The oppression of black community is not a new concept. The black communities are riddled with poverty, violence, underdevelopment and social problems. The concept of a black person who is aggressive and filled with violence is a stereotype depicted in the media and the movies. The oppression of black community is not limited to a few instances. It is a whole process, which has bled into the generations of the black community (Aamna Mohdin). The few statistics are mentioned as follows.
1. Black men are 2.5 times more likely to be shot by police as compared to white males.
2. Blacks face community violence 32% more than the whites.
3. Black females are paid less than white females and the pay-gap is 2.4 times higher in nature.
4. The children raised in black communities are 4.2 times more likely to face the victimization and violence as compared to children raised in white communities.
5. Nearly 2/3 of a sample African American population whose data was taken from different communities of Illinois, reported discriminatory practices in the workplace and in general employee interaction (Reimers).
The above mentioned statistics show a problem. The problem is black oppression and marginalization. The doors of opportunities are meager for the black community. A research that analyzed the media content of the year 2015 – 2016 (online, print, social media, TV), found out that the media continuously portrayed the black families as poor and dependent on welfare, black father as absent, and the link between black families and criminality was constantly overhyped. Another study found out that in the USA, black families represent 59% of the poor in the media but in reality made 27% of the total poor population. White families, on the other hand, represent 17% of the poor in the media but made up 66% of the poor across the country. Another meta-analysis research showed that black and Latinos are less likely to receive call backs from the workplaces in which they have applied. On average, 36% more whites received call-back than black applicants and 24% more call-backs as compared to Latino applicants. Thus, the margin remains strong when it comes to the job call backs and process development in the context of race. Thus we see stark differences, in the context of the race, how the African Americans are marginalized. The 2016 poll by Pew Study Centre pointed out that racial discrimination is a serious issue that America has to face. The whites reported to have better advantages against the blacks, in general walk of life. Many blacks reported that white folks have an upper hand while dealing with charges and misconduct. Similarly, in another research, it was found that black fathers were more in habit of bathing, dressing and helping their children use the daily essential and toiletries as compared to the white fathers. Black fathers showed more response in taking children out for activities, and help children in the homework, as compared to the white fathers (Arenge et al.).
Since the very beginning of film and media, African Americans struggled to represent their own stories, beliefs, opinions and identities because White people controlled the entertainment industry and chose what images of Black people to portray. Movies like the 1915 “The Birth of a Nation” embedded bigotry into society as well as dramatizes Black people as antagonists. The Black Panther Party, as a way to combat racial stereotypes portrayed in media, began producing media of their own. They created their own official newspaper called “The Black Panther.” According to a 1997 study that examined public perceptions of race and crime, with the role of racial stereotypes, Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley claimed that the results of the observation cements the idea that when audiences see African-Americans in televised news stories, it is usually in the context of crime (Crosby et al.). This reinforces the idea that mass media often dramatizes Black people in negative ways, especially as criminals. As a result, of correlating black characters with violence and sexualization, the general public of the era associated the Black community with a negative connotation. Society has made great strides implementing more inclusion of people of color in films and its production; however, societal conditioning of racial stereotypes through media propaganda is still a prevalent topic of concern. Despite the fact that media still plays a significant role in the internalization of racial stereotypes within the black community and negative publicity carries significant qualities that outweigh positive propaganda, the Black Panther Party has made great contributions to change how the general public perceived the overall black population through their service programs and humanitarian efforts (Nora and Cabrera). Over here, we have a question, regarding, what really is internalization of racial stereotypes? According to Brown, in his academic study that observed the relationship between internalization and self-esteem among black adults, he defines internalization as a potential product of managing everyday reactive feelings about social value during the ordered process of the reproduction of racial hegemony. Through this definition, he addresses how internalization is the outcome of one’s acknowledgement of self-worth through the systemized process of racial hegemony, when one racial group or race is superior or dominant in some way over other racial groups. He observed that there is a strong negative connotation and reduction of self-esteem of black men who are more exposed to racist attitudes (Brown et al.). In the study of negative racial stereotypes and their effect on attitudes towards African-American, Green defines racial stereotypes as “constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics.” Through this definition, she determines racial stereotypes as the idea of a race group sharing the same characteristics. Combining these two interpretations, we understand that internalization of racial stereotypes is the manifestation of appropriation of certain characteristics due to outlying conditioning factors. The study observed that the negative stereotypes effect the perception of the African Americans thrice more likely as compared to any white who can be stereotyped. Through the sources in the previous paragraph, we can determine on our own that internalization of racial stereotypes is a prominent concern the Black community associates with (Green). So, what happens to African Americans who internalize a racial stereotype? Well, racial stereotypes conform the way one perceives others and themselves in society. For example, if a black man is portrayed aggressively in a video game, over a period of time, the player will begin to associate Black men with aggression. It is likely that, that repetitive visual conditioning of Black men committing acts of violence would actually make a Black man appropriate violence and allow it to influence his character(Landrine and Klonoff).
