The Miseducation of the Black Child - Book Report/Review Example

The book The Miseducation of the Black Child - The Hare Plan: Educate Every Black Man, Woman, and Child, by Julia Hare, examines the problems that have been created in African-American society through the social conditioning that is present within the culture. This is about more than education in schools, even though this type of education is lacking for African-Americans as well. This is about how African-Americans have both been conditioned and have conditioned themselves to behave a certain way in society. This behavior glorifies the stereotypes that African-Americans possess, making it very difficult to leave these stereotypes behind. African-Americans are looked down upon within their own culture if they do not perpetuate these stereotypes, which makes it impossible for the race to move beyond them. Various pieces of literature support the view that African-American society has learned to accept the violent ghetto culture that it had originally been trying to fight and it now perfectly happy with the segregation that it has from white society. Black roles in the media, slang terms, ghetto culture, and violence have been embraced by African-American society as “being black” or “keeping it real”, while the message behind the civil rights movement has long been forgotten. The book The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America, by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki, is an introduction to how African-American people are portrayed in the media. They are fitted with social constructs that lead to stereotypes, mostly on how white people see them. For example, while there are many black people in commercials, it is usually the white people with the speaking roles. The authors also do some research on racial attitudes in Indianapolis and analyze their findings. The way they see it, white Americans see African-Americans from two different viewpoints: low denial and high denial. Low denial means that these people are more enlightened and sympathetic towards African-Americans, while high denial that they are blatantly racist. According to the authors, most white people fall somewhere between these two extremes. This information is important because of the social issues that it raises. According to the authors, even white people who seem sympathetic towards African-Americans and the equality issues that they face are racist in some sort of way. Black stereotypes that are presented in the media add to this because they often portray black people in roles where they are poor or violent or have illegitimate children, as the portrayal of blacks “on television oscillates between the supremely gifted, virtuous, and successful and the corrupt, criminal, and dangerous (with some Black athletes a bit of both)” (Entman and Rojecki 207). This is not healthy for the equalization of African-Americans because it teaches society that blacks are not on the same level as whites. Many whites believe that if these stereotypes were not present, that the interpretation of what it means to be black might change and that African-Americans could be seen as being an equal. One of the problems that this research brings is that it seems to want to create a melting pot where everyone acts the same in society. While many negative stereotypes do come from African-American culture, African-Americans are proud of this culture and wish to protect it, much the same way an Irish-American would like to protect his or her culture, even if it leads to him or her being labeled as a drunk. It is important to look at both sides of the story to see what is best for everyone, not just what looks best on the surface. The novel The White Boy Shuffle, by Paul Beatty, is an important novel because of the way it brings into question the values that make up the American psyche. This is not just about the African-American way of life, but also about every American’s way of life, as there are always issues that need to be touched upon, but are not because they are labeled as “taboo“. In this novel, Beatty gives a good description of what it means to be an African-American growing up in the ghetto. The novel’s protagonist, Gunnar Kauffman, is a young intellectual who is much too smart to get involved in gang life, but he must also keep his intelligence a secret for fear of ending up as a target of violence. This novel is also important in the way it teaches non-black readers about exactly what happens in ghetto life. This novel brings about questions of inequality and racism, which are very prevalent issues in America today. The major question that this novel brings about is what is wrong with the American values system? This novel is also full of African-American slang terms, which are another way in which the novel brings the reader full on into the African-American ghetto world. While some may argue that this novel is politically incorrect, it speaks the truth and that is more important than political correctness sometimes. Too many times, an author will hide behind that guise of political correctness, while ignoring some very important issues that need to be discussed at length. Beatty takes these issues and does not shy away from stating what he thinks about the racial issues facing American today as is shown when he writes, “Despite his race, subject possesses remarkable intelligence and excellent reasoning and analytical skills” (Beatty 57). This novel does a good job of educating people about some of the moral problems that America faces. He is not afraid to reveal some of the major problems with American values and he does this by showing the cultural segregation that the country still holds. This novel not only explores “black America” but also explore what exactly it means to be an American. Despite the advancements that African-Americans had made over time, they were still having problems competing with white members of society. Black neighborhoods were still among the poorest in the country and blacks were also more likely to work lower paying jobs. In order to escape this reality, more blacks began turning to drugs and alcohol. They also began selling drugs and pimping prostitutes, as these were two of the only ways that they could make a living. Their schools were also generally among the lowest academically in the nation, as very few resources were put in to them. This led to increasing anger among certain members of the black community as was seen by the Watt riots in 1965. Watts is a very poor neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles where unemployment and drug abuse are very large problems. When a young black man was unemployment and drug abuse