One year, my mom came back from her annual trip to Trinidad with the news that her uncle had proclaimed that he “hated American children.” I wanted to know what he meant, so I asked her – “Does he KNOW any American children?”
“Well… no,” she said smiling. “I just started talking about my grandchildren, and he made the statement.”
“Oh,” is all I could get out right then.
I have never met the man – at least not that I can remember. He doesn’t know me, or my kids, and has never actually MET any American children, yet he hates them? Wow.
Eventually I asked her how he formed his opinion, and she says, “from what he has seen on TV.” Oh really? That is where we get our information now? We make decisions based on what the TV tells us? I have to say, I am nothing like what the TV says I should be. We are planning a trip to Trinidad, and I wonder if I’ll even bring my kids by his house. I would love for him to meet my “American” children – My video game loving, McDonald’s eating children. I want him to see that there’s nothing about my kids to hate. My kids are kind, caring, curious, and love the Trinidadian family that they have yet to meet, as if they lived right up the road.
So if he can say that about me and my kids – his own blood – based on what he sees on TV, what do people who have no relatives in the US think of American children? What exactly are the stereotypes that are coming from the US media and being sent abroad?
Has Youtube, Facebook, and the internet explosion that made our daily lives accessible to everyone, shown the world that there is no way to group people together solely based on where they are from or what they look like, or has it shown the world that certain groups of people can be expected to behave a certain way?
Update – I wanted to see what he looked like, so Google and I did a little research, and found his pic on TrinbagoPan.com. He used to play with the award winning Renegades Steel Orchestra and there was his pic, accepting an award on someone’s behalf. I wonder what he would think of his American nephews here in the US playing steel pan with an award winning steel orchestra? Who knows – he’d probably hate that too.
