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Look Out Whitey Analysis

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What resulted out of years of this enforced patriarchal masculinity was “gangsta culture” - a philosophy popularised by its genre of rap brought up in the late 1980s by rappers Ice-T and Schoolly D. Among much of the controversial theme gangsta culture made popular, fast money was one of them; hustling had already had its roots tracing back to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Regarding the practice of hustling, Julius Lester’s Look Out, Whitey, explained: “Today resistance manifests itself in what whites can only see as the “social ills” of the ghetto, i.e. crime, high school dropouts, unemployment, etc. In actuality, many blacks have consciously rebelled against the system and dropped out. After all, why waste your life working at a job you hate, getting …show more content…

Black men who had been born in or were living in pre-Civil Rights Era or the time when it was happening held vastly different attitudes from that of their children regarding how much colored families could put up with the discrimination of Whites; while the fathers might have believed that Blacks could gain respect by ignoring it and working hard, the children - who had turned to hustling - would feel that working your way up to respect was not realistic, because if it was, then why did racial inequity persist? Gangsta culture had made these men choose meaningful alternatives as opposed to jobs they could not gain much from (while many men did make a living off of legitimate jobs and had successfully ‘decolonized’ their mind). The status of a Black man, however, did not change their fixation with money and the tendency to hold it up as a symbol of a successful man; today, whether educated and privileged, or underprivileged, the fixation with money is equal because, like the slaves before them, these men are stepped on by

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Social mobility is within the grasp of each person so long as they earnestly invest themselves. There exists, however, a dissonance between the achievement ideology and reality as discussed in Jay Macleod’s Ain’t No Makin’ It. In his book, Macleod perfors a longitudinal study over a group of young black men, the Brothers, living in the projects of Clarendon Heights and reveals the insidious social factors that

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Eugene Lyons wrote about the realities of the idealistic notions of rags-to-riches. His life was riddled with hardship as he was growing up as an immigrant on the East Side of New York. In his essay, “Revolt against Ugliness,” Lyons spoke of how deep emotion feelings were invoked in people when they heard the stories of folks pulling themselves up by the bootstraps. He pointed out that the stories of success are not written by those who never get a leg up, but rather the “true or near true stories” are authored by the few and far between who make it out of poverty and hardship. The grim truth he spoke of was that even the youth had to work in order to help their family earn money for the bare necessities of food, shelter and clothing.

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Both of these men were contemporaries and without a doubt their personal experiences and perhaps the overall black experience in the United States guided their conscious to adopt certain strategies and tactics in order to uplift black people politically, economically and socially. This is where these two leaders fundamentally disagreed, which was followed by suspicion, name calling, distrust and an unwillingness to concede and perhaps recognize the strengths and weaknesses that existed in both of their philosophies. They were divided and they left black America divided and yet their arguments are still highly debated in academic circles and laypersons circles alike throughout America. Lastly, this research study is limited in scope and has not met all the academic restraints consistent with a scholarly paper, nevertheless, at the same time, it will display objectivity and sound research methods by briefly exploring in an unscientific manner, the slave plantation personalities (giving in the seminal study by John Blassigame) and how perhaps those historical values—culture) impacted slave behavior, as well shaped black personalities that proceeded from this peculiar institution.

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The two stories illustrate that African-Americans are not given an equal chance in terms of gaining opportunities for a successful life. However, it may be possible that one key factor among all can develop a whole problematic image on success and why White Americans think of the African-American society as to not having the capability for a chance towards success. At the time, the economy could have been at a huge disadvantage for the African-Americans because majority of them did not have the chance to rise up from it in terms of creating revenue for themselves. The whole world around them built this image and it is hard to come out of when no one can give opportunities for them to improve and grow. Harlon L. Dalton expresses how unfair the

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Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).

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Blacks are not allowed to roam freely and do as they please due to what “rules” Whites have placed in society. In a speech made by a valedictorian at an free school in New York City. He starts his speech by explaining on how he works just as hard as any other man, regardless of color, yet feels insignificant. “Where are my prospects? To what shall I turn my hand?...

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Staples further demonstrates understanding by recognizing the fact that many young black men are pulled into the ideal of being a

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Throughout Stephen Steinberg’s book the Ethnic Myth, multiple examples of how different ethnicities achieved economic ability and how others did not is discussed. He analysis a variety of different immigrant groups and how more than their cultural values played into whether or not they were successful in America. The following information in this paper will provide an example using black Americans as part of the “culture-of-poverty”. “The wronged are always wrong…” (New Republic, June 24, 1916) is the opening statement to chapter four and is associated with why the Negro is blamed for their own misfortune.

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He speaks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled horrible conditions in Mississippi to find work in Chicago. Like many Americans Ross dreamed of owning a home. However, the only way for a black person to buy a home in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy from predatory “contract” sellers who charged unbillable rates with few legal protections for buyers. Clyde said “To keep up with his payments and keep his heat on, I took a second job at the post office and then a third job delivering pizza.” Like many blacks in Chicago at the time he got two jobs just to keep up with the payments of the house, overall being kept away from his

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The black folk were freed by the abolition of slavery, yet this new freedom was not so. Ther identity was forever fractured between black and American, and even after they internalized the whites’ perspectives of them, they still wanted to be both without the disadvantages and racism. They were degraded, dehumanize, and shamed for their lack of education and job skills. In 1865, the Freemen’s Bureau was established by Congress to provide them with aid after living in slavery and not owning tools, homes, or land.

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For example his teacher told him “be a carpenter because the thinking of a lawyer was foolish for a Negro.” The book provides also a solution to racism through the unification of oppressed people. Hustling is another topic addressed by the book. The book presents the life of a black American as a matter of survival in the urban areas. Malcolm does odd jobs for the whites such as “shining their shoes” and “carrying their dirty plates” to earn a living.

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Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, wrote about the disadvantages of a black man who worked hard but was unable succeed. Though the prologue and chapter one, Battle Royal, will be discussed, applying African American literary criticism can still be accomplished. As a young intelligent black male, the Invisible man is portrayed as undeniably naïve, which made him unknowing to his own oppression. Incapable of recognizing his place within society, he relied heavily on what he was labeled as or told. However, on the surface he believed that with intelligence he could achieve equality, but internally aware of the impossibility.

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Hip Hop was the wildfire that started in the South Bronx and whose flames leapt up around the world crying out for change. James McBride’s Hip Hop Planet focuses on his personal interactions with the development of Hip Hop culture and his changing interpretations of the world wide movement. Many of his encounters and mentions in the text concern young black males and his writing follows an evolution in the representation of this specific social group. He initially portrays them as arrogant, poor, and uneducated but eventually develops their image to include the positive effects of their culture in an attempt to negate their historical misrepresentation.

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Money was a struggle for the greasers, which increased people’s perspective of them as hoods. “We’re poorer than the Socs and middle class.” (Hinton, 1965, pg.3) This quote is persuasive because it shows the class, the greasers were identified

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