McCurry 1 Josh McCurry Emily Jarema English 111 - 4th Hour February 24, 2014 Homophobia and Stereotyping

When you get a bad feeling at a bus stop in the middle of the night because you are standing next to a black man, is that because you are discriminating or because the statistics are true? When a gay woman or man touches you on your shoulder, do you get on edge or get nervous? The articles Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples and Homophobia: Why Bring It Up? by Barbara Smith both involve an act of ignorance, and discrimination. Both authors have experienced the situation of being judged by the way they are. They have dealt with discrimination, hate, underestimation, and the feeling of being left out. The feeling of not being good enough or being the different one is something both Brent and Barbara can relate to. In the article Black Men and Public Space the author mentions that he was stereotyped at a bus stop the other evening. The girl gradually over time ran away from him. Her main reason was most likely because she though the black individual would hurt her or steal a possession from her. She was stereotyping him and using ignorant judgment that got her nowhere. Brent Staples is getting tired of being falsely accused of being a bad or evil person. He is a citizen like everyone else and obtains the same rights. Just because his skin tone is vastly different, the public immediately gets a thought that the author or any other African American person is up to no good. And its not only with that race specifically, there are others as well. Most of this can be blamed on what the media/internet portrays to the public. Even though Brent

McCurry 2 seems to go back and forth on the topic, he mentions that the statistics are true to a certain extent and people probably have a decent reason to be afraid or on guard.

And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by a police man. Where fear and weapons meet, and they often do in urban America. There is always the possibility of death (15)

This quote is introducing the idea of jumping to conclusions on people. Im sure there has been plenty of times where you judged a book by its cover and realize that your first impression consisted of negative or inconsistent material. And with his certain environment, jumping to conclusions can easily escalate to barbaric actions or violent behavior. And with this idea of jumping to conclusions, the author experiences where the public assumes that he can do certain acts without trouble. As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken let alone hold one to a persons throat, I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once (15) The author is trying to state that he is normal like everyone else, well, maybe not everyone. He is saying that his skin tone doesnt immediately make him able to hold a knife to anyones neck or vital point of the human body. He is human too, and he should be judged like everyone else should. All the author wants is equality among everyone, but Im sure one day he will realize it wont happen. He can be scared like everyone else and he is confused or maybe delusional on how/why he is judged. He wants everyone to realize that he is genetically the

McCurry 3 same as everyone else. He is made of the same gene pairs of adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. Why does this make him different than anyone else? Yes, the pairs are paired together differently but its still the same thing. For example, you can write on a piece of paper with whatever you want. You can doodle all over it and do whatever your heart desires. Then another paper is a paper that a Harvard student wrote. Even though there is different content on the paper, the paper is still paper. In the article Homophobia: Why Bring It Up? By Barbara Smith, she is a black, feminist, and gay woman. Homophobia is usually the last oppression to be mentioned (527). The author of this article mentions this because it is an issue that seems to be a touchy subject for some people or most. There is a lot of discrimination mainly for these people who are different. Stereotyping is also mentioned as well; present in the article it says that people say that the lesbian and gay oppression is not as serious as other oppressions. Its basically just beating around the bush in order to not deal with the actual issue or situation. The definition of gay to the public means gay white males with large discretionary incomes. Its a stereotype that states not everyone is gay. Typically, only the middle class white males are the only ones who are. In my opinion, this statement from the article makes no sense because most of us understand that anyone can infer that they are a homosexual. You dont have to be in a certain class, race, etc.

In the current political climate schools are constantly under hostile scrutiny from well-organized conservative forces. More than a little courage is required to challenge students negative attitudes about what it means to be homosexual, female, third world. etc. (528)