This raises the question, what does film and media have to do with the stereotyping? As technology advanced and society entered the era of television, the predominantly white household developed as the socially stable household and the others were racially discarded. Much of it was due to the reason that the population of those who worked in the advertising, news, and entertainment was predominantly white. White dominance in the film and media industry resulted in a reflection of their perceptions in the media that was being produced. The mass media, in various forms, has supported the power of the dominant white group by presenting to the general public negative images of minority groups. Colored people, especially African Americans, have been represented in the media in historical and contemporary racial projects. Such projects use outdated stereotypes to influence the redistribution of resources in order to benefit dominant groups at the expense of others. In the study of racial identity and media orientation, for exploring the nature of constraints, the researchers observed that the media orientates the black community that is markedly deviant from the real life instances. The black identity is portrayed to be mysterious and complex, while white identity is remarkable stable and fair. The constraints on the black identity are the racial stigmas and stereotypes already associated to it. The negative instances are highlighted more as compared to positive instances (Milkie). This statement provides insight on why Black characters are typically casted as the villain or antagonist and supports the idea that bigotry and discrimination is present in the entertainment industry. The early implementation of media demonstrates the impacts on how people are represented is essential to understand how racial stereotypes are perpetuated within our society. The way media was packaged and delivered to an audience that was heavily subjected to the opinions of those involved in the industry, which influenced several directors to follow a narrow paved direction with the given script regarding cast and how characters were portrayed, despite personal preference and beliefs.
Ever since the abolishment of slavery, the black folks have struggled in the context of the social development. In the recent years, many black folks have been in positions of power and authority, but the overall struggle of blacks against the poverty, police brutality, discrimination, victimization is still going on. Many young blacks had been victims of the police brutality and still a great majority suffers from the everyday racism. Thus, the black struggle is growing, it still has chance of development and creating the impact that is required in order to see how the person of color will be able to develop in the context. The black youth had to face and overcome many obstacles in order to reduce the impact of discrimination. The civil rights movement, Harlem renaissance, social movements for speaking out against racial injustices allow many blacks to be a part of the social change context.
There had been many legal conventions, parties and developmental processes that allowed the developments of organizations and allowed the struggle by which the African Americans could speak up for their rights in a peaceful way. Martin Luther King was an inspirer to the black folks which allowed them to be a part of the process of change and be an agent of change. The Black Panther Party was an organization was also a party that allowed the social change in the process of development considering the interest of the black community (Burgess et al.).
