Perceptions

Response to “Blackness”

After reading the response about the article in the New York Times it dawned on me about what I wanted to write about. Perceptions. How we see others, how others see us, how we see ourselves. We are all perceived in a different way because of our race, gender, creed and anything that we think defines us. The part reading in the Washington book  that really stuck with me was the part about the  African American nurse that was paid to make the men stay. She was paid for her perception of herself. She was an educated woman whom was African American. The men trusted her not only because she was educated but because she was African American. It is natural to trust and favor someone that looks, talks and acts like yourself. As for the person who wrote about how they see African American men as rappers or with baggie jeans it’s just your perception of the person. Our minds naturally develop schemas to make sense of the world around us. We have put things and people into categories. If I say highly educated, republican who would be the person that you see in your head? As we grow we develop new schemas to replace the old ones maybe we should broaden our horizons and start developing new schemas for rappers or even African Americans in general.  

--Sarah Fiorella