What it did for sure was change the situation he was dealing with. And how it did this illustrates nicely the nature of stereotype threat. In a single stroke, he made the stereotype about violence-prone African American males less applicable to him personally. He displayed knowledge of white culture, even “high white culture.” People on the street may not have recognized the Vivaldi he was whistling, but they could tell he was whistling classical music. This caused him to be seen differently, as an educated, refined person, not as a violence-prone African American youth.
Like code-switching, he felt he had to put on some whiteness to separate himself from the stereotype and be less threatening to others. Ugh, so much work, but totally evident.
