White fear and how it holds back black people

It’s no secret that many white people fear black people. They see all the stereotypes about black people on TV and media and they develop a fear of us. They see all these dark people walking around without false smiles on their faces. They live in poor neighbourhoods and get in trouble with the law a lot. Worst of all they’re honest.

Then they deny us opportunities because they’re scared of what we might do when we’re in their spaces. They’re not scared of black people taking over like some people think, they’re scared of black people acting out in some kind of violence.

So you can be in white spaces dressed like a nerd and minding your own business, but they may still be uncomfortable around you.

Black people are stereotyped as aggressive and violent by white people so they’re always on edge around us. They think if they upset us then we’re going to react in an awful way.

Most of us are chilling, but each individual handles things in different ways. Some people, regardless of race, are more aggressive than others. It’s how they’ve learned to deal with problems.

Black people often get wound up by white people and then gaslighted into thinking they’re aggressive by nature. This was something I experienced a lot at school, but it actually helped me in a way.