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In today’s society people are placed in different groups. These groups are based upon their race. The groups are not a choice, you are born into them. There is no way to change this group and there is no option to get out of these groups we are put in. These different groups have different meanings to them and these meanings are called stereotypes. Although you are in these racial groups they don't define who you are but it does have an huge effect on how you are perceived in today’s society which changes the way you think of yourself. I personally believe if we were to change my racial background my entire outlook on life would be altered. When I was younger I remembering told you have two strikes against you, a saying that is commonly used to express the inequality of black males in society in the African American Culture. Therefore I feel it is necessary to go to the extra mile to fit in with society. I first had to do this when I first came to kirkwood in the second grade. I remember i felt like an outcast because I was one out of the few african american people in the class. When I first walked into the class I remember all the looks that I got and how uncomfortable it was to talk to anyone at all. It was interesting because I remember when my mom came to pick up me and my big sister that day we both had the same question. “Why is there so many white people?” we asked. We asked this because we were confused. This was the first time we have been around this many white people in our life. We adapted right into the new styles and technology that Kirkwood had. I still do this today and I always wonder how would I look, dress, and would my values be the same as they are today if I had went to a different school. I look the way I do to fit in and not in a sense to blend it but just to be accepted. Many stereotypes are put on black men such as, they are lazy, they don't handle business and this forces me to become more responsible and hardworking because I am determined to become the other statistic that our society fail to recognize. Anyone can define who they are but no one can define how they are perceived in society. Society has given us many stereotypes that you have to disregard and prove them wrong. For african americans its hard because we have been living our whole life being told that we not anything and that we are corruptive and we don't mean anything to the world. Although we have many historical people who have been showing that we are not these people that everyone is trying to say that we are. I remember I was watching the news and they were saying how a black male murdered his girlfriend and kid and then himself. They said he had got