For this portion of my portfolio, I choose to do a snapshot of the African American males culture.
In the media African Americans are widely viewed as either really good athletes or "gangsters" here are a few examples.
Michael Jordan Top 10 Dunks
Kobe Bryant Top 10
The next couple of videos are music videos of different rappers, I apologize in advance if there are some words that go against your morals, I tried to get the clean versions.
Lil Wayne Love Me
Notice how many words they are having to bleep out.
Coolio Gangsters Paradise
Chamillionaire Ridin' Dirty
As I was collecting these articles, I was trying to find a 'single story' behind them. However because they range from athletes to criminals I don't know if there is a 'single story' that characterizes my five articles. But when viewed individually, one can say that African Americans in the United States are 'famous' whether it be for doing something great, like in the case of Michael Jordan, or for doing something wrong, in the case of the criminals. You could say that if they aren't good athletes or extraordinary in what they do they are perceived as criminals or thugs. The media fails to portray the in-betweens, the everyday working male. It is also perceived that they are not very smart.
With this in mind, a male teenager of the African American descent, may feel the pressure to have to be extraordinary at a certain sport or he will end up on the streets fighting in different gang wars. Thus in the school setting, his peers may make fun of him if he isn't the star football or basketball player. He isn't seen as one that does well in his academics, putting more pressure on him. As a teacher it is important to make sure that these misconceptions are not leading to how these individuals are viewed in the classroom. If they aren't getting support from us as teachers it is very possible that the pressure to do well in sports or become wealthy is too much for them and they fall into the stereotype that we have given to them as thugs.
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