Acting White & Stereotypes

I found myself discussing Lalapalooza recently.  I have never been to the event, but I know that it's a huge event that happens here in Chicago annually.  My former coworkers in New York would book flights to come to Chicago, just to attend this event.  I've always kinda assumed what was brought to my attention during my recent conversations, that this was a "young white" event or at best a "non-black" event.

My conversations forced me to analyze the thought that a music festival is a young white people's event.  One of the people I had the conversation with supported the concept by telling me that her coworkers told her that the event is for a younger white crowd.  I know that different events are geared toward different audiences, but I questioned if this was really true.  Considering that Caucasians represent the majority of people in this country, wouldn't everything from a business perspective be geared toward that group?  In my debate I asked the question, then what events are there for young or middle-aged descendants of Africa?  Silence.

The reality of that question hits hard.  If you've grown up in this country then the media and personal experience will tell you the true answer.  If you ask that question to someone publicly, you'll probably get the PC answer or an I don't know.  But, true based on statistics or not, most people will either think or subconsciously think rap/hip-hop concerts or something more negative like jail or participating in illegal activities.  This is probably why I spent a majority of my younger life indoors and not interact with people in my neighborhood.  Maybe I'm only expressing my own subconscious thoughts and not those of the majority, but the fact that these are the first answers that come to my mind as a middle-aged descendant of Africa (born & raise in America) is a problem.  Everything that I do isn't based on what America's population believes I should do, but I have to admit that it greatly influences the way that I think and probably my actions.

I find myself reminiscing on when my coworker told me that I strike him as angry & violent.  When I asked him why, he gave the magic answer - I don't know.  This is why the first thought when a descendant of Africa is murdered by a police officer isn't why did the police officer feel the need to use deadly force, but what kind of person is the victim.  For most of my life, I've probably only participated in activities that I felt were "black" because I wanted to feel comfortable doing so and not feel that insecure feeling that a descendant of Africa feels when walking into an all-Caucasian bar or event.  I didn't teach myself what it was to "act black" just like the children of tomorrow won't teach themselves.  We as Americans and especially fellow Americans that are descendants of Africa need to watch what we say and how we define what's "black".  The movie Dope emphasizes this concept as well.  Let's stop saying and more importantly, let's stop thinking that things of a positive nature are only to be associated with the majority.