(I remember a tv show where one character said something like the OP and the other character (who was supposed to not be an idiot) answered “No, I don’t see crime as a color.” To which I wanted to yell, “it isn’t about how I see crime, it’s about how I think others are going to see me.” And then I stopped watching because the writers wrote a line that stupid.)
Yes.
In a more perfect world, we wouldn’t. But this isn’t a more perfect world. As far as “should”? I don’t know.
I think that part of the reason that I do it is because growing up, I got a lot of “you’re different than other black people” from people who didn’t know other black people (maybeone or two), but had a fully formed idea of what black people were like from a combination of the news and “Sanford and Son.”
I do worry about the beliefs it reinforces, and the repercussions that has.
To GKW’s question, sometimes, but not often. (Though I know people, I’m related to people, who do). Also, I think those good things will be seen as an abberation and the bad as par for the course.
I think the key variable is the degree to which you self-identify with a particular group. While this often means racial/ethnic groups, it doesn’t need to, as the Catholic example above indicates. The more strongly you consider yourself a “part” of this group, the more you will feel it reflects negatively on you when another group member acts in an untoward manner.
I’m caucasian, and when I heard about the Spur Posse, I thought immediately that they must be white. Then I saw clips of them on a talk show and apparently, (according to my memory,) they weren’t. I forget. But when I “found” that out, I was shocked, sort of like if I found out a serial killer wasn’t white. But I guess everyone has stereotypes. I still do, but only about New Jersey
Personally, although I am surprised sometimes when I see a white perpetrator (not often though,) I rarely cringe, except when they show a low-life looking sexual predator. That’s when I fear that my race will be stereotyped.
We share the same shame. (Plus my high school is the one in SC that gained notoriety because our principal wouldn’t allow an Indigo Girls concert there, because they’re lesbian…)
The closest thing I can relate to with this OP is the afternoon of 9-11. I ran into one of my good Muslim friends, who was crying. She was so upset and worried that people would persecute her friends and family of Middle Eastern descent that it broke my heart.
Anytime an individual who belongs to the same racial, religious, ethnic, national, sexual, generational, regional, or occupational group as you does something wrong there is a natural tendency to think “it’s terrible that other people are going to judge everyone in our group by the actions of this individual.” And unfortunately it does happen.
White guy living in a 99% non-white area. I do this.
When looking through the crime sections of the newspapers here, if the headline reads “Man convicted…” “Student arrested…” “Mother questioned…” etc., then you know the people involved are Japanese, because otherwise the headlines would read “Foreigner arrested,” “Koreans wanted for questioning” or “American involved in fatal crash.” TV news is even worse, as the suspects frequently get labelled as just “the foreigner”, which the talking head then repeats again and again and again. It doesn’t help that both my wife and MIL will frequently make sweeping comments about entire countries, religions or groups based on a single news report. Not malicious, just naive, but they believe it completely until I talk them down (maybe).
So yes, when I hear about some new crime, I sometimes start thinking “please don’t let it be a foreigner, please don’t let it be a foreigner, please…”
I’m a person who was diagnosed schizophrenic (and am a participant in the psychiatric inmates’ / mental patients’ liberation movement).
No one EVER EVER introduces a news story about a new hot album by a brilliant musician and identifies the musician as a schizophrenic or former mental patient, etc., or describes the brave actions of an off-duty Cincinnati policeman and notes that the hero is bipolar, or includes in their encapsulation of a formidably successful entrepreneur’s meteoric rise to success the series of psychiatric incarcerations.
But every time one of us fucks up or does something violent, the psych history is dead center in the headline and part of the recurrent noun phrase. Cringe indeed!
Yes on a lot of these for me personally. Italian Southern Lesbian checking in, and I definately cringe over news reports that involve any of the above, especially lesbians. Whenever I hear “Biazarre love triangle leads to tragedy”, I automatically start the “don’t be gay, don’t be gay, dontbegaydontbegaydontbegay–GODDAMIT OF COURSE IT’S A BUNCH OF LESBIANS!” Then I have to hear from about four hundred heterosexuals the next day about it. “Hey, did you hear about those lesbians that killed each other? Did you know about them?” Yeah. Of course I knew all about them, seeing as they lived about 2000 miles away and I’ve never laid eyes on them before.
It’s like “Thanks.” You know, I expect better out of the community that reflects on me.
I know what you are talking about Juanitatech, Its like “oh please let it not be a black guy” Especially when I lived in Maine, because there was no peace for a couple days.
It’s probably because I’m a non-ethnically-oriented white guy, but when Timothy McVeigh turned out to be a white guy from New York, I wasn’t worried about it. Of course, he was from upstate…
I’m Jewish, pro-Israel and pro-peace, so I cringe whenever I head a story about the Israeli army bulldozing some house in the Gaza Strip or what have you. Thanks, guys! You’re helping big time. Of course, I cringe whenever I hear about a Palestinian suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe, too, but I don’t think I feel the same sense of frustration as I do when my people do something I don’t approve of. It’s complicated.
It may not be usual, but from time to time, mental illness is spoken of in a positive light - or at least in the context of someone who is a leading light in their profession. Eg, Flugel player Tom Harrell’s schizophrenia is well known, and is often spoken of in at least an ambiguous or bittersweet light. See Cook & Morton’s ‘Jazz on CD’ book, or go WWWandering. Googling for Harrell’s name is also worthwhile. Artist Louis Wain is another person whose (successful) art was intimately tied up in his mental illness.
It may not be usual, but from time to time, mental illness is spoken of in a positive light - or at least in the context of someone who is a leading light in their profession. Eg, Flugel player Tom Harrell’s schizophrenia is well known, and is often spoken of in at least an ambiguous or bittersweet light. See Cook & Morton’s ‘Jazz on CD’ book, or go WWWandering. Googling for Harrell’s name is also worthwhile. Artist Louis Wain is another person whose (successful) art was intimately tied up in his mental illness.
I live in a majority-black area, so I expect pretty much everybody to be black. Having said that, I expect if I lived in Northern Virgina (mostly white) instead of Prince George’s County (mostly black), then I would have that reaction. Should add, we were all absolutely horrified that the snipers turned out to be black, though Chief Moose was a mitigating factor.
1)Me and my husband usually say “had to be a black guy” with more of a sense of sad resignation.
2)Should we feel sad resignation? Well, yeah. It’s not that we think people will think more badly about us because of it, it’s that we know that they will. It’s not like those who love the stereotype are quiet about it.
White guy here, I don’t cringe when I hear about a white person commiting a crime, though I do usually assume that if it is a serial killer, it will be a white guy. Is that a stereotype? Personally, I was shocked that the DC snipers were black.
I don’t have a hard cite to back this up, but according to John Douglas, the former FBI profiler, serial killers are, by a large margin, adult and white, and almost exclusively male.