On October 15, 1966, the Black Panther Party (BPP), originally named the “Black Panther Party for Self-Defense,” was founded in West Oakland, California, by Merritt Junior College students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The party was created in response to the growing poverty in Urban Black Communities. They were built on the foundation of improving the unjust conditions the Black community faced such as low standard school systems, unavailable health and child care, high levels of unemployment and underemployment, escalating rates of imprisonment, and pervasive forms of self-hatred and self-destruction. BPP promoted the development of Black instituted education and service programs, which encouraged Blacks to work together to protect their rights and to improve their social and economic conditions. BPP’s most prominent and influential programs was the “Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program.” It was launched in January of 1969 at Father Earl A. Neil’s St. Augustine Episcopal Church in West Oakland, California (Cleaver and Katsiaficas). The success of the program prompted guidelines to be created on how to set up a breakfast program for children, which included a sample weekly menu and requirements for facilitation and equipment. This sets an example for other organizations like BPP to follow suit and initiate programs of their own. The Black Panther Party is well known for the establishment of several community based service programs. BPP co-founder Huey P. Newton claims these programs were created with the intention to serve as “survival programs”. According to Huey P. Newton claimed that such programs were developed to satisfy the deep needs of an already troubled community, but they were not the ultimate solution. Such programs supplemented the community in hours of need, but the real implementation was far from it. Survival programs were like the survival kit of a sailor stranded in the ocean on a raft. Survival programs were developed to help until the situation actually improved for the community. The programs helped to keep the community intact and organized (Albert). They help in analysis and understanding of their situation for further understanding. The Black Panthers furthered their agenda by appealing to what they believed journalists and photographers sought after to cover in the news. They leveraged their voices and imprinted their images in newspapers, magazines and television programs. They were aware that media played a crucial role to their Party and how it was perceived by the general community. There is a significant impact negative publicity has on society compared to positive propaganda. To elaborate, the Black Panther Party has made extraordinary steps in service to the community. However, these actions are overshadowed by media that has covered their run-ins with the FBI and police. The BPP were only acting in self defense, but in mainstream media it was documented as resisting. However, because the party was interracial in strategies and tactics, and international in vision and analysis in a period where Whites were the dominating race, they were heavily scrutinized by conservatives, which resulted in a FBI-led war against the Panthers. This made avoiding negative publicity almost impossible.It was evident that their political stance and overall cause provoked government officials to instruct further thorough investigation. In reality, the Panthers were less focused on committing violence and more focused on protecting themselves from police attack such as the 1969 raid (Churchill and Vanderwall). Much of the Panthers work was unrelated to violence or self-defense. Despite the efforts of developing sustainable philanthropic programs, negative media outweighed the positive efforts Black Panther Group. Yet, in several cases, the media documented the Black Panther Party as violent during police raids. They would capitalize on violence and dramatize the event. Why? Because black people being violent was news. Unlike misleading stories and scandalous misrepresentations, the Black Panther Party was not simply a military and violent response to brutality and murder. They came from the hope that the conditions of the Black community could be improved (Bobseale).
Notwithstanding difficult police ruthlessness, the Black Panther Party propelled in excess of 35 Survival Programs and gave network help, for example, instruction, tuberculosis testing, legitimate guide, transportation help, rescue vehicle benefit, and the fabricate and appropriation of free shoes to destitute individuals. Despite the social administrations, the Black Panther Party gave, the FBI announced the gathering a socialist association and an adversary of the U.S. government. Hoover, who lead a program against BPP, had swore that 1969 would be the latest year of the Black Panther Party and committed the assets of the FBI, through COINTELPRO, toward that end. In an extended program against the Black Panther Party, COINTELPRO utilized specialist provocateurs, damage, falsehood, and deadly power to gut the national association. The FBI's crusade finished in December 1969 with a five-hour police shoot-out at the Southern California home office of the Black Panther Party and an Illinois state police attack in which Chicago Black Panther pioneer Fred Hampton was killed. The measures utilized by the FBI were extreme to the point that, years after the fact when they were uncovered, the executive of the office openly apologized for "illegitimate employments of intensity." From its establishing in 1966, the impact of the Black Panther Party accepted a transnational character that went past the making of care groups for the association. Activists in Australian urban focuses, for instance, fused crafted by Black Panther Party individuals into their social developments. The mistreated Dalits in India copied the talk of the Black Panthers, and the delegates of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front, who called themselves Yellow Panthers, additionally utilized the association as a model. Closer to the United States, the Vanguard Party in the Bahamas firmly considered the Black Panther Party, drew on its political theory, embraced its utilization of regalia and its Ten Point Program, and distributed the paper Vanguard, whose extension and arrangement reflected the Black Panther Party's paper, Black Panther, to shape its program of activism (Churchill and Vanderwall).
