# Stereotypes about black people **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808 "2011-09-19T10:10:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/41 "2011-09-19T16:56:20Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > … and Jews love lox and bagels. And Scots like haggis. It’s not “stereotypes” or racism. It’s just ethnic food preferences. I’m not sure about Jews liking lox & bagels; the Southern Jews I know do not seem to be big fants. I suspect that you’re actually seeing a custom of the uncivilized city of New York. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/42 "2011-09-19T17:00:30Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > {snip}Nobody’s going to bring up malt liquor? Or menthol cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/43 "2011-09-19T17:14:49Z")
Ah! Found it! [MadTV–The Trey Stooges](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JyUjm3yyfg). See especially the exchange at 1:11. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/44 "2011-09-19T17:22:25Z")
Gabriel Iglesias: [“Racist Gift Basket”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbppTv4pCGQ) ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/45 "2011-09-19T17:30:12Z")
I always think that the fundamental problem with these kinds of questions is that there’s a huge difference between saying “X is a commonly-eaten food in Y culture” and saying “all members of Y culture like X type of food.” Like any cultures, the more individuals within that culture become assimilated into wider culture, the less they will eat X type of food, simply because their options become more varied. They may still eat those foods in certain circumstances where there is a cultural reason for it (family holiday dinners, going to a restaurant in the old neighborhood, etc.) or when they’re in the mood for it. It’s not likely, though, that everyone from that culture is going to go hogwild over that type of food or ALWAYS prefer it over any other type of food. This goes for all kinds of people…a lot of Italians I know grew up eating stereotypical Italian food, but that doesn’t mean they “like” pasta more than the rest of the world does, or that they still eat pasta every day without fail. Then again, when their Nana makes mostaccioli on Thanksgiving, no doubt they dig right in. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/46 "2011-09-19T17:50:19Z")
I have southern roots, and as far as I can tell most of my family loves fried chicken and watermelon, and frankly I didn’t know anyone who didn’t like them. You think most of the people buying KFC buckets are black? Only if the KFC is in a black neighborhood. What I don’t get is why it’s an insult or why anybody would feel self-conscious about it. Yeah, it’s a stereotype, but most stereotypes came from something. There is “soul food” that is ethnic, but fried chicken and watermelon aren’t, particularly. But here’s a weird one. In my youth I was addicted to Mountain Dew and it wasn’t everywhere as it is now. But in my travels I learned that if I could find the black section of town, it would be carried in stores there, invariably, even if I couldn’t find it anywhere else. I never found the black part of town in San Francisco so I had to go through withdrawal there, but elsewhere, this rule applied. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/47 "2011-09-19T18:52:46Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yeah, but while I knew from American movies that people from “the South” (the US’s South, not Andalusia) like stuff battered and deep-fried (wait, we do that in Andalusia too… ok, the batter is different), I hadn’t heard or absorbed any of the rest. So I’m curious whether someone from Canada or Australia has heard those topics about African-Americans through media, and as distinct ones from those about Southern folk or Appalachians or what have you. A lot of Canadians are familiar with the stereotype, but it’s something associated with blacks from the Deep South. I mean, I wouldn’t expect a black guy born and raised in Vancouver to love collard greens. Also, none of those foods have a negative stereotype in my part of Canada. Fried chicken, watermelon and fruit juice? Sounds like an awesome picnic in the park! Quick, to the Colonel’s! Edit: I did forget one part though. The fried chicken stereotype is pretty income based here. My brother knows a guy who opened a KFC in a northern community with a huge demographic of low income Aboriginals and apparently the stuff sells like hotcakes. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/48 "2011-09-19T19:15:54Z")
One eats what is most readily available and affordable. Chicken and fish are the primary proteins in Africa, for example. Beef is free-range, hard to find and generally expensive. Yams and peanuts are also common foods in much of Africa, with fruits being more common in the equatorial regions. The tendency when moving to another place would naturally be to look for those same food items, which you would feed to your children, and they to their children, etc. I would say that the stereotype is largely true, but not just for African Americans. ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/49 "2011-09-19T19:43:23Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Very true, because as it turns out, _people_ love fried chicken, watermelon and grape soda. You’re just noticing when it’s a black person. Get 100 white people and 100 black people to take a survey and you’ll not find much of a disparity. I don’t disagree there, I’ve always said myself I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like fried chicken. Mmmmmm. I just wonder why it was black people who were stuck with that stereotype and no people in general. