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Straight Black Men Are the White People of Black People

Croatoan

They/Them A-10 Warthog
http://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com...e-the-white-people-of-black-people-1814157214

It feels counterintuitive to suggest that straight black men as a whole possess any sort of privilege—particularly the type of privilege created for and protected by whiteness. In America, we are near or at the bottom in every relevant metric determining quality of life. Our arrest and incarceration rates, our likelihood of dying a violent death, our likelihood of graduating high school and attending college, our employment rates, our average net worth, our likelihood of surviving past 70—I could continue, but the point is clear.

But assessing our privilege (or lack thereof) on these facts considers only our relationship with whiteness and with America. Intraracially, however, our relationship to and with black women is not unlike whiteness's relationship to us. In fact, it's eerily similar.

We're the ones whom the first black president created an entire initiative to assist and uplift. We're the ones whose beatings and deaths at the hands of the police galvanize the community in a way that the beatings and sexual assaults and deaths that those same police inflict upon black women do not. We're the ones whose mistreatment inspired a boycott of the NFL despite the NFL's long history of mishandling and outright ignoring far worse crimes against black women. We are the ones who get the biggest seat at the table and the biggest piece of chicken at the table despite making the smallest contribution to the meal.

Strike me down if old.
 
Yeah, no. (Straight) black men also have the highest chance of being killed because of gang violence, going to prison, poor educational attainment, etc. In fact, black [women] are pretty much better of or equal in every measurable metric.

A better article would be that light-skinned blacks are the white people of black people, which is literally true.

In short, what a dumb article. If you look at the entire demographic and not ridiculous exceptions, like entertainers and sports people, black women are way better off than black men. There are more black men in prison than in college.
 

Beefy

Member
Black women are treated even lower then us. But we are not the white people of black people. It's like people have said, it's male privilege. The article clickbaits it bad.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
I don't know why there needs to be like... A competition here. I'd say gay black men almost without question have it worse, sure. Black women it's a mixed bag depending on what you prioritize. Trans black men/women, I can't even imagine.

But like... Rather than phrasing an article in a way that's going to get people dismissive and argumentative, why not just focus on the challenges certain demographics have? This sort of thing always just seems like a lazy way to garner interest by inciting controversy.
 
Yea all this straight black male privilege I so richly enjoy.

Yeah I get my ass beaten like no other group but still get a nice dinner at the end of it(maybe), fucking thanks. Check out all this privilege don't you wish you had it as good as me?

You don't.
 

Zolo

Member
I don't know why there needs to be like... A competition here.

The thing is the term 'privilege' isn't supposed to be some all-encompassing term. It's supposed to help people evaluate what advantages they have. Different privileges can vary by sex/race/sexuality/gender/class/country/etc.
 

Aeana

Member
This poor title is going to keep people from even reading the post. The author really did not do himself any favors here.
 
Yeah, no. (Straight) black men also have the highest chance of being killed because of gang violence, going to prison, poor educational attainment, etc. In fact, black [women] are pretty much better of or equal in every measurable metric.

A better article would be that light-skinned blacks are the white people of black people, which is literally true.

In short, what a dumb article. If you look at the entire demographic and not ridiculous exceptions, like entertainers and sports people, black women are way better off than black men. There are more black men in prison than in college.

Don't black women face more hardships and take more shit from people than black men?
 

kirblar

Member
There are both systemic straight male privileges available to black men, and also systemic disadvantages specific to black men at the intersection of their race and gender/sex.

It's complicated, and trying to frame it in a way which labels the gender/sex axis as the intersecting race one is not the way to try and simplify it.
 
Don't black women face more hardships and take more shit from people than black men?

Sure, anecdotally. However, if you look at actual data, e.g. income, debt, prison rates, educational attainment, etc. Black women stomp on the men. It's really no contest. There is no way to quantify "hardship" and taking "more shit". Black men are killed way more than the women, so I'd argue black men have more hardship, unless you think being killed isn't a big deal.

The only reason it sucks to be a black women is ironically because of the lack of good black men (too many of them are in prison or don't have good jobs).
 
This poor title is going to keep people from even reading the post. The author really did not do himself any favors here.

Yeah. There is a discussion to be had regarding privilege within our ethnic culture outside of white people, but that title is misleading.
 

rambis

Banned
Straight Black Men Are the White People of Black People
q6vCApt.gif
 

Fuchsdh

Member
This poor title is going to keep people from even reading the post. The author really did not do himself any favors here.

The authors don't often write the titles, editors do.

This whole who is more oppressed than another shit is wack but I get what the article is trying to say.

