CHAPTER 4

The Outcome of Stigma: Stereotypes and Prejudices

The progression of human knowledge and understanding is responsible for discovering many truths and disproving many myths associated with a variety of life situations. The effects of stigma and other negative attributes are among those findings. On the myth side of the equation, it appears that the often-quoted idiom “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is not scientifically sound.

One recent study, conducted by Harvard University and published by the Boston Medical Journal in January 2016, shows that negative psychological factors associated with anxiety, depression, and hostility directly affect a person’s physical and mental health on a molecular level.

It was found that negative psychological factors disrupt the adhesion and coagulation of molecules on an intercellular level, which, in turn, affects DNA methylation performance. DNA methylation is a process used by the body to develop normal functions, which include repetitive element repression, genomic imprinting, carcinogenesis, X-chromosome inactivation, and aging. When the process of normal DNA methylation is hindered or disrupted, it causes chronic immune and inflammatory-related endothelial dysfunction, which results in negative physical- and mental-health conditions, including the target issue of the study: coronary heart disease (CHD). Basically, what this and other studies show is that when stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are practiced, the objects of those attacks are both mentally and physically harmed. Thus, stigma, discrimination, prejudice, and other forms of nonphysical contact are extremely harmful to human beings. The data provides strong, scientifically supported evidence that high rates of health disparities among blacks, Native Americans, and other populations of people around the world who are subject to systematic racism and abuse are directly related to the prolonged and continuous bombardment of stigma and other negative physical and mental conditions.

Enacted Stigma

Joan E. Sussman, an associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences at the University of Buffalo (retired), has defined stigma as an adverse reaction to the perception of a negatively evaluated difference.¹ When perceived differences — i.e., stigmas, discriminations, prejudices, and so on — interfere with the target person’s ability to function fully or properly in any facet of society, it is known as enacted stigma. Individuals who are targeted by stigmatization, therefore, go through a complex process that sparks negative emotional, social, economic, and other types of reactions.

Most people are under the notion that stigma applies only to the disabled, mentally ill or challenged, poor, or ethnically diverse. However, stigma is found in association with a wide range of human differences, including gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, education, body type, and even political affiliation. Persons who experience stigmatic labeling most often cannot press past the experience or brush it off, especially when it occurs time and time again. Consistent, negative, projected images progressively begin to affect their lives in profound ways.

Enacted stigma adversely affects individuals who carry its weight. When entire populations — family, friends, and all other associates — are subject to the same continued extreme conditions of stigma and systemic abuse, the effect can propel deteriorating circumstances, which may disrupt the lives of many. At the same time, enacted stigma can also propel persons to strive to break through the negative images projected on them and become committed to succeeding beyond negative expectations.

Growing up in the segregated South, I lived amidst a world of white privilege and white supremacy. I grew up under Jim Crow laws in South Carolina. Our elementary schoolbooks were dirty, torn, and missing pages after being used by children at the white school and then passed down to us. After being discarded, their old books became our new books. I vividly remember the feeling of frustration when we opened our new books laced with filth and missing pages. However, our teachers, through their love and anger, pushed our young minds past the humiliation of getting dirty hand-me-down books to a vision of who we were — strong, proud black children — and who we could become if we learned how to read and write and to push past the daily regime of stigma that engulfed us.

As a child sitting in the doctor’s office in broken chairs in the colored people’s waiting area or being served at the back of the Dairy Queen so we wouldn’t be seen, I wondered why white people were different and treated me so badly. What had I done to them? As the AIDS epidemic became a worldwide pandemic during my young adult years, I related to the emotional burden of stigma, which taunted persons living with HIV. I questioned how a disease could cause peoples’ homes to be destroyed, or how children could be expelled from school, or how mothers and fathers could be driven to divorce their children, or how medical facilities could refuse care to the sick. I learned that the effect of stigma on persons living with HIV was not any different from growing up in the segregated South. Bottom line: hate is hate! Stigma kills!

The Effects of Stigma

It is one thing to establish that the stress, anxiety, fear, depression, and other ill effects caused by various types of stigma can produce changes on a molecular level, but it is another thing to expose how those qualities affect people where they live — in their homes, schools, jobs, and social circles. When we look at stigma’s effects, we see that they are very real and actually touch us all throughout our intertwined lives.

LEARNING AND STIGMA

Stigma has a noticeable impact on educational achievement. We touched briefly on the effects that stigma has on children in their homes, schools, and communities in the last chapter, but it is worth looking at its results on the actual learning process. Of course, barriers in learning caused by stigma are not confined to the very young, but also affect those pursuing higher education in universities or desiring to increase knowledge through extracurricular or career-based training.

