Constitution Paper
A well-educated gripe on the power of paper and prejudice
Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: Perspectives
A hundred and forty-one years ago I would have been enslaved to a white man for whatever purpose he desired just because of my skin. Buying freedom was a slim option and didn't really mean much, but a piece of paper. Well paper burns just as the branding on the backs of my people. Their backs stripped as the cotton plants they picked bare handed. Not anymore though, not after the thirteenth amendment passed in 1895 stating, "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime..". This can only be portrayed as the physical emancipation of black people in America because even though we're out of chains, we are still mentally captive to the powers that be through stereotypes, violence, and prejudgment.
The angry black man is not hostile for just any reason. The hair shops gossip about pointless topics, and boys with the pants to their knees are joining gangs all over America. All these stereotypes of black people are supported through movies, books, and television, creating a common consensus that this is the way black people really are. You've seen movies where someone bumps the big black guy and he growls in anger and the person runs away. The customers in the hair shop always say "ok" or talk "ghetto" and talk about other people's business and every rapper from the hood is labeled as a "gangsta." People incorporate these jokes and fictional characters and scenarios into everyday real life. This is one of the reasons why others avoid the big black man on the street. Have you noticed a white parent pull their child closer to them while passing a black male even though there was enough space to get by? Have you seen a white woman in corporate America go to the hair shop on the corner, or to the hair and day spa in the mall? How about a black teenager with urban wear walking into a clothing store and being watched from across the room or have you been the teenage under suspicion? This ignorance is ridiculous, anything capable of a black person is commensurate to the ability of a white person, or any other race, but as people accept these stereotypes, the situations our people are under can become more serious than labels.
The angry black man is not hostile for just any reason. The hair shops gossip about pointless topics, and boys with the pants to their knees are joining gangs all over America. All these stereotypes of black people are supported through movies, books, and television, creating a common consensus that this is the way black people really are. You've seen movies where someone bumps the big black guy and he growls in anger and the person runs away. The customers in the hair shop always say "ok" or talk "ghetto" and talk about other people's business and every rapper from the hood is labeled as a "gangsta." People incorporate these jokes and fictional characters and scenarios into everyday real life. This is one of the reasons why others avoid the big black man on the street. Have you noticed a white parent pull their child closer to them while passing a black male even though there was enough space to get by? Have you seen a white woman in corporate America go to the hair shop on the corner, or to the hair and day spa in the mall? How about a black teenager with urban wear walking into a clothing store and being watched from across the room or have you been the teenage under suspicion? This ignorance is ridiculous, anything capable of a black person is commensurate to the ability of a white person, or any other race, but as people accept these stereotypes, the situations our people are under can become more serious than labels.
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