African-American Males and the U.S. Justice System of Marginalization: A National Tragedy

A National Tragedy

Floyd Weatherspoon

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137411662
• eBook ISBN: 9781137408433
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Política social

African-American Males and the US Justice System of Marginalization provides an overview of the economic and social status of African-American males in America, which continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Weatherspoon posits that in every American institutional system, from birth to death, the journey of African-American males to achieve racial justice and equity in this country is ignored, marginalized, and exploited. The American justice system, in particular, has permitted and in some cases sanctioned the marginalization of African-American males as full citizens. Weatherspoon examines the idea that African-American males are disproportionately represented in every aspect of the criminal justice system, and that the marginalization of African-American males in America has a long and treacherous history that continues to negatively impact their economic, political, and social status.

1

Stereotypical Biases Against African-American Males

Abstract: This chapter points out that there has been a long and treacherous history of negative stereotypical biases and attitudes about and directed at African-American males. These biases and myths toward African-American males have evolved and lingered on into the twenty-first century. African-American males as a group are often viewed by the public as having a propensity to be lazy, hostile, unintelligent, unwilling to work, refuse to take care of their families, to only strive to become a professional basketball or football player, and to engage in criminal activity. This chapter explains how their mere swagger, dress, walk and speech of African-American males are often viewed in a negative light.

Weatherspoon, Floyd. African-American Males and the U.S. Justice System of Marginalization: A National Tragedy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. DOI: 10.1057/9781137408433.0004.

African-American males as a group are often viewed by whites and even immigrants as having a propensity to be lazy, hostile, unintelligent, irresponsible, and unwilling to work or take care of their family. They believe that African-American males only strive to become professional basketball or football players, and engage in criminal activity. Yet, images of a select few African-American males such as Bill Cosby, Colin Powell, Will Smith, and President Barack Obama are viewed as hard-working, family oriented, and patriotic. Only African-American males who project what white Americans view as the norm are viewed in a positive manner. In other words, those that have assimilated into the middle class are seen as nonthreatening black men.

There has been a long and painful history of negative stereotypical biases and attitudes about, and directed at African-American males. These stereotypical biases have existed since Africans were first brought to America as slaves. These biases and myths toward and about African-American males have since evolved and lingered on into the twenty-first century. Slavery in America ended almost 150 years ago, but negative images of African-American males by white Americans have only marginally improved; some would even suggest that they have, in fact, deteriorated, especially during the past 60 years.

Among the many stereotypical biases regarding African-American males is that they have a propensity to be violent. In part, white Americans’ fears derive from the institution of slavery. Slave owners were fearful that slaves would rise up and violently retaliate against white slave owners. Today, many white Americans have no recollection or historical perspective of the Nat Turner uprising, except there is a general stereotype that African-American males react violently when confronted with conflict, especially involving white males; thus, the defense is to avoid all contacts, except sports, if possible, with African-American males. In 1950, a leaflet was distributed in a Chicago suburb which stated, among other things, that “[i]f persuasion and the need to prevent the white race from becoming marginalized by the negro will not unite us, then the aggressions . . . rapes, robberies, knives, guns and marijuana of the negro, surely will.”¹

More than 60 years later, these same stereotypical biases still exist. During the past century, however, one noticeable superficial metamorphosis has been obvious: what we call African-American males. African-American males have gone from being called a “Mandingo” during slavery, to “nigger boy” in the 1930s and the 1940s, to “nigga” or “negro” in the 1950s and the 1960s, to “black” male in the 1970s and the 1980s, to the present politically correct term, “African-American” male. However, most recently, the term “thug” has been used to describe an African-American male, which is considered another derogatory and racist name.² During each of these periods, stereotypical biases about African-American males can be identified. They include having sexual prowess, ignorance, lack of skill and education, violent tendencies, and arrogance. Unfortunately, these negative perceptions and fears of African-American males by white Americans during these periods did not end as a decade ended, but carried forward to become permanently ingrained in our American culture.

White Americans, as well as other minority groups, are steeped with such negative stereotypical attitudes and images about African-American males that most major institutional and organizational systems adversely impact African-American males. Whether it is the country’s educational system, the judicial system (both civil and criminal), the military, the media, housing, health, politics, or even sports, African-American males are negatively perceived and disproportionately impacted by policies and practices.