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/50 "2011-09-19T19:59:59Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > And Scots like haggis. Not true - we only tell [them](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Haggis)that to get them into bed 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/51 "2011-09-19T20:41:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m not sure about Jews liking lox & bagels; the Southern Jews I know do not seem to be big fans. I suspect that you’re actually seeing a custom of the uncivilized city of New York. 😉 That’s very interesting. Do southern Jews have any preferences that you notice, or do they eat the same thing as everyone else? (Me, I don’t like lox all that much, but I’ll have it in my bagel when I feel I need some protein. I can tell you that every Jewish breakfast event I’ve been at has lox, bagels, and cream cheese). ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/52 "2011-09-19T20:56:42Z")
About the fried chicken, apparently it’s not just a USA meme: [KFC ad from South Africa](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9qp81_kentucky-wheel-change-funny-televis_fun). (Sorry about the pre-video ad.) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/53 "2011-09-19T22:59:45Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I hate to deflate your righteous indignation with actual observational data, but the watermellon thing is 100% true. I was a supermarket bagger in my teens, and I can say with confidence that black people bought watermellons at a far, far greater rate than white people. It really was that obvious. :rolleyes: This really means nothing. Even if you mention where in the US you were a grocery bagger, we still can’t know if accounting for population differences black people bought more watermelon, or if that’s what you noticed based on preconceived notions about skin color and food preferences. High school grocery baggers in my hometown in smalltown Minnesota would probably think that very few black people buy much watermelon because there weren’t that many black people comparatively, ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/54 "2011-09-19T23:22:34Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Gabriel Iglesias: [“Racist Gift Basket”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbppTv4pCGQ) LOL… that was hilarious. That comedian has a really good feel for doing parodies of other racial accents. I’m not sure if that is a brag-worthy talent, but he had it down pat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/55 "2011-09-19T23:54:19Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > The foods listed in the OP and others that are stereotypically described as foods that black often eat are really just foods common in the American south. I live in a majority black neighborhood in DC and there is a soul food restaraunt around the corner, the food is collard greens, fried chicken, sweet ice tea, etc. It is exactly the same food that my white grandmother made every day in Virginia when I was a kid. Damn, now I’m hungry. I’m whiter than white, but of Southern stock, and those foods are manna to me. Nothing black about them. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/56 "2011-09-20T00:34:11Z")
Don’t black people have horns? No wait, damnit that’s Jews. They must be the ones who are greasy and smell like garlic. No that’s not it, those are wops. Drunken red-heads, no that must be the Chinese. Wait, not Chinese, Irish. The Chinese like fried chicken. No, wait, that’s not it either. Damn this is confusing. Why do people have to be so different? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/57 "2011-09-20T01:25:11Z")
10th or 12th to say fried chicken, watermelon, greens. blackeyed peas, cornbread , and sweet ice tea are Southern food, both black and white families love them. No surprise, that; they are delicious! The town I live in is overwhelminging white and I have never been to a potluck dinner that didn’t include all those things (except watermelon is only in the summer.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/58 "2011-09-20T01:38:22Z")
BTW, the best collards I’ve ever had in my life were cooked by a New Yorker. Well, it was [his restaurant.](http://www.mesagrill.com/las-vegas-restaurant/file/2130/Mesa%20Dinner%20%283%29.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/59 "2011-09-20T01:41:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Don’t black people have horns? No wait, damnit that’s Jews. They must be the ones who are greasy and smell like garlic. No that’s not it, those are wops. Drunken red-heads, no that must be the Chinese. Wait, not Chinese, Irish. The Chinese like fried chicken. No, wait, that’s not it either. Damn this is confusing. Why do people have to be so different? You just won the thread, my friend. Very funny. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808/60 "2011-09-20T02:15:02Z")
All this time being a racist and I never heard the one about grape soda. (It didn’t come in 40s, did it?;)) Mentholated cigarettes OTOH… I guess they just started out as traditional Southern cuisine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-black-people/596808.md?page=4)