Stereotypes & Prejudice

Use this forum to discuss the September 2020 Book of the month, " "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.
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Re: Stereotypes & Prejudice

Post by Readinggrl18 »

I think the one that impacted me the most was the story of Clarence as a boy. It broke my heart that anyone could treat a little boy like that. There is nothing about a child whether skin color, poverty level, mental status, deformity, parents, culture or anything else that could make that acceptable. I think the author did a good job of exploring the connection to his behavior as an adult to the incident as a child. Also, the reaction he had when Lena came in with her gun was absolutely logical. PTSD is a real thing.
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Post by HannahsReads »

I believe the author tactfully handled a number of stereotypes by introducing them in the story and showing how harmful they were to the main characters, such as Mark being estranged from his family because of his father's attitude about his sexuality. Of course the book focuses most heavily on Kalayla being biracial and how difficult that was for her, though I appreciated the happy resolution as the family began to reconnect at the end of the book.
This is great book for many reasons, but especially because it addresses the difficulty older generations have in moving past old stereotypes. I recently had a conversation with my grandparents trying to explain the concept of systemic racism, and it is hard for them to "take off" the lens of the way they are used to looking at the world.
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Post by plnjimenez »

AntonelaMaria wrote: 01 Sep 2020, 05:12 This book deals with many important and relevant subjects; motherhood, race, friendships, found families, sexuality, abuse, grief, regret, interracial marriage, guilt. Stereotypes, however, can influence our attitudes and behavior in ways that we are unconscious of. We see it in all of these three families. Stereotypes can cause deep harm even if nobody actively “intends” that harm. In order to expose stereotypes and to explore how they shape our interactions with others despite our best intentions, we first have to acknowledge their existence. There is also the idea of implicit bias; stereotypes or biases against groups of people that may be in our heads even though we do not want them to be.

What are some of the stereotypes or prejustice that you noticed within those subjects in this book? How do you think author dealt with them?
It is indeed difficult to eliminate stereotyping. Growing up, the people around us portray this and it does get embedded in our subconscious. Perhaps exposure to different kinds of people would help ease the unintentional stereotype that we have.
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Post by Adedayo+23 »

The obvious ones for me were the prejudice against interracial marriages, and the prejudice against biracial families and mixed-race individuals, all steeped in racism. Kalayla's mixed-race background played a part in some of the difficulties she faced. All of these were realistically portrayed.
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Post by zainherb »

Bertha Jackson wrote: 09 Sep 2020, 20:41 Due to racism, which is stereotyping, the grandparents missed a lot in their daughter and granddaugher's lives. That is something they will never get back.
Yes.
Sad, but true.
Funny enough, with age, comes this realisation and the urge to correct it. Then you see some grandparents going to apologise to grandchildren they had previously refused to acknowlege due to racism.

While in some, this realisation never comes.
It is like for some the world will always be black and white- two ends of a pole.

I suppose one good way of doing something about it, is portraying this reality in a book as the author has done here.
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Post by namuyong »

I noticed age stereotyping as well as racial stereotyping in regards to Kalayla and her mother.
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Post by ElizaBeth Adams »

The author effectively addressed many issues of prejudice. One in particular occurred early in the book. Based on the way she was dressed and her size, Kalayla looked younger than what she was. This is only one of the small ways that prejudice was addressed. It was definitely a theme of the book.
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Post by PeterRabitt20 »

One stereotype I noticed is one dealing with the socioeconomic ladder. the idea that in order to be seen as successful you have to live in a certain neighborhood, drive a certain car, wear certain clothes. This seemed to be the catalyst for Maureen's mom to go against her. Maureen's mom was poor and married into money. She wanted the same for her daughter.

This is unlike Lena who grew up wealthy. She had no problem with living in an apartment and taking taxis. She was wealthy but you couldn't tell looking at her.
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Post by Vivian Jabeya »

I noticed stereotype against the black people. Jamal and Clarence were harassed because they were black. Maureen's parents could not accept Jamal because he was black. It was difficult for Maureen and Jamal to find an apartment because of Jamal's race.
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Post by car-mbz »

Kalayla thought that Lena was boring because she was old and only wore black. She did think they will ever be friends.
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Post by Asma Aisha Ansari »

Lena's second-born Mark always hid the fact that he was gay because of the fear of his family's disapproval and shame. The constant pressure to keep his family, and especially his father, happy made him frustrated and bad-tempered . That's the reason he would always pick up fights with anyone and everyone to prove his 'masculinity' (whatever that means!). He finally decided to leave everyone behind and accept his true self.

It boggles my mind why a homosexual man is considered less manly and weak compared to straight men.

It's one of the many things which the author has portrayed well. It makes you understand and feel the pain that Mark endured for a long time.
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Post by Gabby S14 »

I think an interesting point made in the book was that Maureen's mother felt justified in her prejudice against Jamal and Maureen's relationship because she reasoned that it would ruin her standing in society. She remembers being in a poor neighborhood and being called "white trash." She felt threatened by her daughter's interracial marriage because her internal bias made her associate race with class. So, for her, there was a fear of class discrimination, and she let her fear overrule her judgement as she became the very hateful person she so feared would judge her.
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Post by Michelle Menezes »

I think the author did a great job introducing these issues and was also very sensitive about it. The scenarios were also realistic and made me sympathize with the characters.
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Post by Nathaniel Owolabi »

The author did a great job of portraying these issues you have mentioned and even showed how they can't affect the lives of people. Jeannie Nicolas is a very good writer and shows are skill in how she portrays these issues in her plot. This is a great book all in all but even made greater by the topics that it so appropriately broach and educate people about.
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Post by 19blueofficial »

Joseph_ngaruiya wrote: 04 Sep 2020, 14:47
Anna Dougherty wrote: 01 Sep 2020, 10:17 In the book, there is prejudice against biracial families and marriages. The author portrayed these prejudices very realistically and effectively.
In this book, which moment of the prejudice against biracial families and marriages moved you?
The part that moved me was when Maureen went to her mother to tell her that she was pregnant with her grandchild but she slammed the door on her face. It was really touching. And also when she told Kalayla about everything that happened. I wanted to cry too.
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