Interesting Dialogue on Black Male "Otherness"

Robert: I read an article last week called Beyond love: A critical race ethnography of the schooling of adolescent Black males.

Please take 5 minutes and read my quick reflection.

This article is important to my topic because it investigates the ways that African American males experience distancing between themselves and those who could become a source of social capital for them. While I found this article to be an excellent read, it was yet another painful encounter for me. If I can be transparent, this article carried me up and down emotionally. The highs were identification with the things I see and feel, as were the lows. Solidarity feels good, even when it is painful. This article discusses the otherness of being an African American male. It attempts to dissect the way that African American males are categorized and marginalized in American society, and it concludes that we are "beyond love." It makes this determination based on the "otherness" of the category we occupy.

According to critical race theorist Richard Delgado, "we cannot identify with or love anyone who is too different from us." For one thing, we perceive the strange "Other" to have little to offer us; we regard the "Other" as something that disrupts and destroys whatever it comes in contact with. The strange Other is essentially different and ontologically separate from those whom we consider to be normal.

Duncan sites that most of the research and literature about black males, posits them as other. It speaks of black males in such a way that contributes to a "perception of strangeness" and to the "further marginalization of the group in school." The end result of this perception of "strangeness" is the estrangement of African American males. This estrangement colors every encounter that black males have with the world. When a black male has an authentic encounter with someone who does not appear to perceive him as strange, or is at least making a determined effort at color blindness, it often creates an awkwardness that forbids authenticity.

As I read this article, I heard echoes of my own voice saying, "What's wrong with them? Why do they act that way? Why don't they care? What were they thinking?" The strong critique I have on not objectifying groups of people and individuals by making them something "out there," makes thoughts and comments like this almost sinister for me. Its like I am failing to have an authentic encounter with myself, when I fail to have an authentic encounter with the boys (the boys I work with in an inner city church). Funny thing is, when I get passed my attempt to critically analyze the boys I work with, I forsake my "technique" and just practice being "with" them. ---To be "with" someone, anyone, requires giving of yourself. It requires stepping into a world that may be foreign, or even familiar. The one thing that it is not, is "yours."--- Entering their world and affirming their "somebodiness" is how I gain trust and access. That's when we realize that we have a lot in common.


Mary: That is very good. I see that you are bringing in different concepts to your work now. You are developing your thought processes and refining what you are passionate about. That is pretty evident.

Robert: Thanks... I really wanted you to focus more on the concepts than me though. Isn't this whole idea of the "otherness" of the African American male fascinating?

Mary: I did find the concept of otherness interesting. I would think though that white females (who are often teachers) would find black males most at the “otherness” end of the spectrum. I would think that male teachers would somehow find something in common with black males. Black females would be able to relate on some level of them being “the sons, brothers, etc.”. It is interesting…. Your own journey through the topic was interesting as well.

Robert: What was interesting in the study that produced the article was that teachers, administrators, students, and black males themselves had all internalized in value and practice, this otherness of the African American male. The "otherness" is in many cases normalized, which often renders the black male to be "beyond love."

Mary: Very sad if it is true…well, I guess not if it is true but if it is widespread.

Robert: Research indicates, and experience indicates... that it is very true. We (AA males) seldom feel understood and truly loved... And we do not want to discuss the depth of our feelings because the things we share become "evidence against us." This was also a recurring theme in the research for all marginalized groups (Native American, black women, black men, Puerto Rican girls, white women). Individuals in marginalized groups often used silence as a form of protection... repeatedly. The fear is that if you share your feelings, then people will use what you share as an excuse for your situation (why you are the way you are), and in a sense, devalue you even more... making you even more "other" by labeling you with negative characteristics and or qualities that do not enhance your self worth.

Mary: I feel you. That is the case when you make yourself or allow yourself to be vulnerable to people that you don’t trust. It is similar to the point that there are things that black folks can say to one another that would not be able to be said around “others’ because it could be used as validation of some things.