No Country For Black Boys By Joy Priest

He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, every third black male gets sent to prison at least once in his life. Males of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and close to four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police. “In Newark, New Jersey, on the night of June 14, 2008, two youths aged 15 and 13 were riding in a car driven by their football

The book Black Hearts is written by Jim Frederick and tells the story of all the controversial accounts one infantry unit ran into while on deployment in Baghdad, Iraq. The book is a documentation, captured accounts and events written down to tell the crazy story these soldiers went through. The specific unit Frederick writes about and what Black Hearts is about is 2nd brigade of the 101st airborne infantry division. “Black Hearts” was the unofficial insignia of 2nd brigade. Frederick covers one platoon in particularly and their ethical dilemmas they encounter while on deployment. 1st platoon, Bravo Company, 1-502nd Regiment is the unit the book covers. Many things on deployment unfold poorly for this platoon such as having little

Some privileged people disregard the violence against the oppressed people to develop a sense of safety. They hide behind their entitlement and exemption; ignoring the rest of the people that are suffering around them. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous letter, “A Letter From Birmingham Jail” in response to the criticism that was expressed by eight prominent white clergyman. He wrote the letter to battle injustice and oppression against African Americans during the events of the Civil Rights movement. His letter was written decades apart from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Letter to my Son,” however, both letter still reflects the ongoing events of today’s society. Coates’ letter, written on 2015, portrays a black American father writing to his son and fears that however hard he protects him from the street, encourages him to work in school, and do the right thing, the color of his skin, will always make him vulnerable. King and Coates’ letter both appeal to the broader public to inform them of the institutional racism in America. King focuses on the immorality of the church in order to justify the cause of the power structure that racism reinforce. Both authors expose the injustices of the legal system to support their indictment of the systemic racism in America.

Black men are a target in America. If you happen to be an African American male between the age of 15 and 34 you are nine times more likely to be killed lawfully or unlawfully by your local police force than any other racial demographic living in America today stated by Alexander Reynolds (2016). Racism is becoming more and more visible today.

As we just celebrated the forty months anniversary of the Black History Month, it is an important observance to commemorate the contributions and achievements of the African Americans in the American history. Historically during the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans are the most vulnerable ethnic group who suffer from injustice in the social and political spheres of influence. However, social justice advocates such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X express their criticism in their pieces of writings for the unjust treatment that these African Americans have to endure. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a response to a letter written by eight clergymen in which he talks about defending the nonviolent direct

World War II was, unarguably, one of the most devastating periods in world history; it’s erasable from the minds of those who were alive during that time and to the people who merely learn about it in social studies classes. But before the desolation of World War II, the world was only suspicious of Adolf Hitler’s plans, and Hitler laid off this skepticism by hosting the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, capturing “the true Olympic spirit”, but there were still a few who held conjectures about Hitler. In Daniel James Brown’s book, The Boys in the Boat, Brown uses a quotation by Richard Wingate to set the mood and create foreshadowing of the destruction to come.

In today’s society, the state of mind that African American males is constructed upon is troubling. It is not a frame of mind that develops overnight, it starts developing at a young age and manifests into adulthood. Many of these African American males that have developed this mentality “were abused as children, dropped out of school, lived in poverty, abused drugs, and served in many juvenile jails and prison sentences (Austin & Irwin, 2012).” Unfortunately, the environmental factors have dictated the lives of young black men instead of using it as a source of empowerment like women. They rather life the “ fast life” that involves them joining in gangs, selling illegal narcotics, and engaging in various types of property crimes just to

For the black man, the average walk down the street is a game of chance. Will his tall and dark figure spark controversy? Will people see him and immediately move in the opposite direction? Will women clutch their purses the same as officers clutching their hoisters because this black man is immediately seen as a threat before he’s seen as human? The black male teenager has been demonized in today’s society; media outlets, such as news stations, TV, and movies, constantly paint black men as violent, dangerous thugs.1

Shortly after the civil war the fourteenth amendment was passed which granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in America; this group included slaves both former and current. However, individuals of African American appearance would be treated like aliens in their own country for years to come. In the eighteen eighties Jim Crow Laws were passed that segregated Black individuals and often subjected them to humiliating conditions. These conditions exasperate and trouble all of the characters in the novel Black No More. In this novel by George Schuyler Blacks are degraded and oppressed because of the color of their skin. This oppression is caused by ignorant prejudices that individuals in the novel hold. Schuyler uses satire, elevated language, and imagery to further support the idea that ignorance can be as great a power or greater than the greed caused for money.

On February 26th, 2012, a metaphorical war started again taking African-Americans back to the 1900’s when they had no rights. Dr. Hardaway introduces this ode poem by mentioning this “ How dare you walk around black and living” essentially implying blacks should not be living. Hardaway came to that conclusion because of how society has portrayed “black people” to act like. That night George Zimmerman was on duty as a neighborhood watch, because some houses had been broken into in a gated community. Zimmerman had seen Martin wearing a hoodie and automatically assumed he didn’t belong there and that he fit the description of the crime because he was black.

From the nineteen twenties to even the two thousands African Americans were treated as outcasts in America’s everyday society. During the sixties several African Americans stood up against the altered laws that allowed segregation in their neighborhoods, providing them with more freedom and privileges. With these privileges came violence and hate from angry whites that went as far as attacking children in a religious setting. The poem, “Birmingham 1963” by Raymond R. Patterson explains how African American children were killed in the crossfire of this hate. The poem starts off with a mother preparing her young daughter for her day at Sunday school.

Actress, playwright, and a teaching artist from the Lower East Side in New York City, Nilaja Sun, in her play, “No Child…” published in 2007 addresses the topics of education, communities and poverty and asserts that without proper classroom management and teachers with passion, children in impoverished areas aren’t able to receive an extensive and character developmental educational experience. Because of this, Sun supports her claim by creating a heroic character, an embodiment of herself, based off her experiences as a teacher after working in some of New York’s most difficult schools for eight years. WIthin the dialogue throughout the play, the audience is clearly able to understand the teacher's motive, how she becomes a catalyst hero,

Alan Paton who was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist wrote the novel Cry, the Beloved Country, The novel publication in 1948 was just before South Africa institutionalized racial segregation under Apartheid. Paton addresses the destruction of the tribal system in South Africa due to white colonization by using the novel as a medium to illustrate is damage. Throughout the novel we are exposed to the numerous problems resulting from the colonization. Communities are in collapse, the land is bare, people are starving, and families are broken. These fictional communities and people are based on the real problem Paton saw in South Africa. The concern of “native crime” by the whites is a result of changes in the social

The issue in American society that may have shaped this article and research is racism because due to a male’s color they are automatically suspected of doing something wrong and whether or not they’ve done something wrong at the time they are taken to jail. Very much creditability should be given to the research and findings of this article because it helps us see the side of the story we did not know about. The research is solid and very useful because it helps us understand how and why young male black men live in fear and can’t lead a normal life without actually being caught by authorities. Goffman’s (2009)