The_Mentality__Us_Versus_Them

The Mentality: Us Versus Them The Mentality: “Us Versus Them” As progressive and open-minded as America believes herself to be, there are still many very real and influential prejudices and stereotypes that exist. Among these is one in particular that hits home for myself and a large number of my peers. Although this particular prejudice (and its associated stereotypes) is not completely lacking truth in its media based perspective, it is without an in depth level of understanding. Hence, these outlooks are unfair leaving their believers both painfully ignorant and devastatingly incorrect. Urban youth, particularly African-American men in today’s society are victim to a quite negative image. Meahdi Pugh wrote: It’s repeated that my generation is plagued with violence, drugs, teen pregnancies, & STDs. Our music is riddled with sex & violence. For some strange reason, people think we’re uneducated. Someone/thing will always fit the stereotype. I rarely hear much optimism or positivity about young Blacks. (“My Turn”) Most adults are under the widespread misconception that these young people are violent hoodlums living illegal lifestyles, surrounded by drugs and ignorance simply for the “fun” of it. In many cases, this prejudice is actually taken a step further than simply an association with the lifestyle. Some actually see these youth, urban, young, people, hip-hop, generation, culture, prejudice, men, it’s, turn, lifestyle, first, figure, being, violent, understand, street, stereotypes, rate, prejudices, parents, music, mother, lyrics, life, consideration, black, america, violence, society, social, should, reason, real