THE THREATENING BLACK MALE AS CONTINUAL THEME

The story you are about to read was submitted to Inquiring News publications last week of June. It was printed July 3 on page 4.Since then certain facts have occurred to change my situation a little but this story is still relevant.

While growing up in Detroit, Michigan as a youth one day my gaze focused on a Jet Magazine picture. The grotesque face on the page was that of a human being, Emmett Till. This fifteen year old black male was brutally murdered in the 1950s by white terrorists in Money, Mississippi for “whistling at a white woman.” Till was a threat in the thinking of whites because of attitudes he brought from Chicago that did not fit into a Southern worldview that declared blacks act [obsequious] a certain way. Trayvon Martin died by gun shot on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida. The shooter George Zimmerman described a black male that appeared threatening due to the way he was acting. Martin did not have a weapon (unless you count a bag of Skittles or soft drink as lethal).

There is a theme of black males as threatening which permeates the American psyche.

We can find the same theme of threatening black males (at least in the consciousness of some caucasians) inside the Department of Children and Families/ Connecticut Juvenile Training School. In both institutions there are more disciplinary actions directed toward black and Latino males than other ethnic groups. If you peruse the website dcfplantation.org or dcfplantation.blogspot.com you find all data needed to bolster my argument that 66% of DCF disciplines are geared toward males of color. The question in my mind revolves around why males of color are seen as threatening in America? We read that Emmett Till brought different thought patterns from Chicago to Money, Mississippi and white males said this could not be tolerated. Till died. Then Trayvon’s threatening manner entailed walking through a housing complex with a hood over his head. Trayvon died. Sherlock Holmes obvious question to Dr. Watson would be what are males of color doing, within the DCF plantation that causes such fear?  Let me offer you a sample case.

I have worked at DCF/ CJTS for six years and during this time period many males of color departed due to management chicanery. Hell, in my case management considered me a threat simply because of pointing out perceived biases and injustices. Now if thinking in a linear fashion or being educated makes me threatening to white management then that is their issue.

 Let me break this down like an organic compound.

Within the DCF plantation worldview black males are usually tethered in some form. A watchful management will always find policy or procedure to either use in 1. disciplining males of color, 2. placing a muzzle on any male who speaks out (this comes through supervision meetings or calculated plans to discipline the talkative male), 3. using other people of color as a Judas goat to lure black males of color into a position where management can deal with them-and then point to someone else as villain. All of these methods described are used to deal with threatening black males. I have not only organized protests about DCF/CJTS biases, but went on a hunger strike plus joined in a five person class action lawsuit against DCF/CJTS. But before any of those things occurred management had me targeted as threatening black male: the items in my possession to be deemed as threat, education and verbal skills.

In conclusion being a black male in America has been a risky thing since days of slavery. No longer are we lynched or castrated as punishment for perceived slights. Today the criteria used for punishing males of color within DCF/CJTS and America have changed.  It is clear there is the concept of threatening black male as continual theme in America.