1. I recently read the book Wonder by RJ Palacio. The story is about a boy named August that
was born with a serious facial deformity, causing him to spend the first 10
years of his life having 27surgeries and being homeschooled. People had
different reactions to his face, most treated Auggie as a pariah, as if even
touching him would give them some sort of disease. Others were kind to him,
understanding the difficulty of his situation. I was reminded of this book when
I read an article, Why I hate Being a Black
Man. The image presented by society of black men is one of fear. People
have obvious reactions around a black man; they become closed off and wary of
what he might do. They assume that he is a thug and a druggy; dangerous. There are
not only prejudices against black men, but also women. There are different
assumptions associated with black women, though. Examples include, inherent loudness,
aggressiveness, and they are often hyper-sexualized.
In the article, Orville says,
“the truth is, the image of blackness is ugly—at least it's perceived that way.
There is nothing special or wonderful about being a black male—it is a life of
misery and shame,” (Douglas). This shame comes when workers or managers follow
you around or watch you closely in a store, or a women holds her purse a little
closer passing you on the street, and having to work harder to get a job due to
the stereotype associated with your race. Orville recounts his experiences
riding the bus, “Every time I sit on a crowded street car, bus or subway train,
I know I will have an empty seat next to me,” (Douglas). To me, this is
something that seems normal. I find that often people will choose to sit alone
rather than close to a stranger, but then I thought about how crowded a bus may
be. “It's like a broken record. Sometimes I don't mind having the extra space,
but other times I feel awkward, uncomfortable and annoyed,” (Douglas). This
particular part makes me wonder if people are not simply choosing not to sit
next to him, but going out of their way to avoid it; for example, choosing to stand
or squish in with others. Just like young Auggie was treated as less than human
because of his deformity, African Americans are often treated the same; like a
disease.
Citation
Douglass,
O.L. (2013). Why I hate Being a Black
Man. http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/11/_why_i_hate_being_a_black_man.2.html
I found your post relevant in my own experience when I read the part about black men being stereotyped as thuggish and women holding their purses extra tight when passing a black man on the street. Last night I was leaving Beale Street Music Fest with some friends and we had to go down a dark alley to get to our parking lot. When we reached the alley we saw that there was a group of African American men, who looked to be about in their late twenties, standing around a parked car. The girls in our group were nervous about passing this group of individuals because of stereotypes about groups of black men at night. We ended up going through the alley and the men paid us no attention at all, but the girls conceded that if there had not been boys amongst our group that they would have taken the long way around the alley. So I do recognize that there is a stereotype about black men about them being "thuggy" or "dangerous" because I have been part of a collective of people that definitely expressed that belief. But I do find your article interesting about blackness being compared to a disease because I have never seen it expressed that way before.
ReplyDelete