Stigma can be greatly distractive and often causes students to turn their attention to the problems of discrimination instead of focusing on their studies. Stigmatization and stereotyping are social norms in most public schools in America, especially for minority students, LGBT students, and the disabled. The result is often poor academic performance, which often leads to dropping out. For the sake of a good argument, stigmatization and stereotyping are not confined to public schools. Private and public schools alike are battlegrounds for stigmatization and stereotyping of young minds and hearts. Regardless of ethnicity, when a student is labeled as stupid because he or she has a known or unknown learning disability — or for any other reason — the results of that specific stigma might prevent them from pressing past that difficulty and reaching for greater rewards from their learning environment. Perhaps the learned behavior of “feeling stupid” is retained for their entire life or a significant portion of it, until, perhaps, they learn to apply their skills differently or seek professional help in overcoming their learning disability.

In the United States today, our education system is laced with teachers and professionals who label far too many students as stupid or bad — students who happen to be members of minority populations such as the disabled, LGBT, the homeless, or those who come from poor backgrounds. Moreover, having to walk through a metal detector to enter the school building or being frisked by a cop in the lunch cafeteria are examples of the progressive perpetuation of the learning curves of stigma upon the next generation of American children. The stigma that is tattooed on them is often worn throughout their lives. Unfortunately, too many students in this environment often become dropouts and/or inmates, which perpetuates the myth that these students deserve nothing better.

Of course, stigmatization often produces and magnifies bad habits and behaviors like timidity, hatred, rebellion, shame, unworthiness, and other types of destructive characteristics and phobias. Any one of these can have detrimental effects on the learning capacity of those affected, and, oftentimes, multiple negative characteristics are produced, which compounds the problems. As we are seeing in our communities today, too many children who are stigmatized develop behavioral problems or turn to drugs or alcohol, skip school, run away, or commit suicide.

Even smart and talented kids of all backgrounds and ethnicities have to deal with the stress and pressure of stigma. Children who are academically advanced are frequently labeled as nerds, brainy, gifted, special, and the like. And remember, although these labels may be considered “good,” they sometimes can cause performance and developmental issues in those stigmatized as such. Why? Because of the in-group/out-group dynamic we discussed in the previous chapter. Kids who apply themselves academically and are stigmatized accordingly by their parents, teachers, communities, and peers often experience various degrees of pressure, stress, and anxiety, which, we have seen, can result in adverse mental and physical manifestations. Most of us have witnessed the stigmatization of, or have been ourselves stigmatized as, nerds, gifted, and so on. We may have stopped performing in order to gain social acceptance, or we may have withdrawn and thrown ourselves into educational pursuits while developing antisocial behaviors. Certainly, we know either path can have devastating consequences on one’s future.

In his recently released book, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood . . . and the Rest of Y’all Too, Dr. Chris Emdin, associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, writes about his experience and frustration as an educator and mentor of individuals who are frankly not only white but privileged, with a heart and mind to save youth of color from the dangers of being themselves and to assimilate them into the white-dominant society. Dr. Emdin compares the current urban education models to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first institution designed to “educate the Indian.” According to Dr. Emdin’s research, the Carlisle School employed a militarist approach to “helping” the Indians assimilate to acceptable white cultural norms. The kind-hearted teachers understood their caring mission to be one of “tame and train” the “savage beasts” and assimilate them into the ideals of white society. The term white folks in the title, according to Dr. Emdin, is used not only as a racial classification, but also as a word associated with power and the use thereof. Dr. Emdin is clear that he is not painting all white teachers with “power dynamics, personal histories, and cultural clashes stemming from whiteness and all it encompasses that work against young people of color in traditional urban classrooms.” The professor further affirms that the title of his book, For White Folks . . ., includes black folks or other ethnic groups that “act white” or bring the ideals of their own assimilation to their teaching models for black and brown youth in urban classrooms.² In most urban schools in our nation’s cities, the majority of African American and Latino youth are being taught by a majority of kind-hearted white teachers who are working hard to apply their brand of pedagogy to urban students while ignoring or devaluing the abundance of cultural treasures, worth, and intellect that are intricately entwined in the urban community’s fabric. Instead, today our urban youth, like Native American children in 1879, are severely disciplined and often attend oppressive, military-style educational institutions. The findings of a study by the Association for Psychological Science confirmed that black students were more likely to be labeled as troublemakers by their teachers and treated harshly in classrooms.³ The stigma of being labeled troubled, disadvantaged, disturbed, or academically deficient is the classroom norm for most of today’s urban youth. The impact of the established, imbalanced power dynamics in the classroom, coupled with a misunderstanding and lack of respect for the cultural richness of urban communities, often lead students to be less engaged in academic settings, and headed for marginalized lifestyles. Unfortunately, for the thousands of kind-hearted white teachers who are teaching urban students, their erroneous belief systems about black and brown students are sustained from one class to the next, from one school cycle to the next, and most often change does not happen.

