What Propagates Stereotypes?

¶ … stereotype? The modern United States of America is very different in regards to race relations to previous decades in America's history. Mainstream Americans overwhelmingly do not question racial equality, integration of schools, mixed marriages, and equal opportunities for education and jobs. Today's America is "post-racial," a term used after the election of President Obama. However, this is not completely true. The news periodically mention racially charged shootings such as the Trayvon Martin case and more recently, racist incidents on college campuses nationwide.

Fraternities throwing "gangsta" parties, majority white-male organizations dressing as the stereotypical African-American or Latino gangster are causing minority students to speak up. All these incidents stem from lingering stereotypes. Stereotypes are popular beliefs that are oversimplified about a particular group or person. Stereotypes branch from cultural misunderstandings and a complex history of social interactions. This paper will examine the reasons why stereotypes exist through the eyes of Judith Ortiz Coffer and Malcolm X A major contributor to the propagation of stereotypes is the cultural misunderstanding between ethnic groups.

Coffer discusses this gap from the perspective of a Latina. Born in Puerto Rico but raised in New Jersey, she faced many incidents of discrimination. Like many immigrants, her family wanted to preserve their cultural roots, "We spoke in Spanish, we ate Puerto Rican food bought at the bodega, and we practiced strict Catholicism complete with Saturday confession" (Coffer, 104). However, these cultural traditions sometimes do not transition well into American culture.

Coffer mentions how in Caribbean countries, women tend to dress light for several practical reasons, its hot and humid, and men in these communities know that while the women dress provocatively, it is not an invitation to touch, "women perhaps felt freer to dress and move more provocatively, since, in most cases, they were protected by the traditions, mores, and laws of a Spanish/Catholic system of morality and machismo who main rule was: You may look at my sister, but if you touch her I will kill you" (Coffer, 106).

This culture clashes with America's Puritan roots, where such practices were frowned upon. In the United States, a provocatively dressed woman is seen as encouraging advances from men. These mixed cultural signals perpetuate the stereotype of the "Hot Tamale" Latina woman or the sexually charged Hispanic woman. All of these stereotypes have real world consequences, Coffer mentions Puerto Rican women being harassed by their bosses, sometimes facing the choice of either submitting to the sexual advances or losing their job.

Coffer touches upon another factor that Malcolm X also discusses, which is how history factors into contemporary stereotypes. Malcolm X was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement in the United States. Before his ascendance to the national stage, he was a criminal who spent time in prison. While incarcerated, he discovered the knowledge that comes from reading. As he spent his time reading and expanding his knowledge base, he became particularly interested in history.

Specifically, Malcolm X became interested in the history shared between Western civilization and the rest of the globe. Due to the complicated legacy of slavery and colonialism, there are a number of stereotypes.

The perception of the inferiority of people of African descent, is a stereotype that Malcolm X attributes to the manner in which history is written, "the history of the Negro had been covered in one paragraph, and the teacher had gotten a big laugh with his joke, 'Negroes' feet are so big that when they walk, they leave a hole in the ground' (X, 276). Africans and African-Americans contribution to history have been trivialized.

White authors ignored or downplayed thousands of years of history because of a superiority complex which can be attributed to the legacy of slavery and colonialism, "Book after book showed me how the white man had brought upon the world's black, brown, red, and yellow peoples every variety of sufferings of exploitation. I saw how since the.