Manliness In African American Communities

When beginning work with the client, there were a number of apparent differences between her and myself, including age, race, and social class. As previously stated I had to become more culturally competent about working with African American clients before I started seeing the client. Furthermore, I had to become aware of the difficulties that would be present due to our age difference. I made sure to give Betty the opportunity to tell me how situations made her feel, and empathized with her, making sure to help her feel as though I understood even though I was much younger and had not experienced what she had. Additionally, the client and I come from different social classes. I had to make certain that she did not feel judged during our sessions, and provided her with the resources necessary to assist her in overcoming barriers. Sands and Gellis (2011) indicate that African American cultural values and norms derive from a number of situations, which include responses and adaptations to the oppression, poverty, and racism, which made them victims. Knowing and understanding the various differences that I would face working with the client helped to better prepare me for sessions.

Throughout the matriculation of a black boy 's’ life, there are many, (labeled natural, yet are culturally, socially and institutionally based) factors, that govern the holistic views and beliefs entailed to the child. From that moment on, challenging the social structures that these norms entail suggest a sense of sensitivity, homosexuality or weakness, ultimately emasculating the highly regarded social stigmas attached with being a man. Despite being indoctrinated into the minds of black boys from an early age, there are many long lasting effects of masculinity that are in turn reciprocated in the role of black fathers, husbands, brothers and friends. Black masculinity is the self-deteriorating idealisms that attack the identity and social positions black men ascribe to.

Society, as viewed today, is not the same as it was at the end of the twentieth century, treatment of minorities was much different. Brent Staples was a writer at the time and choose to highlight this treatment in a piece titled Black Men and Public Space. Staples published this piece in Harper’s Magazine in 1986 which was an American magazine that covered politics, society, culture, and the environment. Even though the readers of the magazine were most likely aware of the culture surrounding African Americans it still was an effective piece. In Black Men and Public Space Brent Staples analysis the cultural identity of African Americans through the descriptions of personal experiences that he has had.

Adolescence can be the most crucial part of a person’s development. It is the time of transition into adulthood. The experiences gathered this time of a person’s life have lasting effects that linger long into adulthood. Proper guidance and support during this time is a person’s life is essential to ensuring that the person is able to become a successful adult in society. However, many African-American youth are lacking this type of support and guidance during this critical stage in life. Disproportionately some African American male adolescents aren’t provided proper mechanisms for their transition to manhood. Some sociologists believe that the lack of a rites of

Furthermore, this essay gives a perspective on what a Black man goes through. Brent wanted to enlighten his readers about daily life as an African American man. This meant explaining his view of the public from his perspective. By bringing these issues to light, he

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

Individuals should not feel compelled to remain a fixture in their respective culture or community because one has to cope with societal criticism based on the fictitious perceptions by fanatic individuals of society. In “Black Men and Public Space,” author Brent Staples demonstrates this by arguing that because of his culture, he is categorized as a criminal since he and most stereotyped criminals come from the same cultural background. Staples explains that he is a colored man who walks home but always minds his own business. But even though he does so, society views his appearance as a threat. He narrates an interaction he had with a woman where they were walking on the same side on the sidewalk, but after she noticed him, she took off and was across the street within seconds. Staples describes that he was only twenty-two years old at the time and was a college graduate of no harm whatsoever. As Staples explains to the audience how the women made him feel he describes that, “Her flight made me feel like an accomplice to tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto” (Staples 267). Because Staples is bound to culture and his physical appearance is the same as those of criminals, the mindset of society is negative towards him without reason. Staples uses the literary device simile, a figurative comparison of two things often dissimilar using connecting words, to argue that since

Manhood is when a boy takes the leap from being a child to a true man. People say that leap happens at different times for every boy. People can tell it happens because they stop acting foolishly and deal with matters by themselves. The four stories The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”, “The Man Who Killed a Shadow”, and “Almos’ a Man” all deal with African American boys and them becoming true men. The literature of Richard Wright and Malcolm X illustrate how African American males encountered much difficulty in asserting their manhood while living within the racist society of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

“Cooning” was a TV show or Film usually they act like idiot behavior that misrepresents African American culture. I think idiot because that shows a deliberate act. Many people called “coons.” Yes, I saw some examples today’s culture some white people still discriminate black people. Some white people were enjoying it, and that seems to some people they insulted African- American behaves. African-American got angry. It was not fair at all that behavior. All are good examples.

I come from a very large family including; six brothers, sister in laws, and fifteen nieces and nephews. My brother, Joe, married an African-American women and had two sons; however, they look nothing alike. Jeremy, the oldest, looks African-American and Anthony, the youngest, looks white. I chose to interview Jeremy for my paper because I wonder how being the only black child in a large white family impacted his identity.

Throughout history, literature has served as a way of expression. Human beings have poured out their feelings onto paper, as long as there have been people interested in them. Common themes have risen through the ages, such as the contrast between light and dark. Darkness is known for its negative undertone. In earlier times, we saw darkness as an interpretation of evil; likewise, light represented God and all good. From literature we, as a society, have built what later became social rules, giving rise to things such as prejudice. In Brent Staples essay “Black Men and Public Space” this is clearly shown by the authors own experiences of antipathy

black man fights against, constantly trying to identify himself. At the same time, black men have found approaches to detach from this narrow minded image that society has created for them including; sports, education and family. The black male struggles to gain his own identity because there is already a firm image created for them that the white man visualizes the black male and the expectations of the black male. However, it isn’t just the society that plays a role in the development of the black males identity, there is also the consideration of how black males are brought up or raised in their current lifestyle situations. For example, athletes,

Throughout life many people experience similar situations, although they are two different many different kind of people. The kind of people depends on their personality. Brent Staples is an author and writer for the New York Times. He gives two simple examples of two different people in his excerpts “Black Men and Public Spaces” and “Parallel Time” showing their differences and parallelism.

In Brent Staples’ personal essay “Black Men and Public Space”, he tells the readers what happen to a young black man in an urban setting. He pinpointed that people often stereotype you because of color, race, gender, culture or appearance. In addition, the author expresses to us that he notices the space between him and other people, such as women on the street. Some people may disagree that women set a certain amount of space when walking by a black man on the street. This statement is not true and public space is not about race, gender, color, culture, or appearance.

I have hear of women holding their belonging when they see a black men. Most of the people of my country do not take a taxy if it is a black man who is driving in NYC. On last June I took a taxy and the driver kept looking at me and I ask him for his name to start a conversation, I was wondering why he look so confused about me. and after a few minutes he ask me where you from, and I responded Dominican why, and he told me that most of the Dominicans never want to get in the car because he was African American. I was not surprise by what he told because my mother never get in the car with an African American. I told the driver "I know but not all people think the same way".