Personal Identity Challenges

Improved Essays
Personal Identity Challenges in African American Males Most African American families has felt the wrath of African American males past and present suffering from chronic stress of living in a racist and oppressive society. In 1999, Authors by the name of D. Elligan and S. Utsey wrote “this condition has historical roots dating back to enslavement and deportation from Africa.” African American Males struggle with unfair treatment, issues with identity, also attempting to fit in a European America (White). The history of abuse and unfair treatment has caused most African American males to express anger publicly and also in the private of one’s home. This rage in feelings toward political groups, Government and Public Service Agents (police officers) are still being caught exercising racial prejudice and stereotyping African American Males. History has shown us the excessive use of brutality and other deadly measures that are taken by authorities when it comes to an African American Male versus any other ethnic group. With the absence of positive feedback from the society, school, media, and the frequent encounters of public violence, has cause this nationwide stereotype of African American Males. African American males face many challenges because of one’s personal identity and stereotype from Media and other public …show more content…
One being to alienate from the community you belong to. Alienated individuals are those who except the negative image of Blackness and excludes themselves from the African American community and culture. In one’s opinion, for the author to suggest such, makes one wonder is this the process in which he used? Is this the reason he has succeeded and not be a part of the statistics as an African? American male in today’s society? Anyone whom takes pride in their culture, ethnic identity group you belong to, will not deny themselves from one’s personal

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In America, it is evident that race is still an issue; this is seen through many occurrences. One event in particular is the recent story of Matthew Ajibade. The story of Ajibade immediately captured my attention due to the fact he’s a graduate of Parkdale Senior High School, just as I am. Many of my older colleagues recalled stories of him being a lively spirit that everyone loved. Although I did not personally know him, it made me realize that anyone can be affected and harmed.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Tienna Fenton Armed and Dangerous? An Examination of Fatal Shootings of Unarmed Black People by Police 1. Major Themes This article focuses on the ever present discrimination of African Americans in the United States and the recent increasing number of blacks killed by police officers. The first theme viewed is the perception of blacks in the media as well as the perceptions blacks have of law enforcement.…

    • 1747 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    These identities can be harmful as they can limit our freedoms and individuality. They can also have more serious implications and can limit one’s ability to lead a normal life as well as threaten their own safety. Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses the struggles of living as an African American in some of his writing, including being defined as and by his race. In his excerpt “Racial Identities”, Kwame Anthony Appiah describes the struggles of living under modern racial stereotypes, suggesting that racially charged social identities can have detrimental effects on one’s individuality and one’s ability to be a functioning member of society. African Americans do not all share the same identity.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Character Analysis 42

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The author continues by talking about how minorities really don’t have the same abilities as whites to control, order, or alter their own life chances. She explains in this theory that because of differences in community or culture, whites often are born with much better “chances” than those of color. In An American Dilemma (Myrdal. 1995.), Gunnar Myrdal talks about how there is something called the “White man’s Problem” (p. lxxxiii). Myrdal continues and says that the “negro problem” isn’t a problem from the blacks themselves, rather it is a problem from the whites because “practically all the economic, social, and political power is held by the whites” (p.lxxxiii). He ends by saying “The Negro’s entire life, and, consequently also his opinions on the Negro problem, are in the main, to be considered as secondary reactions to more primary pressures from the side of the dominant white majority” (p.lxxxiii).…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In society today there are several events that are taken seriously by the community, the government and the people. I am going to talk about how the “law enforcement” is handling African American males in regular/irregular situations. In beautiful Baltimore, Maryland on April 19, 2015 a 25-year-old black man died in police custody one week after being arrested. Freddie Gray’s death was ruled to be a homicide and the six officers who were involved had legal charges issued. The charges were not high enough for the people to be satisfied and this caused several protests following his funeral.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reading the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness brought attention to several different injustices that minorities face daily. It shuns light on how the African American community has been stereotyped and systematically program to dismantle the African American male figure within the family dynamics. According to Michelle Alexander Obama stated that too many fathers are AWOL, MIA and neglecting their responsibilities, which had cause the family to be weaker (Alexander, 2010,p ). However with the system continuously oppressing the African American male this is yet another way to belittle and emasculate this population.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine being in a society where the color of individual’s skin makes another person fear for their own well-being. Picture a place where people are judged because of their race, before even taking a look a one’s heart. This place is America. Every day, African-American men attempt to appear as normal as possible to make their lives easier, but stereotypes makes them stick out like a sore thumb. In “Black Men in Public Space” and “Black Men Quietly Combating Stereotypes”, these sources analyze the plight of African-American men in society.…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Injustice

