Summary Of 4: 44 By Anthony Boynton

In response to Jay Z’s 4:44, Anthony Boynton links the prominent feeling of entitlement within black men to to the condition of the black communities mindset. He elaborates on how as a whole we tend to push hyper masculinity on to our young men, and this results in a lack of emotional availability and stability as well as a lack of self care and appreciation for others.Throughout his article he highlights the various ways that hyper masculine have fractured the black community as a whole. Boynton’s response serves as a call to action from the black community to better itself by destroying its patriarchal mindset. Despite the various detriments that hypermasculinity has cultivated within our community, it has also been a sacred value. This can

Black men hold a slave master mentality towards black women, which in turn leads to not only the belittlement of black women but also the lack of humanity within black men. Throughout American history the black man has been emasculated by white America, nevertheless black men have assimilated the mindset that men are superior to women. By the nurturing of this ideal within a the minds of black men by slavery, black men have been taught how to assert themselves with aggression and humiliation and to demean the “underdogs” of the situation. In Pierre Orelus’s Black Masculinity under White Supremacy: Exploring the Intersection between Black Masculinity, Slavery, Racism, Heterosexism, and Social Class he states that “This is partly because the slaves witnessed firsthand the form of mascu- linity that their slave masters acted out in the plantations. They also wit- nessed other forms of physical and psychological violence that

The disregard for black women is an issue that is slowly becoming a topic of discussion. In addition to Malcolm X’s acknowledgement that “The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman”, Crunktastic writes in the Crunk Feminist Collections about her experience being a black woman and being disrespected. Both Boynton and Crunktastic write pieces that encourage men to put aside their feelings of entitlement and begin to respect black women. By doing so they will not only benefit themselves but the future generations as well, it will help in developing a new generation in which men can be vulnerable and women can be stronger and