Читать книгу Still Invisible? - Elvin J. Dowling - Страница 31

Understanding what makes Phillips, and other Black men, invisible when it matters, and front and center on almost all negative things when it's politically and culturally expedient, is critical in understanding how stereotypes work and are perpetuated throughout generations. In her research project entitled, "Negative Racial Stereotypes and Their Effect on Attitudes Toward African-Americans", Laura Green notes: "As human beings, we naturally evaluate everything we come in contact with. We especially try to gain insight and direction from our evaluations of other people. Stereotypes are "cognitive structures that contain the perceiver's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups". These cognitive constructs are often created out of a kernel of truth and then distorted beyond reality. Racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative" (Green). The challenge that Phillips faces, in spite of his unmistakable presence and disarming persona, is the fact that the negative perceptions of he and other Black men in the United States are so deeply ingrained in the fabric of the nation that it will take an untold number of years to even begin undoing racist stereotypes.

The genesis of many of the historic unfavorable descriptions of Blacks came about as the majority culture's desire to stop the growing perceived threat that Black liberation represented grew across the country. "Beliefs that Blacks were 'mentally inferior, physically and culturally un-evolved, and apelike in appearance' were supported by prominent white figures like Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Thomas Jefferson," Green observed. In fact, having received significant backlash for reaching out to and engaging in discussion with one of the leading African-American thought leaders of the time, Booker T. Washington, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt even pledged his allegiance to white supremacy, when he stated his belief that, as a race of people, African-Americans were "altogether inferior to whites" (Green). "This idea of African-Americans as apelike savages was exceptionally pervasive. For example, in 1906, the New York Zoological Park featured an exhibit with an African-American man and a chimpanzee. Several years later, the Ringling Brothers Circus exhibited "the monkey man," a Black man was caged with a female chimpanzee that had been trained to wash clothes and hang them on a line" (Green). Today, while not as ubiquitous as it once was, typecasting Blacks as inferior and childlike is something that has been part and parcel of how America has continued to perpetrate white supremacist ideology.

Even still, Joseph Phillips believes that the moment in which African-Americans begin classifying all issues that deleteriously impact Black people, such as interactions between Black males with law enforcement officials, it dilutes the argument for change. "When you lump everyone together, I have a problem with that," declared Phillips as he noted the dichotomy between the tragic circumstances related to the high-profile deaths of Tamir Rice and Michael Brown, two young Black males who died by the hands of police. "When you're innocent and minding your business, as with the case of Tamir Rice, and the cops assault or even kill you, it's very different than when you attack police," he said. "In my opinion, the whole idea of 'hands up, don't shoot' is a false premise [as it pertains to Michael Brown's interaction with Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer, Darren Wilson, which resulted in Brown's death]. When you begin with a false premise, that premise is then used to support a narrative or agenda that I don't think moves Black people forward. And I also have a problem with that," Phillips protested.

"What we have now are a bunch of people that want to continue fighting for that narrative because it enriches them in some way, maybe not simply monetarily, but it gets them on TV and feeds egos." With that thought in mind, however, Phillips also believes that it’s incumbent upon the state to not become an occupying force in communities of color. "When you have a police force that suddenly stops being keepers of the peace and are now law enforcement agencies who need armored vehicles, high-powered rifles, cannons and tanks, to enforce laws, something is wrong somewhere," he said. "The fewer reasons to interact with the state you have, the fewer of these kinds of shootings and things you're going to have. And one of the first things that we need to do is revisit this War on Drugs and we need to rethink why we are all invested and up in other people's business looking for drugs," the theatrical impresario intoned. "One of the reasons I'm a conservative is because I want to be left alone. I don't want to be frisked. I don't want to have to report what I'm doing to other people. I don't want people involved in how I raise my kids. I don't want people involved in my life. I want to be left alone, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Furthermore, I think that all of us should have the same desire--leave me alone let me live my life!" To that end, whether you agree, or not with Phillips' perspective, it goes without saying that even today, African-Americans are, more likely than not, pre-disposed to presume the worst when it comes to the state and how it has historically treated people of color. And historically, the state has been happy to respond in kind, subjecting Black males to a myriad of unfair presuppositions that can have tragic consequences. Unfortunately, for large Black men like the aforementioned Michael Brown, a 6'4" young man weighing in at 292 pounds, his height and size may have also made him a threat in the eyes of law enforcement, as evidenced by empirical research showing "large Black males" are perceived as particularly dangerous and should be treated as an eminent threat.

