How Socioeconomic Problems Of Contemporary African-American Community Are The Direct And Gradual - Coursework Example

Slavery has left an awful legacy for African American people, a collective trauma that still resonates in the delayed advancement of of a whole population of people. To understand the the problems that plague the African American community today it is necessary to look at first how the assumptions of slavery and then those of the Jim Crow Laws colluded to cause the great disharmony in modern life; it is necessary to understand how the terrible past has contributed to a modern atmosphere of racism that continues to delay the socioeconomic ascent of African Americans as a whole. Slavery was predicated on the the belief that blacks were not human and hence all manner of brutality was visited upon them. John Belle-Ogunu described a horrific example in his book of rebel slaves being forced to eat the liver of one of their dead colleagues and on another occasion of having women slaves tortured with thumb screws. (Belle-Ogunu, 6) "This distinction was achieved in Europe where, for the first time, enslavement was justified, not as in other societies by the presumed barbarism or paganism of the enslaved, but by his innate racial inferiority" (Lewis) The inhumanity would continue once slaves were brought to America. Belle-Ogunu argues that slaves were perhaps the first foreign arrivals who could not share in the “American Dream “, they were put in a situation that was completely without hope. Once there Belle-Ogunu states they were not allowed an education because that would have fomented unrest and the ideal was passivity.( Belle-Ogunu,6) "Slave narratives and historical accounts are full of descriptions of atrocities brought against anyone who exemplified real leadership capability." (Bush 49) In the case of planters in Virginia at the early time of the slave trade the predisposition to view slaves as inferior much preceded their arrival "because the planters, and probably most of their white neighbors, believed that Africans were an inherently inferior branch of humankind, suited by their God-given characteristics and the circumstances of their arrival in America to be slaves forever" (Vaughan 166) Out of this terrible background based as it was on the strongly held belief that they were not human African American people nevertheless made progress .But even after emancipation African American people were openly considered inferior for generations. The Jim Crow Laws that were widespread in the South after 1870 did not deny humanity to African Americans but still gave them an inferior status. The inferior status was made evident in separate public buildings and institutions. The most profound effect of this segregation based on a designation of inferior status on African American people was in the area of education. As Belle-Ogunu explains that under Jim Crow, African American schools did not receive the same funding as white schools because of the widely held belief of the inferiority of African Americans and this resulted in sub par educations which contributed enormously to the problems of today. (Belle-Ogunu 8) Generations of African Americans were effected by this neglect in education. Even today such discrimination continues: Belle-Ogunu suggests that even as late as 1996 black colleges were relatively handicapped by lower funding than white colleges.(Belle-Ogunu 9) The building block of social advancement could be fairly defined as education, the thing from which all potential can arise but in the case of African Americans this was denied. But in spite of the setbacks the African American community prevailed and the reason for this is the sound structure of the family, a kind of extended family. “Today, two significant issues face the Black family: 1) the decline in extended family structures, and 2) the work-role reversal. Our respondents raised these issues in their commentaries. Among African Americans, the extended family is not an American creation. It was brought from Africa “(Herskovits, 1990:167; Ani, 1994 (St. Jean, and Feagin 297) . This tradition has roots in West Africa were from where slaves were predominately kidnapped: “Children in West Africa are often raised by people who are not their parents. In some communities, more than half of all of the children spend much of their young lives away from their parents, often living with close kin but sometimes with adults who are not related to them at all. “ (Wilson 67). Hill goes on to elaborate on the importance of this structure. "the extended family is perhaps the most enduring cultural strength that has enhanced the functioning of Black families since their days in Africa. Strong kinship bonds also helped thousands of Black children and adults to survive 250 years of slave" (Hill, 69). Indeed the stability of the black family was no less than any other ethnic group of the time. "Black families were at least as stable as Southern White households and in 1905 in New York City, again according to Gutman, the nuclear household 'was just as common among San Juan Hill and Tenderloin Blacks (49 percent) as among jews (49 percent).'" (Bennet, 24) Although it should be pointed out that some feminist scholars down grade the prevalence of the matriarch in African American society .. “Black feminists, such as Patricia Collins (1990, 1994) and Bell Hooks (1981), argue that racist scholars created the myth of the Black female matriarch to foster division within African families. Hooks (1981) maintains that there has never been at any time in the U.S. the existence of a matriarchal system because women have never held power”.