How many people here actually know any African-Americans? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by Cryophilia@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Not like "I went to school with one" but have had an actual friendship?

I've had a couple of conversations recently where people have confidently said things about the Black community that are ridiculously incorrect. The kind of shit where you can tell they grew up in a very white community and learned about Black history as a college freshman.

Disclaimer: I am white, but I grew up in a Black neighborhood. I was one of 3 white kids in my elementary school lol, including my brother.

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[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I live in a city immediately adjacent to one of the statistically blackest cities in America.

Isn't it terrible that my immediate reaction to this sentence was, "oh so you probably live in an extremely white area"?

I have some of my own preconceived notions in my head, and when they pop up in my head I remind myself how dumb it is to carry those.

That's kind of what I'm getting at. It's a constant thing that the human mind tends towards, and the best defense (imo) is personal experience. I always remember the gangbanger 19yo I knew, last I heard he was going to trial for an armed robbery, real "thug" type but he once confessed to me that he loved listening to pop music like Gotye and Katy Perry, but had to put on a real mean face when he was wearing his earbuds so his friends would think he was listening to rap. He wanted to open a barbershop and was teaching his little brother how to ride a bike.

You're right, people are people. And they're complex. Groups of people (race, culture, religion) are just complex groups of complex people.

I just wish people with no experience in a culture would take a step back and be a little less trusting of what they hear 3rd hand.

this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024

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