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Vaughn Smith
J.Rodrick
English 115
24 October 2017
The Injustice of African American Men by Society
Youve most likely seen the news headlines today, either through notifications on your

phone or on the TV. When you looked at the local headlines you probably saw news about the

latest technology, politics, the weather, and oh, dont forget about the murders, shootings, rapes,

and car chases that happen on a daily basis. After youve seen all these crimes youve probably

feel bad for the victims, and you should because none of the heinous acts should be occurring in

the first place. While the crimes committed are terrible, I want to address an issue that has not

only victimized individuals, but an entire people. If you look at the crimes that are reported by

the media it isnt hard to notice that the majority of perpetrators or lead suspects are African

American men. The media has greatly misrepresented the character of African American men by

consistently headlining negative news about them, therefore causing unjust fear and treatment

from society which has led to serious and oftentimes fatal consequences, now African American

men must alter their public persona so that they arent seen as a threat.

African Americans, especially African American men have been severely misrepresented

by the media. If an African American man isnt an athlete, actor, or musician theyre painted to

be criminals, thugs, and savages by the media. Rose Hackman, author of the online article Its

like were seen as animals: black men on their vulnerability and resilience, states In American,

black men have historically been depicted as aggressive, hypersexual and violent to be

controlled, to be exploited, to be tamed. Other than being depicted as criminals in the news,

African American men are depicted as hypersexual beings by the stereotypical ideas concerning
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their physical attributes. African American men are also depicted to be overly aggressive and

violent through movies, along with mainstream rap music and gang culture. The

misrepresentation of African American men has increased in recent years due to technology,

with so many ways to see the local news (i.e. smartphones and tablets) its easy to stay in the

know about crimes in your area. One thing you may not realize when looking at the crimes

reported is that there are hundreds of other crimes that arent reported by the news. Since news

outlets cannot cover all of the crimes that occur on a daily basis theyre forced to pick and

choose which crimes to cover, and oftentimes the crimes reported have been committed by

African American males.

According to an official FBI stat chart there were a total of 8,421,481 arrest made in the

U.S. in 2016. The stat chart includes arrests made from crimes such as murder, robbery and

burglary, all the way to fraud and gambling. The stat chart also includes the race of those

arrested, and provides the percentage that each race makes up of the total arrests made.

According to the chart 2,263,112 African Americans were arrested in 2016, this is a large

amount of people to be arrested for one race. If you continue to look at the chart you will see that

5,858,330 Caucasians were arrested in the same year, this is over two and half times the number

of African Americans arrested. African Americans only make up 26.9% of the total arrest in the

U.S in 2016, while Caucasians made up 69.6% of the total arrest. With statistics like these, why

does the news and media headline so many crimes that are committed by African Americans?

Due to the distorted identity of African American men created by the news and media,

society has developed a common fear. The fear of African American men that has been unjustly

developed by society is having serious and in many cases fatal consequences for African

American men. It seems that every two three weeks another unarmed African American man
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has become the victim of a police shooting. These incidents happen so often, but there is no

reliable source to know the total number of unarmed people who have been killed by police in

the U.S., let alone the number of unarmed African American men. Because of fear and

misrepresentation, society has begun to perceive African American men as larger and stronger

than Caucasian men, even when theyre the same size. In the online article Black men seen as

larger, stronger than white men even when theyre not: study, by author Ben Guarino of the

Washington Post, Mr. Guarino states Even if white and black men are the same heights and

weights, people tend to perceive black men as taller, more muscular and heavier. In the article

Mr. Guarino discusses a study published by the American Psychological Associations Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology. The study found that nonblack participants believed black

men to be more capable of physical harm than white men of the same size (Guarino 1). The

results of the study also found that nonblack participants believed that police would be more

justified to use force on these black men, even if they were unarmed, than white male

counterparts (Guarino 1). Society has become accustomed to making assumptions about the

physical appearance of a person, especially that of an African American man. By making these

assumptions people believe it to be okay for police to use excessive force on unarmed African

American men all because theyre perceived to be stronger and more of a threat to the safety of

police. The use of excessive force on African American men has not only lead to brutality, but

murder by the police.

