Stereotypes vs. Truth: What are the differences?

This week we read and talked about racism, stereotypes, and colorblindness in the media. At first we always think that in today's society there is little racism left, escpecially being in a culturally diverse atmosphere like UIC. I think what we forget is that racism and stereotypes are still very present if in a more subtle way in our media and in our society. Is there a grain of truth in any stereotype? Maybe, because where else would they come from if not from observation of a certain " type" of people. The problem is when we blanket a whole race or community as a stereotype because a few people who share characteristics with them display certain behaviors. The t.v. clip we watched showed how other races like to blow things out of proportion when they feel like they are being attacked by another race. There are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth. While it can't be denied the black character was approached by the white characters at first, in the end the black characters told a false of account of what really happened too. The truth is hard to get at when we are looking through the lens of stereotypes because it hits us right where we live. I think that a lot of the time we like to act like race doesn't matter because we either don't want to say it does, or we truly think it doesn't because we never experienced any hatred from another race. In terms of the Treyvon Martin shooting it is obvious that it was nothing less than a crazed racist man just waiting to commit a hate crime. The fact that Geraldo Rivera took sides against his own race and another minority shows how powerful being the " wrong" race can be,and that some will go to any lengths to seem "white".