During my years of growing into the man I am today, I have come across many different people of many different backgrounds. Although it’s not something I am proud of, I can say I am guilty of maybe judging a book by its cover.
Going to a predominantly African American high school and now attending a HBCU I see many people with different tattoos. Although the subject of having tattoos can bring about mixed feelings, everyone knows the “universal” thought of those who have tattoos.
“Don’t get tattoos in visible places cause no one wants to hire a thug,” my mother would tell me.
But as I begin to look deeper into the
reasons for some tattoos, I begin to think that this perception of tattoos is utterly ridiculous. Just because I have tattoos means that I’m a thug? Just because I have tattoos I can’t be a well-educated person?
These assumptions are malarkey. I have come across plenty of people who we would refer to as “tatted up” who would floor you with their knowledge when they open their mouth.
I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that that’s the case with everyone, but it is the case sometimes. The reason that some people get tattoos has nothing to do with thug principles.
Some people look at tattoos as art and feel the boldest way to support what they stand for is to get it tattooed on them. Others use their tattoos to remember people that they have lost over the years. I support both of these reasons for getting tattoos.
Just because a person’s body is filled with tattoos doesn’t make them a bad person or an ignorant. I feel that we as people need to get out of being so quick to judge others appearances and take time to look into that person’s mind.
Tattoos don’t make people, but their actions or make them thugs or gangsters.
Although it may be looked at as unprofessional and frowned upon, you still have to give those people who have tattoos a chance to prove your assumptions of them right or wrong. That person may indeed be a thug, but if you do not hold a conversation with them how will you ever know? I look at it like this, if Bill Gates was to go and get “tatted up” would that nullify the fact that he came up with Microsoft and make him a thug?
Think about it.