Kyle LegereENG 120

Stereotypes are organizational factors that categorize human beings’

characteristics. Stereotyping has forever been a part of human life. Its negative impact

has affected the lives of many people to the point where some would even commit

suicide. In the excerpts “Race is a Four-Letter Word” by Teja Arboleda and “Censoring

Myself” by Betty Shamieh, the authors both express how stereotyping impacted their

lives and how it changed them. Stereotyping might seem to be just words but if you look

more in depth you will realize how this is the perfect example of the quote “words can

hurt more than actions”.

Stereotyping entitles taking a description of an individual and applying it to a

group as a whole. They are mostly associated with one culture, religion, ethnicity,

gender, or race. Although there are some positive stereotypes such as if you are from the

south you are very hospitable, the negative ones tend to reach people the most. Teja

Arboleda describes in her article her frequent stereotypical encounters. She is told by her

father that she is a “Filipino-German” but is often referred to as practically every race or

culture known like mulatto, nigger, spic, Iraqi, and white. Remarks such as “Go back to

where you belong, we don’t like your kind here!” and “Take your hummus and your pita

bread and go back to Mexico!” have been made to her. These stereotypical moments

annoyed her and raised confusion amongst her. She ends her article by stating that she is

“exhausted” of always looking for her identity and how she longs for a place where she

can breather without having to open her mouth.

Sometimes people don’t realize it but when you look at it, the negativity that

comes from stereotyping more often than not makes people want to deny who they really

are. There use to be a point in time where everyone would be proud to say they where

from Africa or China or India or wherever they were from, but that time has long been

gone. For example, in present day America a lot of Pakistanis would hide the fact that

they are who they are for the simple fact that after 9/11 all Pakistanis are stereotyped as

terrorist or pretty much anyone from Iraq is called a terrorist. In the article “Censoring

Myself” by Betty Shamieh she would self censor her work to avoid confronting

portraying Palestinians as human beings due to the post 9/11 stereotypes. Eventually she

came to the realization that she needs to write about the Palestinian experience because

she has to write about what she deeply care about to make vital theater.

Stereotypes often stir up controversy amongst people because they foster

prejudice and discrimination. Due to the popular knowledge of stereotypes, one cannot

look at a person without associating them to a particular stereotype. Society as a whole

tend to ignore the negative impact that they have on peoples lives.