In their report, "For Black Men, Being Tall Increases Threat Stereotyping and Police Stops," researcher Neil Hester exposed an insidious bias that impacts big and tall Black men in a particular way. "Young Black men are stereotyped as threatening, which can have grave consequences for interactions with police. We show that these threat stereotypes are even greater for tall Black men, who face greater discrimination from police officers and elicit stronger judgments of threat," Hester wrote. To further illustrate the point, the report noted the unspoken advantage that height has for some in American society, and the distinct disadvantage that it could have for others. "We challenge the assumption that height is intrinsically good for men. White men may benefit from height, but Black men may not" (Hester. p. 1).

Today, as the American workforce expands and becomes more diverse, every single asset workers bring to the table helps them to move further and faster up the corporate ladder. To that end, the willingness to leverage height is something that further underscores the privilege that some benefit from in the country. "Height seems beneficial for men in terms of salaries and success; however, past research on height examines only White men. For Black men, height may be more costly than beneficial, primarily signaling threat rather than competence" (Hester. p. 1). The report goes on to note three separate research studies analyzing the distinct disadvantage that height has for Black males. "Study 1 analyzes over one million New York Police Department stop-and-frisk encounters and finds that tall Black men are especially likely to receive unjustified attention from police. Then, studies 2 and 3 experimentally demonstrate a causal link between perceptions of height and perceptions of threat for Black men, particularly for perceivers who endorse stereotypes that Black people are more threatening than white people. Together, these data reveal that height is sometimes a liability for Black men, particularly in contexts in which threat is salient" (Hester. p. 1). And therein lies the challenge: what, if anything, can Black males do to make themselves less threatening to others? On the converse, however, why should Black males, or anyone else for that matter, have to make themselves "less threatening" (which is difficult to do if you are big and Black), simply to assuage the irrational fears of fragile people? Incredulously, but not unbelievably, it’s not just height that's held against Black men in America, as the width of their noses, and texture of their hair also play a part in the continued oppression of African-American males.

According to Alesha Bond, in her communique, "Black Stereotypical Features: When a Face Type Can Get You in Trouble", the more Afrocentric the features of a Black male’s face, the more some are inclined to associate them with bad things. "Negative biases associating Black men with criminality are most pronounced for a subgroup of men with Afrocentric features (e.g., a wide nose, full lips)," Bond noted, in laying out an appalling obstacle facing many Black males based solely upon their perceived Blackness. "Face-type bias occurs for men with these features because they are readily categorized as stereotypically Black and representative of the category Black male. This categorization in turn makes this subgroup more likely to be associated with the criminal-Black-male stereotype than are men with non-stereotypical Black features" (Bond). When the totality of the impact these preconceived notions, based upon unfounded beliefs and characterized by a sustained public perception campaign aimed at ingraining them into the fabric of the country, the ability to make meaningful change is oftentimes hampered by intransigent mindset issues.

To that end, it is important to note that what many of these racist caricatures do is underscore ridiculous fears that can have disastrous consequences for African-American males. Another prime example of the unconscious bias that many whites have against large Black men was played out in the recorded murder of Eric Garner of Staten Island, New York, whose death was ruled a homicide due to an unauthorized choke hold applied to him as he stood on a the street corner, surrounded by police officers who had accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes. As such, it is important to understand that phobias are often extreme aversions. Moreover, they are embedded deep in our psyches and are activated when we come face-to-face with the things we fear most. In his article, "Negrophobia: Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and America’s Fear of Black People," Brandon Hill of Time Magazine opined about the impact that Garner's physical presence played in his fateful police interaction. "Garner’s 400-pound anatomy forms an object of American Negrophobia: the unjustified fear of Black people. Studies show that Black people, particularly Black men, are the group most feared by White adults," Hill found. "Negrophobia fuels the triangular system of oppression that keeps people of color pinned into hapless ghettos between the pillars of militarized police, starved inner-city schools, and voracious prisons" (Hill). But what sparked the flames of bigotry that have now become a fiery inferno of intolerance?