(Bush 49) Feagin and St jean have broken down the analysis of the relation between the strength of the African American family in the face of adversity and the perhaps the decline in the institution because of the stresses it has to absorb. Feagin and St Jean believe that the feeling of kinship and emotional honesty in the African American family did much to buffer the community to the tremendous trauma of racism. However they argue that the family unit is now being weighed down by the accumulation of negative emotions with which it has to contend. This accumulation of emotional debris has now led to the break down of the family unit which has progressively continued since the 1960's. “This sharp increase in economic instability led directly to family instability. Over that fourteen-year period, the proportion of Black families headed by women increased from 28 percent to 42 percent. For example, between 1970 and 1983, every one-percent increase in Black unemployment was correlated with a one percent rise in single-parent families” (Hill et al., 1993) (Hill 75) There are some like sociologist Orlando Patterson that bring back the fundamental role of slavery in the the dissolution of the modern African American Family. “ "the gender, family, and sexual problems of African Americans," at the dawn of the 21st century. The ultimate issue was the plight of black children, 60 percent of whom grow up in fatherless households. Patterson, whose Rituals of Blood: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries (1999) was assigned reading for the 18 panelists gathered by the journal, acknowledged that he had changed his outlook since a similar round table almost a decade earlier. Then he had stressed unemployment and the absence of available jobs as the reason marriage was so unpopular among blacks; but now he suggested the reverse: "Men do not have jobs because they're not married."At the root of the contemporary black reluctance to marry or cohabit in a stable union, said Patterson, is "the most profound tragic experience in Afro-American history, namely slavery and its aftermath." Slaves did not even own their children, and fathers were especially irrelevant. Jim Crow and "the nightmare of lynching" carried on the emasculation, he said. The whole experience "was devastating culturally and psychologically." This past, he said, "gave us the [gender] attitudes which largely account for our present problems."( Debating the Black Family , 38) The issue is similar for others that argue that it is the emasculation of African American men that has had a huge role in the problems of the community today. “scholars historically and more recently argue that Black men have been collectively emasculated because: (1) slavery caused a situation where many Black men could not protect themselves or their families; (2) a "matriarchal system" within Black communities, caused by an absent father or an "overpowering Black woman" emerge within the context of a patriarchal U.S. society that expects men to be the heads of households; and (3) economic oppression rendered Black men unable to provide for their families in a society where manhood and the provider role are inextricable. “ (Bush 49) . . Some have argued that the problem of the breakdown of the family is based on economic factors. "The number of Black families in poverty increased from 1.5 million to 2.2 million during the '70s and '80s. Over the same period, the proportion of Black families headed by women soared from 28 percent to 44 percent" (Hill 84) “After making unprecedented strides in the 1960's Black families experienced severe social and economic setbacks during the 1970s and 1980s. A major obstacle was a sharp rise in unemployment due to back-to-back recessions. Between 1970 and 1990, this nation experienced five recessions: 1970-71, 1974-75, 1980, 1981, 1981-82 and 1990-91. Before Blacks were able to recover from one slump, they were hit by another one. Consequently, unemployment among all Blacks soared from 6 percent to 20 percent between 1969 and 1983. Although unemployment also rose sharply among Whites during this period, unlike Blacks, their post-recession jobless rates returned to their lower pre-recession levels”.( Hill 87) Still even with the economic difficulties the fundamental problems still remains the after shocks of racism that have a long history , Clearly what all these thinkers have shown is that the great injustices of slavery and Jim Crow Apartheid are now manifesting in all manner of problems that have now undermined the formerly strong unit of the family bond in the African American culture. The difference now is that the problems are played on a domestic level with so many factors involved , so much emotional pain that the solution now is hard to foresee. When one looks at the evolution of African American Society today one sees much cause for hope mingled with equal amounts of despair .The hope arises when realities that in spite of the most horrific travails of any people on the planet the community continues to strive for higher goals in every field imaginable and at the same time excel. The despair sets in when one sees how unfairly those old abuses are now now preventing forward progress. It seems that the Slave Trade saw African Americans as inhuman and therefore saw the most brutal excesses ever perpetrated on a human population. The Jim Crow Laws while not as brutal as slavery very explicitly espoused the tenet that African Americans were inferior. Now as we move through the early part of the 21st century the problems of racism have assumed a more subtle tone and the effects on the family unit are widely manifest. But in spite of all this suffering the African American community has always advanced and there is no reason to doubt that this will not be the case in the future. Works Cited Belle-Ogunu, John Okegbe. "The Pursuit of Racial Equality in America: A Reality or a Mere Fantasy?." Griot 16.2 (1997): 3-14. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Bennett, Leorone. "The Roots of Black Love." Ebony Feb. 1996: 53+. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Bush, Lawson V. "Am I a Man?: A Literature Review Engaging the Sociohistorical Dynamics of Black Manhood in the United States." The Western Journal of Black Studies 23.1 (1999): 49. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . "Debating the Black Family." The Wilson Quarterly Winter 2003: 91+. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Feagin, Joe R., and Melvin P. Sikes. Living with Racism The Black Middle-Class Experience. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Hill, Robert B. "Understanding Black Family Functioning: A Holistic Perspective." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 29.1 (1998): 15+. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Jones, Lisa C. "50 Years of Black Education." Ebony Sept. 1995: 69+. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Lewis, Bernard. "The Historical Roots of Racism." American Scholar Wntr 1998: 17+. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . Reed, Adolph, et al. "Beyond Black, White and Brown." The Nation 3 May 2004: 17. Questia. 27 Mar. 2006 . St. Jean, Yanick, and Joe R. Feagin. "The Family Costs of White Racism: The Case of African American Families." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 29.2 (1998): 297. Questia. 25 Mar. 2006 . Read More

