Two years ago when me and a few of my girlfriends went to Panama for spring break, we drove through Louisiana and stopped at a gas station. There was a very large group of African-Americans because they were going on a retreat and their bus stopped at the gas station too. Needless to say, we were the only white girls in the entire gas station. As we were leaving, a group of guys were looking at us and saying "oh a bunch of white girls, they must be celebrities" and asked to take a picture with us in kind of a mocking way.

The reason why i tell this story is because I don't like that all white people are assumed to be racist or think that they are better than everyone else. That is kind of making a stereotype about whites. Just because we are white and we stopped at a gas station with the majority being African-American, didn't mean that we were thinking that we were better than them or were looking down on them. So to joke and say that we are celebrities and imply that we are rich or what not isn't very fair because they don't know us. I feel that incidents like that one just make matters worse and create more problems.

http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5177.html

I'm certainly not implying that this has never happened in a situation with all whites and a small group of African-Americans. I guess I just don't understand why it has to be this way. In order for their to be change, there has to be change on both sides. I feel that every race is guilty of stereotyping sometimes and making assumptions about people based on their skin color. I don't that a race in particular is at fault. I think that as humans, we tend to speak without thinking which only worsens situations. Even if the statement was not meant to be harmful, you never know how someone is going to take it so if it could possibly be harmful, maybe it's better left unsaid.

Not all African-Americans are the same and not all whites are the same which is why stereotypical views and assumptions are not fair.

http://www.retirethechief.org/Essays/stereotype0503.html

The article above lists the different stereotypes for African-Americans and whites. It is unfair to say that the people of either race are exactly as they are portrayed because many people won't fall into those stereotypes.