Author Topic: African American Male Interpretation  (Read 830 times)

Lorenzo

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African American Male Interpretation
« on: January 22, 2008, 05:42:31 PM »
Written by: A. Lorenzo Lucino Jr.

Looking at American society, one observes that there have been drastic changes in the perception of African American male sexuality ever since the antebellum era of the United States. The pre-civil war era was a testament of white supremacy over the black man, as seen in the gross endorsement and utilization of slavery by southern society as means to harvest crops. In essence, this era fueled the lavish lifestyle of the land owning aristocratic class of the south. The enslavement of the black male serves as the clearest historical representation of the presumed concept of white supremacy over the innate black male. Southerners demonized black male sexuality as an unnatural mixing of the white and black races, which had actually been occurring ever since the arrival of black slaves during the 17th century. This pretentious fear of black male sexuality was familiarized within American society during the time spanning the post civil war and progressive eras. Clear representation of this psyche can be observed in films such as Birth of a Nation. Although there were pockets of black rights speakers such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett that spoke for black equality, the general beliefs about black male sexuality were degrading. One can observe a clear difference in the perception of black male sexuality in the post civil rights era. At present, black male sexuality has become accepted as legitimate and less demonized by American society, unlike it had been during the post civil war to the progressive era. Modern American society respects the black male psyche and understands that within the bulk of his masculinity is the presence of intelligence and the quest for equality. Evidence of the change in societal perceptions of black male sexuality can be seen in Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice and the blaxploitation film, Shaft.
   
During the progressive era, the United States industrialized throughout the northern and southern states. Popular American historians also refer to this age as the Gilded Age. With the Gilded Age came the vices of society that would eventually lead to the problem of alcoholism and eventual backlash by prohibitionist. Complementary to this backlash came racist ideologies by Darwinists in American society that said African American was inferior in intellect and in genetics (Michaels) and that continual amalgamation between black men and white women would destroy the white woman and in essence the white race. White American progressive era thought condemned African American male sexuality. Proof of such degrading and immoral acts was the ratification of laws that outlawed interracial marriages (Foust) and the lynching campaigns committed by whites to galvanize and terrorize African American males in response to amalgamation (Royster 50-70).
   
While most of the White American society frowned upon the unrestrained sexual nature of African American males, there were African writers such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett that supported African males and condemned the atrocious actions committed upon them by racist southern whites. Ida B. Wells denied the very notion that it was the African American male’s primal sexual potency that led to the intermixing of black and white blood. On the other hand, Wells-Barnett demonized the southern white woman’s sexual curiosity in initiating any relationship between the white female and of the black male persuasion (Royster 29). When one looks at any of the evidence given to us by the white accounts, the primary charges against black men were usually of rape, which was in many cases preposterous. As best stated by Ida B. Wells-Barnett in reference to the southern white woman’s sexual decadence, “ White women were not being violated at all but were instead very willing partners, belying the fallacy that white women were uninterested in sexual pleasure and uninterested in African American men.”
   
Despite the provocations by the African American community in the United States for equality and enforcement of the anti-lynching laws, the majority of white Americans felt it necessary to maintain the status quo of racial divide. African male sexuality was addressed as a threat to the purity of the white woman and the white race itself in the early 20th century movie Birth of a Nation (Birth of a Nation). The movie itself was racist and propagandist in character, as was the norm of black male characterizations in the progressive era. In the film, one noticed that the “good” blacks were the ones that were fervently loyal to the white master and his family. Other than this, the African male was portrayed as a sexual demon of the Federal Army; an example of this was the character of Gus, who was a lusty black soldier of the Federal army that tried to rape Flora, the innocent white girl that represented purity. The movie also demonized black civil rightists as well as carpetbaggers during the post civil war era in the portrayal of Mr. Stoneman as a “black lover”. In clear analysis of the movie, one observes that during the 1910’s, white supremacist thought was at an all time high; this movie clearly validated the general consensus of the times, concerning rampant black inbreeding with whites and how it would destroy the white race in the United States (Birth of a Nation).