As Belle-Ogunu explains that under Jim Crow, African American schools did not receive the same funding as white schools because of the widely held belief of the inferiority of African Americans and this resulted in sub par educations which contributed enormously to the problems of today. (Belle-Ogunu 8) Generations of African Americans were effected by this neglect in education. Even today such discrimination continues: Belle-Ogunu suggests that even as late as 1996 black colleges were relatively handicapped by lower funding than white colleges.

(Belle-Ogunu 9) The building block of social advancement could be fairly defined as education, the thing from which all potential can arise but in the case of African Americans this was denied. But in spite of the setbacks the African American community prevailed and the reason for this is the sound structure of the family, a kind of extended family. “Today, two significant issues face the Black family: 1) the decline in extended family structures, and 2) the work-role reversal. Our respondents raised these issues in their commentaries.

Among African Americans, the extended family is not an American creation. It was brought from Africa “(Herskovits, 1990:167; Ani, 1994 (St. Jean, and Feagin 297) . This tradition has roots in West Africa were from where slaves were predominately kidnapped: “Children in West Africa are often raised by people who are not their parents. In some communities, more than half of all of the children spend much of their young lives away from their parents, often living with close kin but sometimes with adults who are not related to them at all.

“ (Wilson 67). Hill goes on to elaborate on the importance of this structure. "the extended family is perhaps the most enduring cultural strength that has enhanced the functioning of Black families since their days in Africa. Strong kinship bonds also helped thousands of Black children and adults to survive 250 years of slave" (Hill, 69). Indeed the stability of the black family was no less than any other ethnic group of the time. "Black families were at least as stable as Southern White households and in 1905 in New York City, again according to Gutman, the nuclear household 'was just as common among San Juan Hill and Tenderloin Blacks (49 percent) as among jews (49 percent).

'" (Bennet, 24) Although it should be pointed out that some feminist scholars down grade the prevalence of the matriarch in African American society .. “Black feminists, such as Patricia Collins (1990, 1994) and Bell Hooks (1981), argue that racist scholars created the myth of the Black female matriarch to foster division within African families. Hooks (1981) maintains that there has never been at any time in the U.S. the existence of a matriarchal system because women have never held power”.(Bush 49) Feagin and St jean have broken down the analysis of the relation between the strength of the African American family in the face of adversity and the perhaps the decline in the institution because of the stresses it has to absorb.

Feagin and St Jean believe that the feeling of kinship and emotional honesty in the African American family did much to buffer the community to the tremendous trauma of racism. However they argue that the family unit is now being weighed down by the accumulation of negative emotions with which it has to contend. This accumulation of emotional debris has now led to the break down of the family unit which has progressively continued since the 1960's. “This sharp increase in economic instability led directly to family instability.

Over that fourteen-year period, the proportion of Black families headed by women increased from 28 percent to 42 percent. For example, between 1970 and 1983, every one-percent increase in Black unemployment was correlated with a one percent rise in single-parent families” (Hill et al., 1993) (Hill 75) There are some like sociologist Orlando Patterson that bring back the fundamental role of slavery in the the dissolution of the modern African American Family.

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