Identity of African American Men
The Identity of African American Men: How has it been displayed in the Media; negatively or positively?
“No metaphor can capture completely the complexity of ethnic dynamics in the U.S. ‘Melting pot’ ignores the persistence and reconfiguration of the ethnicity over the generations. ‘Mosaic,’ much more apt for pluralistic societies such as Kenya or India, is too static a metaphor; it fails to take in to account the easy penetration of many ethnic boundaries. Nor is ‘salad bowl’ appropriate; the ingredients of a salad bowl are mixed but do not change. ‘Rainbow’ is a tantalizing metaphor, but rainbows disappear. ‘Symphony,’ like ‘rainbow,’ implies near perfect harmony; both fail to take into account the variety and range of ethnic conflict in the United States. The most accurately descriptive metaphor, the one that best explains the dynamics of ethnicity, is ‘kaleidoscope.’ American ethnicity is kaleidoscopic, i.e. ‘complex and varied, changing form, pattern, color… continually shifting from one set of relations to another; rapidly changing.’ When a kaleidoscope is in motion, the parts give the appearance of relationships. The viewer sees and endless variety of variegated patterns, just as takes place on the American ethnic landscape.”- Lawrence Fuchs (Literature for Composition 1032) “Identity in America” was the theme chosen by my English 201 study group. This theme was taken from chapter twenty two of the Literature for composition: Reading and Writing Argument text book. However, I focused the broad theme of “Identity in America” to the more narrowed theme of “The Display of African American men in the media.” I chose this theme or topic because I felt that I can relate to it and as a matter of fact, it was also interesting to me. But in order to conduct my research on the particular topic, I came up with the following question, “How has the identity of African American men been displayed by the media: negatively or positively?” This question
“No metaphor can capture completely the complexity of ethnic dynamics in the U.S. ‘Melting pot’ ignores the persistence and reconfiguration of the ethnicity over the generations. ‘Mosaic,’ much more apt for pluralistic societies such as Kenya or India, is too static a metaphor; it fails to take in to account the easy penetration of many ethnic boundaries. Nor is ‘salad bowl’ appropriate; the ingredients of a salad bowl are mixed but do not change. ‘Rainbow’ is a tantalizing metaphor, but rainbows disappear. ‘Symphony,’ like ‘rainbow,’ implies near perfect harmony; both fail to take into account the variety and range of ethnic conflict in the United States. The most accurately descriptive metaphor, the one that best explains the dynamics of ethnicity, is ‘kaleidoscope.’ American ethnicity is kaleidoscopic, i.e. ‘complex and varied, changing form, pattern, color… continually shifting from one set of relations to another; rapidly changing.’ When a kaleidoscope is in motion, the parts give the appearance of relationships. The viewer sees and endless variety of variegated patterns, just as takes place on the American ethnic landscape.”- Lawrence Fuchs (Literature for Composition 1032) “Identity in America” was the theme chosen by my English 201 study group. This theme was taken from chapter twenty two of the Literature for composition: Reading and Writing Argument text book. However, I focused the broad theme of “Identity in America” to the more narrowed theme of “The Display of African American men in the media.” I chose this theme or topic because I felt that I can relate to it and as a matter of fact, it was also interesting to me. But in order to conduct my research on the particular topic, I came up with the following question, “How has the identity of African American men been displayed by the media: negatively or positively?” This question
Cited: Barnet, Sylvan, Burto William and Cain E. William. Literature for Composition. New York: Longman, 2007. Entman, Robert and Rojecki, Andrew.“Media and its Portrayal of Black Americans.” racerelations.about.com. New York. 2008. <http://racerelations.about.com/od/stereotypesmentalmodels/a/blackimage.htm>. Glasgow, April T. Personal Interview. 20 Feb. 2008. Hotel Rwanda. Dir. Terry George. Lions Gate Films and United Artists, 2004. Randall, Alexander. Personal Interview. 20 Feb. 2008. Watkins, S. Craig, “Black Youth and Mass Media: Current Research and Emerging Questions.” < http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/prba/perspectives/winter2000/cwatkins.pdf>. Williams, Armstrong. “The Media’s Bias Against Black Men in America.” 31 March 2006. <http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/3/30/140755.shtml>.