The asian woman behind the wheel, watermelon and fried chicken, and the ditzy, drunkard blonde chick

Today in the social psych class, we discussed stereotypes, could you tell?

There is one young, black man in my psych class. Within the context of the class, in order to show that stereotypes are often incorrect, the instructor asked him if on the Fourth of July, his family gathers to dance and eat watermelon and fried chicken. He simply answered, no.

He was not upset by any means, but after class he said something very interesting that I have never considered. He said that when the Declaration of Independence was signed, back in 1776, it specifically did not include, but rather discounted, black slaves at the time. It was specifically noted that the black slaves would not be included, and in fact, the blacks were not officially liberated until the 60's, according to my instructor.

The interesting part was that he said his family does not celebrate the 4th of July, since their ancestors were not liberated on that date.

This is something I had never considered... I'll get back to that.

"German-Americans"- Nationally German people who emigrate to the United States.
"Italian-Americans"- People from Italy who then come to America.
"African-Americans"- black people, typically people whose ancestors are from Africa.
"Caucasians"- white people, typically people whose ancestors are from Europe.

Hmmmm? Okay, let's take a look at this now. My ancestors are from Italy, Germany, and Ireland, primarily. I am not an Italian-German-Irish-American. Hell, I'm not even a European-American. I'm a Caucasian. I'm an American. I'm white.

I understand if we're not comfortable with colors. "White people" "Black people" "Brown people" "Yellow people" Red people" et cetera. Let's come up with a socially acceptable word, that is also accurate. "African-American" is not accurate.

Okay, back to Independence Day.

Now, if we, the people born in America, are "American," then it is all of our freedom that we celebrate. I understand wanting to identify with your heritage, for instance, I make a big deal out of St. Paddy's Day because part of my lineage is Irish....

More to follow... have to go to class