Malik
Black man, early 20's. Studious and focused on his education. Driven and intellectually stimulating. A student of Sandra's who tries to carefully navigate her status over his.
The Long Legacy Of Anti-Blackness In Academia
Senior Contributor
"One of the most important variables to combat anti-blackness in academia is accountability. Anti-blackness on campuses must be costly. There must be a zero-tolerance policy for anti-black behaviors that contribute to a hostile environment. As long as there are no consequences, and instances of anti-blackness are treated as anomalies, nothing will change in academia."
Introducing the Invisible Man:
Black Male
Professionals in Higher Education
by Claudine Turner, University of Central Florida Liz Grauerholz, University of Central Florida
image by Bisa Butler
"The absence of Black male professionals in higher education pose a serious challenge to diversity and social justice in colleges and universities. Not only does this paucity reinforce the dominant racial system within these institutions and contribute to the marginalization and discrimination experienced by these men, the lack of Black men in professional positions has serious implications for the retention and graduation of students of color. Yet, despite their important role, very little research exists about their experiences as professionals within institutions of higher education. This study fills this gap by examining Black men working as faculty, administrative or professional staff at a large research university. We found that: 1) these men felt they did experience racism in their workplace; 2) the lack of other Black men in the professional ranks and the disparate treatment they received made them question both the institution’s commitment to diversity and themselves; and 3) they were resigned to this being the way of life and believed part of their job is to prepare the next generation."
- Turner & Grauerholz,
Helping Black Men Succeed in College
by Ben Gose
“Once I got into the network, I saw that it was just a bunch of brothers in there cracking jokes—that studying was not all about being uptight,” he says. “I started pulling more and more people in, and letting them know that this is where they needed to be if they wanted to be successful.”
-Gose
The Black Male Privileges Checklist
by Jewel Woods
Male privilege is more than just a "double standard", because it is based on attitudes or actions that come at the expense of women. Just as white privilege comes at the expense of African Americans and other people of color, gender double standards come at the expense of women.
Given the devastating history of racism in this country, it is understandable that getting black men to identify with the concept of male privilege isn't easy! For many black men, the phrase "black male privilege" seems like an oxymoron -- three words that simply do not go together.
Malik
S3/P20)
“Because, Professor, I know what bias I carry into the room. I know what assumptions will be made. What un-fit accusations will accompany my scholarship. I know what fear I put into the heart of my classmates when I disagree with them. The ways in which I have to make myself small so they don’t think I’m angry. The ways that I have to make myself agreeable in order to seem grateful enough to be given free money for my education. The way my white classmates on the same scholarship have the comfort of feeling entitled while I have the discomfort of feeling, like, un-entitled. And when I get a black professor, she tells me that I should work harder and be smarter so that I can have a fair chance. My black professor, who has the ability to give me a fair chance, but by her own code of proving her tenure worthiness to her colleagues, won’t give me the fair chance. Wants me to exceed a bias that I didn’t have a hand in creating. Yes, Professor, I think I get it all now. Thank you.”
BLACK MEN AND COLLEGE ADVANTAGES: FAIR OR UNFAIR?
by Matthew Lynch
"There’s no denying that the numbers are dismal when it comes to black young men who attend and graduate from colleges in the U.S. Statistically speaking, black men have the lowest test scores, the worst grades and the highest dropout rates – in K-12 education, and in college too. The school to prison pipeline is a real phenomenon, with state prisons systems determining their future populations with stunning accuracy based on fourth-grade reading assessment scores. The recognition of this educational crisis has led to some strong initiatives targeted at young black men with the intention of guiding them through the college years and to successful, productive lives that follow."
-ML
Black Men Smile Website & Initiative
by Carlton MacKey
“Black Men Smile because we love ourselves. This platform is about radical expressions of self-love. It is about resistance. It is about learning from each other. It is about encouraging one another. It is about transcending. It is about defying gravity, as our ancestors have always done, and leaving a legacy so that generations after us may do the same. During these times when so many stories are being told about us, we will need those we tell about ourselves to be our real truth.”
— Carlton Mackey
Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds
American Psychological Association
“Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection. Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent,” said author Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles."
-APA
Almost All Millennials Accept Interracial Dating and Marriage
Image by Bisa Butler
This is part of a Pew Research Center series of reports exploring the behaviors, values and opinions of the teens and twenty-somethings that make up the Millennial Generation
Over the last several decades, the American public has grown increasingly accepting of interracial dating and marriage. This shift in opinion has been driven both by attitude change among individuals generally and by the fact that over the period, successive generations have reached adulthood with more racially liberal views than earlier generations. Millennials are no exception to this trend: Large majorities of 18-to-29 year olds express support for interracial marriage within their families, and the level of acceptance in this generation is greater than in other generations.
Interracial dating is a hot-topic. Back women can have especially strong feelings about Black men dating women of other races. When high-profile men like Michael B. Jordan do it- there are feelings. We brought in a group of Black men to discuss and respond to the advice, commentary and wisdom offered from one of our episode of MadameNoire's conversation starting digital series Listen To Black Women. Lets see what the men had to say.
A Battleground of Identity: Racial Formation and the African American Discourse on Interracial Marriage
by Jan Doering
image by Bisa Butler
Intermarriage remains contested among African Americans, although approval rates among blacks (as well as whites) have increased since the 1960s (Root 2001). Researchers find that black opposition often derives from a historically rooted sense of racial solidarity and group closure in the face of white oppression (Chito Childs 2005; Hill Collins 2004). This opposition reflects the ideological legacy of black separatism (Marable and Mullings 1994). However, African Americans are not—and have not been—ideologically unified around this position. Integrationists reasoned that intermarriage could vitally contribute to overcoming racism and racial divisions. Such hopes are still expressed today (see Telles and Sue 2009 for a critical discussion).
-Doering
