Blog post #4- Marable's The Black Male: Searching Beyond Stereotypes

Although times have changed some Blacks still view themselves or are trapped with how society views them. Society has a certain image of Black men and they sort of mirror that image instead of getting away from it. Back in time, when slavery existed Black men saw Black women as enemies not as allies. In the reading, Manning Marable states that there was no affection, recognition, or liking being shown to women. The circumstances they were in sometimes made the women take the man's masculinity away. Instead of the men seeing it as they needed to raise and feed the children on their own because they were enslaved, or they had to be the master's partner because they were being raped, they saw it negatively. They also give a lot of credit to the Black males that fought for their rights and sort of let the women fade in the back meanwhile they were the main incentive. Some Black males sort of oppress their women, they fight and kill each other, they make a significant lower amount of money than the white males, and don't take part in higher education. This makes them fit perfectly in the image that was set from back in slavery times: violent, non-human, and not intellectual. Today, the majority of black males that enter college drop out within two years, suicides, homicides, and accidents are major causes of death within the black community. If you want to get away from the stereotypes committing half of all homicides in America and the victims being other black men is not the way to go. Black men have to respect themselves and their women and slowly society's view will change. Since slavery you've already seen a huge change. We now have a Black president, they have rights like everyone else, and they are no longer viewed as slaves.Yes, society can be blamed for the way Blacks are being viewed sometimes but what are they doing to improve or get away from it?