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Barbara is stating that she wished kids at a young age truly learned the definition of what it means to be homosexual. Where there is no stereotyping, and misjudgment. Kids, teenagers, and adults are listening to what the media, internet, etc. portrays about the homosexuals. The citizens or the public are always jumping to conclusions and making horrible first impressions. People are ignoring the issue of homophobia and when asked about it, they usually go to another topic or just mention that the topic is absurd. One might protect ones heterosexual credentials and their privilege is to put down lesbians and gay men at every turn, to make as large a gulf as possible between we and they (527). The quote is explaining the reasoning behind all the homosexual hate in the world. This is the authors reason to why heterosexuals hate on homosexuals. There are numerous other reasons why there is discrimination against gays but this is her hypothesis to why. Barbaras reason for why there is diversity between the heterosexuals and homosexuals is mainly because the heterosexuals created the wall first. Both of these articles involve discrimination being the main point. Stereotyping a black man and judging him based off what others have said is discrimination, and using the word faggot when its not meant to be used is discriminating. Discrimination in both articles is based off ignorant judgment. The people who are using this act most likely dont know what its like to be on the other end of the table. They think no one can touch them and freedom of speech will protect them. Well, freedom of speech doesnt mean you can go around willy nilly and saying anything you please. These are major problems that will probably never be solved. I am optimistic about it, but the consensus for this to end wont be probable.

McCurry 5 The government has more important issues to deal with than discrimination among others. Plus, they cant monitor everyones vocabulary and conversations all at once and enforce a punishment every time. Its possible I guess, but they would have to throw away other priorities away first. This is something that literally everyone has to agree on. I understand that discrimination is horrible, but I have been called almost everything in the book and it honestly doesnt affect me. If you know who you are and if someone calls you something you arent, then you should know that they are just trying to get a reaction out of you. Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening (16) Brent finally realized/learned that he needs to stop over reacting to peoples opinions. He finally got comfortable with himself and he is now preparing for the worst and handling it like a responsible person should. And what he meant by taking precautions is to basically act less stereotypical in public so he doesnt get falsely accused of acts/crimes that he didnt do. I know not everyone can ignore everyones opinions, but I wish they could. I feel like, some discrimination isnt even discrimination. I couldnt tell you how many times I have been called racist or heard someone get called racist because of the accusers ignorant judgment. I find that many people get easily too offended and it irritates me. Most discrimination cases arent as severe as they turn out to be. For example, say a black man and a white man go to a job interview. Say, the white man gets the job because he is simply more qualified than the other guy. Well, just because the black man has a history of slavery in his family he thinks the choice of him being dissed was based off

McCurry 6 discrimination and it was to be considered a hate crime. No, its basically just because the white individual was more qualified for the jobs requirements. With homophobia, I dont mind if you are gay. If you start getting too close to me or start touching me, or if you are just invading my personal space/bubble then I will be on edge. I will be worried or uncomfortable. I have noticed gay men be really loud in public and almost publicize that they are gay. You dont see me running around projecting straight traits and so on. If you do that, you will bring attention towards yourself and get the awkward looks you deserve. But the homosexuals (males) think the awkward looks are because of the public judging them for being gay. Maybe, just maybe, you are just being an obnoxious person and not following the rules of being in a public space. This has been an issue for a while and the solutions we developed never have worked. I feel like some people or most people have a little discrimination personalities in them. The diversity will never be obsolete like they promised. It will always be a global issue and this world will never be perfect where everyone is equal. Obviously, no one is created equally. If the problem has been present for years upon years, then it will never go away. If the solution hasnt been found by now, then it will never be found. Homophobia and stereotyping is an important issue. But homophobia is practically pointless because a phobia means to be scared of something. How can you be scared of another individual being a homosexual? Its just careless and ignorance together. Stereotyping is almost excusable because of the statistics and history of what African Americans have done. They are known for common crimes but most likely they dont do it just for the giggles or just because its in their genetics. They obviously need to pay the rent, mortgage, put food on the

McCurry 7 table, etc. Most of those crimes you hear about occur in an area with poverty among them. The acts of crime arent always meant to be cruel; sometimes its just to benefit themselves because its the last option for them to do. Both articles involve discrimination and I find it to be very disappointing. Are the statistics true about the crimes involving black individuals? Is homophobia a legitimate term for the act? Majority of the time, discrimination is based off ignorant/un-educated judgment. People just jump to conclusions and persist to think what is right. Some humans are narcissistic and just want to say their race is better by default. And some people who are very religious think that homosexuals shouldnt even be here and its all just an act for attention. These acts are arrogant and dont include common sense. If everyone had some common sense and an open mind for change, the world might be a better place. It wont be perfect, but itll be a start.