Angry White Boy Analysis

A White Man Who is A Black Man: Can a White Man Discover the Answer to Racial Stereotypes by Portraying Himself as a Black Man in Adam Mansbach’s Angry Black White Boy Adam Mansbach’s Angry Black White Boy (ABWB) is a story of a Jewish young man who finds himself raged at white people after witnessing the riots in Los Angeles. The twist in this story is Macon is a white man who portrays himself as a black man. Macon has decided to take matters in his own hands. Macon becomes so angry with the white people he takes up a job as a cab driver and goes so far to rob them calling them “ignorant white devils”. The rumor goes around of a black man robbing people in a cab and it isn’t until Macon turns his face to one of the cab riders and identifies …show more content…
This essay discusses how the American youth should act, think, and believe when it comes to racial stereotypes. Much of the youth today is controlled by the popular culture such as social media or peer pressure. The youth should strongly consider their thoughts about their media choices and reflect on how it could shape their identity. The work of popular musicians depicts African Americans as being associated with violence and materialism. Many of other popular culture, such as movies, social media, and television send the same negative messages making it incredibly easy for a young person to fall into the trap of associating with these same ideals without seeing the other side of the story. This essay attempts to “unpack” racial stereotypes in American society. One thing that stands out within this essay is the effect popular musicians can have on the youth’s choice of identity. Many of the rap/hip-hop songs produced today discuss the use of drugs, women abuse, or guns. While some of these may not be as prominent it is still an issue and this essays points to this as a possible issue with the choices young people make. The issue with this is much of the youth identify their favorite artist as a sort of role model and depending on the type of music this person is producing it can severely sway the thoughts that person may have. Along with music there are other areas of pop culture that can generate racial stereotypes. The Harlem Renaissance era demonstrates the most well-rounded time of the black community as Jazz music was formed being credited as an African American invention. This showed creativity, intelligence, and inventiveness. This creates a positive outlook on the black community counteracting most of what is depicted today. Much of the African American community during this time were proud of who they were and thought this