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When studying the black diaspora within the United States, the story typically starts with the classic slave narratives including those of Frederick Douglass and Mary Price and ends with the affirmative action decisions of the late 1990s. History tells the story of an internal racial identity struggle through the institutions of slavery and oppression, resistance and rebellion, cultural reawakening and civil rights which evokes the question: what does it mean to be African American? Aaron McGruder’s animated series The Boondocks creates a context to consider the question of what it means to be an African American today and discusses the institutions that are now molding the African American identity. McGruder criticizes the idea of a black monolithic identity through the use of hyper-exaggerated stereotypes and a medium typically reserved for children to make satirical commentary. This disintegration of the idea of a homogenous black diaspora identity opens the door for conversations of race and identity to be had in a wider context.
Aaron McGruder, the creator of The Boondocks, was born in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised up in Columbia, Maryland, McGruder went on to graduate with a degree in African American Studies from the University of Maryland. While working in the Presentation Lab on the university campus, McGruder developed the idea for the original comic strip. In 1997 the comic strip first debuted in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback (The Boondocks- Official Site). In 1999, The Boondocks was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicated making a national debut on April 19, 1999. At its peak the daily comic strip appeared in over 300 newspapers nationwide (The Boondocks- Official Site). In 2005, McGruder in collaborat...
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...ssed the people of the black diaspora, Black Entertainment Television and the pop-media in general are not liberating the black people from the chains of poverty and they aren’t promoting the progression of African American culture but quite the opposite.
McGruder never tries to answer the question of what does it mean to be African American now, but to create conversation. To provide a unique space for examining the implications of being a young African American now. He draws attention to what institutions are now defining the black identity; whether the street life and gangster rap so tightly embraced by Riley or the Black Entertainment Network and its role in promoting misogynistic ideals. He does so through the use of hyper-exaggerated stereotypes to first break down the idea of a black monolithic identity then evaluate what now is defining the black identity.
Both memoirs—John Griffin’s Black Like Me and Dick Gregory’s Nigger—examine race marginalization as it existed in mid-twentieth century America. Griffin’s Black Like Me intimately explores the discrimination against the black community by whites to expose the “truth” of racial relations and to “bridge the gap” of communication and understanding between the two races through a “social experiment”—an assumption of alterity (Griffin 1). In Nigger, Gregory also recounts personal racial discrimination as a black man trying to survive and succeed in a discriminatory society. But unlike Griffin’s experience, Gregory’s memoir progresses from a position of repressed “Other” to a more realized, dominant identity. However, the existence of a dual persona
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
Having a thick sense of black identity calls for “ African Americans think of themselves as and act as a ‘nation’ constituted not by physical borders, but by a shared ethnic, cultural, or biological trait that imbues the community with a ‘general will’ and this “ will” typically includes political motives (Papish 2). Papish argues that it is not part of the duty of a black person to have any sense of loyalty or solidarity with other African-Americans and that not doing so does not make them any less black than those that choose to have a thick sense of black identity. Those who don’t grow up with a strong black identity in their lives are just as black and go through some of the same struggles that other black people do. In the video “Black Like Who?” Debbie Reynolds did not have a strong sense of blackness because she was raised in a white neighborhood.
In his essay, “On Being Black and Middle Class” (1988), writer and middle-class black American, Shelby Steele adopts a concerned tone in order to argue that because of the social conflicts that arise pertaining to black heritage and middle class wealth, individuals that fit under both of these statuses are ostracized. Steele proposes that the solution to this ostracization is for people to individualize themselves, and to ‘“move beyond the victim-focused black identity” (611). Steele supports his assertion by using evidence from his own life and incorporating social patterns to his text. To reach his intended audience of middle-class, black people, Steele’s utilizes casual yet, imperative diction.
Finally, Frazier discusses the result of this displacement on the black middle class. Because the black bourgeoisie buys into the ideals of white America more and is simultaneously more exposed to its hostility, their sense of inferiority is compounded. They seek to fill this void in two ways.
Throughout the years, the black community has been looked down upon as a community of criminals and a community of lesser educated and poor who have a lesser purpose in life. Journalist Brent Staples, the author of Black Men And Public Spaces, takes us into his own thoughts as a young black man growing up in Chester, Pennsylvania to becoming a journalist in New York City. He tells us his own challenges that he faces on a daily basis along with challenges that many black men his own age faced and the way he changed in order to minimize the tension between himself and the common white person. Growing up in the post-segregation era was a challenge for most blacks. Having the same rights and privileges as many white Americans, but still fighting for the sense of equality, was a brick wall that many blacks had to overcome.
The roles African Americans play on television are not satisfactory. Though the roles have changed during the development of television, the current relationship is not representative of true African American people or their lifestyles. The question is how do the past roles African Americans play in television sitcoms compare to the current roles? How does this affect society’s perception of the African American in American culture? Throughout the history of television the roles and the representation of African Americans has developed with the changing cultural conditions. However, the representation of African American’s has not fully simulated into today’s society. What the average citizen views on his or her television does not accurately portray the African American’s influence on America.
Lippi-Green gives an in-depth look at the negative portrayal of African-Americans in Disney animations. She acknowledged the fact that the cartoon characters that have connotations to be from an African descent, are voiced over by actors that are also of African descent. These actors and the animated characters spoke in "African-American Ver...
In 1960, the American sociologist Paul Goodman published his seminal work, Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society. Having observed that, since World War II, there had been an increasing rise in juvenile delinquency – especially amongst white, middle-class, educated males – Goodman set out to study both the source and forms of delinquency. Simply put, he wanted to understand why and how young men were rebelling not just from the previous generation but from society as a whole. Goodman ultimately posited that having been frustrated by an increasingly bureaucratic and corporate culture, the only way for these young men to begin forging their personal identities was to reject the very middle-class culture and values from which they had emerged. Goodman then discovered that many of these young men began to find solace and freedom, to quote Allen Ginsberg, “by dragging themselves through negro hipster streets.” These middle-class young men – or what Goodman would ultimately label as “the white negroes” – found for themselves an entirely new cultural frontier by embracing what they felt to be the only free space available: within the bosom of black culture. The fact middle-class, white males listening to “black music” would hardly raise an eyebrow today only serves as a testament to the enduring power of blackness as a cultural trope. Whether it be jazz in the 1950s or hip-hop at the turn of the century, white youth have continued to find avenues of self-expression and self-formation through what Toni Morrison calls an Africanist presence.
In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).
“Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.
“You are a nothing little nigger” is one of the demeaning phrases African American human beings have heard over the years in an effort to keep them in a state of persecution. This paper will discuss the persecution of the African American. The following documents the struggles, gut wrenching pain, and heart ache of African American people have endured and are still suffering with today.
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
Many African Americans were forced to live in poverty, because the events of neo-slavery after Post-Civil War, resulted to seemingly unavoidable poverty, given that their economic and social wellbeing were mostly influenced by the decisions of the whites, rather than the their own decisions. Hence, the many blacks become the stagnant component of the United States society; because even though after they gained freedom they were depicted ‘free people’, in reality they were still the same people not free from slavery, as a result most of them languished in poverty. I believe that this actions of enslaving African Americans through this system is what has led to the present state of things whereby many blacks are still poor because just like in the post-civil war times different forms of enslaving blacks have been put in place for example imprisoning through racial profiling and the concentrating of blacks in inner cities where there are not that many resources such as good schools, social facilities and good jobs which leads to crime and wasting of these people and a criminal justice system that seems to work against black
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.