Stereotypes Ruined My Lunch
Posted by ListenToLeon on
September 12, 2006
Monday afternoon, I was eating lunch by myself at the relatively new job I’m working at. Not that I’m anti-social or anything…I just wanted to eat quick so I could sneak off and take a little nap after my meal. For some reason I had trouble sleeping Sunday night, and it came back to haunt me later that next day.
So I’m in the kitchen area eating, and I notice people in the workplace all gave me the same silly look as they said hello and passed by. Then, I thought about it: I’m eating my leftover fried chicken with a heightened sense of urgency. It was good, too, so I was punishing that poor dead fried greasy bird. All of the folks that walked by were probably thinking to themselves “I KNEW IT! I knew they all love fried chicken!”
Maybe I’m just a little sensitive, but I started being apprehensive after I thought about things. I turned my shoulders the other way, so that no more co-workers could look at me eating my Popeyes chicken like this is some feature on “National Geographic.” As if I were wearing face paint and a loin cloth with a bone through my nose or some other mess like that. Like I’m from some primitive culture. The kind that does not believe in clocks. The kind that still tells the time by putting a stick in the dirt and then looking for what direction the shadow goes in. Like I have a Rolex sundial on my arm or something. Or I’m walking around with Air Jesus sandals on my feet, made in a sweatshop in Bethlehem. Like I attack my enemies by committing ride-by shootings on the back of a zebra with a blowgun. That is not the case. EVERYBODY loves fried chicken! Not just black people!!! Popeye was a white man for Christ’s sake!
You see what stereotypes have done? Made me think WAY too damned much, when all I wanted to do was get full and take a nap. Can’t even enjoy my lunch for fear that I’m going to enhance stereotypes and screw it up for the rest of the black people of the world!
Have any of you had any similar experiences while doing something that lived up to a stereotype?
Like, walking down the street, eating a watermelon, singing “Camp-town lay-dees sing this song, DOO-DAAAH, DOO-DAAAH!…SomethingSomethingSomethingSomething(forgot the words) OOOOHH, DOOO DAAAAH DAAAAY!!”
Or getting happy somewhere and dancing when there’s no music playing. That counts, too since people think all black folks dance.
Or to my white readers who hang out with black friends: ever have an extra “chipper” moment where you said or did something along the lines of “Cool beans” and then thought to yourself “That was a really corny thing to say.”
Jewish folks: Ever been afraid of being called cheap or a tightwad? Or fear that Mel Gibson is going to kick you in your chest and set you on fire?
Y’all get the point. I know that worrying about what people who follow stereotypes thinks of you is pointless, but have any of you ever done it?
35 Responses to “Stereotypes Ruined My Lunch”
ummm yea i have my issues with that…i think im one of the only white chicks that hang out with black folks that doesnt do that over the top “trying to be what im not” ignorant shit that some whit girls do…so when I’m with my black friends they make fun of my “white girl tendancies” that and just the other day i sadi ” i reckon so” and that was a white southern move LOL
By Peach on Sep 12, 2006
Yeah @ Peach…Folks get into saying that certain people should or should not talk and dress like this or that, instead of just being themselves and encouraging others to do the same. Damn I should have just ignored them and ate my chicken…lol.
It’s crazy how easy it is to label someone with a stupid stereotype, yet at the same time, how very complex the subject of race in America(and most of the rest of the world) really is.
By Hustleman on Sep 12, 2006
exactly..my recent ex told me how excited his older cousin was to meet me because i was the first white girl he’s dated that doesnt act like i “think im black” its complicated because if you say a white girl who is wearing weave and saying the n word, and using constant slang is “acting black” then what is your perception of the black race?? that they all act that way? its a catch 22. Either way you put it … its going to sound racist as hell. I have grown up around black folks and I have a few “stereotypical” personality traits that i guess are “different” then other white women…for instance (small example) i went to an all white country bar with a friend and this guy saw me outside smoking a “newport”…he said “what you think you’re a nigger?” I was offended and told him my son was half black…he felt like an asshole and apologized profusely…but that didnt change how i looked at his ignorant ass from that point on.
By Peach on Sep 12, 2006
hustleman…you are too funny for your own good. i really shouldn’t be reading your blog everyday as if it’s the ny times, but admittedly i do! i rolled up on this blog by accident when i was looking to see who won the black blog awards. keep up the good work.
on the note of stereotypes…haha. when i read about the chicken, i died. my mom’s friend wont eat watermelon or drink any red colored/flavored drink—ever, wont bbq unless she is in the backyard and refuses to order chicken in public—the sacrifices we make to escape stereotypes. haha, lol.
i just started blogging, check me out sometime.
peas+grits!
kameelah
By kameelah on Sep 12, 2006
This chick keeps bringing watermelon into the office kitchen. Apparently she has a farm or something on the shore. Anyhow, she slices it up in nice wedges and lays it out fot he staff. I hear it’s good. Yet, I just cna’t bring myself to eat it.
