Progressive Black Masculinities?

Athena D. Mutua, Athena D. Mutua

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781135869274
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Études afro-américaines

In the struggle for pride and political agency, the imperative to 'be a man' has been central to the lives of black males. Yet, what it means to be a black man-in terms of both racial and gender identity-has been subject to continual debate in public and academic spheres alike. Progressive Black Masculinities brings together leading black cultural critics including Michael Eric Dyson, Mark Anthony Neal, and Patricia Hill Collins to examine an alternatively demonized and mythologized black masculinity. Collectively, they offer a roadmap for new, progressive models of black masculinity that may chart the course for the future of black men.

Part 1
Theorizing Progressive
Black Masculinities

1
Theorizing Progressive Black Masculinities*

ATHENA D. MUTUA

My children, three boys, jump up from the table and swing into various dance modes. One of their favorite songs is on the radio. They sing along, ‘I ain't sayin’ she's a gold digger, but she ain't messin' with no broke, broke…” This is the clean version of Kanye West's song, “Gold Digger.” The original lyrics say, “She ain't messin with no broke Niggas.”

Kanye West is one of the more interesting Hip-Hop artists, to my mind. In addition to his music, he is probably best known for his comments during a nationally aired live benefit concert, Hurricane Katrina Relief, in 2005. He critiqued the government's slow response in rescuing what appeared to be mostly black people stranded in New Orleans after the hurricane. Commenting first on the media's negative portrayal of black hurricane survivors and noting his own ambivalent response, West concludes: “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” In that moment it seemed that West, in taking on George Bush, the president of the United States and the epitome of American ideal masculinity, had destroyed his music career. But West had merely stated what had undoubtedly crossed the minds of many in black communities across the country.

However, this was not the first time that West had spoken out in a controversial manner. A couple of months before the Katrina Hurricane, he had chastised the hip-hop community for its homophobia. He stated that hip-hop was supposed to be about “speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but that everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people.” Explaining that his cousin was gay and that he loved him, he called on his hip-hop friends to just “stop it.”

My kids were singing loudly now, the song, for them, had reached its crescendo: “We want freedom, we want freedom,” they sang, “Eighteen years, eighteen years. And on the 18^th birthday he found out (the kid) wasn't his.” I join the kids in singing and dancing. “No, No, I exclaim, he didn't want freedom, if he had wanted freedom, he would have covered it up!” The kids laugh and keep dancing. They have heard me make this point before, or something similar. “Don't nobody force you to be a father”. Or, “No! At the crucial moment (of engaging in intercourse) he was probably thinking that somebody else was supposed to be responsible for his sexuality. Ya got to be responsible for your own sexuality,” I had laughingly counseled; using the song as a valuable “teaching moment.” It would be some time before we bought the CD and learned that the lyrics in that section of the song were not “we want freedom,” but rather we want prenupt (prenuptial agreements)! Oh well.

Called by Rolling Stone magazine West's “ode to women ‘who ain't messin’ with no broke niggas,'”(February 9, 2006), the song is about a seemingly problematic woman, who only dates men with money, has a handful of kids by different men, and who (she or some other woman in the song) uses her child support to buy a nice car, etc. But, West, the singer, loves this woman. This strikes me as an interesting twist, loving someone who is not perfect, given that few of us are. But the song nevertheless disturbs me because it is among a number of songs and articles that seem to suggest that most women, and apparently black women in particular, are gold-diggers. Now, I am sure the response to such a claim would be that gold-diggers are real, are part of our reality, on the one hand, and that the songs and comments are not referring to all women but simply to some. Nevertheless, the repetition of this idea unsettles me even as I know there are far more sexist and misogynist lyrics and comments out there.

My boys, young teenagers, have now burnt off some of their incredible energy and finished raiding the kitchen for a snack; it's time for homework!

Still reflecting on the song, I believe that black men, like Kanye West, courageously rail against racial domination, recognizing that racism is a system which primarily operates in the American society to support a white supremacist social order that privileges whites and subordinates black people. But many of the same black men embrace sexism, a system that operates to support American patriarchy or male supremacy, privileging men and certain understandings of masculinity and subordinating women and those marked as feminine. In other words, black men struggle against white racial domination but embrace masculinist gender and sexual domination. Though Kanye West seems to bring to the scene a more nuanced understanding of oppression, I wonder how many other black men get it… that is, do they understand that patriarchy and white supremacy are mutually reinforcing structures of domination that have complicated and negative consequences for black women but also for black men. And, I wonder if do they know that when black men embrace the patriarchy, they, among other things, undermine our struggle for racial justice.

