The Raven Symone Analysis

Raven Symone has surpassed the child actor curse and become known, not only for her acting roles when she was young, for her present day persona. Raven has said many things that people agree with, and some that people do not. In interviews she says, she does not want to be labeled gay or African-American. Speaking to Oprah, she said, “I am American”. I think the uproar that stemmed from this is focused more on snippets of the conversation not the whole message. In saying that she is does not want to be called African-American or gay, Raven is honing in on labels, and the stereotypes that may come out of them. She tries to relate the message the she is more than one word. Of course, it is important to recognize one’s culture – gay or African-American – but the point is to not let it be all that someone is, which is the danger with labels. …show more content…
It is all around us, and a part of our culture – predominately a negative part. We are judged on our sexual preference, our size, our race, anything really. Our culture is focused on labels, and making one thing define a person. There is probably a psychological reason for this, some aid to help us through the changing world or something else. Simply, though, this inclination needs to be curbed, especially because it turns people into one thing. He is the funny guy; she is the black girl, etc. We are not one thing; we are a culmination of everything around us. As Raven says, we are human and should be viewed as humans with good or bad qualities, not