In English 3050, I learned to strengthen my use of rhetoric with credible sources. In our heaviest graded assignment, the Argument Proposal and Literature Review, we were instructed to solve a social issue using reliable sources, meaning these sources were scholarly and valuable in their research. In using these sources, we developed our own opinions around the subject matter to form a solution to the overall problem, “stagnancy of African American growth”. The most important part of the assignment was when we assessed the outside sources we used on the content of the project. After examining the problem, the “literature review” helped to review our sources for their credibility and relativity to the subject at hand. This assignment helped me realize how important sources are in the evaluation of my future assignments. If your sources are not credible, it destroys the validity of your argument and continues to send a misleading message into the world.
Argument Proposal and Literature Review
The problem of the “deterioration of the Negro family,” Moynihan explained, had progressed to the point that it was “capable of perpetuating itself without assistance from the white world.” -Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Although the Moynihan report was written over 52 years ago, the current state of the black community is a depiction of Moynihan’s words, no longer enslaved through chains yet the bondage of its remnants remains. According the NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, “ African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.
African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population.”(NAACP)
For this argument, class is not affiliated within the representation of the black community, although members associated with poverty face higher systemic constraints. For this argument, the “black community” can be defined and recognized as all persons who are assumed to be marked or identified to be of “black” ethnicity. Although racism stands to be a global issue the focus of this argument is narrowed to focus only on those of marked or identified “black” (African American) ethnicity residing in the United States of America. It is not our intention to correct the problem as we stand in agreement with Moynihan on his belief that “while perhaps born of structural inequity initially, weaknesses of the black family structure have taken on an independent life, advanced by a culture and pattern of individual decision making, whose long-term impacts could not easily be reverse” (4). However, it is our intention to create awareness of the issue which we hope will in counterpart create conversation to conspire change within the black individual. We propose systemic generational values of the enslaved black community reinforced a integrated cycle that has led to further division in the current state of black community, intertwining its conditioning within educational, judicial, and cultural norms.
Literature Review
As our argument is integrated and complex in nature, to enhance understanding for our reader we have placed each phase of the cycle in the order in which we feel it stems from.
- Cultural
Although “free” by law, the ideology of slavery remains most often unconsciously present in the cultural norms of the African American community. This underlying consciousness can be portrayed in majority of African American culture. Authors R.A Lenhardt, Corrin Pinkley, and Angela P. Harris display this theory of thought through their academic journals and scholarly writings “Moynihan, Marriage, Black Citizenship,” “The Effects of Internalized Oppression on the Black Community,” and “From Color Line to Color Chart: Racism and Colorism in the New Century”
Through the analysis of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s notorious “Moynihan Report,” A. R Lenhardt analyzes the correlation of cultural norms regarding black partnership, more specifically marriage and its ancestral relations to the disadvantages faced within the black community. Lenhardt begins his analysis with the introduction of Moynihan’s view which holds systemic constraints in areas such as criminal justice, education, employment, and housing which he claims “work not only to disadvantage black families, but also remove marriage as a viable option for many couples” (Lenhardt, 1). He proposes the theory that these systemic constraints which he quotes as “three centuries of injustice” created a policy tool, “the institution of marriage” which consistently works to subjugate African Americans (Lendhardt, 1). Lenhardt argued his theory with the support of Moynihan’s finding displaying “disproportionately high numbers of female-headed black households served primarily to promote “anti-social behavior” and “retard the progress of African Americans as a whole” (Lenhardt 4). Concluding the analysis, Lenhardt indicates the “matriarchal structure” of the black community not only encourages “a crushing burden on the Negro male,” but also “perpetuates the cycle of poverty and deprivation” from which most black youth could never hope to escape (Lenhardt 4).
In “From Color Line to Color Chart: Racism and Colorism in the New Century”, Angela Harris speaks on a topic that isn’t always seen as a problem in the black community. Whereas racism is the prejudiced of a person or persons based on their racial identity, colorism takes the role of prejudiced based on someone’s regardless of race. With those definitions, we can see how colorism can play a major and negative role in the black community. Throughout the US black history, we have seen the clear division of negroes based on their skin tone. During slavery, darker tone slaves would stay outside and conduct field and yard work while those of lighter complexions would often take roles indoors as cooks or servants. This, however, did not end with slavery. Lighter tone people had the advantage of avoiding discrimination and violence by “passing” which is going for a different racial identity other than your biological one. This could lead to these blacks living seemingly average lives of the time. Because of this, it was deeply instilled in the black community that light skinned people had it easier and were ultimately the more desirable ones. This idea lead to the belief that light skinned people were somehow better than dark skinned, and thus the never ending light skin v dark skin war began and has only intensified throughout the years. As Corrin Pinkley states in “The Effects of Internalized Oppression on the Black Community,” understanding black identity is like peering through a looking glass and if we are not even accepting towards each other and our differences, it would be difficult working successfully to get others to respect us, too (Pinkley 2. Both the matriarchal institution of marriage and values of colorism are remnants of slavery ideology affecting the constraints which contribute to the division of the black community today.
