Implication of Lebron James Situation-Stereotypes

Ok so we have all been informed of what Lebron James has done. He has decided to leave his hometown where he could get more money and be "the man" and go somewhere for less money and way less attention on him. There are a lot of mixed opinions, but that's not the point of this blog.

One of my favorite ESPN people talked about how Lebron James defiled the stereotype that athletes are all about money and ego in going somewhere with less money and less attention on him. Even though I have my own opinions about him going to Miami, that ESPN guy makes a very valid and interesting point. Therefore I want to take this time to express my frustration regarding stereotypes.

Stereotypes are basically generalizations made about a particular group. In other words, a stereotype is taking an attribute, feature, etc., of one person and generalizing it to the entire group. For example, one of the most common stereotypes for black people is that they are lazy. That's a stereotype. Are all black people lazy? No, but what happens is that one attribute is put on the entire group.

I am convinced that a lot of things cannot go on successfully in this society because of stereotypes. Bottom line: JUST BECAUSE ONE PERSON WITHIN A PARTICULAR GROUP DOES SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN EVERYONE IN THAT GROUP DOES IT OR FITS IN WITH THAT ATTRIBUTE. Ok I buy the argument that there is a bit of truth in every stereotype, but my problem is when we think EVERYONE in that group fits the stereotypes.

One more example I want to look at is in the religious community. There is a stereotype in the black church that preachers and pastors are all about money, power, ego, etc. Is some of that true? Yes. Does EVERY preacher and pastor fit that stereotype? Absolutely not! What I am afraid of is the reality that God has called some people to preach and/or pastor BUT because of the stereotype they do not want to be labeled. In fact I am convinced that there are many people who want to do certain things in this society but the fear of being stereotyped keeps them on the sideline.

So what do we do? First, I believe that we should look at every individual for their uniqueness and what they can contribute to the larger framework of society. I understand the argument that as humans we have to categorize things in groups, but I still do not believe that justifies stereotyping people. Second, we have to understand that God created all of us as different individuals. God never intended for us to be exactly the same person. We have different experiences, different home training, different areas of growing up, etc. Last, we should not let past experiences cloud our perspectives. Just because you saw one preacher steal money from a church doesn't mean every preacher wants to do that. Just because you saw one politician take advantage of the political system doesn't mean every politician wants to do that.

My challenge is that we begin to look at each individual for what they can bring and stop stereotyping people. Everyone is unique in one way or another. There's a big difference between collectivism and stereotyping. Maybe more can get done if we try to look at every situation individually and for its uniqueness.