My Brother Faces Racial Stereotypes

Kiara Williams 4th Hour
5/26/16
Richard must stick up for himself in more ways than one, as my brother does dealing with mental illness. Just as Richard faced racial prejudices, my brother faces stigma for things he can’t control. As Richard is born African American and is shamed for it and put into stereotypes, my brother was born with skizo-affective disorder with similar reactions from friends, family, and even strangers. In spring of 2012 my brother was diagnosed with skizo-affective disorder with depression. It was almost like people were walking on egg shells around him afraid that any little thing they do might “set him off”. Along came the holiday months, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s all seemed

They were afraid maybe because he didn’t match them, almost as if they were intimidated by his skin color. When he went into stores people treated him differently an unequally because of the way he was born. But it’s not his fault, he can’t help that. My brother and Richard are the same yet different in many ways. They both deal with people judging them without knowing anything about them, all based on looks and the way they may carry themselves. Stigma means “the mark of disgrace or shame associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person”. Richard is an African American male living in the time period when it was wrong to be black and under the circumstances he was blamed for things he didn’t o because he was an “easy” target. Khalil has skizo - affective disorder and is made to feel ashamed of something he can’t control but is also made to feel dumb because he isn’t able to start college and isn’t able to get a job because he can’t function like normal people or even make eye contact with them, for the fear that they will see the thigs that make him different and not the things that make him just like everyone else. This is exactly how richer felt when he wasn’t able to do certain things because of the color of his skin, worried that people would see the things that are different in him and not what makes him a beautiful human being. But

Just the fact that difference is bad scary maybe and people don’t like change. But you should never be ashamed of where you come from or how you were raised, the things you can’t control, because the older you get the more you are going to wish you didn’t care what people thought of you an lived your life the way you