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 their own stories in their own words, especially since society so often tells their stories for them. Techniques like narrative therapy allow Black males to relay their own stories and discuss all the factors that contribute to the development of the challenges they face. This is important because so often Black males are seen as being the problems themselves.
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Cool pose is a cultural tool that Black males use to bring vitality to their lives, transforming mundane, everyday aspects of their lives (Black, 1997). Cool pose is known as a strategy for combatting racism via hiding attitudes and beliefs and controlling outward behavior. Using this strategy, Black males show little emotion and act tough and cool so that they are not taken advantage of in a world that is uniquely hostile toward Black males. Service providers need to recognize and understand this tendency and to assist Black males in adopting alternative styles. They must understand that behind the cool pose may be hurt, pain, and a range of other emotions. They must not fail to recognize Black males’ needs for help. Majors and Billson (1992) describe cool pose as “ritualized forms of masculinity that entail behaviors, scripts, physical posturing, impression management, and carefully crafted performances that deliver messages of pride, strength, and control” (Majors & Billson, 1992, p. 4). According to Majors and Billson (1992), cool pose involves Black males masking their true feelings (i.e., anxiety and self-doubt) in the face of racial injustice. The theory suggests that cool pose encourages Black males to promote hypermasculine activity like athletics over intellectual pursuits like academics.
However, the theory of cool pose is critiqued because it presents Black male culture as primarily reactive, negative, and one-dimensional (Beasley et al., 2014). In some ways, it reduces Black male culture to a defense mechanism. Beasley et al. (2014) suggest that cool pose is only relevant to certain subgroups of African American males, and fails to take into consideration other factors that influence Black male masculinity such as class, sexual orientation, and environment. Many Black males exhibit the same cultural styles and also embrace academic achievement.
Soul refers to the special ways that African American males may express their racial pride through language, dance, music, or even manner of walking. To cultural outsiders, these styles may be misinterpreted as clownish, dangerous, or criminal. Service providers must be careful to avoid rushing to judgments of Black males by placing their cultural styles in context.
The intersectional Black male is a reference to the fact that Black males are multidimensional—there is no single Black male archetype or way of being. Many factors may influence Black male behavior (i.e., race, economics, gender, religion, etc.) depending on the situation. Service providers must be careful to see Black males as multidimensional despite stereotypes that paint them as one-dimensional. Black males exist at the intersection of many identities and social realities that each influence one another (Dottolo & Stewart, 2008).
People of African descent experience oppression in various ways and on multiple levels. Black males have a unique experience of those forms of oppression and their different levels. They have unique psychological, behavioral, and physiological responses to anti-Black male racism, not only as individuals but as critical components of Black families and communities. Many of these responses are misguided or self-destructive efforts to survive and be human in an environment that is constantly trying to kill Black males in ways both slow and more immediate. However, Black males have always found methods to not only survive this hostility but to be creative, productive, confident, and healthy. To do so, they clearly require the right family and community nurturing and support. This kind of support provides Black males with a healthy consciousness of who they are,