Progressive era racism that meticulously condemned African Americans, particularly African American males, was partially fueled by Eugenics thought. Eugenics was the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding, which itself was critical in claiming that the Negroid and Mongoloid races were of inferior stock to the Caucasoid race (DeCorte). Eugenics activists warned of black male sexuality as the main factor of undermining white racial superiority in that inbreeding would not only destroy the white genes but also create an inferior mulatto race (DeCorte). The progressive era fostered the belief that African American male sexuality was a threat to the white race; this belief would continue to be upheld until the civil rights era all the way to the modern age when beliefs of eugenics and interracial relationship as negative would be proved to be complete fallacy.

Black male sexuality and its centrality to the racial thought in the post civil rights era evolved from the racial thought of the progressive era in that American society generally accepted black male sexuality. Although there were pockets of American society that still feared the potency of African American sexuality, the general consensus saw African American men as equals to the white man with a clearer understanding of the black man’s mind. One can observe this in Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice, in which a black man who raped white women and other vices of American society turned into a self educated black philosopher and thinker (Cleaver 30-150). Cleaver justifies his actions against the white woman he raped as the only way of taking revenge on white men; this justification of rape transcends to the fact that white men have taken advantage of black women for over 3 centuries and that it was only fair if this occurrence was paid back. Soul on Ice examines the mind of the black man, which in this case is Cleaver himself; through time Cleaver identifies himself with Christian and Muslim ideological thought and eventually gains a respect for white women but also for white people in general. Validation of this drastic change from Cleaver’s once hateful stance on white people in general from Soul on Ice, “Let me say this. I was 22 when I came to prison and of course I have changed tremendously over the years. But I had always had a strong sense of myself and in the last few years I felt I was losing my identity. There was deadness in my body that eluded me, as though I could not exactly locate its site. I would be aware of this numbness, this feeling of atrophy, and it haunted the back of my mind. Because of this numb spot, I felt peculiarly off balance, the awareness of something missing, of a void, a certain intimation of emptiness. Now I know what it was. And since encountering you, I feel life strength flowing back into the spot. My step, the tread of my stride, which was becoming tentative and uncertain, has begun to recover and take on a new definiteness, a confidence, a boldness which makes me want to kick over a few tables!”(Cleaver 171)
   
In analyzing Soul on Ice, once can observe that the historical interpretation of ‘black male sexuality’ has truly been a result of the white man’s propaganda in instilling fears to white society of black people as a preventive means to maintain the status quo; The same theme was addressed by progressive era writer Ida B. Wells almost a century before.
   
The blaxploitation film Shaft, was central to racial thought and the perception of black male sexuality in modern era. This film, unlike The Birth of a Nation, examines the complexity of the black man, played by John Shaft, in expressing his sexuality, maintaining the professional agenda as well as defending the rights of his fellow black brothers and sisters (Shaft). Throughout Shaft, one observes the free spirit of the complex black mind and sexuality in the scene in which Shaft’s superiors look down on him for his ‘questionable tactics’ yet Shaft holds his ground. Shaft’s role embraces his African American male sexuality in that Shaft embraces sexual intercourse with both black and white women. For the first time in American society, we observe the African American male embrace his sexuality in motion pictures and be proud of it; the impression one has in watching Shaft is of respect and envy that Shaft is able to subdue such beautiful women. Shaft epitomizes the black man; his sexuality, his optimism, his quest for equality and justice, his complex mind and his intelligence. 
   
In observing the racial thought of black male sexuality, one can assert that black males have gained respect by their white contemporaries as time progressed to the modern age. Progressive Era racial thought primarily was aimed in maintaining the status quo of the white and black divide and the maintenance of the purity of the white race; hence we have propagandist films such as Birth of a Nation, which was aimed to dissuade amalgamation of whites and blacks. However, this racist ideology that was quite common in the early 20th century due the presence of Darwinist believers and the popularity of Eugenic science. The racist ideology that was common in early 20th century would later change due to the civil rights era that were vehemently powered by the African American activists. This insurgence of black activism led to the rise of respect for the African American and in particular, the African American male. Proof of this ‘birth of a newfound respect for the African American male’ can be observed in Cleaver’s Soul on Ice as well as in the blaxploitation film Shaft. Continual exposure of African American men and women in the media will eventually destroy the racist beliefs of black inferiority and rightly so. As James Baldwin said, “If we- and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others-do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” (Baldwin 106).


Enjoy~


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