argue that working-class African Americans may accept racism as a fact of life and try to look past it due to their perceived lack of power to successfully challenge it (Krieger & Sidney, 1996). Middle-class Black males who have had a great deal of economic and professional success also experience racism and its harmful effects for two main reasons: (1) in most White-run, major organizations they experience a glass ceiling to their advancement, and; (2) they are often left out of the informal insider networks among White males that give members key connections and mentorship (White & Cones, 1999). These Black men sometimes don’t speak up about the racism they experience—becoming known as the overly sensitive, angry, hard-to-work-with Black man can be another barrier to professional advancement (White & Cones, 1999). Yet, if they do not speak up they may be considered too passive. To advance in settings like these, some Black men create a workplace persona to become what Hardy (2008) calls GEMM (good, effective, mainstream, model-minorities). This requires them to be like their White coworkers as much as possible. These men often feel separated from African American ways of being, yet also not closely connected to their White peers. Black men also experience racism differently by age. Younger Black males report experiencing more racism than older Black males, although older Black males report more experiences of racism compared to older Black women (Wong & Schwing, 2014).
Black people also experience different levels of prejudice depending on the strength of their racial identification. Kaiser et al. (2009) investigated how Whites’ prejudicial attitudes vary based on how strongly ethnic minorities identify with their ethnic groups. They found that Whites express more negative attitudes toward minorities who identify more strongly with their ethnic identity than others. Kaiser et al. (2009) explain this with the idea of prejudice-distribution account, i.e., Whites react more negatively toward strongly identified ethnic minorities because Whites see them as rejecting the very status hierarchy that generally privileges Whites. This may explain why Black men with higher levels of racial identity report experiencing racism more than those with lower levels. Sellers, Shelton, and Diener (2003) suggest this may occur because Whites are picking up on subtle cues about some Blacks males’ levels of racial identification. Contrarily, Whites may be more positive toward Black men who have status legitimizing worldviews or beliefs in the world as a fair and just place where people occupy their status in society based on their work ethic (Kaiser et al., 2009). These Black males are perceived as less of a threat to White privilege, or the privilege of people in power who are not White.
Blair, Judd, and Chapleau (2004) investigated the relationship between criminal justice sentencing and Afrocentric features. They found that inmates with fewer stereotypically Black physical 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
