Be Careful About That Book Cover!!!

As the saying goes, "don't judge a book, by it's cover." It is natural that when a person is unfamiliar with another person, they tend to make assumptions off of the first impression. But beware; first impressions may be accurate, however, when they are inaccurate, they may very well cost the assumer way more (financially, emotionally, socially, etc.) than they bargained for. I'll take myself for example; I'm a young Black male with tattoos on my arms and gold teeth in my mouth. I don't always wear my pants where they should be, and I can't fail to mention the fact that I don't always speak in complete English. According to stereotypes; I should be out committing crimes...I should be out disrespecting women...I should be uneducated, uniformed and thus, unimportant. Yet, I currently have a associate's degree in social work, and ultimately I'm working towards my master's degree. I'm also operating my own photography business, where I have to execute every role from secretary to CEO. I like museums, am an avid reader, an author, and I dabble in music production from time to time. And honestly, I could do more. I know I have not yet reached my full potential. But no matter how many roles I play, they never really surface when someone meets me initially. I always get the "you look like a rapper" line. My rebuttal is always, "well, what does a rapper look like?" It's always hilarious how many glares and stares I receive when I walk into a Barnes and Noble, or when I show up to an art gallery with my hooded sweatshirt and a pair of nubuck Timberlands. I get the looks as if people have me allllll figured out. And they would be wrong; I haven't even completely figured out myself, so how the hell could they know. Because of my past, and what I feel is morally right, I refuse to do to others what has been done to me. I refuse to think a certain way about a person because of their attire. I refuse to belittle someone because they own less material things than I. And lastly, I refuse to make assumptions about a person based on zero evidence. I can only hope my readers refuse as well...