Black Men and Public Space in America

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Black Men and Public Space: An Agent of Change African-American men and white men are born and raised within the continental U.S.; each of their own faculty empowered to change the social injustice of a society. The innate qualities of the African American do not compare to those of the white man, yet - “empowered” they are with character. The foundation for the concept –“character” is best defined as “holistic,” meaning of physical, mental and social qualities – A. Adler’s school of thought, as well as A. Maslow and C. Rogers’ thoughts –“[a]n equal human being… cognitive, emotional, and volitional” (Ambrus, 33 -34) Jennifer Ritterhouse, author of Growing Up Jim Crow: How Black and White Southern Children Learned Race, explains that childrearing practices by caregivers resulted in the facilitation of race discrimination and it included “[r]acial self-consciousness and the ‘etiquette’ of racial interactions.” These two facets, Ritterhouse says, gave “[u]nderstand[ing to] their own position and identity within a white supremacist society”; through exchanges among peers, they were reinforced. (para 7) Furthermore, they are not “[i]nstinctive”; she ascertains socialization as “[u]nwritten rules governing all instances of interracial interaction.” This setting dates from the 1980’s. Having clarity on a realm of discrimination, we can then imagine the migration of racism stretching from the South to vast regions of the U.S. In the United States, opportunities for the cultural growth of African American men have been absent, because social discrimination continues to exist. In 2005, the phrase “[N]o Child Left Behind” (NCLB), coined by Kathy Emery, reverberated throughout the United States. It was a vision for the education system ... ... middle of paper ... ... Nelson, Claire Nee. “Growing Up Jim Grow: How Black and White Southern Children Learned Race.” Georgia Historical Quarterly. 2007. University of Maryland University College. America: History & Life. 4 Jul 2008. Simons, Jeffrey. Expository Writing. Course home page. Jun. 2008-August 2008. Dept. of English, University of Maryland University College 15 Jul 2008. http://tychousa7.umuc.edu/WRTG291/0806/8906/class.nsf/Menu?OpenFrameSet&Login. Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Space.” The Norton Reader. Ed. Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton. Shorter 11th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004. 231-32. Wallace, Maurice O. “Constructing the Black Masculine: Identity and Ideality in African American Men’s Literature and Culture, 1775-1995.” Academic Journal. 2003:90.America: History & Life. University of Maryland University College Library. 4 Jul 2008.

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