Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
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and equal opportunity in the U.S. requires a constant effort of self-delusion. It is important to find intelligent ways of challenging and neutralizing racialized gender oppression (Leary, 2005). There are (and historically have always been) Black males who engage in rebellion against oppression (White & Cones, 1999). They may seek to challenge mainstream society and increase opportunity for Black people by using methods within or outside the system (i.e., Civil Rights Movement or the Black Liberation Army).
Fighting against oppression is healthy. Fanon (1965) asserts that healing must also include challenging the social, cultural, and political processes by which people of African descent are subjugated. There is some research to support Fanon’s (1965) assertion. Krieger and Sidney’s (1996) research on the effects of racial discrimination on blood pressure revealed that African Americans who reported experiencing unfair treatment and typically accepted it without challenge had significantly higher blood ←52 | 53→pressure as compared to those who fought against unfair treatment. Findings like this support Fanon’s (1965) assertion that the process of fighting oppression is an act of healing for the oppressed.
Challenging racism comes with its own set of choices and Black men resist in various ways. Some middle-class Black men respond to workplace racism by living in Black neighborhoods, moving into careers that involve service to Black communities, and/or making efforts to develop Black consciousness and knowledge (White & Cones, 1999). White and Cones (1999) explain that Black men must learn to turn the raw emotion generated by racism into constructive energy to challenge it. Channeling this energy can be done in constructive and non-constructive ways. Constructive methods empower people and their communities, while non-constructive ones make problems worse and ultimately harm people and communities. Non-constructive ways include gang violence that primarily harms other Black people. Constructive ways can include acts of artistic creation—the way men like Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright did through their great literary works, Invisible Man and Native Son respectively. In addition, others have channeled their energy through poetry like Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Oron Kenyetta, Gil Scot-Heron, or Saul Williams. For a Black man to seek empowerment, he must be able to see past the immediate movement or condition and imagine the long-term solutions. According to White and Cones (1999), he must be able to dream of possibilities not yet visible, then develop a strategy to make them a reality. Psychologically, Black men cope constructively by planning to achieve goals to advance themselves, their families, and communities. Constructive methods of resistance are not limited to these artistic examples. They are all interconnected and include intellectual, political, spiritual, economic and other methods. Armed resistance/rebellion or revolution are forms of resistance as much as cultural reclamation.
Resistance must also include culture. Because culture naturally resists racism and the act of oppression requires eliminating resistance, culture becomes a target of racism (Nobles, 2006). Nobles (2006) takes the position that two twin pillars must be addressed in the process of liberating African consciousness: minimizing destructive forces and maximizing productive forces in terms of African cultures. African people’s resistance to cultural imposition is not always intentional or carefully planned. However, Kambon (2006) argues that collective, conscious resistance is required to resist psycho-cultural oppression. Black liberation and challenging racism must also include structural and institution level actions including institution building. According to Kambon (2006), to challenge and resist cultural racism, Black people have to build institutional support systems and engage in early socialization to instill African self-consciousness in Black people. African self-consciousness is the conscious level expression of Africanity, including (1) recognizing themselves as persons of African descent; (2) prioritizing the development and advancement of people of African descent; (3) actively engaging in efforts to improve the well-being of people of African descent, and lastly; (4) engaging in efforts to resist forces that oppress people of African descent (Kambon, 2006).
Culturally Grounded Service-Providing
The large majority of racially motivated hate crimes in the U.S. (the largest category of hate crimes) are committed against African Americans (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014b). African Americans also file more complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about racism, gender, sexual orientation, or religious orientation discrimination (Evans et al., 2016). Repeated and continued experiences like these can cause African Americans to experience Race-Based Trauma and/or sub-threshold Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomology, including emotional stress, physical harm and/or fear (Evans et al., 2016). Repeated experiences with anti-Black-male racism are assaults on the self-hood of Black men and can lead to feelings of restrictive emotionality, low self-worth, and depressive symptoms (Evans et al., 2016). Williams and Williams-Morris (2000) explain three aspects of the relationship between racism and mental health: (1) institutional racism creates ←53 | 54→barriers to accessing mental health treatment; (2) experiences with racial discrimination impact one’s identity and mental health, and; (3) internalizing racist messages impairs one’s perception of self and the world.
However, Black males are less likely than Black females to seek out counseling and psychotherapy, in part because society expects them to be self-reliant (Evans et al., 2016). One way to address the post-traumatic stress that Black men experience is by applying Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) strategies in counseling services for Black men. Using PTG, individuals who experience trauma can achieve growth and resilience by identifying the meaning or purpose of the traumatic events that they experienced. The outcomes of PTG can include a greater sense of compassion toward others, enhanced personal relationships, and an overall appreciation for life, including resilience (Evans et al., 2016). The philosophy of PTG assumes that individuals process negative events in both productive and non-productive ways and that active styles of processing are more productive than passive ones. PTG consists of three constructs: (1) deliberate rumination; (2) disclosure of Race-Based Trauma, and; (3) social and cultural factors. Deliberate rumination involves counselors helping Black men to reduce their stress and derive meaning from their experiences. This might include countering racist misperceptions, the teaching of relaxation techniques, identifying ways of overcoming racial trauma and helping Black men celebrate their racial/gender identity. Other techniques might include narrative therapy and collective memory exercises.
It is important for providers of social services to acknowledge the normality of stress due to trauma and the prevalence of racism to justify the individual’s experience. Disclosure of Race-Based Trauma should involve trying to help men identify the trauma and find significance in the experience through discussions about resilience and purposeful living. Counselors should also help Black men to acknowledge the skills and knowledge they gain through their suffering, which might include empathy for other diverse individuals, their potential as a change agent, and leaving a legacy for future generations of African American men. Social and cultural factors are important because they provide a network of support (family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, clergy, etc.). To facilitate this support, counselors can bring together family members, ethnic group members, and individuals who have had similar experiences so that they can communicate as a means of coping. Spiritual and intellectual communities can provide guidance for effective coping and resilience, and explanations for negative events. These methods of coping have proven successful in protecting individuals from PTSD symptomology.
Braxton-Newby and Jones (2014) introduce authentic engagement as a method for human service practitioners working with African American males. African Americans have a unique history of treatment and are often ignored or rendered invisible by racial/gender stereotyping. In addition, in professional literature Black male voices or firsthand accounts are rare. As a result, many African American males feel that social service agencies are not friendly to them. Authentic engagement includes five constructions: the Afrocentric perspective, the parallel story, the cool pose, soul, and the intersectional African American male. The Afrocentric perspective places African Americana males in the context of African history and culture. Placing Black males in their own history and culture challenges the context of mainstream stereotypes about them. The Afrocentric perspective allows service providers to evaluate African American males through a cultural system that values communalism and spirituality. It also protects Black males from internalizing racist perceptions of themselves.
The idea of parallel stories refers to the idea that Black males must be given the opportunity to tell