent is for
their children for not to be treated as a stereotype. African American parents only want
what is best for their children. They know that they are going to go out into the world
and be judged because of what they look like instead of what they can offer to the
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world. Usually the African American parents are much more strict and agitated while the
caucasian parents are very relaxed and careless.
Caucasian parents are usually more laid-back with parenting is because
Caucasians mothers have a less strict approach to child rearing. They will nurture their
children a little more than other races do. Caucasian mothers were expected to place
more emphasis on self-reliance (Kelley and Tseng 446). Since Caucasian children are
more self-reliant, they dont have many rules because they are, in a sense, parenting
themselves.
Competitions is where things get interesting throughout the races. Kevin
Chappell was a senior politics and business editor for Ebony magazine for 13 years and
is now the Senior Editorial Manager for National PTA in Washington. He is also an
African American, and can give us insight from his point of view. But when you're
Black, the reality of winning is important. Whether it's in sports, school or the workplace,
being the best does matter. Like it or not, when you are Black, and particularly a
Brother, many times, if not most times, if not all of the time, you have to be the best.
Simply fitting in when you're Black can be a sure way of getting left out (Chappell 32).
According to Chappell, if you are Black and you are not a winner, you will not be as
accepted as other people will be thus you being left out of the group. Which is why
African Americans are usually the ones who are doing smack talk so that their
opponent will be off their game and lose. Its this drive that African Americans have to
be the best at something whether it be the NFL or flag football with their friends, they
know that they have to do whatever it takes to be the champion, even if it means
making fun of someones mother to do so. So this also proves that African Americans
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are emotional more emotional and open with their reactions because they will show
more anger and sadness than Caucasians if they dont come out victorious then you will
be thought of as less than by your peers and colleagues.
In a journal, some researchers did a study on how magic tricks affect the brain.
They say that, Visual illusions occur because neural circuits in the brain amplify,
suppress, converge and diverge visual information in a fashion that ultimately leaves the
observer with a subjective perception that is different from the reality (Macknick 871).
Which translates into, when you see a magic trick your mind doesnt comprehend what
is happening and for a second you believe what youre seeing is real. Then it takes a
person minute to realize that theyve been tricked, they laugh and its all over. However,
African Americans take it a step, or five, further. When an African American first sees a
magic trick they cannot comprehend what they saw and they have to analyze what they
just saw and calm back down. Comedian Aziz Ansari has observed how African
Americans are affected by magic tricks and what he says is very interesting. They react
by yelling and saying NO WAY! and then they run a couple feet away as if the magic
trick will curse them. After they get their bearings they come back and say how
Awesome and Amazing the simple slight of hand was. Ansari then goes on to say
Black dudes are blown away by magic tricks. Stereotypes are fucked up but that ones
on point (Ansari 0:15) .This once again proves that African Americans have a more
emotional and over the top reaction to something that occurs everyday. Even though we
live in a time where discrimination is frowned upon, stereotypical jokes may never go
away.
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Finally, when it comes to relationships, African Americans, specifically women,
go all out with their emotions more than most women of other races may. When an
African American woman has decided to be in a committed monogamous relationship
with someone they tend to get very jealous and territorial. They feel like if they can call
someone theirs, then they wont want any other woman to take claim of their significant
other. When another woman steps in and tries to take their significant other they may
resort to force. Some African American women will resort to threats, interrogation and
physical violence when they feel as though their significant other is not doing right by
them. They pretty much become a singular Good Cop, Bad Cop so that they can get
the information that they need. African American women tend to be more aggressive in
relationships because they have a fear of being left or cheated on just like every other
woman but they tend to go about it with threats and other means of force. Some African
American women will even go as far as attacking The Other Woman whether it be
calling to curse them out on the phone or finding out where they live so that they can
physically attack them. Rose Weitz and Leonard Gordon, of Arizona State University,
did a study on how Anglo students viewed black woman and the results that came back
were phenomenal. A majority of students said that, In addition, the traits to described
black women suggest that Anglo students primarily view black women as threats: loud,
aggressive, argumentative, and so on (Weitz and Gordon 27). This once again proves
how African Americans are more expressive and honest with their emotions.
No matter how hard we try to get away from all the discrimination and
stereotypes, they will never fully go away. Whether it is about the competitive side of
people, over exaggerative reactions of magic, or just flat out how they were raised,
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everyone is different. No one can change the way we are raised and how we react to
things other than ourselves. We shouldnt have to change who we are and how we act
just to fit in. We just have to find people who are like us and stick with them. Blacks and
Whites may have different styles of doing things but in the end we are all just human.

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References
Chappell, Kevin. "Winning Is Important." Ebony July 2004: 32. Web.

Ansari, Aziz. ""Black Dudes Are Blown Away by Magic Tricks"" YouTube. YouTube, 30
Oct. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Watkins, Lischele Reactions Throughout the Races March 2014: 1. Paper

Kelley, M. L., and H.-M. Tseng. "Cultural Differences in Child Rearing: A Comparison of
Immigrant Chinese and Caucasian American Mothers." Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology 23.4 (1992): 444-55. Print.
Slaughter, Diana T., Harriette Pipes Mcadoo, and John Lewis Mcadoo. "Black Children:
Social, Educational, and Parental Environments." Contemporary Sociology 15.4
(1986): 643. Print.
Macknik, Stephen L., Mac King, James Randi, Apollo Robbins, Teller, John Thompson,
and Susana Martinez-Conde. "Attention and Awareness in Stage Magic: Turning
Tricks into Research." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9.11 (2008): 871-79. Print.
Weitz, Rose, and Leonard Gordon. "Images of Black Women among Anglo College
Students." Sex Roles 28.1-2 (1993): 19-34. Print.