Pros And Cons Of Black Men

Crime and justice provides a substantial portion of the media’s raw material; crime stories are good ‘products’ for the media; public perception’s are influenced by the media; and crime policies are created, endorsed, or abandoned based in part on media coverage and public reaction (Guastaferro,2008). With the recent killings of unarmed black men and boys broadcasted throughout today’s media, in addition to the backlash that they receive by society as being involved in any type of Criminal activity or being depicted as a threat to public safety to justify the injuries,

With criminality already tied closely to race, the War on Drugs legislation expanded the definition of crime to drug usages. As demonstrated in The New Jim Crow, a 1995 survey found that 95% of participants pictured an African American person when asked to picture a drug user, but in reality, only 15% of the drug users were African Americans. This survey showed us the extent to which media’s overrepresentation of black

According to Shusta et al., (p. 163, 2015) repeated attempts by slave owners, police, and others to break down black manhood, and the absence of fathers have all played a part in the African American woman’s crucial role in the family. Single mothers don’t always receive the respect they are due, and are often stereotyped by law enforcement officers as well as others (Shusta et al., p. 163, 2015). This can cause law enforcement to treat African American single mothers with less respect and common courtesy than that of other woman seeking help. African American women also have a lower rate of reporting sexual assaults because of the fear of further compromising their community, particularly African American men, and police injustices (Shusta et al., p. 175, 2015). This treatment can cause African American mother’s and her children to believe that law enforcement officers can’t be trusted, and are not there to help (Shusta et al., p. 163,

Black women are always the leading role and image of negative identity. With the many amounts of stereotypes and verbal imagery, people will remain persuaded across the United States to believe such biased standards. They are persuaded to view Black women as characters in storytelling about incapable gender, race, and social class. Being slandered by the same oppressors who statistically rates them highest amongst all other races of women, also strips them morals, worth, and labels Black women destined for drug-abuse and incarceration.

Ultimately, the narrative of systematic oppression defines black history in America, yet the systematic oppression from the past caused cultural impediments that combined with systematic oppression in today’s society affect the black community presently. Constantly, the media portrays black people through mostly negative lenses as they’re depicted as having no class, being too aggressive, or through the most typical and praised roles of being slaves or nannies to their employer’s children. Similarly, the wealth gap between black people and other races still exists as a remnant of the injustices black people faced in the past. Furthermore, police brutality continues to occur with little consequences to the officers who attack black people for

Welch (2007) instituted her article with details of speculations and theories that coincided to the development of Black criminal labels. Now, the Black criminal labels are basically the stereotypes that black people are commonly involve or associate with regarding with crime. She thought it was a plausible concept to understand the images of crime shown by a society. She explicates on racial stereotypes through crime rates, black involvement in crimes, media, and racial hoaxes. For instance, young black males in America are commonly perceived as violent, gang affiliated, and sustain by other labels everywhere. She mentions “talking about crime is talking about race” which has adapted to the publics’ minds throughout a wide range in history (Welch, 2007; Barlow, 1998, p.151). Welch gives an example of a common white stereotype of African Americans as being less controlled, and more prone to crime than whites which adds to the public’s conception of criminality (2007; Higginbotham, 2002, p.147). Through the various factors, like black involvement in crime have contributed to the criminal stereotyping of blacks. Concerning this, Randall Kennedy interpreted how the reputation of Blacks has been “besieged” by beliefs from white people about inclinations beforehand towards criminal activity that could be traced back to when Africans were held in captivity (1997; Welch, 2007). His statement conveyed that African Americans have had this reputation for decades. The real

The effects of misrepresentation or, when a groups, communities, and ideas are wrongly portrayed, has a devastating a effect on the lives of Black Americans. Many stereotypes have been created to reflect the events of our history in the media as a way to try and replicate a negative culture as was created in times of slavery and segregation. The effects of misrepresentation among the African American community in the media, creates a stigma. Stereotypes like the Independent Black Women, and Angry Black Woman, are both examples of African American women portrayals that are described as aggressive and emasculating. There are also African American male associated stereotypes like the Criminal and Drug Dealer/Drug User which both indicate relations to times of President Nixon’s War on Drugs.

It is no surprise that African Americans have been targeted more than whites all their life. Things aren’t being done about it. We are all supposed to be equal as human beings but that’s not the case right now and has never been. It’s really devastating seeing news headline after news headline about another African American who has been shot by authority.

“The sensitivity around stereotypes and distortions largely arises, then, form the powerlessness of historically marginalized groups to control their own representation.” Since Black people are the minority, they have no control over how they are represented in the media. As Shothat had mentioned in his article, “In the media there is a tendency to represent Black males as potential delinquents.” The misrepresentation of most Black males, affects them significantly; therefore, since they

Kelley’s article discusses the influence of stereotypes. He mentions how media portrays races, blacks in particular, and that it is linked to perceived behavior (Kelly, 1995. 388). The typical roles of blacks in the media are often negative criminal forms. Because African Americans are perceived this way, their behavior is thought to be violent and impractical.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Spurred by the injustices of British treatment, colonists declared their independence from England inspired by the ideas of French and English philosophers. These basic principles assisted in the formation a new nation, but were not respected throughout its history. “All men” meant white men with property, not the general population. African Americans, brought on slave ships to labor in the fields of their white masters, did not share the human rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. They were forced to fight for their civil liberties, both during and after the

This paper will provide a closer look on two of these specific issues, poverty and the changing family structure (i.e. the absence of fathers) of black families in households. These topics are two of the major influences on African American families today and usually go hand in hand. Children and adults living in single parent households are significantly more likely to live in poverty than those living in two-parent households (Hattery and Smith, 2007). One person doesn’t suffer from poverty or crime alone. Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, victims and friends all become involved one way or the other. A chain reaction starts to occur and the families get pulled into the situation whether they want to or not and end up paying the price as well.

As far as cons I would state that society neglected to understand that Black women had solid voices to be heard in social and political parts of the country. Black women like Maria Stewart and Sojourner Truth stood, supported and spoke in public about the Black feminist rights. Sojourner Truth demonstrated what it felt like to live under prejudice, subjection, and different circumstances which influenced Black women to go to bat for themselves. Many Black women endured violence and experienced hatred treatment in order to make a stand for Black women. Also, part of the cons were the movement divided a lot of families.

Michelle Alexander talks about racial justice and mass incarceration in The New Jim Crow. There is such a high rate of incarceration in the United States. The drug war today is doomed to fail, especially because drugs dealers will replace one another. This war consists of drug related crimes and violence. Suspects of drug wars are racially discriminated by law enforcement officials. Most dealers and users are white. Three out of four of imprisoners for drug offenders are Latino or African American. Police subject the poor and look into ghettos for drugs. In the 1980s, police officers focused on white crack users rather than black, later shifted its attention and gave everyone

The article touched on a subject that I recognized all too well. Being a black woman most definitely has its disadvantages. The discrimination in employment and politics cripples us to a point where we are the most disadvantaged in the country. The lack of representation has hinder us black women from succeeding and raising their financial standard. The literal act of slavery no longer exists but slavery has formed in other ways. The majority owns most of the businesses in the U.S. controlling the political and economic areas; they have the say so of who gets ahead and who stays behind. The African American community has ways been put in areas where they are not meant to succeed. In earlier years, African American women would work in the factories; in these factories, they weren’t thought of as people with rights. Because they were black and women they were put at a total disadvantage of just being looked at as a second-class citizen. in present day, the act of slaver in the black community as a whole is mass incarceration. We are not truly free until equality in all aspects of life are present.