are very large problems. When a young black man was arrested for drunk driving in the neighborhood, it sparked six days of rioting that left thirty-four people dead and caused $30 million worth of property damage. This riot was symbolic of a new movement in the black community that was slanted towards militancy. It became more and more common for black citizens to murder white police officers who they believed were racist in various areas all over the nation. The result of these riots and murders was that white people began to leave certain cities, in order to protect themselves from the violence. It was around this time that the black power movement started. Leaders of this community urged its members to fight groups like the Ku Klux Klan armed with force, in order to eliminate them from the country. They also encouraged blacks to get back to their roots by wearing African clothing, growing their hair into afros, and insisting that whites stop referring to them as Negroes, but rather be called African-Americans. The Black Panther Party is the group that brought the most prominence to this movement, as they had a “by any means necessary” approach to achieving civil rights. This meant that they would use violence if they felt it would further their cause. This type of ideology is much different from that of Martin Luther King and it is something that added to the problem, and did not help it. Historically, black institutions like universities, churches, and newspapers have been seen as being inferior. Since they had been segregated from white society, they were looked down upon and view as being second class. Despite this, leaders were able to use these institutions to support the black identity in the United States. By promoting the advancement of these institutions, civil rights leaders were able to convince many African-Americans that they were not, in fact, inferior but that their institutions were just as valid as white ones. Also African-American organizations like the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the United Negro College Fund have worked to bring a sense of community to African-Americans. The NAACP was very instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement, as it had been pushing towards equality for a very long time. The United Negro College Fund is important because it provides financial support to African-American students who wish and deserve to go to college but cannot afford it. This is important to the improvement of African-American education levels. The Civil Rights Movement brought all of these things to the forefront and, subsequently, made them more important than they had ever been before. Black activism emerged during the Second War because people began to follow the advice of DuBois. African-American began to move towards a mass-movement of civil rights activism, as they began to see that this was the only way that anything significant would be accomplished. By the end of World War Two, “civil rights activism leadership perspective had impacted broadly upon a wide range of Black civil society institutions, such as Negro colleges, business organizations, professional associations, womens organizations, trade unions, mutual aid associations, and churches” (Kilson) which shows that they were making progress. Despite this, however, African-Americans still face much repression and were still not seen as equal to whites. Segregation was still common, especially in the south, and the job market was not fair at all. Although African-Americans were becoming more educated and more prominent in society, there was still a significant amount of work to be done. An example of why work still needed to be done was the Emmett Till murder of 1955. In this case, a 14-year old African-American was murder by at least two white men for making a comment towards a white woman. The two men were found not guilty because the boy’s body could not be positively identified, even though they basically admitted to the murder. This sort of thing is symbolic of the sorts of inequalities that African-Americans faced. Young African-Americans are being taught that many of these stereotypes are true as well. Hip hop culture has evolved to the point where it is “cool” to make claims of committing adultery and the concept of the traditional family is lost on them. Adissa Banjoko says, I saw a 10 year old girl I know about two years ago watching a Snoop video with her mom, and her moms friend. The mother turned one of her adult friends looking at Snoop and told her ‘ooh, that N!##@ right there, thats my baby daddy.’ The friend responded that she wanted Snoop to be HER baby daddy and they had a play argument over it. The ladys daughter, looking to get on the conversation pointed to Dr. Dre. And said ‘Oh no, thats MY BABY DADDY.’ Imagine the horror. This little girl is growing up not even conceiving the IDEA of a real family. Shes not even seeing the value being unified with a man spiritually and culturally (Banjoko). This shows that the way in which young black people are brought up is perpetuating the negative stereotypes that surround black culture. African-Americans are being taught that is perfectly acceptable to behave in this manner, which is something that will allow for these stereotypes to not only continue, but to flourish. If more people would read and understand books like The Miseducation of the Black Child, then maybe African-American culture would be able to move out of the violence that has plagued it throughout its history. This book shows the danger of not educating African-Americans about these issues, as it will lead to yet another generation where African-Americans believe that the only way that they can excel is to become an NBA star or a rapper. Various factors in society have popularized black stereotypes and made them seem like the only way for African-Americans to maintain their blackness. What this book is attempting to do is educate African-Americans so that the society can move forward in the future as men like Martin Luther King had hoped. Works Cited Banjoko, Adissa. “What Is Love? Everything!. Hip Hop News. 20 May 2002. Viewed 12 December 2006. http://www.daveyd.com/whatislovearticle.html Beatty, Paul. The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel. New York: Picador. 1996. Entman, Robert M. and Rojecki, Andrew. The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in American. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2001. Kilson, Martin. “Think Piece: Retrospective on the Washington/DuBois Black Leadership Paradigms”. The Black Commentator. 2006. 12 December 2006. http://www.blackcommentator.com/172/172_think_kilson_re trospective_1.html Read More