by Marcus Brooks

Created on: December 04, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2008

Young, black males in America have suffered for generations. Print media and television cast an offending light by showing adolescents and adults in the clutches of police officers. They showed them lying dead in alleyways from either drug overdoses or street crimes. They featured many in hip-hop videos shaking bottles of Christal with scantily-clad women. The combined effect created a stereotype that they are criminally-minded, dysfunctional and misogynistic. But, black males aren't at the bottom of society's totem pole.

In White America, black women inherited that dwelling. They are the most racially and sexually discriminated group in America. They struggled with their own identity and what society's thinks they should be. Society influenced them to lighten their skin and blonde and straighten their hair. Consumers purchased racist-themed products in their image. Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth showed the black women as an overweight behemoth wearing a raggedty, old maid's uniform with an apron. Cartoons displayed them with oversized lips and posteriors, talking loud and ill-mannered. The "Mammy and Pappy" shorts during Vaudeville times pictured these strong and regal ladies in comprising positions. White America disrespected black women first.

But, black men took over disrespecting black women. Black men left black women to only date white women for social status. They left black women to date white women to make "pretty babies". Black men continued this trend by dating Latino and Asian women; especially Korean. Biracial children seemingly had "perfect hair". Black children's hair "suffered" from being too coarse and nappy. Depending on their shade, biracial children passed for white. Because of their shade and hair, black children never did.

In Vincent Powell's book, "Betrayed", he discussed how dark-skinned, black people are discriminated by lighter-skinned, black people. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, lighter-skinned blacks acted as "overseers" to the darker-skinned. Somehow, the more dark someone was, they had the potential to be more aggressive against White America. For the little perks they received, lighter-skinned blacks oppressed darker-skinned blacks at the behest of white racists.

Black men and black women died from racism. Slavery, Reconstruction, early 1900s, World War I and II eras, the Movement, the Counterculture (COINTELPRO), crack and police brutality killed millions of blacks in America. Whether through forced labor, war, murder or oppression, racism killed black people.

Racism has always existed because of its cycles. The generation before passed the torch to the next generation; thus prolonging the injustice.

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