New Black Man- Mark Anthony Neal

New Black Man-

In Chapter 1 of New Black Man by Mark Anthony Neal, the "crisis of black masculinity" is examined along with it's meaning throughout the black community. The first few paragraphs begin by introducing a common issue within the white community, where there is an apparent notion that all black men have a wild and authoritative sexuality that is seemingly "uncontrollable". Therefore, black men are commonly feared and mistreated simply because of the fact that they are black, and not because they have done anything wrong. Here Anthony writes, "We seem to have lost our sense of shame as a society."

The text then goes on to state that, because of this specific "US white man" view of all black men, it is not hard for the reputable black men to fall into the "thug-nigga" persona. Therefore, in a sense, the white population contributes to the reason why the black community has to live with these stereotypes. By enforcing the labels, they are instead being created.

In affect, black men are forced into a world of conflicting identities: the subordinate and patriarchal. Black men are subordinated by the white community, but at the same time subordinating black women. What kind of world do we live in that we expect a group of men to treat their women with respect if we don't treat them with respect? And quite similarly, how can black men expect to be treated with respect if they don't treat their own women with respect? Its a never ending cycle that can only be broken one way; with the common notion that humans are humans no matter what color or sex.

Therefore a new group of people was created; the "New Black Man". This is addressed as one who "embraces a feminist worldview". But first a specific issue needs to be discussed.

Hip Hop; A powerful unit to the "black world". Anthony discusses its pros and cons; Pros being that it usually holds a powerful message and is a great talent. Anthony definitely has an appreciation for its soul. Cons being that it encourages black men away from a brighter future.

So with a world like Hip Hop comes a new form of black man, the "talented tenth". These are "today's successful black men", many of which used to be predominantly in the world of hip hop but now are a part of all aspects of the working world. However, the talented tenth are causing problems for the apparent "New Black Man" mentioned earlier. Because they are placed above the spectrum of regular black men, the New Black Man gets away with a lot more trouble then would the general white man. With crimes such as rape and abuse, not only does the New Black Man tarnish the black man image but he broadens the separation with himself and the general black population (women and children included), pushing the general black man further into oblivion.

Lastly, Anthony takes note of the Million Man March which he describes as the "greatest gathering of black man ever" to "declare to the world our readiness to stand up like free Black men to take responsibility of the freedom allegedly given to us in 1865." Although a great notion, this march had many negative consequences. Anthony discusses the problems it caused for black gay men as well as black women by excluding them from the fight for the respect of all black people. The Million Man March supports the "Strong Black Man" which describes a black, strong, heterosexual, conservative, and one-dimentional man. The problem with this is that it leaves out everyone else in the black community, and therefore is promoting awareness for only a few black individuals which in turn is not helping the problem. Obviously it is extremely important to help the cause of black men, and Anthony is aware of this, but he also knows that it should not be done at the expense of some black men along with black women and children. It needs to be a unified battle.

I agree fully with everything that Anthony had to say. The very first paragraph confused me because I thought he was being serious when he mentioned that OJ Simpson was above the "black drug dealers" of the world, but then I understood what he meant. Anthony was saying quite the opposite, that it is not only the black drug dealers that make up the black population. The Black Population is so often criticized for the acts of a few individuals.

Sometimes I also felt that Anthony was arguing that white men are innocent until proven guilty (when it comes to crimes) while black men are guilty until proven innocent. When he mentioned the "talented tenth" later in the text it made me think of a particular movie. If you've seen Boyz N The Hood, there is a scene where a black policeman stops a car and is extra violent with the black driver, yelling at him for being a "filthy nigga" simply because of his skin color. This was an ironic scene as the policeman himself was black, which connected me to the "talented tenth" notion that Anthony was discussing about how it is not only the white man who stereotypes the black community, but certain black individuals as well.

Overall, I think Anthony was trying to bring attention to the vast difficulties of the identity of black masculinity. Because it is a struggle of not only sex, but gender as well, black men are thrown around within a world of domination and subordination, causing a clash of power which in turn affects individuality. In order to fix this we should keep in mind three important things. 1. The white population as a whole has stereotyped the black population because of a few bad people, something that could have easily been done to the white community had it not started as the dominant power among races. 2. Black men and women need to fight off the black stereotype within their own community if they wish to have it eliminated from the rest of the world. 3. Black liberation includes all sexes and ages, so "black masculinity" must be found within a world of respect for black women and children as well.