- Educational
Systemic educational norms created with the intent to subjugate the black community has influenced the black male to adopt the prison to pipeline mentality. This mentality causing division within the black community enhances the systemic cycle of constraint influencing students to identify as criminals before even finishing school. The poverty of the black community is always used as the excuse for the issues in education. The government wants us to believe that due to poverty in the community, this leads to malnourished students and it’s hard for a hungry student to learn. By the government making these excuses it has led to the black community adapting to this behavior and believing what they say which is not true.
According to Strauss, the reason why the black community is struggling in education is not because of poverty but because of the cycle of the black male being taken out of the home due to incarceration. He feels that if the cycle of the black man being incarcerated is broken and they are able to be in the community, then this will cause income to come into the community and more income can lead to increase in funds that can go to education in the black community. The government basically takes the black man, the breadwinner, out of the home and the community so that the black community will suffer with poverty. This is a repeated cycle that needs to end.
According to Cook of the U.S. News, black families are not as eager to learn and make education a priority. The rate of black students compared to white students that graduate from high school is significantly different. “On average, schools serving more minority populations have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who are less likely to be certified (Cook, 1). The black community will never receive the same education as the white community because of the way the government has the education system setup. The government has made it where the black community will always be considered living in poverty because they take the black man out of the homes due to judicial issues. Even in education you find more black males to be suspended from school than whites. Therefore, causing the prison to pipeline mentality.
- Judicial
In addition to educational and cultural schemes used to set back the black community, there are several examples of judicial legislation in the United States that add to this cyclical set of norms African American culture has come to know. Due to this legislation, African Americans have been limited to a small role in the development of the United States democracy. Several laws are aimed at compromising the black community’s structure and keeping African Americans stagnant in their process of progressing as an ethnicity in the United States.
In an Article from the University of North Carolina Law program, there is a reference to popular cultural activist Michelle Alexander, where she points out some of the biases in legislation in the United States. Alexander points to a male named Jarvious Cotton who is a prime example of American legislation at work. Alexander states, “Jarvious Cotton cannot vote . . . Cotton’s great-great grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku Klux Klan for attempting to vote . . . . His father was barred from voting by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Jarvious Cotton cannot vote because he, like many Black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole.”(Boddie, NCLR)
Hundreds of years ago, Cotton’s grandfather was barred from participating in the original legislation of the United States. As a slave, African Americans were considered to be inferior and unequal to those of the Caucasian race. Years later, the cycle has continued. Legislation has been passed to keep African Americans out of slavery. However, new legislation such as the felon disenfranchisement law has also been passed. This law takes the right to vote away from felons. People who are felons are disproportionately people of the African American race. This legislation raises the chances for the black community to be taken out of the equation for new laws to be passed. Without the black community’s voices heard, America’s judicial system will never fall in favor of them, leading to them being continually marginalized.
The African American community has continued with this struggle of getting legislation to favor their ideals for centuries. A major epidemic in America was the “Crack Era”. the 1980’s. A large portion of America was affected by the drug “crack”, and legislation had to be passed to put a halt on drug use. In 1988, the Anti- Drug Abuse Act introduced penalties for the use and distribution of crack cocaine. The act was great in the sense that it would remove the drug from the streets. However, it was a unequal removal. There was a difference in the sizing of crack. Whites, or those of the Caucasian race, used crack as a powdered substance, and Blacks used crack as a hard substance. In the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the penalties were different for the same drug. The Howard Law Journal States, “The 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act extended these penalties to the charge of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. As a result, these laws impose a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for crimes involving five grams of crack, while possession of 500 grams of cocaine is necessary to trigger the same sentence. This tremendous disparity between the sentencing for crack and powder cocaine offenses—different forms of the same drug stereotypically associated with poor Blacks and middle to upper-income Whites..”(Tyson, Howard Law Journal)
Instead of the Drug Abuse Act being aimed at the removal of crack entirely, it held one race more subject than another. This legislation cycles our culture by indicting African Americans at a higher rate than other races, and deleting their chances of having a voice in government. The American judicial system is built around a racial prejudice that attacks the black community. Without the removal of these laws, the Black community will continue to cycle it’s traditions. As a democracy, every American citizen has a voice, but the lawmakers of this country make it impossible for minorities to be heard.
In America’s traditions, which construct African Americans cultural, educational, and judicial norms hold the success of the black community at a very low regard. In return, the integrated cycle of division in the black community continues and the systemic norms this country was founded upon stand firm. The cycle will continue if the systemic set of values this country stands on are not identified and dealt with in the proper manner. A country will never be united if the principals it regards as normal are not inclusive of all cultures.
Works Cited
Boddie, Elise C.. Adaptive Discrimination. University of North Carolina School Of Law. 2016. http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4781&context=nclr
NAACP. Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. 2017. http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/
LENHARDT, R. A. “Moynihan, Marriage, and Black Citizenship.” Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 2, Spring2016, pp. 1-17. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lgh&AN=120955499&site=eds-live.
Tyson, Christopher J., At the Intersection of Race and History: The Unique Relationship Between the Davis Intent Requirement and the Crack Laws. Louisiana State Law Center. 2008. http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&context=faculty_scholarship
From Color Line to Color Chart: Racism and Colorism in the New Century
The Effects of Internalized Oppression on the Black Community