    • 2297 Words
    • 10 Pages

    “Violence as a way of achieving racial injustice is both impractical and immoral. Violence never brings permanent peace.” Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke those words decades ago, and although those words were spoken years ago, they still relate to today’s world. It seems that the world has transformed into this culture of hate and inequality.…

    • 2297 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System African American men are facing hard factors when it comes to law enforcement. Police officers and black male relationships have reached their peak of who is more afraid of the other. Racial disparities have been found in the criminal justice system and to this day are still widespread in pretrial incarceration, stop and frisk, charging, jury selection, arrests, court processing, probation, and incarceration in prison and jails.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Due to police brutality, many African Americans have died recently, for example Philando Castro and Alton Sterling. The problem is that blacks are seen as inferior compared to the rest of the community and lack equal rights that were given at birth. In the article Racism and Police Brutality in America, it mentions that people that have an ascribed identities of fuller lips, darker skin, and broader noses, has a higher possibility of being sent to jail than a person without these inherited characteristics. Also in Racial Profiling – Separate Unequal Keeping the Minorities In Line-The Role Of Law Enforcement In America, it mentions how the white community sees African Americans as “….poor, lazy, lustful, ignorant, and prone to… criminal behavior.”…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial stereotyping and police brutality still plague modern day society and we must continue fighting it, just as Grant and Jefferson did in the…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book details how police, politicians, and judges are working actively to keep the narrative that “all black men are thugs.” Policemen are brutal with black men all the time, and their crimes are kept a secret with the help of laws and with the way the justice system in constructed, a majority are never convicted. Butler provides a plan to help African-American men if they are ever wrongfully accused of a crime, or manhandled by police. His viewpoint of race factor and police brutality provides an all-new look into the “chokehold” on black men across the…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism is one of the world’s biggest issues. A lot of people are oblivious to the existence of racism that exist in police enforcement and schools or they would just choose to ignore it. Racism is everywhere, it doesn’t matter if you were born in a good or bad family it’s about what you learned throughout your lifetime like the things that shaped you into the person you became today. Blacks are treated the worst in racism because it goes far back to dark days and lingers back to this day in age and it’s still a major issue. The author Brent staples wrote a story called “black men in public space” and in the story Brent tells you stories of his past experience with how white people saw black people.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Racism is an overwhelming problem that impacts our country and ultimately, our world greatly. Although, we are in a much better place than we were at the time of the Jim Crow laws, the United States still has many obstacles to overcome. The first article “Black Men and Public Space,” written by Brent Staples, shows different cultures discriminating against others. Staples explains how people stereotype him as the typical black male, even though he has chosen “to remain a shadow--timid, but a survivor” (348). Consequently, he chooses to try and make people more comfortable around him by whistling classics or waiting until certain people pass, in hopes that one day, racism is a thing of the past.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The recent events below have led to a series of protests over the past year but recently in the media the public has been advocating for the rights of African Americans in America based off of the neglect of the justice system for these young black men. These situations were all against young black males that had absolutely no reason to be murdered as a means to a solution. As these three situations only stand as representations of the many black male to be victimized by the police system in America it also shows us that although we have made strides in race relations and equality we still have a very long and tiring journey to go to be fully accepted by our fellow counterpart. Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by a Chicago…

    • 1055 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays