The culture of learning in most schools has a readily identifiable expectation for behavior and academic success; specifically schools where African American males are in the minority. Common to these expectations is the significant variation of expectations that exist in the school versus that which exist in the home and community. In many instances, the conduct of these students is often misunderstood and miscalculated by teaching staff and results in the formation of lowered expectations and misguided
stereotypes. These stereotypes and low expectations are the persistent and salient thought processes that form the opinions and social imagery of the African American male. According to Horsman (1981) and Spring (2006), “Social imagery, or the manner in which perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about certain groups shape people’s
28
understanding of those groups, has served as a hallmark upon which social domination, economic exploitation, and political disenfranchisement have formed the experiences of diverse cultural groups in the US.” This is a key concept to understanding the impact social justice/injustice has on the matriculation of the African American high school male. This imagery has become an integral part of the population’s thinking, in that it has become institutionalized over decades and generations, and has further shaped people’s thinking about a particular reality or perceived reality (Howard, et al, 2012). A large number of African American males are smitten by the historical and
contemporary influences of social imagery. Many of today’s black males are victimized by the unfair and unwarranted character portrayal that the social, economic and political society has placed upon them. Consequently, a multitude of obstacles and challenges confront the African American male that emanate from prior generations. According to Howard, et al (2012), a number of scholars have described the evolution of the Black characterizations over the past several centuries. Early 17th and 18th century images typically cast Black men as physically strong, mentally inept, hyper-sexed brutes who were well suited for slavery, and deemed to be subhuman. Over time, the image became more entrenched of Black men being lazy, docile, and inhumane savages (p. 89). Similar research by Douglas; Anton (2009) purport that during slavery, African Americans were dehumanized and treated as inferior based solely on their skin color. Even in modern day 21st century, many individuals discriminate against African American males based on the perceptions that they possess less than acceptable qualities such as being irresponsible and the often quoted laziness characterization. The plights of the African American male
29
strongly suggest that ahead lay difficult days and ongoing struggles in the social, political and economic arena of society.
In his book The Trouble with Black Boys, Noguera (2003) surmises that the African American male leads the nation in homicides, both as victims and perpetrators and are now have the fastest growing rate of suicide. The rise in HIV and the AIDS epidemic have further exacerbated the ongoing issue relative to the black male. Today’s growth in the incarceration rate, the severity of convictions and the preponderance of arrests can be further attributed to the struggles that lay ahead for the African American male. Research demonstrates that black males also have high rates of infant deaths within their first year of life and as they grow older, this population of African American males contrarily experiences a reduction in their life expectancy. During their course of life, black males are frequently unemployed, underemployed (even unemployable in many instances) due to no education or lack of education, few if any acquired skills and certifications in specialized areas, nor possess the knowledge, finesse or resources to pursue the labor market. Hallinan (2010) revealed that with “roots in history of slavery, civil war, and racial segregation, Black-White differences in social status and resources have been difficult to overcome” (p. 50).
Additionally, the depiction of African American males in the media solely as athletes, entertainers, or even sex-crazed villains, violent hustlers and law-breaking thugs does little to thwart the decline and degradation of this group. The overwhelming presentation regarding African American males in the media is distorted in several ways and is
inconsistent with real-world facts. Many throughout our society would incorrectly conclude that black male illustrations in the media are relegated to TV shows, magazine
30
advertisement or video game portrayals. However, in a 2011 Report entitled Media Representations and the Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys, the facts suggest that these distorted views of the African American male are also represented in areas such as 1) the underrepresentation of black males as analyst in news reports, computer users in TV ads and commercials, users of luxury items or characters with well-developed
personal lives in fiction shows and film; 2) as the negative and exaggerated associations criminality, unemployment, and the idle black male on the street corner of poverty in America; 3) as the positive associations that are relatively limited to sports, physical achievement, virility, and musicality; 4) as the segment of the population with intractable problems and problem behaviors; and 5) the ignored dimensions of historical antecedents of black economic disadvantage and persistent anti-black bias (p. 14). The real-world effects alluded to in the literature include everything from less attention from doctors to harsher sentencing by judges, lower likelihood of being hired for a job or admitted to school, lower odds of getting loans, and higher likelihood of being shot by police. African American males in predominantly white suburban high schools are too familiar with the exclusion of positive social imagery in the media and the over-representation of negative images throughout society.