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Do African American Men Face Obstacles And Misfortunes

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Generations of financial, public, political, and personal adversities convince many African American fathers to believe that their self worth and contributions to fathering are less important than others (Strong, 2008). Most African American men have a strong desire to be involved in their child’s life and want to fulfill the role as fathers in a healthy way, yet an array of challenges impede their opportunities (Fleck et al., 2013). African American men face obstacles and misfortunes in an attempt to be actively involved. Fathers who face financial hardships are often associated with little education, rigid work schedules, and poor social support which negatively influences father involvement (Freeman, Newland & Coyl, 2008). Additional circumstantial barriers of father involvement include unemployment, lack of transportation, homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health complications (Cheadle, Amato, & King, 2010). The lack of services to help alleviate many of the obstacles …show more content…

Alarmingly, African American men make up 6% of the general population, but they represent 50% of the prison community (Perry & Bright, 2012). Despite the atrocious effects of incarceration, African American boys feel that imprisonment is a way of life given the prevalence in their environments (Perry & Bright, 2012). The Bureau of Statistics (2011) reported that by the end of 2010, the African American prisoner population consisted of 3,074 prisoners per 100,000 while the Caucasian prisoner population consisted of 459 prisoners per 100,000; thereby making African American males seven times more distinguishable in the U.S. correctional system. Evidence shows that many African American children have incarcerated fathers but are hesitant about discussing its effects on their lives (Geller, 2009). The African American community cycle of incarceration is at an incline, therefore parental incarceration is highly suggested in screening assessments for therapy (Perry & Bright,

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The first issue that was discussed in the article was about David Peace. Peace talked about missing out on life as a young man and how he feared going out into the real world. This an effect that mass imprisonment could have on young black men. They adapt to life in prison where they are control and once they receive freedom it scares them. The reason for this issue is due to political socialization.

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As a young african american male, I’ve encountered many challenges and obstacles that has been tough to overcome for any male; especially male of color. Novelist Jennifer Gonnerman shared one forth of what African American males go through on a day to day basis, in her article, “Before the Law,” that sheds light on a particular incident about a kid from Bronx named Kalief Browder; who was falsely accused of taking a backpack from a New York resident on the day of Saturday, May 15, 2010. Kalief Browder spent the next two to three years confined in Rikers Island (Correctional Facility), which is a four-hundred-acre island in the EastRiver, between Queens and the Bronx. Kalief Browder was being charged with many charges such as robbery, grand

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For example, children with incarcerated fathers have a higher chance of growing up in poverty, are more likely to grow up without a father, and are often stigmatized, all of which can limit their future labor market opportunities in the legal sector and increase the likelihood that they, like their fathers before them, will engage in criminal activity (Wildeman 2009). Thus, creating a never-ending, vicious

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As a result, Black children, especially boys, are following their father’s footsteps and ending up incarcerated too. It’s a hard cycle to watch, but it’s happening every day in America. Since the 1970s, the number of prisoners in the world multiplied 800 times to 2,400,000 people. Meanwhile, the young black community is busy fighting and killing each other instead or helping, healing and building one another up. Black people are so capable and inspirational, but they don’t always see it in themselves to be great.

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We are sensitized to this way of thinking and belief which perpetuates the culture set forth by people such as Willie Lynch. Some of us believe that in order for the man to be present means that he has to be married to the mother of the child. Even though this may be the ideal situation, it’s not always going to be the reality. For a lot of men, this does not affect the involvement and fatherly impact they have in and on their children’s lives. According to Naasel from BET “more than half of black households are headed by women, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that whether or not they live under the same roof, black Dads are actually more involved with their children than their white and Latino counterparts, spending more time feeding, dressing, playing with and reading to their children.”

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 Reader pg. 244 “ those many in our society that are darker, poorer, more identifiably foreign will continue to suffer the poverty, marginalization, immersion and incarceration.” Statistics are staggering Racial Disparities in Incarceration African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population, they are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites, what’s shocking is that one in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001 and if the trends continues one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime. I am for affirmative action, as I believe that when the late President John F Kennedy signed the affirmative action on March 6th 1961,

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Throughout history Black fathers are characterized as being “deadbeat dads” or not be around to raise their children. There is this ongoing issue that shows Black fathers being ignored and hindered in American society. Starting back in slavery, Black fathers job was to tend to the fields and to whatever the master wanted. This caused the separation between children and their fathers. Many times, the owners would split of the families, so that mean children did not have time to get the love or attention they needed from their fathers.

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Introduction: In the United States today, state and federal prisons house over 1.5 million prisoners. Families of incarcerated individuals share in their time of confinement, including their children, who become indirect victims of crime. Approximately 1.7 million children under eighteen in the U.S. have at least one parent behind bars, constituting 2.3 percent of the 74 million minor children (Russell-Brown, 2015). Numerous children encounter the challenging reality of having a parent behind bars.

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Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.

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According to the text "I had a dream" Not given a right to vote, victim of police brutality and not having granted citizen rights were some of the hardships that African American people had to face. One example of hardships that the African American people had to face is they were victims of police brutality. This means that the police had the power to physically abuse the African Americans for any little thing they did. Another example of a hardship African American had to face is granted citizen rights. This means they

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African Americans who were born in the 1970s and grew up during the American prison boom, the chances they are going to serve time in state federal prison if they dropped out of high school is about 70%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Currently, 1.2 million (1 in 9) African American children have a parent who is incarcerated, and there’s evidence that kids who experience parental incarceration have behavioral problems and low achievement. This creates the risk that incarceration becomes an inherited trait, and recidivism induces. The underlying issue is how the U.S. criminal justice system marginalizes African Americans relative to other ethnic groups. There has been an incredible increase in arrests and incarceration over the past four decades, mostly from the war on drugs.

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There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.

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Along with African-American/Blacks, the Hispanic population is underrepresented at both the state and federal levels while the Caucasian/White population are underrepresented (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). This essay will discuss multiple different races and ethinicities to regard their population make up within the prison system. Although race and ethnicity relate to one another they are different. According to Walker et al. (2018), race is defined as the, “major biological divisions of mankind,” for

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This increases the chances for their poor and minority children to experience further future racial and class inequality. We need to consider the long-term consequences of this family’s current situation as engage with them. Several implications arise when we consider parental/familial incarceration and the impact it has on their family members left behind. Incarceration elevates risk of divorce or separation, reduces financial resources and security of the partners and children left behind, increases child behavioral problems, increases social marginalization and other negative economic, health and well-being outcomes (Wildeman & Western, 2010; Sugie, 2012). Knowing what we do regarding social determinants of health, these are important issues to keep in mind in our work with this

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There is no true definition of a father, it is much deeper than just a male parent. A father is not someone who believes that by creating you, he has done his duty in life and does not have any responsibilities. A father is someone who gets up every day to put a roof over your head, making sure there are clothes on your back and putting food on the table. He is emotionally available, supporting you and showing his love for you. He will help you, whether it be for school, teaching you how to parallel park or even someone to just talk to.

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