4 Myths about African Americans

Author: Aaron Mosley

Being a black male in America is sometimes has its challenges because not only am I criticized by all the male stereotypes, but the black stereotypes too. Stereotypes are human's own way of evaluating each person we encounter daily. America’s history and even society today has a tendency to create negative stereotypes for the black community. Stereotypes such as liking watermelon, dealing or using drugs, abusing government assistance, and being bad fathers. Although to some these stereotypes seems harmless, they affect more than just the opinions of others. Often due to these myths the black community falls under false accusations and are associated with things that no correlation to our lives and who we are. We are judged by the color of our skin, and as many of us know these stereotypes aren’t true and are just myths, but the wide spread of these myths hurt the race.  

Myth #1: All African Americans like watermelon

Many people of all races that enjoy watermelon. However, I like many other African Americans don’t eat watermelon. Taste is an individual trait and not a sex-linked trait, so no matter what race you or your parents are, your taste buds will be personalized to you.  The correlation between watermelon and its small hints of racism derives from history. After the slaves were free, they searched for jobs. Many of them becoming watermelon salesman as it gives them an income and something to eat, and not to mention a lot have lived on farms so agriculture wasn’t anything new to them. The history shows how false this myth is, and how little it correlates with African Americans liking watermelon. (Black)

Myth #2: All African Americans deal or use drugs

There are about 24.6 million drug users in America, and among those users are a variety of different races. African Americans clearly aren’t the only race that to use drugs, but they’re also not the most likely race to use them either. Statistics tell us that people of two or more races are the highest likely to use drugs. (NIDA) “According to the 2003 NSDUH, 38.2% of White young adults 18 to 25 years of age in the U.S. reported any illicit drug use in the past year, followed by African-American (30.6%) and Hispanic (27.5%) young adults.” (McCabe)

Myth #3: All African Americans are on welfare because they’re lazy

There are many black people that have had great success without government assistance. Will Smith is a prime example. Not only does he have success in his career, but also financially, and he has never received government assistance, and there are many other cases of this besides celebrities. Many families, especially big ones, living in poverty cannot support themselves on the low-income jobs that are available to them. Although there are some families abusing government assistance that is not the case for most families. 

Myth #4: All African Americans are bad fathers

The stereotype that all black fathers run out on their children is absurd, and there are many more stereotypes that degrade black fathers. Despite what these stereotypes say most black fathers are there and in their children's life. “Most black fathers live with their children. There are about 2.5 million who live with their children, and 1.7 million who don’t, according to the CDC.” (Levs) According to an article by the Huffington post, Black fathers interact with their children more than Hispanic and White fathers. More black fathers took their children ages 5-18 to daily activities, helped their kids with homework, and talked to them daily about their day. (Hutchinson)

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Works Cited

Levs, Josh. “No, Most Black Kids Are Not Fatherless.” The Huffington Post, 

TheHuffingtonPost.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/.

Black, William R. “The Atlantic.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 8 Dec. 2014, 

www.theatlantic.com/.

NIDA. "Nationwide Trends." National Institute on Drug Abuse, 25 Jun. 2015, 

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.

Hutchinson, Earl Ofari. “Denzel Washington Is Dead Wrong About The ‘Bad’ Black 

Father.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 2 Nov. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/.

McCabe, Sean Esteban et al. “Race/ethnicity and gender differences in drug use and abuse 

among college students” Journal of ethnicity in substance abuse vol. 6,2 (2007): 75-95.