Black Males In The Ghetto Research Paper

In a perfect world, we would see no color. People would be judged based on their character instead of their skin color or religious preference, yet this is real life. This doesn’t happen. Instead, we prejudge the different types of people in the world before actually getting to know them. In society, we judge people based on one’s racial identification or religious preference instead of their self-perception.

In the essay, "Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples, the main idea states that the main character, whose name was unknown, gave a negative perception to the general public by the way he looked. Staples goes on to say that the unknown character could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and hear the hammering of door locks as people were scared of the possibility that he might approach them. The author says that the character moved to New York and often saw women who would fear the worst in him. Staples writes about how one of the character’s worst moments was when he worked as a journalist in Chicago, he was mistaken for a burglar. Concluding the essay, Staples describes how the character comes up with the idea to imitate

In the news we hear stories about how another black male have been sent to prison. The big question that most people ask is “why?” He was selling drugs. A petty crime like that gets a black male at least 10 years in prison. Whereas, a white male selling drug gets probation. African American are portrayed as thugs who either sell drugs or are always in the streets terrorizing people. For instance, in the article, THE FIGHT FOR BLACK MEN, by Joshua Dubois. A man named Joe, who lived in a typical african american life style was fatherless. At a young age, he started to use narcotics. Later on, he was caught by the police and was sent to jail. Where he met someone that taught him the knowledge on how to sell drugs in the streets. This lifestyle is the stereotypical lifestyle of Black males or Black people in general. People assume that ‘ALL’ African Americans are the same. In another article, Black Men and Public Space, by Brent Staples; the character describes his first encounter with racism when he was behind a white woman, who thought he was going to rob her. So, she started to run. He mentions that just because he was wearing baggy clothes and black, she automatically thought the worst of him. Another stereotype for Black males is that they are not educated. In Black Boys in Crisis: The School-To-Prison Pipeline, it states that dropouts (mostly black kids) are going to be incarcerated at one point in their life. In this article, it states the statistic percentage of how

The modern American ghettos are a problem that is prevalent in society today. A variety of methods have been proposed and enacted in order to uplift these ghettos, but the ghettos still remain despite the development and growth of the United States. Tommie Shelby, the author of Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, And Reform, proposes a unique method to help improve the conditions in the ghettos. He states that a major reason why the ghettos persistently remain despite all efforts to eradicate them is due to the cultural divergences between mainstream society and the ghettos. To combat this, Shelby proposes that the government and society should “make an appeal to the self-respect of the ghetto poor” (Shelby 115). This theory, though untested,

What does it mean to be Black in America? This question can be answered by various African-Americans and receive multiple responses. There is no specific reasoning to define Blacks in America, but there are aspects. Genetics and an individual’s view on their own identity play a great role in understanding what it means to be Black in general. Though, culture can influence one’s identity, in the end, there is no such term as being ‘like’ or ‘somewhat’ a certain race.

So the question is asked, “What will you do personally to improve the image of Black Males in America?” I believe by breaking the stereotype of black males will be a start on changing or improving the image of African American Males. With stereotypes, it tends to put a heavy label on individuals which becomes hinderous to success. So, the image of black males according to different sources such as, the news, and media in general, from displayed actions of some individuals; claims to think that black males have lack of male role models, simple-minded, behavioral issues, negative influences, and the list goes on and on. I know that, not everyone is alike in life. Everyone has a designated path they choose to follow and with those choices

There have been many stories about discrimination. It has affected people of color. Those stories explained how bad it can be for outsiders. Stories like that have had a big impact on society. Two stories that are an example of that are “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “The F Word” by Firoozeh Dumas. The stories, “Black Men and Public Space” and “The F Word” are similar because both characters were discriminated against themselves, were not the only ones harassed, and each went through a tough moment.