In this chapter, I propose a definition of progressive black masculinities as the unique and innovative performances of the masculine self that on the one hand personally eschew and ethically and actively stand against social structures of domination.¹ On the other hand, they validate and empower black humanity, in all its variety, as part of the diverse and multicultural humanity of others in the global family. I argue that this definition is grounded in the twin concepts of progressive blackness and progressive masculinities. I suggest that both of these are political projects committed to eradicating relations of domination that constrain and reduce human potential. However, each project is directed toward different but overlapping groups of people—black people and men—and focuses on different systems of domination. The project of progressive blackness centers on the edification and empowerment of black people as part of a larger antiracist struggle and part of a still larger antidomination or antisubordination project. The project of progressive masculinities is similar but centers its efforts on reorienting men's concepts and practices away from ideal masculinity, which, by definition, requires the domination of men over women, children, and, yes, other subordinate, or “weaker” men as Patricia Hill Collins examines.

Black men are the focal point of this project. I suggest two basic points in discussing these projects. First that black men's embrace of ideal masculinity not only hurts black women, but also hurts black men and black communities as a whole. Second, I suggest that black men are not only oppressed by racism but that their oppression is gendered. In other words, they are oppressed by gendered racism.

The first part of this chapter lays out my tentative definition of progressive black masculinities. It then explores the ethical component of the project of progressive blackness. Specifically, through references to work by Cornel West on the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings and Michael Dyson on comments made by Bill Cosby, I argue that the project of progressive blackness is an ethical project. In other words, it is a principled commitment to the existential well-being, both materially and spiritually, of black people and black communities in their entirety, including their various constituent groups. To the extent that different parts of these communities, such as black women, poor blacks, or black sexual minorities, are constrained by different or multiple systems of domination, such as sexism, classism, or heterosexism, a commitment to the project of progressive blackness entails efforts to also transform these. As such, progressive blackness is a project to transform all systems of domination and to build coalitions with others who are ethically and actively committed not only to the struggle against racism but also to the struggle against domination and subordination in general.

I then note that the workings of American ideal, or hegemonic, masculinity are a hindrance to progressive masculine practice. The section on the American Masculine Ideal, therefore seeks to explain in some detail what the masculine ideal is, how it operates as part of the sex-gender system, the way in which men are socialized into it, and its relationship to the patriarchal order as a site of power. Here I argue that the central feature of masculinity is the domination and oppression of others; namely women, children, and other subordinated men. The section draws on insights from feminist theory, masculinities studies, and gay and queer theory as a way of defining the project of progressive masculinities.

The second part of the chapter analyzes a number of theories that seek to answer the question of where black men stand in relationship to hegemonic masculinity given their subjugation by racial oppression. Are they privileged by gender or oppressed by gender? Here the case is made that they both benefit and are disadvantaged by gender. The focus is the gendered racial oppression of black men. Specifically, the section looks at three theories. One theory examines the material conditions of black men in America and suggests that racism precludes black men from enjoying any of the unearned privileges associated with masculinity and in fact often precludes black men from enjoying the privileges of full personhood, personal competence, and humanity. But a careful analysis of this theory suggests that black men likely are oppressed because they are both black and men; that is, black men are oppressed by gendered racism whether or not they benefit as men in some form under the patriarchal order.

The second theory, intersectionality, applied to black men, is cognizant of black male conditions but also explores black men's status in relationship to black women to posit that black men are privileged by gender and oppressed by race. It too obscures the insight that black men may be constrained by gendered racism but adequately captures some of the situations of differential power between black men and black women. The third theory, multidimensionality, recognizes that black men are not homogeneous but rather are diverse by class, sexuality, religion, and other systems of subordination. It suggests that given the interconnectedness of patriarchy/sexism and racism, among other oppressive systems, black men, as a single multidimensional positionality, are in some contexts privileged by gender and sometimes oppressed by gendered racism. It also suggests that when the interconnectedness of multiple oppressive systems is ignored it undermines antiracist efforts.

The final parts of the chapter suggest reasons why black men should want to engage in a project of progressive black masculinities. It looks at the political and intellectual projects of various groups concerned with the welfare of black people including black nationalism; Afrocentricity; black feminist thought; black gay and lesbian, critical race theory; and black transformationist⁶ ideas as well as relying on the experiential knowledge and history of black people. It suggests that to the extent black men are committed to the antiracist project of blackness, this project has always been concerned with the existential wholeness and well-being of black communities and black people. This well-being requires the promotion of black self determination, black self-love and appreciation and recognizes black agency, viewpoint—despite its diversity—and humanity in the context of a racist society inclined toward denigrating, humiliating, and limiting black humanity. This commitment is to the well-being of all of the constituent parts of black communities. These ideas bring the two sides of my definition of progressive black masculinities together. The last section of the chapter explores what it means concretely to be ethically and actively engaged in the progressive struggle of the sort contemplated by the project of progressive black masculinities.

Progressive Black Masculinities—Defined?

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