In reading the Blindspot reading for next class, the section titled “The Cost of the Stereotype That American = White” stood out to me the most. Just yesterday, I saw a tweet from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in which she listed characteristics about herself such as “Hijab, Muslim, Black, Foreign Born…” The point of the tweet was to point out xenophobia that she has come face-to-face with since 2016. In a response to the tweet, Senator Ted Cruz questioned why she had not mentioned “American” in her list attributes. He claimed that it was due to the supposed negative connotation with word “American” that he believes exists currently among liberals. However, in response to Cruz, Joshua Collins (a man running for Congress in Washington) remarked that “American” did not need to be on the list because it is implied since Omar is a congresswoman. He goes on to state, “[Omar’s] not required to call herself American in every tweet just because she’s not white.”
The implicit bias of American = White makes it so POC in the United States are constantly forced to prove their citizenship status while white people are able to exist within this country without having their citizenship status questioned. In a personal example, I have a friend from high school that is an immigrant from Korea. Her parents are naturalized citizens and are registered to vote. However, my friend told me that they never choose to vote and dislike interacting with people that are not Korean because they worry about their citizenship status being questioned. Meanwhile, my paternal grandpa is an immigrant from Canada. Although he has lived in the United States for roughly 60 years, he has never become a US citizen. However, he has not experienced the same questioning of his legal status as my friend’s parents have. People just assume that he is an American citizen because he is white. He often makes jokes about how people will be talking to him, assume that he is American, and then he will mention that he is not a citizen and the person he is talking to will be shocked.
This stereotype is dangerous because, like in the reading, the implicit bias can lead to people being treated as though they do not belong. Which, leads to the greater consequences of people loosing their job and being framed for crimes that they did not commit.
Thank you for commenting this. The same citizenship struggle occurs in my hometown, as well. We have a large Mexican American population (a mix of undocumented immigrants, natural citizens and citizens granted citizenship later in life) and face discrimination in the form of White citizens assuming we are all undocumented. Everyone assumes we are not American, because we are not White. I can’t tell you how many times I have shocked older White Women back home by speaking English, because they only expect me to speak Spanish or speak English with an accent. I find nothing wrong with speaking only Spanish or having an accent, but the assumption people have is what reinforces negative stereotypes.
I definitely agree that this specific stereotype threat is dangerous in our society. It has further segregated people of different backgrounds because of society’s assumption that Americans are White. I have experiences similar interactions as Esmi has commented above. I know coming to the city of Richmond for school, I have gotten countless stares and shocked looks from people hearing me speak Spanish and then switch to English afterwards. Society has carried this assumption for a very long time. It makes me wonder when we all can finally move pass the bias and accept our differences.
Your example has also made me reflect on how I subconsciously do the same thing myself. When watching the world cup, everytime a European player was black, I thought, wait, a black Frenchman? This shows that while I have understood that American does not equal white, I still struggle to understand that European does not equal white.