By Hostess on Sep 12, 2006
I brought watermelon in once and the other Black folks acted like it was Kryptonite - my White friends enjoyed the treat with me. I thought it was funny as hell.
By jali on Sep 12, 2006
@ Peach, next time you see that guy, tell him he’s WRONG!
Black people smoke Kools.
LOL just playing
@ Kameelah, thank you. Your mom’s friend is missing out on some of the finer things in life!
@ Hostess, it is good, but there is life after watermelon. It’s overrated in my opinion. Still, go on and try the stuff she brings in one day if other people are eating it.
By Hustleman on Sep 12, 2006
LOL @ Jali. That’s funny
By Hustleman on Sep 12, 2006
Sadly this has happened to me. I’m known to bring in smothered pork chops and fried chicken to work, having the whole place smelling like old grease. I KNOW people be talking about me!!
By juiicySCOOP on Sep 12, 2006
I was talking to a friend about these stereotypes this past weekend. Who invented these stereotypes? Black people/white people? Do white people even KNOW that black people eat friend chicken and watermelon or that EVERYONE does. People in Eastern Europe eat watermelon like it’s going out of style, way more then any black person I’ve known. Or maybe it’s because we’re so focused on the stereotype we’ve let the eastern europeans beat us at our supposedly most favorite fruit?
By Honest on Sep 12, 2006
okay… I’m always not ready for what to expect…such good laughs. that is the reason why I don’t eat watermelon, thanks to all the sterotypes.
By brwn_eyes_brwngirl on Sep 12, 2006
also for those wondering why a lot of black people refused to eat watermelon it is because watermelon is cheap and that is what they would feed slaves as scraps off of the massa table..so for a lot of people it is just like eating pork.
By brwn_eyes_brwngirl on Sep 12, 2006
My problem is when I don’t fit, like:
Asking the chinese people to give me chopsticks (I always wonder if they think I’m messing with them) and then the looks I get from black people when I use them. I once had a junkie comment about “what world I was living in.” One where I don’t smoke crack bitch!
Then I feel worse on those weeks when I keep buying chicken boxes…but them joints be good!
By the way the other line is “Camptown races five miles long”.
By Amadeo on Sep 12, 2006
You’re too funny, Hustleman! Besides, Drew “Droopy” Anderson (D.C. poet), you’re my second fave writer from that area.
Since I was a girl, black folk been sayin’ I sound like a white girl. It really use to get under my skin. Both black and white folks didn’t even think I was American, when I tell them that I grew up in Newark, NJ they won’t believe me. Sad, like all that comes out of the hoods are baby mommas, thugs, etc.
When I visit my folk in the Carolinas, they say I sound “sophisticated”. Gee, I’sa musta sound mo black cuz dats whuh masta like “cheezy smile”…ugh!
When I’m with white friends at a restaraunt, I refrain from ordering anything fried.
Hustleman, you’re a Saggitarius? COOL MUTHAFUCKIN’ BEANS, MAN!!!!!!!
WonderLove
(i tried to post my name but dang, this site won’t let me do it.)
By Anonymous on Sep 12, 2006
i eat whatever i please. it doesn’t bother me one bit. black folk stereotype me because of my hair. with the dreadlocks, i must be a weed smoker vegetarian. since i just cut my locks, i’m just some chic who doesn’c comb her job and unemployed.
then they trip when i eat more that “regular black folk” food. i love eating different foods. the first time i brought sushi up here, these folk dearly had a fit. then they stared and watched me eat it. LOL!
By aquababie on Sep 12, 2006
You did not just say…”Popeye was a white man for Christ’s sake!”
Ok that shyt almost made me spit my iced tea out FAAA-NEE!!!
By Royce's Daughter on Sep 12, 2006
I had a white moment on Monday. Me and my coworker were discussing tailgating over the weekend. I told her, “I didn’t go, but my sister went with a SLEW of her friends”. She says, “Is that what white people call 3 or more people hanging out? A slew? We call it a gang.” haha That’ll be the last time I use Slew… BUT… I won’t use gang either… I can see it now. I say, “A gang of us hung out over the weekend at blah blah blah…” And my coworkers look at each other like, “What did that white bitch just say?”
all jokes people… damn
By Miss A on Sep 12, 2006
Holy damn! I’m watching Jeopardy (no nerd jokes) and here’s the scenario:
Brother Man: I’ll have “sloganeering” for 200 Alex.
Alex: Okay. What brand is “Finger, Licking, Good.”
Brother Man: (Sheer look of terror breaking out on face…do I say KFC or do I not say KFC…f%ck!)
White Chick: What is KFC, Alex? (smug smirk on face)
Brother: (silenty pissed…How the heck do I end up with the chicken question…I aint never seen no chicken question on Jeopardy. This is some shullbit!)
I had just finished reading your post. Perfect timing Leon, perfect timing!