The portrait of black men that people have had in their mind for many decades has narrowed their vision about black men and has automatically affected black men’s identity. When it comes to black people, one already has a picture in his or her mind and draws a conclusion about how black people have to look and how they will act. After I read the essay entitled, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space,” written by Brent Staples, in which he talks about the fearsomeness mistakenly given to him as a black man in public places, I realized that I cannot stay stagnant. Instead, I have to conceive a project in order to stop that state of matter and protect the next generation of black men against those negative pictures. The project goal will be to rebuke negative thoughts planted decades back by those who think negatively of black people. Indeed, I came to the same conclusion after reading the article entitled, “Redefining what it means to be black in America,” written by Juan Williams. Through the use of charged language and fallacies, I want to address to whomever may still be having that negative image of black men to change their mind. Therefore, I would like them to know that the presence of black men in their surrounding does not definitively mean criminality and violence, nor does it mean an uneducated person.

        Donald Goines's lived the majority of his life either on the streets of the ghetto or in jail-because he was supporting himself and his heroin addiction by taking part in many illegal activities. During the last of his many prison terms, Goines finally found his way out of having to rely on crime for his way of living. He did this by writing about his life on the streets. His first two books, Whoreson and Dopefiend, were actually written during his last prison term. One critic of Goines, his biographer Eddie Stone, says the following about these books: "Whoreson, like most of Donald Goines's books, is autobiographical . . . . Donald wrote Dopefiend from personal

Hundreds of thousands of black men are housed in prisons and locked in cages; they are not there voluntarily; they were taken away in handcuffs due to a massive federal program known as the War on Drugs. Thus, the War on Drugs is a way to force black men into cages. The entrapment of black men noccurs in three different stages: The round up, formal control, and invisible punishment.

After many years of racism and segregation, it is time for a change in the African American community. Changing the perception others have on the black community is difficult. The problem needs to be fixed within the community, with how they view themselves. African Americans are accepting the prejudice against them and are not taking the time to change the standards. Changing the way they think about themselves will form stronger relationships at home, in the media, and in society.

Growing up in the ghetto is one of the toughest endeavours anyone can go though. I’m not talking about a ghetto that's inherited by nothing other than a single race as defined, but the stereotypical ghetto with guns and poor housing, houses without doors, that make a Sunday driver want to get out of there as soon as possible before they get mugged or worse. Living in South Lansing on Martin Luther King Jr. and right next to Board of Water and Light weren’t the worst ghettos in Michigan, however, they still weren’t the best place for anybody to live around. Once when I was living in Traditions, on MLK Blvd., two people were shot right in our backyard, which wasn’t even a surprise for us because something like that was always happening around

This essay will discuss how relevant African American literature was during the yester years of American history and how relevant it is today. Richard Wright once wrote, “Blues, spirituals, and folk tales recounted from mouth to mouth; the whispered words of a black mother to her black daughter on ways of men, to confidential wisdom of a black father to his son; the swapping of sex experiences on street corners from boy to boy in the deepest vernacular, work songs sung under blazing suns; all these formed the channels through which racial wisdom flowed (Wright, 1937).” Statements such as this one and Wrights belief that Negro writing assumed two major aspects: “1) It became a sort of conspicuous ornamentation, the hallmark of

Three men grew up in what some called the ghetto, what others called disgusting and dangerous, and what they called the toughest neighborhoods of Newark, New Jersey. They had to combat drugs, poverty and lack of money. They had to live through tough circumstances, but stuck together and achieved their dreams. I can relate at certain experiences, but my life is certainly much easier at this point. Now they are three doctors, and they have a New York Bestselling Book.

Being a fugitive is running or fleeing from prosecution or intolerable circumstances and this according to Goffman , was what young black men and women living in poor black communities ‘ghetto’ in America were experiencing. According to Goffman, poor black communities found themselves in this situations due to the fact that welfare reform assistance that families received and the length of time they could receive it was cut off and needed to work through all means in order to survive and cater for their relations, so most of them resorted to dealing in drugs which were an illegal venture , and that was what made the police to use severe measures to restrict or discourage undesirable or illegal behaviors in the black communities(P.2).