I thought of this after reading a number of threads and posts that look to blame you for most if not all of society's ills...so let's discuss how this makes you feel to be a constant and consistenttarget of criticism, of blame of harrassament.

Here are the rules....this is not about anyone else or group...so no naming or name-calling of anyone or pointing outis allowed.....just you and your feelings and last but certainly not least....Keep the language clean.

* Why is there seemingly alwaysa rush to tell us whatmembers of your groupare doing wrong or bad?

* How does it feel to be grouped with those who do fit the prevailing stereotype of black men?

* Who are you mostangry at...those who think the worst of you or your fellow black men who perpetuate the stereotypes?

@ Native Tongue

Thanks for the response....I hear ya loud and clear on not expecting the mainstream media to see you any differently but what about when your own people do it...meaning buy into the stereotypes and lump you with the rest? How does that make you feel?

does this hv any connection to the whole bill cosby thing.

i hv to say i would not be put into any common negative stereotype just becaause i dont carry myself like that at all ever.

I hate to the classed into that stereotype, especially the mugger stereotype, I've never 'pusjhed over an old lady' in my life nor have I ever really been tempted. However, I'm tall, dark skined, serious look on my face( dont smile too uch my tteth aint great), so I just fit the stereotype

What I find myself doing, is trying to be over polite to public at large( especially elderly peopel) just to let them know, I'm not one of them.

I dont do that anymore!!!!!!!!!

Who do I blame. The knuckleheads who perpetuate the stereotype. These images dont come out of thin air.

@ Native- Tongue

No not at all...

I've seen it here on the board how the negatives are always played up a lot as wellasin everyday life.

An example of being a target....My husbandwhile in college had an experience withthe police... while walking back to campus from his fast food job, they stopped him...they said he fit the description of someone who had just burglarized a home...and there he was dressed in his Burger King uniform, empty hands and all. He felt awful after that experience and has related to me on more than one occasion how he feels to always be looked upon as ifone has done something wrong.

@ Cash

Bro...how hard was that for you? to feel like you had to act a certain way...I guess basically not be yourself. Geez that must have been difficult.

Not really@ ashanti, I realised very quickly that I dont need to do this. I',m not a mugger and I dont have to dress and aqct like carlton from the fresh prince to appease somebody else. So i thought, f it.

that doesnt really surprise me Ashanti, do the police in yr area operate racial profiling if so theres a prime example of why it doesnt work.

i just dont get worked up about stuff like that because like ive said before its never gonna change. weve talking about this issue with the police in thew uk since the early 1970s if anything its got worse!!

my personal belief is that i dont give them the poswer to upset me or stop me from focusing on what need to do.

if its bad ill make a complaint or take legal action,otherwise forget 'em they lose either way because their obviously not catching who there supposed to catch and im just getting on with my life.

@ Cash

I'm glad you made the decision quickly to just be yourself. I commend you for that.

@ Native Tongue

I'm not sure there isn't a police force that doesn't profile based on race. But you know as much as I can see where you're coming from on how the public at large won't change their minds on how they see you...I think, call me an optimist, we can make headway with that if we put it out there what you're doing that's positive...there are many of you who are hard working brothers, husbands and fathers, who haven't committed a crime or done time and who are also notimpregnating women at the speed of light.

Will it change everyone's opinion, of course not but at least it could help those of us who continually believe theworst about you.

I feel the stereotypes and I know I am judged as I walk about and that some people have already decided who I am and what I am about before I even speak. If I am smartly dressed then people assume im involved in nonsense (scams, drugs), If im scruffy then im going to rob someone, If Im in a good job then I must have got it to fill a quota, If im in a bad one its because Im lazy and blacks are idle anyway aren't we? Im supposedhave a chip on my shoulder etc.

My own black women think I am a player without even knowing me, I must havethree babymothers, I am obsesed with bling and Im a slack man. I must be attracted to white women because hey, thats what we brothers do right?

Its all obviously nonsense and it does grate on me sometimes........

Yet I realise it must be the same for women too! She thinks shes too nice, shes a gold digger, shes slack, Shes too rude blah blah blah

I get vex with whats said and left unsaid about me but it affects us all as blacks and if WE stop it first then maybe.......

Stereotypes hmmmn

Just one question Why does it make people angry??

If u walk pass a stranger and u think s/he has put u in a box for what ever reason, the way dressed, car driving the negative image perpetuated in the media. looking down on u.1/ how do u know what that person is thinking and 2/does he have anything to do to deter you from your path. U never going to interact with that person. unless u do mug him/her.

If a stereotypeis pushed on me by someone I just met why would I get angry if I know deep down that this stereotype does not apply to me. Is it because u feel hurt that someone could have such perception of your people or is it an ego, pride thing or is it u know deep down u do belong into that stereotype??

Just asking questions.

And I agree with Ashanti black people stereotype just as much as anyone else.

@ MyThoughts

Thanks bro.

Maybe the others who have posted will come in and answer your question. I think the pre-judging that you guys undergo is on another level, don't you think? It doesn't bother you that you'll get viewed and treated differently based on what some other brother allegedly did thousands of miles away? orbased on the images being paraded on television and those sometimespainted on this board?

@Ashanti

I was just asking a question.

To be honest it used to bother me a lot but then i started thinking, if people want to prejudge me because of what they have seen on TV or read in a paper then I cannot do nothing to change peoples perception especially if they taking this perception from people who are thousands of miles away and living a different lifestyle that is their prerogative. All I can do as ME is be ME regardless.

If I get angry or start fuming at things generalisations and stereotypes by people I don't know or who are not aiding me in my lifes story then who is going to suffer??. Me and the people around me