Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
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barrier orientation, egalitarian, and behavioral messages. However, this group was also found to have a high frequency of negative messages (Cooper et al., 2015).
In general, the Black fathers who participated in the study were above average in all dimensions of racial socialization except negative-value messages. Cooper et al. (2015) found that parents of boys were less likely to talk about race; parents of girls are more likely to engage in racial socialization. It is important to note that some Black fathers indicate a reluctance to engage in racial socialization because they think it may lead their children to believe that: they cannot achieve what they want, that they are victims, that they have a reason to fail (Coles, 2009). Others believe that their Blackness is a given and therefore doesn’t need to be discussed (Coles, 2009). However, racial socialization has been linked to more positive racial identity and less depression (Stevenson, Reed, Bodison, & Bishop, 1997). When parents proactively discuss race and racism with their children, the children do better academically, socially, and emotionally compared to children whose parents avoid the subject (Brewster et al., 2014, p. 97). As a cautionary note, African Americans must be aware that racism has the power to erode even protective factors like racial identity and racial socialization when it is not sufficiently supported and reinforced.
Brewster et al. (2014) discuss how most African Americans engage in one of five racial socialization practices. One, preparation for bias is a racial socialization practice that between two-thirds and 90% ←50 | 51→of African American parents engage in. These parents make their children aware of racism and prepare them with strategies for how to handle it. They may engage in telling their sons to “be on time, to avoid wearing sagging pants or hoodies, and to work extra hard” (Brewster et al., 2014, p. 97). However, what Black children are taught about racism may vary. They need to know that racism is more than individual acts and be aware of institutional racism. Two, the egalitarian approach is one that more than two-thirds of Black parents practice by telling their children that everybody is equal, everyone is the same, and that color doesn’t matter. Middle-class and affluent Black parents in particular deliver messages like this. Three, cultural socialization involves messages consistent with the African worldview, such as the idea that self-knowledge is the basis of all knowledge. About one-third of African Americans send these messages. These parents teach their children to know their heritage, cultural values and traditions, and to have ethnic pride. They may do so by taking their children to cultural performances, having cultural symbols in their homes, and even giving their children ethnic names. Cultural socialization balances out what is lacking in a simple awareness of racism. Four, promoting mistrust is a socialization practice that only 3% of Black parents engage in. This involves telling their children that they can’t trust other racial groups (i.e., you can’t trust Whites). Five, silence about race is an approach not many Black parents take. Black children in this scenario are left unarmed to deal with stereotypes and negative treatment based on race. Relative to Black parents’ racial socialization of Black girls, racial socialization messages to Black boys concentrate more on strategies for self-regulating behaviors and defusing racial encounters (Bentley, Adams, & Stevenson, 2009). Black boys undergoing early physical maturation may prompt their parents to initiate conversations about how to manage possible racially charged encounters without sustaining physical or mental harm, because they are at heightened risk for violent racial encounters (Bentley et al., 2009).
There is much that the parents of Black youth can and often do to prevent racism from leading to depression. African Americans can prevent the harmful effects of racism on their children by exposing them to Black history and culture, teaching them how to interact appropriately with other racial groups, and instructing them on how to respond to racist situations and oppression in general. Without this kind of racial/ethnic socialization, Black children remain excessively vulnerable to the harmful effects of racism. Bynum, Burton, Best, and Nagayama Hall (2007) discovered that racial socialization messages reduced the stress that can accompany experiences of racism. To raise psychologically and emotionally healthy children, African American parents cannot afford taking the color-blind approach. Social science suggests that African American parents protect the psychological well-being of their children through early racial/cultural socialization. Failure to do so leaves Black children more vulnerable to the psychological effects of living in an oppressive environment.
Studies of multiracial parenting tend to focus on the accounts of White women, while information about Black fathers continues to be addressed indirectly through accounts of the mother or children (Childs & Dalmage, 2010). Childs and Dalmage (2010) conducted interviews with Black fathers of biracial children about their parenting experiences. Among their findings was the fact that Black fathers feel the need to actively challenge popular stereotypes of Black men and Black people in general for their children. These fathers are concerned that stereotypes might cause their biracial children to not embrace their Black identity, and they make extra efforts to expose their children to Black culture, pride, and identity. This is intensified by the worry that their children might not get these messages from their non-Black mothers who often feel less capable of racially socializing their children (Childs & Dalmage, 2010). Black fathers’ efforts to racially socialize their mixed children often brought them into conflict with their White spouses who may be less inclined to expose children to Black culture and peer groups. Moreover, parents can often clash over parenting styles, given that Black fathers tend to be authoritarian while White mothers tend to be more permissive (Childs & Dalmage, 2010).
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According to Spielberg (2014a) young Black males need the help of parents and communities to assist them in developing psychological shields against racism. Psychological shields include: teaching males about their own family and ethnic/cultural history; encouraging free expression and independent thought; exposing them to positive and supportive Black teachers; ensuring that they are a part of a constructive peer group that discusses racial issues; ensuring they are exposed to positive role models and mentors; teaching them healthy conflict-resolution skills; monitoring their access to media, and; ensuring that they have constructive cultural definitions of manhood. Therapeutic support groups can be an effective intervention because they allow Black men to share coping strategies in a fraternal atmosphere focusing on self-empowerment.
A method that some Black men use to resist racism and maintain their well-being is sanity checks or seeking validation and understanding from other Black people about their experiences with racism (Franklin, 2004). Franklin (2004) explains how important it is that Black men have the support of other African Americans who share experiences with microaggressions and feeling invisible (Franklin, 2004).
Culturally Grounded Healing
People find different ways of making sense of racist experiences and dealing with the stress that may come from those experiences. Utsey, Adams, and Bolden (2000) define Afrocultural coping as “as an effort to maintain a sense of harmony and balance within the physical, metaphysical, collective/communal, and spiritual/psychological realms of existence” (p. 197). There are four primary components of Afrocultural coping: cognitive/emotional debriefing, spiritual-centered coping, collective coping, and ritual-centered coping. Cognitive/emotional debriefing is an adaptive reaction that African Americans use to manage perceived environmental stress, such as discussing a racist co-worker with a supervisor, seeking out someone who might make one laugh, and holding out hope that things will get better. Spiritual-centered coping methods, like praying, represent African Americans sense of connection to spiritual aspects of the universe. Collective coping, grounded in a collectivist value system, is the use of group-centered activities to manage perceived racial stress such as discussion experiences with family or friends. Ritual-centered coping involves the use of rituals such as acknowledging the role that ancestors play in life, celebrating events, and honoring religious or spiritual deities. Ritual-centered coping might also involve playing music or lighting candles. Constantine, Donnelly, and Myers (2002) found that when African American adolescents believed their cultural group was a significant part of their self-concept, the more likely they were to use coping methods such as collective and spiritual-centered coping to deal with stress.
Resistance
An early step in resistance is acknowledgment; resistance is impossible without coming to grips with the reality of anti-Black male racism. For a Black man, ignoring racism and believing in the existence of