Black Misandry and the Killing of Black Boys and Men

ABSTRACT

The ways in which Black boys and men are framed and projected within U.S. society reveal clear messages of Black misandry, Negrophobia, and scripting of Black male bodies. From “tar baby” to “thug” Black boys and men are always already under surveillance—leading to prejudice, physical violence, and criminalized projections. Yet, commitments to and investments in colorblind rhetoric and ideology seem to obscure the realities that gendered racism against Black men and boys are not newsworthy and have little, if anything, to do with race. In fact, as has been seen in response to some of the more high-profile cases in the public killing of Black men and boys, colorblind rhetoric has been used to deny the racial realities of these events and experiences. To contribute to this literature, the current study analyzes qualitative interview data from 25 individuals focused on their perceptions of race and the killing of Black boys and men. Our data offer two critical points to contemporary discussions of race and gendered racism. First, the already available scripts about Black male bodies (e.g., fear and avoidance) can be used to justify racism and violence against Black boys and men. And, second, racism can be rationalized based on people’s preconceived notions and, even more specifically, because of their color consciousness (e.g., Black male equals threat). The findings reveal that the stereotyping and profiling of Black boys and men are rationalized within a national rhetoric that posits Black boys and men as problems and their killings are justified by Black misandry, which ultimately reveals the costs of their Blackmaleness.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Throughout this manuscript, we use the terms “boys” and “men” to distinguish between individual development and the life course; the term boys refers to individuals under age 18 while the term men refers to individuals over age 18. (We acknowledge that the term young men is used to refer to individuals aged 18–25; however, we were concerned about being overly wordy in our terminology). In addition, while “males” is a term used often, for us, distinguishing between boys and men is critically important given the ways that Black boys often are adultified and Black men are infantilized by a number of social institutions.

² We use the terms “Black” and “African American” interchangeably in this article to reference people of African descent throughout the diaspora.

³ Emmett Till’s body was found in Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River weighted down by a seventy-five pound cotton gin fan that was tied around his neck with barbed wire. His body was barely recognizable; one eye was gouged out and his head was crushed. His mother, Mamie Till, and the Black press generated national publicity by allowing an open casket funeral to display fully the grotesque injustice of his death.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Derrick R. Brooms

Derrick R. Brooms is faculty in sociology and Africana studies at the University of Cincinnati and serves as a youth worker. He specializes in the sociology of African Americans, particularly Black males, with research and activism that focuses on educational equity, race and racism, diversity and inequality, and identity. He is author of Being Black, Being Male on Campus: Understanding and Confronting Black Male Collegiate Experiences (SUNY Press, 2017) and co-editor of Living Racism: Through the Barrel of the Book (Lexington Press, 2018).

Jelisa S. Clark

Jelisa S. Clark is faculty in sociology at Fayetteville State University. Her research is focused on the intersection of race and gender in education, with particular emphasis on how racial ideologies operate and shape the experiences of students. She is coauthor of Empowering Men of Color on Campus: Building Student Community in Higher Education (Rutgers Press, 2018).