The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice—Black Life Really Does Matter!

ABSTRACT

Despite the contemporary public’s discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and the killing of Black males.

KEYWORDS:

• teaching social justice
• police brutality
• excessive force
• Black males
• unarmed Black males
• critical race theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.