Advanced Essay #2: Being Black in America
The purpose of this essay was to explore the ideology of African Americans in society. There are generations all teaching the next generation that they are obligated to code switch and tolerate the limitations set on their race. I am most proud of my scene of memory and how I shared a personal experience. In my next essay, I would like to improve on bringing forth more agreeable ideas to the audience.
Being black in America is a fight, a long and hard battle to be treated humanely. The stereotypical idea of black people is often portrayed as loud, ignorant, and thuggish before anyone can see the true image of African-Americans. It is often not seen as beneficial being black, being in the shape that society shapes black people into. Every black person is an individual of their own background and experiences, but being black causes a stress factor on succeeding in America. The fear of white privilege devaluing your success is one of the many things African-Americans as a whole can relate to.
Being mistreated, enduring prejudice and unjustifiable murder can deconstruct and create oblivion to who African-Americans truly are. The psychological and cultural barriers that were made by centuries of racism and segregation have caused African-Americans to accept that they might never succeed their white counterparts. That ideology will and has been passed down through generation hence the disbelief of self. It is the alternative routes of acquiring recognition in society, that not only impacts their image negatively, but in the end the person does not feel any fulfillment. In the instance that an African-American does succeed without alternative routes, society doubts and discredits their success.
African-Americans were forced to abide by the constraints of society. Freedom was not real freedom in reality. Minor infractions were followed by baseless consequences. Whites were far more superior and the court of law was almost always biased. The case of Emmett Till is still very powerful to this day. Till was an African-American and a victim of racism and unjustifiable murder. On August 28, 1955, Till was tortured and beaten brutally, one of his eyes gouged out, and his body thrown into Tallahatchie River tied to a large fan used for ginning cotton. His body was so badly beaten, the only way to identify him was his initials on his ring. Till’s murder was fueled by the accusation of flirting with a white woman in a grocery store. Neither of the men who murdered Till was sentenced, instead they were ruled as not guilty. In an interview with Lebron James, he was asked what it meant to be black in America, in response he brought forth the case of Emmett Till. “I think back to Emmett Till’s mom, actually,” James said. “That’s one of the first things I thought of. The reason she had an open casket was that she wanted to show the world what her son went through as far as a hate crime, and being black in America.” Under no circumstances should the murder be justified as not guilty but in the court of law against African-Americans, it will be made possible.
African-American parents often have to teach their children that they have to tolerate prejudice and discrimination or else they can be harmed. This is not a mentality someone is born with, this is a mentality someone has to be taught. The double standard has to be destroyed, there should be no tolerance of racism. As a parent, teaching the children that being pulled over by police is a life or death situation is imperative. It is strongly planted into their minds that these are not lessons to be ignored, police are to be feared because of the complexion of your skin. Ernest Owens stated in an interview, “These are the respectability politics of how black people are often forced to conduct themselves in society. It's not by choice, but by obligation. It could in many ways be the difference between being free or imprisonment, of staying alive or facing death.” It is not a secret that there are limitations on what African-Americans are free to do, there are a myriad of unspoken rules on how to behave in society. In this country, African-Americans have been coerced into accepting that the obligation to code-switch is inequitable but must be done to survive here. Parents preparing their black children for the reality of America consist of explicit instruction to avoid being a target, and act accordingly or it may lead to serious consequences.
As a child, I was educated on what being black in this country meant. I was warned that I am female, which meant there would be a more intense competition for me in this society. People around me told me how I should work even harder because I am in a society that does not value me because of my race. On a trip to the beach, my mother warned me and my siblings that we had to stay moderately quiet in the beach house all week, “You all need to behave and be quiet, we can’t be out here looking like the loud, crazy black people.” Her words resonated with me, it wasn’t fair that we couldn’t enjoy the trip as much as we wanted. At night, we cooked and laughed and played but continuously warned each other to remain quiet. I could hear our white neighbors yelling and drinking from their balcony. The thought of my family being the target if we were to do the same had angered me. In life, I hadn’t experienced much discrimination and reality until that vacation. I questioned why our society still allows a double standard, in addition to the limitation on how I enjoy my life and grow in America. Most importantly, I questioned this ideology of African-Americans and how teaching the following generations to feel obligated to code switch for the satisfaction of society had been so normal.
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