African American Ignorance

Often in today’s society, African Americans are stereotyped as “ignorant.” However, this stereotype needs to be clarified as the standard definition of ignorant can be misleading. According to Merriam-Webster’s definition, ignorant is defined as a lack of knowledge, understanding, awareness, or education. Following this definition, it is implied that African Americans are only missing particular pieces of information. This however is not the true context of the stereotype. Instead, when an individual claims that “African Americans are ignorant,” they are using it in a negative and derogatory connotation. They are trying to imply that African Americans are unintelligent and inferior. Thus, the word ignorant in this context needs to be redefined …show more content…
This can be seen with phrases such as “ignorance is bliss.” In this phrase, the use of ignorance is in the traditional sense. It implies that lacking particular information is a good thing. This is because it protects you from things you do not want to know. Yet, this connotation needs to be avoided when referring to the stereotype because using it, once more, would imply that it is okay that African Americans are “ignorant,” as they are only missing “some …show more content…
The stereotype places Africans Americans below whites in society and classifies them as inherently stupid. It suggests that they are incapable of learning and being equal to whites. Again, this comes from a historical context. During the slave and oppressive periods, Whites wanted to brand African Americans as ignorant to maintain superiority over Blacks. This mindset caused ignorance to be defined as stupidity and incapability as opposed to absence of awareness and