Sterotypical Norm Analysis
The year is now 2040. My 12 year-old daughter had just handed me the essay she wrote for her english class. Her teacher told her that she’s going to enter it into an essay contest because it was one of the best essays she’s read from a middle school student in her many years of teaching. After reading it, I could tell that it was definitely way above the average 7th grade quality. I brought her to the dining table and sat her down.
“They are not going to like you,” I tell her.
“Who? Why aren’t they going to like me?” She asks confused.
“Your classmates, your teachers, society. You are growing up to be an extremely intelligent black female, and people are not going to understand you because you exist outside of the stereotypical norm.”
“What do you mean?” …show more content…
I remember writing a research paper in my sixth grade history class. For the duration of that class, my focus never strayed from my assignment as I was trying to make it the best essay I’d ever written. Once I finished, I expressed how proud I was of my work to a fellow classmate, to which she laughed and responded, ‘You’re such an oreo.’ Her comment perplexed me. I had never been called that before and I didn’t understand why she called me that just because I was proud of my paper. She told me that since an oreo is dark on the outside and white on the inside, this colloquialism was used to describe a black person who ‘acts white.’ Back then, I couldn’t figure out what it meant to ‘act white.’ The concept is still a mystery to me today. Since when did intelligence equal whiteness? From that moment on, I found myself being called ‘an oreo’ many more times than I would’ve liked. I was confused about what those people were trying to imply, and even up to today I haven’t figured out why such a term exists as a means of describing a
“They are not going to like you,” I tell her.
“Who? Why aren’t they going to like me?” She asks confused.
“Your classmates, your teachers, society. You are growing up to be an extremely intelligent black female, and people are not going to understand you because you exist outside of the stereotypical norm.”
“What do you mean?” …show more content…
I remember writing a research paper in my sixth grade history class. For the duration of that class, my focus never strayed from my assignment as I was trying to make it the best essay I’d ever written. Once I finished, I expressed how proud I was of my work to a fellow classmate, to which she laughed and responded, ‘You’re such an oreo.’ Her comment perplexed me. I had never been called that before and I didn’t understand why she called me that just because I was proud of my paper. She told me that since an oreo is dark on the outside and white on the inside, this colloquialism was used to describe a black person who ‘acts white.’ Back then, I couldn’t figure out what it meant to ‘act white.’ The concept is still a mystery to me today. Since when did intelligence equal whiteness? From that moment on, I found myself being called ‘an oreo’ many more times than I would’ve liked. I was confused about what those people were trying to imply, and even up to today I haven’t figured out why such a term exists as a means of describing a