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 a state of justice, fairness, 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
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