I was personally confronted several years ago with this phenomenon when I engaged a white guidance counselor at a high school in North Charleston, South Carolina, where one of my “adopted” children was labeled a troublemaker and disruptive. (I am and have been the village auntie or “other mother” for several young boys in my family for over forty years and counting. I had known this boy from the moment he was born, and a troublemaker and/or disruptive he was not.) In eighth grade, the guidance counselor shared with me that Demetrius would not graduate from high school. Perhaps he would get a high school certificate if he made it to twelfth grade, which according to her was doubtful. His high school record had already been updated to reflect the academic track he had been assigned — NO HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA! I was perplexed. How does a school counselor make such a profound decision for an individual in eighth grade? Not only had I graduated from this high school in 1972, I was among the first black students that integrated this Charleston County school in 1968–69. Now, years later, with the approval of his mother, I would remove this young black boy from my high school and financially provide a private-school education to him. Demetrius’s response when I challenged him on why he wrote such a perfect essay on his private-school application but showed little interest in school was, “Nobody expects me to.” I have witnessed this response from many young black boys time and time again over the years. Upon graduating from a private school in Mississippi, Demetrius’s ACT scores were among the highest in the state. At thirty-six, Demetrius retired from the US Army as a staff sergeant in the Signal Corps. He is now embarking on his second career.

According to the 2010 Public School Review, my high school, R.B. Stall High School, is now 88 percent minority, with the majority being black and Hispanic.⁴ Perhaps white flight, school-zone redistricting, gerrymandering, neighborhood re-construction — or all of the above or none of the above — are restoring segregation laws within school systems all over the South. Interestingly, this time around the majority of students are the grandchildren of those who once fought to integrate or keep segregated these same high school halls. The one consistent element in education for the past fifty years is the majority of white teachers and administrators who continue to control the power.

As we know, the effects of stigma on learning are not confined to the classroom. All people, and children in particular, learn from other activities, such as playtime, social gatherings, and participation in sports, clubs, and other types of hobbies or extracurricular activities. If people feel stigmatized in these settings, they tend to withdraw, misbehave, or produce other forms of behavior that are counterproductive to the healthy learning process.

It really is daunting how we learn the behaviors, responses, and adjustments to the fear of seeming different to our peers. Another one of my adopted sons, Maurice, is a gifted pianist at thirteen years old. When he was ten, he began playing in the jazz club with legendary jazz giants on Friday nights in Richmond, Virginia. A student of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach, I often watch Maurice go out of his way not to give any hints to his peers that he plays piano. He fears that he will be tormented with laughter or abandoned by his friends, so his membership at the Richmond Academy of Music is a secret to his peers. Although he loves to wear a suit adorned with shining shoes and a pocket square, if the opportunity arises to be in the company of others without such dress, perhaps when entering a Pizza Hut or Lowes on the way home from church or a performance, he will hastily toss his jacket, shoes, shirt, or tie in hopes of not being seen in such fashionable dress. Gifted in building extraordinary Lego designs, woodworking, drawing, and music (piano plus harmonica and African drums), Maurice often hides his talent in fear of being different and feeling ashamed. Of course, with my keen eye on Maurice, I am always affirming him in every way and encouraging him to express the exceptional gifts of God within him.

Bullying is now a social epidemic and a household word in America. School-age children who experience labeling, name-calling, and other forms of stigma often demonstrate unhealthy behavior that is both of a physical and mental nature. Withdrawal, irritability, nightmares, bed-wetting, loss of appetite, and other symptoms are normal in the victim of a bully. Too often, teenagers become rebellious and turn to drugs, alcohol, and other forms of escape. Data is showing that increasing suicide rates among teenagers are linked to harsh feelings of being stigmatized.

A study out of Georgia Southern University revealed that women stigmatized as “nerds” tended to be more adversely affected in mathematical performance than were men under the same label.⁵ The interesting result of the various hypotheses used was that women performed more or less the same whether stigmatized as nerds or not. However, women labeled as nerds performed noticeably poorer than their nerd-labeled male counterparts, who actually gained a stereotype boost from the stigma and outperformed both of the women groups as well as their nonlabeled male participants. The conclusion of the study suggested that women tended to be more negatively influenced by the nerd stereotype than men.

JOB PERFORMANCE AND STIGMA

Because every able-bodied and mentally stable person is expected to contribute to society through some form of job or career, it is a foundational pillar of our identities, giving us a secure state of value and acceptance. When we feel good, we generally work harder and produce more at a higher quality. However, stigma in the workplace can be detrimental to performing work-related tasks.

