Verduzco 1

Jorge Verduzco

Professor Rodrick

English 115

20 Oct 2019

Social Views on African Americans

There are different ways in which a person’s identity is shaped. Some ways are more

focused on your own family, some are focused on your community and even the role that all of

society takes in shaping a person. Sometimes these society shapes people in a negative way.

Certain races and minority groups take a heavy hit when dealing with how society views them

and how society expects them to act. A race who have faced injustice throughout history and

until today are African Americans. African Americans like other minority races are clumped up

in what they have to be because that’s what society sees them as. Ways in which African

Americans are viewed and labeled in society today are young boy growing up to be thugs, people

having the fear of being alone with an African American man, and how they must conform when

dealing with law enforcement.

Young African American males are shaped differently due to social views. The way they

start identifying who they are starts at an early age. It is easy to get shaped by society today due

to social media and the easy access to get news. According to Dow, “African American boys

face harsher discipline in school and are labeled aggressive and violent more often than whites

and African American girls” (162). This shows that image of young black males being depicted

as a thug in their early years. When a young black male starts understanding how society views

them, it affects them on how they act when in a social space. Dow explains that African
 Verduzco 2

American mothers “fear for their son’s physical safety and believe their sons would face harsher

treatment and be criminalized by teachers, police officers, because of racial identity and gender”

(163). Going back to that image that society has developed as African Americans being

compared to thugs.

The way African American males are portrayed in different forms of media, movies,

shows, gives certain people the fear of being around them. Both men and women experience a

sense of unease and fear when walking alone at night. It is clear that generally, women feel

uncomfortable when being alone in a dark night and suddenly see a male walking towards them

or coming in from behind. It seems to be even more dangerous to females when the male is an

African American. Staples is an African American male who writes about his experience on how

society views him. Staples explains his first experience distrust that African American male has

in a public space. He details one night when he walked up the same street behind a young white

female, she glances at him with a sense of fear, after a while she suddenly starts running (267). It

is clear that the depiction following African American males is that of a criminal, mugger, or

robber, and even rapist. Having to walk around with these labels starts affecting the person.

African Americans are one of the minority races who need to constantly think about the situation

they are in. They need to think about how their presence alone, even if they are not doing

anything out the ordinary is affecting those around them.

Not only are African American males attacked in streets and public spaces but also in

their own property and personal space. Many black men and women are racially profiled by law

enforcement even when they are in the safety of their own car. The social views that are

embedded in their image allow for law enforcement to suddenly become suspicious of the
 Verduzco 3

African American driver. According to Gau and Brunson, “the weight of the evidence suggests

that, overall, Blacks and other minorities are more likely to be searched during stops” (252). This

alone symbolizes how the even officials who serve under the law interact with African American

males. It shows that the criminal depiction of African Americans affects even those who carry

some sort of power, overall worsening their status in society. Police officer uses concent search

procedures to target minority group including blacks. Gau and Bruson explain that consent

searches “lies in the fact that these searches do not require probable cause or even the lesser

standard of reasonable suspicion” (253). As the name states, this type of search requires the

consent of the driver. According to Gaun and Bruson, officers refuse to acknowledge the part

that the driver is allowed to deny the search (253). It becomes obvious that certain officers abuse

the power of consent searches in order to strike at certain groups. Typically an African American

complies with the officer’s wishes because of their own safety. Allowing the officer to take

control of the situation without a rebuttal from the victim.

Historically it is known that certain groups of people are at a disadvantage over others.

Some have to play life differently and act a certain way for their own safety. Some have to be

more aware of their surroundings because due to the possibility of making a wrong move can

ruin their lives. I believe this is the way society is because of the power of the media and their

portrayal of the minority groups. It is weird to think that African Americans who have been

historically been the victims of rape, murder, enslavement are the ones being framed, and you

have the white men who sailed the seas and actually committed those crimes who are the ones

framing this idea.

 Verduzco 4

Works Cited

Dow, Dawn Marie. “The Deadly Challenges of Raising African American Boys: Navigating the

Controlling Image of the ‘Thug.’” ​Gender & Society,​ vol. 30, no. 2, 2016, pp. 161–188.

SAGE Premier 2014.​ DOI 10.1177/0891243216629928. 20 Oct. 2019.

Gau, Jacinta M, and Rod K Brunson. “‘One Question Before You Get Gone. . .’: Consent Search

Requests as a Threat to Perceived Stop Legitimacy.” ​Race and Justics​, vol. 2, no. 4,

​ OI 10.1177/2153368712459273. 20 Oct.
2012, pp. 250–273. ​SAGE premier 2014. D

2019.

Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Space.” 1986. ​The Norton Reader: An Anthology of

Nonfiction. ​A. Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th ed. New York: Norton, 2016. 267-79.

Print.