I think the article did better than these sorts of things usually do because it's structured as "black men have serious problems facing them, but let's not forget that there are problems that face minority women that don't get talked about as much, because they're women." It's a fine line between acknowledging who tends to have it worse and playing a game of Oppression Olympics, where everyone fights to see who's worse off to claim the moral high ground, but I don't think the article falls into that trap.
 
That title will not get black men to recognize their privilege.

After seeing a number of black men that will align themselves to bigotry--with Nazis--and sexism under the guise of pro-Blackness, daffyduck_tapdancing.gif, I've made conscious efforts to challenge black masculinity all the time.

This whole who is more oppressed than another shit is wack but I get what the article is trying to say and I agree

There's nothing wack with acknowledging that oppressed people can also be oppressors within their own communities.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
The thing is the term 'privilege' isn't supposed to be some all-encompassing term. It's supposed to help people evaluate what advantages they have. Different privileges can vary by sex/race/sexuality/gender/class/country/etc.

The term privilege isn't even fundamentally a pejorative to me - privilege is something you aspire for and hope to have. It being used to bring out guilt is... Ineffective on me.
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
I don't know why there needs to be like... A competition here. I'd say gay black men almost without question have it worse, sure. Black women it's a mixed bag depending on what you prioritize. Trans black men/women, I can't even imagine.

But like... Rather than phrasing an article in a way that's going to get people dismissive and argumentative, why not just focus on the challenges certain demographics have? This sort of thing always just seems like a lazy way to garner interest by inciting controversy.
Yeah, it's such a stupid way of phrasing it. Making people aware that other people have face more barriers shouldn't mean pushing the narrative of the unprivileged Olympics, where gold is to be the most pitied.
 
There are both systemic straight male privileges available to black men, and also systemic disadvantages specific to black men at the intersection of their race and gender/sex.

It's complicated, and trying to frame it in a way which labels the gender/sex axis as the intersecting race one is not the way to try and simplify it.
End up be all I get it male privilege most certainly exists.

But when you say 'black male' shit gets really fucking complicated to such a point that saying privilege is borderline insulting/offensive.
 

LCGeek

formerly sane
I don't know why there needs to be like... A competition here. I'd say gay black men almost without question have it worse, sure. Black women it's a mixed bag depending on what you prioritize. Trans black men/women, I can't even imagine.

You don't want too considering the death rate is worse than civil war for us. We are after thoughts in the community being killed off and the cops/media/family are often our own worst enemies.

Oppression olympics do suck though.
 
To add, straight white male are completely dominant in the privilege they have among white people. I can't think of a single downside to being a straight male if you're white. Within black people, black males face their own unique challenges compared to other subgroups so I don't even think the comparison is apt
 

Beefy

Member
That title will not get black men to recognize their privilege.

After seeing a number of black men that will align themselves to bigotry--with Nazis--and sexism under the guise of pro-Blackness, daffyduck_tapdancing.gif, I've made conscious efforts to challenge black masculinity all the time.

All about that toxic masculinity. Why I am glad me and my bro were brought up in a strong female household.
 
On the headline alone I thought the article would be about 'Straight Black Men are More Homophobic than Straight White Men', because in my experience I have found that mostly true.
 
Stupid title, no offense OP as I'm assuming you didn't write the original article. There are obvious hierarchies. For example, straight black male is obviously top of the black totem pole and a black lesbian is somewhere near the bottom.
 
The term privilege isn't even fundamentally a pejorative to me - privilege is something you aspire for and hope to have. It being used to bring out guilt is... Ineffective on me.

That sounds like a personal issue.

When someone tell me that I have privilege for being a man I agree and acknowledge that.

I don't feel guilty for being a man, but what I can do is understand how me being a man grants me a path of less resistance in certain situations.

I do not feel scared when I walk home from work, but my girlfriend gets catcalled all the time and she avoids certain areas that I would walk through.

All about that toxic masculinity. Why I am glad me and my bro were brought up in a strong female household.

Same. My grandmother is the strongest person I know. Too many people are stuck on thinking that in order to be a man you need to be hyper-masculine.
 
Click bait title for an article but it is true.

Its kind of a questionable analogy to make with white people, because it kind of undermines the hardships black men go through as visible minorities, but at the same time, if you are a straight black man, you have a hell of a lot more privilege than any black queer person or any black woman could have (especially considering that many straight black men put down other black queers and women within their own community, see: hip-hop)
 
On the headline alone I thought the article would be about 'Straight Black Men are More Homophobic than Straight White Men', because in my experience I have found that mostly true.

Yeah i thought article was going to be about toxic masculinity, heteronormativity and homophobia regarding black men, its all true, but they mention black women cause the root cause of all of that to begin with is misogyny and patriarchy (and that exists ever so strongly in the black community, just like anywhere else).
 
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