Hello, Internet.
So, we’re currently learning about the Civil Rights movement. Similarly to with our unit on the 1950s, we have a couple of small blog post assignments before we do our main project for the unit. Essentially, we have to connect a modern event to something from the Civil Rights movement.
We’re reading a novel called Dear Martin that discusses some contemporary events and issues related to race, and helped provide some potential connections between modern day America and the Civil Rights movement. I didn’t totally base my connection off the book, but the concept I researched was one that played a role in the plot: racial profiling, and the idea that black men are dangerous.
I went a little more general than I was probably supposed to with what my event connected to– it’s more just black history than specifically the Civil Rights movement –and decided to look into the history of the “scary black man” stereotype, and how it informed the questioning and backlash Terry Crews faced after coming forwards with sexual assault allegations against his former agent.
Sources:
As you would expect, the stereotype has a racist and disturbing history– it’s rooted in laws from the 17th century that decreed black people face worse punishments for crimes, and essentially be treated as more criminal, than white people who’d done the same crime. Since then, more layers have contributed to building the stereotype, and even today racist media portrayal of black people is continuing to make the problem worse.
I wanted to keep this video a reasonable length and focus more on the history than what’s happening today, but I feel I should mention one key point I didn’t talk about: aside from just being stopped or arrested, unarmed black people (largely men) are often shot by police. This is a huge issue in America today, and plays a big role in Dear Martin. It’s also pretty much a direct result of black men being perceived as more dangerous or more violent than they actually are.
I think this problem is going to continue for the foreseeable future unless some solutions are put in place to stop it– for instance, better sensitivity training for policemen, or better media portrayal of black people and people of colour in general. Even then, it’s an issue so deeply seated in American society that it may take decades or centuries to undo, and might never completely go away.
While this was a very upsetting subject to research, I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know about the history of this stereotype and racial profiling, and I look forward to doing my next Civil Rights-related blog post.
Toodles.