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CRES Map 1: The othering of Black men in America through historical racism…
CRES Map 1: The othering of Black men in America through historical racism and prevalent stereotypes is reinforced in modern media.
Media images and constant negative representations justify the dehumanization of Black people in America. Through animalization, constant negative media, and institutional racism, Black men are portrayed and treated as the "other" that deserves to be feared and eliminated in society.
The animalization of black people has deep historical roots in the United States and reinforces that people of color are "less human" and the "other." This is represented in the media in multiple different ways.
The animalization of Black people has its roots in American slavery. Robert Guillaume in the documentary "story of a people (1993) states: "To justify slavery, Black Americans had to be dehumanized...a crazed lower animal who must be controlled and ruled Link to Article
Scientific racism has also been used to relate black people to animals (specifically monkeys) and this further relates to their dehumanization. Josiah C. Nott and George R. Gliddon in 1854 document illustrations comparing black people to chimpanzees, gorillas, etc in "Types of Mankind"
One of the most famous and recent examples of this is the presence of the Obama family in the White House for eight years. They had countless derogatory and racist images used to represent them.
A story of animalizing the Obama's that hits too close to home is a story from 2015 when the Airway height mayor was asked to resign after tweeting and calling Obama a "monkey man" and Michelle a "Gorilla face" The mayor Rushing's city hall immediately asked for his resignation. Video from KXLY
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Another example of the animalization and othering of the black man is 2008 Vogue cover with Gisele Bundchen which connects him to King Kong (Another monkey and beast like depiction)
Through Lebron's roar and the ape like pose, It is clear that racial bias is at work and this photo verifies racial stereotyping. To make matters even worse this was the first time in the Magazines 116 year history that a Black man has been on the cover. It even brings back racist themes of innocent white women needing to be protected. This all contributes to the "othering" of the black man.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583333/Race-row-over-King-Kong-Vogue-cover.html
Black men represented as the "other" by hyper criminalization. This makes them feared and seen as not "like us"
Most of the time you see a Black man on the television it is though a crime TV show. This gives white Americans the idea that black people are dangerous, not to be trusted, and feared. This has lead to the justification of police brutality in America
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The TV representation is only the beginning, mass incarceration has been used as the "new jim crow" to eliminate and oppress Black men at large margins
African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015.
If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%
Racial Disparities in Incarceration
This systematic racism is a direct result of media representations, and historical inequalities. This impacts all Black people in our current society.
Research has shown that black people are often subjected to heightened scrutiny and suspicion, which begins in childhood. In 2014, researcher Phillip Goff found that by the age of 10, black boys begin to be seen as less innocent than their white peers. And a Georgetown study released in 2017 found that black girls as young as 5 are already perceived as more adult-like and less innocent than white girls of the same Link to Article
This Adultification of Black youth is a direct result of the images and negative representations of black people since the beginning of slavery. Hyper-criminalization creates an "other" that is more prone to violence and therefore must be watched carefully and doubted at youth
Historically, the radicalization of black men was first constructed as a tool to control slaves. This criminal stereotype contributed to lynching in the United States.
Negative representations in media, which connect to the history of slavery in the United States, confirms prior stereotypes about people of color. This promotes the current dehumanization of Black men.
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Many misconceptions about the Black family perpetuate the absence of the Black dad. Historically black men were given jobs with low expectancy, and this lead to the stereotype of the Black single mom. This was created in a form to oppress the black family. With mass incarceration on the rise, it also leads to the destruction of the Black family
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In this article by the washington post, the author reevaluated commonly held stereotypes about Black dads in America.On "CNN Tonight," for example, conservative commentator Larry Elder said, "The primary problem with the black community in this country is absentee fathers."Washington Post
Though black children are disproportionately born to single mothers, that does not mean fathers aren't involved. A 2013 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that black fathers spend more time engaged in parenting than fathers of other races, participating more often in bathing, diapering, taking their kids to activities and helping them with their homework.
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This image by Cartoonist Sean Delonas in the New York Times has violent imagery and very racist undertones. Many suggest they are referencing Obama. This dehumanization was on a local and national scale. With roots in slavery the othering of Black men continues to be prevalent today.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-york-post-chimp-carto_n_167841
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