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When your blueprint is pretty funny

Jilly Bean,
Houston, TX

The blueprint for my life was etched from a very young age. I was told constantly by everyone that I was pretty and that I was funny. My sister on the other hand was told she was smart, intelligent, a genius. She was told that she was going to go so far in life. Me, I was just pretty and funny. When I didn’t do something well I would hear the comment, “well at least she is pretty”. That stayed with me, affected me, and shaped me. Making sure I was good at being pretty and funny was at the forefront of my being. It was an underlying trigger for my diagnosed ocd and anxiety. To this day the comments have not changed. Your so pretty, your so funny, your such a good cheerleader….. and so that is where my focus stays

Smart black kid plays tennis alone.

20Raheem Cash,
Alexandria, VA.

As a kid I spent a lot of time being one of two or three black kids in honors classes. Spent a lot of time being only black kid that played tennis. Spent a lot of time not being considered “black enough”. Well I’m not a kid anymore and fortunately I managed thrive in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic world.

You are smarter than you look

Amanda Sperow,
Chehalis, WA.
Oregon State University

Because I am a young woman with blonde hair, and I take pride in the way I look most people presume I am a “bimbo” or dumb blonde. It’s sad our minds don’t extend beyond the sexuality of an individual, and we can only see as deep as hair, skin and eye color.

Aren’t you supposed to be smart?

Patrick Tan,
Houston, TX

Although I wouldn’t argue that the stereotypes associated with being Asian are as bad/worse than stereotypes associated with other races, I feel that positive stereotypes can also become extremely harmful. Positive stereotypes, like Asians being intelligent or hardworking, can place unneeded pressure and expectations on ones who are on the receiving end of the stereotyping, and for me especially, it can make me feel like I’m never good enough or doing enough.

Hey, you’re good at math, right?

Quoc Du,
Houston, TX

Being Asian American, there are certain expectations placed upon me. I’m expected to be smart, I’m expected to have good grades and excel in all my classes, I’m expected to acquire a career as a doctor or a dentist. I’m expected to do this and that, all because I am Asian. All these expectations mean nothing to me because at the end of the day these expectations placed upon my head are not my own. I’m not smart, I’m of average intelligence, My grades are good at the moment, but they can easily dip just like anyone else could, I failed two of my classes last semester. I don’t wish to pursue a career in the medical field, I’d rather be an artist, an illustrator, an animator, someone who creates things. I’m creative, I think a lot and say little, I am my own person. I am not the expectations placed upon my head by strangers and I never will be. I am Asian American and no, I’m not good at math.

You will never be as smart

Fannie Blakely
Philadelphia, PA

Was in a gifted class in junior high school.
First day in an advance math class teacher informed me not to worry, but I would never be as smart as the other kids, that it was not in my genetic make-up. I aced that class (highest grade) and every other class while at that school. Been working ever since to prove to myself and the world that I am just as smart. Kind of sad.

Academically smart, Athletically ungifted

IMG_0540Ed Wang,
West Lafayette, IN.

As an Asian living in the U.S., I have been underestimated my whole life and probably will for the rest of my life. I am allowed to be smart and get good grades but I am seen as physically inferior, void of any athletic abilities. People don’t believe that I am better than them at sports until they see it with their own eyes.

“You’re Asian? You must be smart.”

It’s very annoying how many people say that i’m smart just because of my race, like if i were to tell someone that i was asian they would be all like, “ Oh, that’s why you’re so smart!”, Yeah i may be smart, but it’s not because I am Asian! Many people believe that people who are asians are smarter, but they are just the same as any others, just taught a little more or works a little harder than any other. Anyone, and i mean anyone, could be as smart as any asian person, not saying they are smart, they just try hard to learn, and anyone can do that. As a kid, I got taught by my parents and grandparents, because my grandpa from my mom’s side was a mathematician, so i ended up learning more in my childhood and can learn easier because i have been learning since i was very young, like 5 or 4. It is not cool to say you or someone else isn’t as smart as me just because i’m asian, everyone would learn different, race doesn’t matter that much, it may change where you are, but not who you are as a person, like if you wanted to be smart, learn! I chose to be smart and learn because I wanted to, and as i say this, i would say i didn’t learn as much in writing or language arts, so i don’t write as good, but i can change that. There are also handicaps to being asian, because people think asians are smarter, the government makes asians work harder than anyone else! An example of that is, asians can’t get a certain degree or can’t go to certain colleges because people say they are “Super smart” just because they learned more than others.

The myth of race: what making race caused

Race was never real; it was made up by a single person. It was made to categorize people, nothing else. As the American Anthropological Association (AAA), which is a group of very well educated anthropologists in the country say, “it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic “racial” groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within “racial” groups than between them. In neighboring populations there is much overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species.” So people aren’t very different after all. In 1776 a german scientist named Johann Friedrich Blumenbach was one of the first to make different races, and came up with 5 different categories based on physical appearance and where the people lived. After that, white and european people bought into this subject and then said that race would resolve things, so Thomas jefferson said, “To these objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral. The first difference which strikes us is that of colour.” And so they divided up black people and white people so that white people could feel superior. Also, Huffington post says, “The concept of race in such research is “problematic at best and harmful at worst,” everyone is in the same race, which is human. We need to know this because race causes many bad things, like discrimination, and people should be able to live without it. Race was never real,
It was made by one person, and race couldn’t make anything better.

You are smart to be Mexican

Teresa Gonzalez,
Weslaco, TX.

Many people say expressions like this one without taking into consideration its being offensive. They don’t think or recall that being smart or dedicated to your job, school etc has nothing to intervene with your knowledge or nationality. Not because your Mexican they will treat you how they want. This is an example of many “maids or housekeeping” have to go through, because the people think that if they are doing those kind of jobs it’s because they don’t know anything, and just ” because they are Mexican. From my point of view they will be the ones being ignorant people who don’t even know what they are expressing.

Not all Asians are extremely smart.

img_2004Cora Keahl,
Lakeland, FL.

My mother has always held high expectations of me when it comes to grades and knowledge, I’ve always been really good when it comes to testing and keeping my grades up. And when I told people that I was Asian (Filipino), they would make remarks like, “that’s why you’re so smart” and I’ve always hated it. That, and I’m not as smart as everyone says.

Black girl pursuing her true happiness

Alissa Ward,
Pontiac, MI.

I know that even though I am a very intelligent and smart girl, I still will get discriminated because of the color of my skin. Whether it is in a social environment or a business environment I will always be judge because of what I look like or my complexion. I am fully aware of the discrimination that exists but I will still strive to my full potential to become what I have always wanted to be.

Can you help me with math?

Samantha,
Seattle, WA.

I’m an Asian American woman who gets this all the time. Throughout high school, people assumed that because I was Asian, I should be smart. Most times I laughed it off, but that’s allowing the stereotype to live on. It’s interesting to look back and see how other Asians in my year lived up to that stereotype and looked down on me for doing ONLY academically average. The stereotypes need to stop.

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