The Feminization of the Black Male Image One of the problems that blacks have that contributes to our consistent position at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder is our proclivity to engage everything through the lens of emotionalism and individualism. We look at how we feel and how things impact our own personal worldview and lifestyle. We rarely engage any significant issue through a paradigm of collectivism and rationalism. This places us at a significant disadvantage when attempting to evaluate any dilemma that we are facing. The truth is that there has been a deliberate and consistent campaign to feminize, emasculate and even homosexualize (newly coined) the black male image.
The masquerade began as members of the white race tried to pass as black and during that experience gain some satisfaction from their own lost and confused existence. Claude McKay was unique in style and tone, yet still followed the other artists by topic. The exotic in Claude McKay's "Harlem Shadows" is apparent. McKay is developing the exotic throughout the text and saying that black exoticism is the only way that Africans can survive in America. McKay wants the African American to embrace their bodies, but there is an element of pity to the work.
While there are a few grey areas where the two cultures do interlace, the two still share their differences that often go ignored in order to justify the oversimplification of Black individuals within stereotypes. Many people would be puzzled at the idea of Black culture sans hip-hop, and this is a result of the generalization and interlacing of the two cultures over time. Whereas many people might think that Black and hip-hop culture are both about violence, sex, drug, and more, many can find the point of distinction between the two. Hip-hop culture is a subculture, one that abides by a musical genre, whereas Black culture is one of humans that is at the core of individuals. For Black hip-hop artists, they can have Black culture impact their work as it is a part of them.
Nowadays if you ask someone to define the hip-hop genre, they probably would say that it’s an African American artist reciting lyrics that rhyme to the beat of music. However, it’s a form of expression where the artist’s lyrics connect to self-image and a meaningful bond to their community. The purpose of my paper will outline the true reality of hip-hop through urban black communities, the act of spreading positivity, and the techniques of hip-hop sounding. While the genre of hip-hop came about in the 1980s, a division was set between the blacks and the whites. African American youths would be discriminated, yet they would suppress their anger and empower self-perception.
"They want to look like us, but they don't want to be us. They don't want to live in our skin. It's kind of a cultural voyeurism. It allows White people to safely tour Blackness without being subjected to the reality of being Black. By taking in our Black culture, they are also taking in some of our political and social ideas.
He is part of the African-American race that is expressed in his writing. He writes about how he is currently oppressed, but this does not diminish his hope and will to become the equal man. Because he speaks from the point of view of an oppressed African-American the poem’s struggles and future changes seem to be of greater importance than they ordinarily would. The point of view of being the oppressed African American is clearly evident in Langston Hughes’s writing. The author states, “I am the darker brother” (2.2) Here Hughes is clearly speaking on behalf of the African American race because during the early and mid 1900’s African American were oppressed because of their darker skin color.
Although Albert Raboteau was not necessarily a theologian, his claims of slaves finding their own way of life despite being dehumanized, easily relate to the ideas of Cone and Wilmore. The arguments and ideas that Cone, Wilmore, and Raboteau put forward make me wonder about what it means to be black in America. I believe that the battle for culture and identity is at stake for African-Americans; from past to present. However, I will show how the ideas and claims of James Cone, Gayraud Wilmore, and Albert Raboteau make way for the African-American race. African American religious culture is a distinct custom in America.
The work that his father produces makes his knuckles bleed. As they continue to dance the little boy realizes that if he doesn’t keep up with his father’s dancing, his ear scrapes his father’s belt buckle. The father is having such a good time with his son, Roethke adds, “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard with dirt” (Roethke 13-14). The father with his filthy hands is playing drums on top of the little boy’s head. Roethke concludes with, “Then waltzed me off to bed/Still clin... ... middle of paper ... ...my life to have that moment back.
The title of the poem sets the scene of a happy, upbeat dance between a father and son; however, the reader quickly uncovers the truth. In the second stanza, Roethke utilizes auditory imagery as he describes, “We romped until the pans / slid from the kitchen shelf;” (5-6). These lines create the image of a rough dance in the kitchen, which forces the boy to hold on tight to his father. Although the dance entails violence, the reader still understands that the boy loves his father. In addition, Roethke uses visual imagery as he depicts the father’s hand in the third stanza.
The Black Lives Matter movement relates to the Harlem Renaissance because both these movements have/had a goal of changing the way people view African Americans so that they could be treated equally. Another way The Harlem Renaissance can be seen in modern art and culture is for example the actor and rapper Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott and his song “Land of the free”. In his song, he states “..I feel my ancestors arrested inside of me It's like they want me to shoot my chance and change society But how do I go about it? Tell me where I start?..” (“Land of the Free”, Scott). In other words he talks about the legacy of his ancestors living inside him and contemplating on how to change society.