Acting White: Stereotypes and Lateness

Last week I was a guest on KDHX St. Louis. One of the hosts asked me about a popular blog site, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. I like the site because the blogger talks about white stereotypes with dead-on accuracy, and humor. Now if he was black and talking about blacks, he might need a bodyguard. The truth hurts, and black truth hurts more.

The story of the blog is that real stereotypes are accurate and we should not be so afraid of them. Sure, the format sometimes gets hijacked by fakes with selfish agendas, but this trickery is obvious. Stereotypes help us quickly communicate and act. While we might not want to embrace them publicly for obvious reasons, they give us feedback that we should not ignore.

Let’s consider lateness. On the show, I made a point that black people are accurately stereotyped as late arrivers. This does not mean that other groups are never late, but blacks seem less discriminating about their lateness, and the damage is much greater than the group believes. US society is monochronic, where events happen in linear and dependent fashion. Lateness completely threatens the workings of societies like ours. If we were polychronic, like most developing nations, issues of lateness are easily placed among greater challenges, like limited infrastructure, disease, malnutrition, infant mortality, and such.

The challenge is that most black stereotypes describe trailing behavior, whereby low assimilation of accessible technology precipitates under performance. White stereotypes, at least the ones that get the most airtime, tend to describe leading behaviors, so they digest a little easier even if they are not flattering.

The next time you see/hear a stereotype, look for the grain of truth. If what others complain about in you is the same stuff you say about yourself, in private, don’t shoot the messenger, consider getting a new address.

James C. Collier

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