It is interesting to note that in the area of sports, African-American males are loved and admired by white fans. Often the ability to play sports transcends the issue of race while engaged in playing sports. However, African-American males may dominate a number of collegiate and professional sports but they are still viewed in a negative light by the very fans who love them. As long as they are winning and bringing in millions of dollars in revenue, they are superficially accepted by white fans. For example, at a basketball game during half-time and at subsequent practices, the coach of the men’s basketball team told the team he wanted the players to play like “niggers” on the court and wished he had more “niggers” on the basketball court. Similarly, Marge Schott, owner of the Cincinnati Reds, was accused of referring to African-American male members of the team as “million-dollar nigger, dumb, lazy nigger,” and making the comment, “I’d rather have a trained monkey working for me than a nigger.” Similarly, the basketball coach at Central Michigan University was terminated for allegedly calling players the “N”-word.³ Years later, the N-word is used so frequently in professional sports that the NFL has proposed a 15-yard penalty for using the word on the field. Even in professional basketball, African-American male players cannot escape incidents of racism. In early 2014, Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, allegedly made taped racist comments about Magic Johnson and other African-Americans.⁴ The NBA subsequently fined and banned him for life from the sport.

Various reports, studies, and surveys confirm that white Americans perceive basically every personality trait, physical characteristic, work ethic, and even the mere persona of African-American males as negative. The general sentiment is that African-American males have no desire to be productive citizens. They are less intelligent, are drug dealers and addicts, possess the propensity to be violent, are genetically flawed, engage in criminal activities, are members of gangs, and are rapists. This represents only a partial list of stereotypical biases directed at African-American males. A study by the U.S. Glass Ceiling Commission reports that:

African-American men are stereotypically perceived as lazy/undisciplined/ always late/fail to pay their taxes/unqualified but protected by affirmative action/violent/confrontational/emotional/hostile/aggressive/unpredictable/ unable to handle stressful situations/threatening/demanding/militant/loud/ and less intelligent than other racial or ethnic groups.⁵

Stereotypical biases regarding African-American males’ sexual prowess and their sexual desire for white women are also prevalent. General stereotypical biases and myths regarding the sexuality of African-American males were articulated by Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearing to be a Supreme Court Justice. Justice Thomas stated:

[I]n this country when it comes to sexual conduct we still have underlying racial attitudes about black men . . . [L]anguage throughout my life, language about the sexual prowess of black men, language about the sexual organs of black men . . . these are charges that play into racist, bigoted, stereotypes and these are the kinds of charges that are impossible to wash off.⁶

Unfortunately, Justice Thomas’ description of how the sexuality of African-American men is perceived by white America is true; the fallout of these stereotypes has been used to exclude or limit employment opportunities for African-American males in the workplace, especially where white females are also employed.

Negative images of African-American men as being “bogeymen” and “predators” have become so prevalent that when African-American males are falsely accused of committing a vicious criminal act, law enforcement authorities and the public automatically assume they are guilty. For example, in 1989, Charles Stuart, a white male, alleged that an African-American male robber shot and killed his pregnant wife. The Boston police immediately rounded up African-American males in a predominantly African-American community who fit the general description. When Stuart became the prime suspect for killing his wife, he committed suicide.

One of the most notorious cases involved Susan Smith’s false allegations in 1994 that a black man carjacked her and her two toddlers and drove around in a small southern town.⁷ The stereotypical bias directed at black males, especially in the south, overshadowed any questions that the allegation could be false. Eight days later it was determined that she had intentionally killed her sons by allowing her car to drive into a lake. There are a number of other cases where African-American males have been falsely accused of a crime. Both incidents are reminiscent of the black male character in To Kill a Mocking Bird who was falsely accused of raping a white female.

African-American males have historically been victims of false allegations of rape, most recently on college campuses. White female students have made false allegations of rape against African-American males at a number of predominantly white universities. In these cases, the allegations of an African-American male raping a white female student proved to be a hoax; however, the racial stereotype of African-American males being rapists overshadowed any presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

America is primarily segregated by race; thus, many white Americans have no positive experiences with African-American males. White Americans typically draw their perceptions of African-American males from the media, the press, television,⁸ and motion pictures which project African-American males as being violent and involved in some form of criminal activity.

A federal judge cited the following quote from a newspaper article which reflects the fear white Americans have of young African-American males:

If you are white, what images comes to mind when you think about young black males? For many, it is that of a criminal. When some whites see a young black male on the street, they react by clutching their purses, increasing their walking speed, or telegraphing their discomfort in other ways. Each night in most major cities, local TV news flashes pictures of young black males who have committed criminal acts . . . handcuffed with head down, or shot dead in the gutter or in body bags, this negative image of young black America is tragically a part of the nation’s consciousness.⁹

The local news and even best-selling novels perpetuate negative stereotypes about African-American males. A passage from Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale captures the conversation between a group of African-American females discussing Afri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• 1  Stereotypical Biases Against African-American Males
• 2  Racial Injustice in the Criminal Justice System
• 3  Civil Justice System and Other Institutional Systems
• 4  Conclusion
• Index