Stereotype Threat and Schemas

Stereotype threat still affects minorities in our society, an example from the reading "Whistling Vivaldi Won't Save You" (by Tressie Cottom), which talked about the story of Jonathan Ferrell, a 24 year old African American man who was shot and killed trying to get help after being in a car crash, shows an example of how people use schemas to classify and try and "predict" what people will and will not do. In this case, the woman who was in the home most likely was expressing event schemata (which helps to understand, remember, and think about certain information when we experience it, ie: seeing negative examples of African Americans in the news makes us think about African Americans in a negative way), which made her think that because it was a African American knocking at her door, he may have been trying to rob her or something.

I found it interesting when Cottom talks about countering negative effects of "white fear" by doing things that make minorities seem "less dangerous" to Whites, like African Americans whistling Vivaldi, or Hispanics shaving their hair before job interviews. However a question that could be asked here is how do we (minorities) feel when we do something that may not be what society would think is "the norm" of minorities, and whether we are aware that we are using "coping mechanisms," which -- in a way, I don't fully agree with. For example, while being a African American, I do things like listen to rock music, watch anime, and wear clothing that the "typical" Black male may not wear. However I do not think that I am "acting white," which is what I kind of sensed from the reading when I looked at it.