African American Man Narrative

heart. It was dark, so dark. I could barely see, even with my excellent night vision. I tossed a glance

In Ellis Cose last chapter in The Envy of the World: On Being a Black Man in America, he lists twelve “Hard Truths.” The first truth reads: “Expect to do better than the world expects of you; expect to live in a bigger world than the one you see.” In other words Cose is saying the world will hold you to certain standards that may be demeaning but to thrive you must hold yourself at high standards set by yourself. Also, he states that we are only seeing the world with our own two set of eyes, the world is much bigger that what we see.

The Identity of African American Men: How has it been displayed in the Media; negatively or positively?

As Americans, we are privileged with diverse experiences. With this comes a perceived understanding of many cultures and their influences but in fact full cultural literacy is impossible to achieve.

There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.” This statement showed the nation how their lives and the way they lived were both in danger of being changed and in order to protect these things as well as the country itself there was a need to fight back as soon as possible.

Consider this scenario in America today - a middle-age African-American man is not eligible to vote. This man’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather shared the same misfortune during their lifetime. The original patriarch could not vote as a slave, his son was beaten by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to vote, the grandson was intimidated by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to vote, and the great-grandson was prohibited from voting by poll taxes and literacy tests. The middle-age African-American man cannot vote today due to being on probation for a felony conviction.1 This same man probably had an ineffective attorney to represent him when he was arrested, was offered a choice of a plea bargain as opposed to a stringent sentence, and was subsequently placed under the control of the criminal justice system either by a prison sentence, probation, or parole. Once released from the criminal justice system, the man may be stigmatized for the rest of his life and may return to prison.2 As the middle-age man tries to re-integrate himself into mainstream society, his felony status can negatively impact potential employment, housing, and government assistance. This same man’s treatment could be compared to man living in a southern state at the height of Jim Crow.3 Jim Crow was a practice enforced by laws in the United States (U.S.) enacted between 1874 – 1975 to keep black and white races apart. The goal of these laws was to create “separate but

The lives of men who are African Americans in the United States has long been affected by negative public perceptions. African Americans are one of the most frequent racial groups stereotyped against. According to Dennis Rome (2006), he stated that when a person in the United States defines crime, they immediately think of a black person as the criminal. One of the most recent problems happening today with African Americans is the way they are perceived through the media. The media has distorted and twisted the way we view African American men and crime. While reading the book “Images of Color, Images of Crime,” chapter seven, The Social Construction of the African American Criminal Stereotype, two specific aspect of the chapter impacted

I am a spoiled rich kid. I live in an upper middle class town located in one of the prosperous countries in the world. I attend to a competitive school with qualified teachers who care about their students. I have seemingly endless opportunity to participate in my community or gain experience in a job. I have fair skin, living in a world where is being Caucasian is advantageous.

I wake up and remember that the All Blacks are playing this morning, so I jump out of bed and went to the lounge where I find my brother Jaycob with his All Blacks shirt on, already to watch the game, he had already got his break-fast. So I go and make myself some toast and go sit on the couch and then Clare came in and sat down to watch the game. We waited for the game to start.

“If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Will there be a better day for it tomorrow or next year? Will it be less dangerous then? Will someone else’s children have to risk their lives instead of us risking ours?”

From past to present there’s not much of a difference. The idea is that all men are equal, but in reality there are boundaries and hardships that prevent other races from being included in equality, next to the white man. The absence of diversity in the United States, interferes with the ability for black men to transition into manhood. Thus, continues this interminable cycle of a black man fighting for his identity, power, respect, and trying to understand who he is as an individual. Black men are portrayed to be lazy,

“It's hard trying to protect this country and protect my family from the attack….you...you thinks its easy trying to protect my life and since I work for the government then protect me and my family from hell,i’m just doing my god damn job ,so show me some respect and go home...NOW.Mark

A staticy Rainbow Dash image appeared on the screen, however the static was so bad you could barely make out the shape sitting at a desk. A calm cool voice cracked out of the speakers

“I can try, but I do not remember all that well what he looks like, you are not tall enough which will be a problem if they touch you, and I do not have a lot of energy left. I will not be able to hold it for long.” Right now walking was a bit hard and my head was in so much pain that my teeth hurt. If I did too much more even my full body illusion would drop and I would be in serious trouble. No one could see my real face.

"As much as I would like to not worry about it, these are clowns we are talking about. Their unconventional warfare cannot be discounted. I think we need to go down to Chicago and try and help anyway we can."