Humans grow with love and respect. Our robust identity may crack down in minutes if emotionally threatened in any way. It’s something that triggers us the most when it hits our perception of ourselves. Because humans are innately born with self-love, they can not survive without love.
You know it’s fine if somebody hates you. But when somebody makes you hate yourself, the feeling is inexplicable. A draining feeling that puts a dent in our living spirit and self-love we are intrinsically born with. Something that has always been a challenging situation for black youth out there. The history of black oppression dates back hundreds of years that led to systemic racism and oppression that gradually stuck to the woven fabric of society.
People protest against police raids on Black Panther headquarters on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall on December 11, 1969 [File: Wally Fong/AP] – Source: Aljazeera
Deep-Rooted Racial Inequalities in Historical American Society
You must have heard lots of black lives slogans that may strike a new thought upon you to look around and be responsible for the lives around you. Slogans that you find just words may have sacrificed various lives to be on the mainstream media and reach you. Such are the struggles we are going to share in this blog today. Because before chanting empty spirit slogans in a firm ally in the war against racism, you must know the black life experiences to actually make a difference around you.
Oppressed History of African Ancestors
The racism against black African Americans dates back to history when thousands of black people from the land of Africa were forced into becoming slaves and were sold to foreign lands, what now is the united states of America.
Over 500 years ago, people with colored skin were not treated as humans. They worked in fields and other laborious profession. Black people were hauled in chains and sold in slave markets of the United States of America, leaving the footprints of gruesome history. They have been exploited so grossly that for a long time, they accepted their fate this way. White supremacists made their life authenticated only on paper for whose property they were as if they were a sub-human category who were to serve the white race.
The Transitional Period of African American people. Source: familysearch.org
The Black Subconscious
Ones that have such a history, deep down fear of unacceptance deeply engrave in your subconscious. How to let’s take an example to learn it. When you hear a grueling sound, what’s the first thing that comes into your mind if you are unconscious– Some wild animal, of course? Why? How many wild animals do you see in the city? Almost none! Right? Or how many wild animals have you actually seen in your life?
Barely any! But still, you fear them for unknown reasons. Because your implicit memory of ancestors still infuses fear in you even after hundreds of years. Just like black people who have been taken for granted for ages have been wired with an unconscious fear of being substandard in today’s society. Although worlds have grown so much better for humans and life has become so convenient? But where do we stand when it comes to humanity?
But where do we stand when it comes to humanity?
Human behavior towards humans of other races defines how much we have actually evolved with time.
Apparently, slavery has ended, but have the mindset to ill-treat black ended? the situations today black kid faces are no less than forced slavery and forced surrender. Let’s have a look at the struggles African American youth goes through in their lifetime.
Apartheid Education
You can write a hundred slogans to remove discrimination and write a number of policies, but what actually makes the difference is Changning the mindset and behavior toward people around you. Until you change the mind of people, nothing can be effective. Just like our education system seemingly supports racism, but when it is built in the salient culture of the institution on the individual bases? Can policy really do something? However, it can protect them from any act of discrimination as it is officially condemned. However, how it affects the mental state of a black kid is a way more profound and lasting impact than you can imagine.
Enslaved people were considered property and so were not included by name in most records before emancipation in 1863. Source: familysearch.org
Educational discrimination is something all black kids face in their childhood. Being looked down upon and mistreated by fellows and teachers is something they are forced to feel normal and acceptable behaviors towards them. In American society, adolescence is an age of rebellion and emotional waking when you pay close attention to your surroundings, start to question things, and take on adventures. However, such a period never comes in black youth’s life because it’s lost somewhere in claiming their worth for becoming equal individuals.
High school education
High school education often becomes the darkest period of African American students’ life. That’s when they actually realize the world out here is not full of lovely people but ones that are ready to make life miserable for them. It was blacks that suffered the most under the colonial order, the education for black was always a neglected issue for the colonial leaders. There were uncountable instances when black kids were not preferred to study in white schools. The quality of education in Afro-American regions and white-American ones was drastically different.
In fact, the youth of afro American origin are deliberately alienated from the educational process. Partial substandard education allows whites supremacist to subtly maintain their colonial status. Schools played an extensive role in building racist mindsets among youth, nurturing colonial youth in their oppressive behavior. The discrimination was so powerful that black youth’s mindsets were manipulated as if they deserved what was happening to them and that they were unfit for all well-being in life because they had colored skin. While white kids struggle to avail the luxury of life, black kids strive for the basic needs they were denied by society: love, respect, education, a job, and a good living standard.
No professional growth/ indulgence in Crime and Violence
The struggles of African American youth and community don’t end with their school. Real discrimination starts when they explore their place in the professional world. The job market is highly squeezed into finding the best white candidates. Because of their sub-substandard education as compared to the whites, they are often disregarded for the job as they lack the skillset to be the most fitting candidate. Whoever breaks the pattern and performs beyond normal to seek recognition is often pushed back and discouraged. Black people have been indulging in gun violence because of the unending chain of oppression that left no other option for them.
African Americans in the Military
The 688th Central Postal Directory battalion, made up of over 850 African American women, sent to Britain in 1945 to clear a backlog of millions of pieces of mail intended for US personnel. They were the only African American WACS to serve abroad Photograph: United States Army Signal Corps. Source: theguardian.com
The struggles of African American Youth have a whole new tale when recruited into U.S. Army. The army is one of the professions black men mostly find jobs Because they are strong, robust, and heavily built. Besides that, the treatments of black and white soldiers within the army are not the same. Blacks are mostly posted on the lower level while in command of whites. Their pay and other benefits are much less than those of white. Black soldiers of African origin face long series of obstacles in the forms of injustice and unfair treatment despite being super effective in combat and courageous in their performance.
Death at An Early Age
Young black men, having a disturbing life, are more easily drawn towards drug use because their whole life is in constant agony and frustration over unending discrimination. On the other hand, the Worst has been done to black women in the south side of the state. Black women have been forced to get sterilized, and it was practiced without their consent or even letting them know. During the decade of 1970, half of the women who got sterilized were black and were from lower middle-class black families. The quality of life for black and white is entirely different, which poses a further struggle for African American Youth and Communities.
People living an arduous life naturally have a low life expectancy. In addition to that, what makes it more serious is the cause of death. The cause of death for white people widely accidents, diseases, or either they die natural deaths. On the other hand, suicide, homicide, and drug abuse or accidents were the major causes behind the deaths of black men. These facts question the sanity of society for how it treats people based on their color, race, and ethnicity.
However, these cliches are undergoing a revolution, for the world has grown more accepting and compassionate. But do you think it has really changed? Think it yourself, do you judge or feel superior the next time you see a dark person? The answer lies deep within your heart. Unless you are a person of color, you cannot understand the struggles of African American Youth and Community.
Final Thoughts:
Many black people have broken the glass ceiling and gone beyond their expectations to gain successful careers in various professions such as sports, acting, singing, and more. Such are the people who have fought all odds to make your life memorable, not just for themselves but for the whole black race. Identity Crises for blacks have been a major struggle of African American Youth and Communities. Claiming your identity for society and within your perceived image of yourself is a commendable thing that many blacks have done.
One such courageous story author R. Ray Barnes shares with the reader in his Queen Pin Book is where a young African American woman pursues her dream of becoming a professional bowling sports player. As soon as she starts to find her success in bowling, she finds herself dealing with the racial battle and injustice. Get your copies to learn the story of Yvonne Barnes, who established the first African American woman bowling team defying all odds that weakened her passion. Order your copies at 20% now.
