Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
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features (skin color, hair texture, etc.) received less harsh sentences. Eberhardt, Davies, Purdie-Vaughns, and Johnson (2006) investigated the relationship between perceived stereotypicality of Black male defendants and sentencing outcomes. They found that the men who had a more stereotypically Black appearance (broad nose, thick lips, dark skin) were more likely to receive the death penalty when their victims were White. Because stereotypically Black physical features are associated with criminality, Black men with less of those features may be considered less criminal (Eberhardt et al., 2006).
These findings are consistent with findings that skin color is a clear marker for discrimination. Black men with darker skin tones have been found to be 11 times more likely to experience discrimination than those with lighter skin tones (Klonoff & Landrine, 2000). This is rooted in Black people’s ←37 | 38→experiences with White supremacy. Colorism is the favoring of light skin complexion over dark skin complexion (Ryabov, 2013). The skin color discrimination that many African Americans face can affect their quality of life (Uzogara, Lee, Abdou, Jackson, & Levant, 2014). During slavery Whites created hierarchies among the enslaved, favoring those with lighter complexions (usually mixed race and frequently the result of non-consensual sexual relations between White men and Black women) while those with darker skin were treated poorly. White supremacy has led to the construction of skin color as a marker of qualities such as intelligence and morality (Conwill, 2009). During enslavement, lighter-skin-toned enslaved Black people were given more favorable work assignments and physically separated from darker Blacks. Blacks of mixed ancestry were more likely to be given domestic work duties, better food and clothing, more freedom, and educational opportunity (Ryabov, 2013). They were considered more attractive and intelligent and were sold for higher prices than darker skinned Blacks during auctions. As a result, colorism has been ingrained into American society and it is a feature of institutional racism.
Consequences of Racism on Black Males
Franklin (2004) frames the impact of racism on Black males in terms of visibility. According to Franklin (2004), racism can cause Black males to suffer from an invisibility syndrome. Invisibility syndrome is a conceptual model for understanding the intrapsychic processes, behavioral adaptations, and outcomes of African Americans as they manage experiences of racism (Franklin & Boyd-Franklin, 2000). This model is designed for application to African Americans in general, but to African American males specifically because of the real and perceived relationship between their experiences with racism and their exceedingly high social and health risk factors (Franklin & Boyd-Franklin, 2000). Franklin (2004) defines invisibility as “an inner struggle with feelings that one’s talents, abilities, personality, and worth are not valued or recognized because of prejudice and racism” (p. 4). Black men’s true characters are rendered invisible because of the judgments that people make about their race and gender. Black males pick up on the idea that the society they exist in is largely blind to their personhood because Black men are hidden behind a cloak of prejudiced attitudes and racism (Franklin & Boyd-Franklin, 2000). “Conversely, we feel visible when our true talents, abilities, and worth are respected” (p. 4).
As a consequence of experiencing racism, people make attempts to gain visibility in ways that are either consistent with their identity and culture, or in ways that cause them cultural dissonance and distress. According to invisibility theory, the ongoing experience of microaggressions (or subtle acts and attitudes that fit a historical pattern of racial disregard) and efforts to manage them have an additive or cumulative effect creating harmful psychological and behavioral consequences. Leary (2005) adds a multigenerational analysis to investigations of the impact of racism on Black people. Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) is a theoretical framework designed to explain the pattern of psychological and behavioral adaptations among African Americans to the legacy of oppression. Leary (2005) defines PTSS as “a condition that exists when a population has experienced multigenerational trauma resulting from centuries of slavery and continues to experience oppression and institutionalized racism today. Added to this condition is a belief (real or imagined) that the benefits of the society in which they live are not accessible to them” (Leary, 2005, p. 121). The following is a list of the psychological and behavioral effects of racism, drawing on the current literature (Azibo, 2014; Dawkins, 1999), and building on Wilson’s (1991) 12 psychological outcomes of historical and contemporary forms of racism and violence, outlined in his text, Understanding Black Male Adolescent Violence.
Chronic Frustration and Anger
Wilson (1991) explains that racism prevents Black people from achieving desired goals resulting in a chronic sense of frustration. Similarly, Franklin (2004) argues that racism causes Black males to ←38 | 39→experience frustration due to their feeling invisible. Wilson (1991) also argues that Black people experience a chronic sense of anger demonstrated in ways ranging from overt expressions to more repressed, passive and submissive expressions. Through the lens of PTSS, this anger is an emotional response to a persistent legacy of blocked and frustrated access to goals—in addition to violence, degradation, misrepresentation, societal marginalization, and lack of equal opportunity. Franklin (2004) argues that this racism and invisibility-induced anger can also cause Black men to experience immobilization or an increasing inability to be productive. According to Azibo (2014), some Black people may engage in oppression violence reaction, spontaneous or unpremeditated acts of violence rooted in the pent-up anger produced by the variety of racism that Black men face.
Alien-Self Disorder
Akbar (1991) defines alien-self disorder as a mental condition manifested in behaviors that represent a rejection of people’s natural selves and threaten their own well-being, becoming alien to themselves. Similarly, Landrum-Brown (1990) argues that racism can lead to a denial of Blackness and/or African heritage. Moreover, when African American men internalize the same negative views of themselves as White Americans have about Black men, it can influence how they think about and interact with other Black people. When this happens, for example, a Black person may find it difficult to see beauty in their own bodies and other Black people’s bodies, especially those parts that have been most stigmatized by Whites, such as their noses, skin tone, lips, and hair (West, 2006). Such individuals are at risk of engaging in harmful reactive coping methods such as changing their physical features (Hammond, Agyemang, Neblett, & Seaton, 2014).
Due to Whites’ discrimination based on skin color, some African Americans have used skin color differences to establish social hierarchies and distinguish themselves from other African Americans. Over time, some lighter-skinned Blacks began to exclude dark-skinned Blacks from their social circles. For example, in the 20th century, some Black people used methods such as paper bag tests (excluding individuals with skin darker than a paper bag) or comb tests (excluding those with hair that a comb could not pass through easily), and establishing blue-vein societies (excluding those whose veins could not be seen through their skin). Continuing the social separation between light-skinned and dark-skinned Blacks, some light-skinned Blacks avoided marriage and socialization with dark-skinned Blacks. In fact, colorism in the U.S. has been so ingrained that it has contributed to contemporary socioeconomic differences (Uzogara et al., 2014).
However, there are advantages and disadvantages to skin complexion depending on context. For example, some research suggests that among African American males, dark skin males represent an alpha-male ideal, associated with characteristics such as strength, virility, confidence, and physical attractiveness (Hall, 1995). However, dark skin is also associated more closely with being labeled as a dangerous “bad boy.” Black males with dark skin complexions report more experiences with racism, they receive longer prison sentences than lighter-skinned counterparts for similar crimes, they experience more job discrimination, and they receive lower wages than Black men with lighter complexions (Blair et al., 2004; Goldsmith, 2006; Kirschenman & Neckerman, 1991; Wade, 1996).
Blacks may engage in more colorism in all-Black settings because they are more likely to distinguish themselves from one another in these contexts (Harvey, LaBeach, Pridgen, & Gocial, 2005). Whereas, in interracial contexts, they are more likely to distinguish themselves from non-Whites, and less likely to engage in colorism. Blacks with medium or brown skin tones are protected from in-group skin-tone discrimination relative to both dark- and light-skinned