After numerous reported shootings of unarmed African American men by police and fear

from society, many African American men have developed a certain fear or caution when among

society. Now many African American men must change their public persona in order to appear

less threatening. Doctor and journalist, Brent Staples, describes in his essay Black Men and
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Public Space how people were afraid when he walked at night. He begins his essay with My

first victim was a white woman probably in her early twenties (Staples 1). He goes on to

describe his stature of six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, Dr. Staples says that

after the lady believed him to be menacingly close to her that she picked up her pace and

eventually began running and disappeared into a cross street. Later in his essay Dr. Staples talks

about he would wear business clothes instead of jeans, and how he would whistle melodies

from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers Virtually everybody

seems to sense that a mugger wouldnt be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldis Four

Seasons (Staples 3). This essay by Dr. Brent Staples was written and originally published in

1986, in 2017 you would think that African American men wouldnt still have to find ways to

appear less threatening, but that simply isnt the case. In an interview titled Fear Of Black Men:

How Society Sees Black Men And How They See Themselves, Michel Martin talks to two African

American men, Professor Paul Butler and Doyin Richards. In the interview Doyin says

Sometimes if I am walking down the street or something, I am whistling Frozen songs just to

prove that Hey I have kids, I am not a threat to you. I just want to go home to my family.

Later in the interview a caller agrees with Mr. Doyin Richards and shares that when hes using

public transportation he makes sure not pull out his phone too quickly because hes afraid people

will think he is carrying a gun. It isnt fair for grown men to have to whistle tunes from a

childrens movie or to have to think about every move they make in order to appear non-

threatening.

Even with the numerous cases of police brutality and shootings of unarmed African

Americans, some still argue that police officers are treating Caucasians and African Americans

equally. According to an NBC News/Marist College poll conducted in 2014, 52% of whites have
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confidence in their neighborhood police that they treat whites and African Americans equally.

Some could also say that more Caucasians have been killed by police. In an Analysis by Wesley

Lowery of the Washington Post, statistics show that in 2015 1,502 people have been shot and

killed by on-duty police officers since Jan. 1, 2015 (Wesley 1). Of the 1,502 people who were

killed and shot 732 were white and 381 were African American. For these statistics to prove how

the fear of African American men is having fatal consequences you have to look at the U.S.

population. White people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49

percent of those who are killed by police officers. African Americans account for 24 percent

of those fatally killed by the police despite just being 13 percent of the U.S. population (Wesley

1). Overall these statistics mean African Americans are 2.5 times more likely than white

Americans to be shot and killed by the police.

Its 2017, as a society we should know that we cant judge people based on their

appearance or judge one person because of the group theyre a part of. The fear of African

American men has caused so many cases of police brutality and fatal shootings, and the number

of African American men killed by police will only continue to grow if the news and media

doesnt stop headlining mostly negative news about African Americans. Society must realize that

the news and media they see on a daily basis isnt always an accurate report of their community

and the people who live there.

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Works Cited

Clement, Scott. Whites Are More Confident than Ever That Their Local Police Treat Blacks

Fairly. The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Dec. 2014,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/12/09/whites-are-more-confident-than-

ever-that-their-police-treat-blacks-fairly/?utm_term=.5544ca887344.

FBI. 2016 Crime in the U.S. (Arrests by Race and Ethnicity). 2017.

Guarino, Ben. Black Men Seen as Larger, Stronger than White Men - Even When They're Not:

Study. Chicagotribune.com, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2017,

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-male-body-study-20170314-story.html.

Hackman, Rose. 'It's like We're Seen as Animals': Black Men on Their Vulnerability and

Resilience. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 July 2016,

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/12/black-men-america-violence-vulnerable-

detroit.

Lowery, Wesley. More Whites Killed by Police, but Blacks 2.5 Times More Likely to Be

Killed. Chicagotribune.com, Chicago Tribune, 12 July 2016,

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-police-shootings-race-20160711-

story.html.

Martin, Michel. Fear Of Black Men: How Society Sees Black Men And How They See

Themselves. NPR, NPR, 31 Mar. 2015, www.npr.org/2015/03/31/396415737/societys-

fear-of-black-men-and-its-consequences. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

Staples, Brent. Black Men and Public Space. Harper's, 1987.