We all have our prejudices, and we may or may not be aware of them. Sometimes people walk by me and give me a wider berth. It happens. I wear hoodies all the time because my head gets cold. Something innocuous can be misunderstood.
Interpretation
Prejudices can lead to misunderstandings about people based on appearances.
In this quote, Sterling K. Brown reflects on the notion that everyone possesses biases, often unconsciously, which can impact interactions and perceptions. He highlights how something as simple as wearing a hoodie can alter how others perceive him, illustrating that innocuous choices in appearance may trigger unwarranted judgments based on preconceived notions rather than the reality of the individual.
In practice
In a discussion about societal biases during a workshop.
Life has to be everything. It can't be all sad. It can't be all peaches and cream. Because the lows have you appreciate the highs. And the highs give you perspective on the lows. If it's not everything, it becomes flat or mundane.
I have a certain memory of the way in which my father loved me until I was 10, and it was unconditional and eternal. I get to carry that for the rest of my life, but on a practical level after age 10, it's just me sort of figuring it out.
We're all trying to figure out what's next, what's best for our families, what's best for ourselves, and there's a certain sort of comfort in knowing that you're not in it by yourself.
There is a reason that many African Americans have a healthy mistrust for law enforcement. We don't always feel protected or served by that particular institution.
The humanity that is given to other people isn't given to us. There is an expendability that comes along with being African American.
There's a time when it was an event for a black person to be on television. Where black households would gather around, 'Oh, you know, Sammy Davis is going to be on 'All in the Family' tonight! Let's go check it out!' It was a big, big thing.
Women as mothers grapple with corresponding contradictions. The adoration they feel for their grown daughters, mixed with the sense of responsibility for their well-being, can be overwhelming, matched only by the hurt they feel when their attempts to help or just stay connected are rebuffed or even excoriated as criticism or devilish interference.
In this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.
Surround yourself with people whose definition of you is not based on your history, but your destiny.
Even though I have a nice house, nice family, the rest of my generation is still in South Central L.A. My cousins, my brothers, my sisters, they don't wanna move out. They don't want to and they don't have the means to sustain it. That's where my heart is and that's what I think about all the time.
Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.
People give one another things that can't be gift wrapped.
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