Very generally speaking, when you see a black man in a piece of media, be it tv show, movie, video game, etc. thereās something you often see a lot of writers do. To go against the stereotype of black men (and black people in general) being dumb and lazy, youāll see this black male character being smart and an achiever. ļæ¼
The Black Nerd. A common character type, the nerd will always be very interested in all things nerdy: science, video games, mathematics, etc. In an continued effort to combat stereotypes, the Black Nerd will be lack athleticļæ¼ism, probably being asthmatic (the nerdiest of conditions). The Black Nerd will dress smartly, suspenders and bow ties. Theyāll always talk smart too, using proper English with complex words.
Now, I donāt have a problem with a black character being a nerd, indeed black people are a people; we arenāt all the same and we all have varying personalities. The problem I have is that too often we see a distinct disconnect between Blackness and the Black Nerd. The Black Nerd doesnāt listen to hip hop or rap, only classical music. The Black Nerd only has white friends, the only other black characters are into not nerdy stuff. The Black Nerd never ever uses AAVE at any time in any context.
And again I must say that Black people, not being a monolith, there are no hard fast rules to being Black. Iām more than sure there are Black people like what Iāve described above, Iām not saying itās impossible; what Iām getting at is that the only Black Nerd we see. There are Black Nerds that play basketball, that bump Kendrick Lamar, and use AAVE since itās an ever changing dialect. Iām just saying thereās no one way of being a nerd and no one way of being Black.
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