By B'Write on Sep 12, 2006
ok i was already laughing at leon b/c it wasn’t really the chicken that incriminated him, it was the strawberry fanta, but b’write, you HAVE to be lying about jeopardy. please say you are lying. what was the $400 answer? “billie dee williams was the spokesman for this popular alcoholic beverage.”
By tash on Sep 13, 2006
@tash…I most certainly am not lying. I can’t tell you the next question because I was laughing too hard but it’s the episode where they had an “Oedipus” category along with a category called “Wrecks” in the bonus round. I couldn’t believe the timing…it was just too much LOL
By B'Write on Sep 13, 2006
I’m guilty of breakin out in song right before I eat some good ole artery cloggin, heart stoppin, soul food. Talk about some MMM mmm good!
By e.dot on Sep 13, 2006
You know what’s funny? I’m probably the only Black person I know that honestly does NOT like fried chicken… ain’t that something?
By Miss Jessi on Sep 14, 2006
This is why I can’t order fried chicken in public anymore…I just feel too weird about it. And I *love* it, so it’s a struggle.
By Evangeline on Sep 14, 2006
Hey u guys comments is just too funny…but hustleman u kill me dude….
I am so glad i live in Kenya….I can order my fried Kenchic chicken…what we call pornographic chicken on account that it’s naked n is wide open rotating on the thingy that fries em n shit….yaani kuku porno….
Fuck stereotypes coz noe in Kenya it’s bout what tribe u are….
PAMOJA!!!
By Odhis on Sep 16, 2006
Sweat shops in Bethlehem…
simple nonsense…lol
By Blah Blah Blah on Sep 18, 2006
Who doesn’t like fried chicken? My white-as-whitebread colleagues bring fried chicken to the lunchroom on Fridays…
:)
Food shouldn’t be an “identity card”. Eat what you like.
By A.R.Yngve on Sep 28, 2006
Girl, I know how that be! I had been eatin’ leftovers from our dinner the night before, and my daughter Tiesha had these white girls over. I had been chompin’ down the leftover fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens and yams real quicklike because I had to take my son to his basketball practice. Lord have mercy, them girls was gigglin’ and askin’ Vaneesha all these nasty questions about why we eat so much “ghetto food”. Vaneesha did not approve of that and ended up almost bustin one in they lip! I hadn’t mind to much, but they ain’t need to be actin the fool because of stereotypes. So what if a black woman like cornbread, collard greens, fried chicken, yams, KOOLAID even…That food be good, it ain’t called soul food because it’s nasty! I know little white men who scarf that stuff down as quick as a big black mama like me. It’s just because stereotypes are fun to make fun of, and that’s what people seem to do the best. It’s unfortunate.
By Rohondra on Feb 28, 2007
Hahaahah I say “white” phrases all the time… :P
By Dreemzzz on Feb 27, 2008
You know what — you probably were being a bit paranoid. They could have been looking at you strangely because as you said you ‘were punishing that chicken.’ I would take pause, too, if I came into the office lounge/kitchen and saw somebody tearing up some food like they hadn’t eaten in days.
But, buddy, relax. Everybody eats chicken.. but I don’t doubt that black folks eat fried foods more (look at the stats for heart conditions, cholesterol, diabetes, etc.). The stereotype exists… but you’re telling me blacks are the only ones buying all the chicken at the supermarkets… Please. Relax. And eat that bird… but not fried too often… and if you’re going to devour it like a caveman… maybe do that in private :)
Borderline Racist, http://borderlineracist.wordpress.com
Peace.
By cooleyhigh on Mar 24, 2008
now now whte ppl dunt be hatin on all of us blks jus bc we is more best den all yall we get sum of out boi’s to cap yo ass’s dunt be hating dawg
By negro on Jul 30, 2008
yo der whte boi ill kick yo ass lil boi i’ll be teachin u sum figtin moves and kick yo ass
By negro on Jul 30, 2008
You know, you’re quite the dumbass…I can see it’s the same IP address that left the last 16 comments or so…
So whoever it is with all this free time at 70.126.171.93, thanks for repeatedly visiting my shit and commenting!
By Hustleman on Jul 30, 2008
@ Yeswhataboutit, I can’t lie, that comment made me laugh out loud! You were gonna be the first person ever banned from the site, but fuck it. You can post comments until your fingers fall off if you feel like it!
By Hustleman on Jul 30, 2008
Im just telling the truth.
honestly I don’t care if im banned from here.
doesn’t bother me one bit.
Im just “Saying all the things I “wish” I had the grapefruits to say in real life”
Nonetheless
I speak my mind so that doesn’t really apply to me.
By Yesitsmeagain on Jul 30, 2008
lol @”Or I’m walking around with Air Jesus sandals on my feet”
its friday which is casual day at my job at this insurance company..lol im an admin assist..anyway im wearing some air jesus sandals right now..no wonder the whitees (just a joke) are lookin at me crazy…ugh can we say fashion..stop hating me in my sergio’s
By Goddabody on Sep 12, 2008