Most of us over the age of forty have experienced stigma from bosses, coworkers, or even others outside the work-place for one reason or the other, such as being a single mom or dad, overweight, underweight, of a different skin color, or even by the type of car we drive. For most of us, the first inclination we tend to have when we experience stigma in the workplace is to work harder to prove our worth.

However, the continuous flow of personal assaults often leads to a dip in performance and opens us up to disciplinary action, workplace accidents, and various other adverse events. If not dealt with, those feelings, stresses, anxieties, and depressions — brought on by stigma and resulting in compounding problems — can lead to more serious issues and even unemployment as the result of being fired or quitting because of behavioral, physical, or mental-health problems. Once unemployed, stigmas increase and, in turn, compound the issues that result. The stigma of being of a certain race, religion, sex, and so on is magnified by now being unemployed and labeled a slug, a leech, lazy, or some other term that increases stress and therefore affects our ability to properly perform and contribute.

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND STIGMA

There are numerous ways in which discrimination adversely affects economic stimuli. First of all, businesses lose valuable skills when they confine their recruitment practices to only select groups or types of people. There is also the task of retaining good employees who are either directly affected by discriminatory fingering or who are indirectly upset by such practices. Stigma in the workplace also creates an unhealthy atmosphere in which production is both reduced and of lower quality. Once discriminatory practices become known to the public, many consumers choose to take their business elsewhere. There is also the expense of paying steep litigation costs to defend against discriminatory lawsuits. Health and other insurance costs increase in order to treat the mental and physical outcomes of stigma, and more tax dollars must be diverted toward taking care of those victimized by it.

The United States has made considerable progress in reducing discrimination, especially in the workplace. However, it is far from being eliminated. When times are economically good, it seems that discrimination is somewhat contained. However, it appears that when the economy takes a turn for the worse, stigma and the problems arising from it are exacerbated as governments, companies, and individuals become more defensive in order to survive. Racism and sexism in the workplace seem to persist, regardless of good or bad economic times. Although women make up almost half the workforce, they make only seventy-eight cents of every dollar that a man earns. On average, women bring home less money, which allows them to do much less with their paycheck, including providing for their families and saving for retirement.

Most recently, the economic housing and banking collapse of 2008 stands as a shining example of this. In the aftermath, the United States and affected countries in Europe saw a decline in social assistance, minority equality, financial and housing fairness, and other areas that were (and still are in some cases) used as scapegoats during such downturns. Ethnic minorities, the disabled, women, and other groups normally stigmatized bear the brunt of unemployment, reduced wages and benefits, assistance unfairness, and other such practices. This is backed up by a report issued in 2012 by the Center for American Progress, which found the estimated cost to companies that lost and replaced over two million workers due to discrimination and other forms of unfair stigma was an astounding $64 billion.⁶

It isn’t only the United States and the wealthier countries in Europe that have been experiencing the economic woes of stigma. Most countries are being negatively affected by it. A study conducted by the World Bank on the economic consequences of discrimination across the globe verifies this trend.⁷ It reported that the Middle East and North Africa experienced income losses totaling 27 percent as a result of women being denied work opportunities. It also revealed that the act of raising the employment and entrepreneurship levels of women to equal those of their male counterparts would improve women’s incomes by an average of 14 percent in Latin America and 19 percent in South Asia.

HOME LIFE AND STIGMA

Home is a place we expect to retreat to and find reprieve from the hellish troubles of this chaotic world in which we live. However, home is not always a safe haven away from stigma. The many problems and issues attributed to discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping are often carried into the home or occur within the home, where they adversely affect family relationships. Once problems take root in the home, they are difficult to eliminate, and they often cause chaos in what’s supposed to be a peaceful, restful, and joyful atmosphere.

Stigma and the problems it creates infiltrate home life on various fronts. The effects of discrimination, racism, homophobia, and all forms of stigma almost always enter the home with significant consequences. My heart bleeds when I encounter gay teenagers who are fending off their stigmatizing peers during school only to be broken and divorced by their parents because they announce themselves as homosexual.

Surely, we need to look no further than America’s prison system to witness the judgment and discrimination it has on families, as in the case of Sammy, which I shared in chapter 3. It matters not whether each person in prison is guilty of the crime; all are psychologically affected. Even after they have paid the debt of their crimes, each lives under the burden of society’s restrictions on a “felon.” In most states, felons cannot vote, there are limited job opportunities, and the stigma of simply walking down the street as a known felon often leads to harassment. The entire household is stigmatized when one person in the home lives under the shadow of being labeled a felon.