The Black Panther Party originally developed from the ideas of protection of Black folks from police brutality. The political, social and community struggle of the party were another important hall-mark of the black community development. Following is the ten-point agenda on which the BPP worked and it served as a manifesto to them.
1. It was claimed Black individuals won't be free until the point that we can decide our predetermination.
2. It was assumed that the government is capable and committed to give each man business or an ensured salary. The party trusts, that in the event that the White American representatives won't give full work, the methods for generation ought to be taken from the businesspeople and set in the network with the goal that the general population of the network can arrange and utilize the majority of its kin and give an elevated expectation of living.
3. It was assumed that discriminatory government has looted us and now we are requesting the past due obligation of forty sections of land and two donkeys. Forty sections of land and two donkeys was guaranteed 100 years back as reprisal for slave work and mass homicide of Black individuals. It will be acknowledged the installment in cash which will be dispersed to our numerous networks: the Germans are currently supporting the Jews in Israel for the decimation of the Jewish individuals. The Germans killed 6,000,000 Jews. The American government has partaken in the butcher of more than 50,000,000 Black individuals; along these lines, we feel this is a humble interest that we make.
4. It was assumed that if the White proprietors won't give respectable lodging to our Black people group, at that point the lodging and the land ought to be made into cooperatives so our locale, with government help, can fabricate and make conventional lodging for its kin.
5. We trust in an instructive framework that will provide for our kin an information of self. In the event that a man does not know about himself and his situation in the public eye and the world, at that point he has minimal opportunity to identify with whatever else.
6. It was assumed that Black individuals ought not be compelled to battle in the military administration to guard a bigot government that does not secure the black folks. Black folks should not battle and execute other non-white individuals on the planet who, similar to Black individuals, are being misled by the White supremacist legislature of America. Black individuals need to shield ourselves from the power and brutality of the supremacist police and the bigot military, by whatever methods essential.
7. It was assumed that the black folks can end police fierceness in the Black people group by sorting out Black self preservation bunches that are devoted to shielding our Black people group from bigot police persecution and ruthlessness. The Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States gives us a privilege to carry weapons. Hence, consequently, people has to trust that all Black individuals should arm themselves for self preservation.
8. It is to be assumed that all Black individuals ought to be discharged from the numerous correctional facilities and penitentiaries since they have not gotten a reasonable and fair-minded preliminary.
9. It was assumed that the courts ought to pursue the United States Constitution with the goal that Black individuals will get reasonable preliminaries. The fourteenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a privilege to be attempted by his peer gathering. A peer is a man from a comparative financial, social, religious, topographical, ecological, verifiable and racial foundation. To do this the court will be compelled to choose a jury from the Black people group from which the Black litigant came. Black folks have been, and are being tried by every single White jury that have no comprehension of the "normal thinking man" of the Black people group.
10. When over the span of human occasions, it ends up vital for one individuals to break down the political securities which have associated them with another, and to expect among the forces of the earth, the different and equivalent station to which the laws of nature and nature's god entitle them, a not too bad regard to the sentiments of humankind necessitates that they ought to proclaim the causes which prompt them to detachment. We hold these realities to act naturally clear, that all men are made equivalent, that they are supplied by their maker with certain basic rights, that among these are life, freedom and the quest for bliss. That to anchor these rights, governments are initiated among men, getting their fair powers from the assent of the administered, — that at whatever point any type of government winds up dangerous of these finishes, it is the privilege of individuals to change or to abrogate it, and to establish new government, establishing its framework on such standards and sorting out its forces in such shape as to them will appear to be well on the way to impact their security and joy. Reasonability, in reality, will manage that administrations since quite a while ago settled ought not be changed for light and transient causes; and as needs be all experience hath shewn, that humanity are more arranged to endure, while disasters are middle of the road, than to right themselves by canceling the structures to which they are acclimated. However, when a long train of maltreatment and usurpations, seeking after constantly a similar protest, displays a plan to lessen them under supreme imperialism, it is their right, it is their obligation, to throw off such government, and to give new watches to their future security.
Thus we see that there is a sense of development in the 10 points that ensured that the social, economic, state rights of black folks are safeguarded. It is important to realize that the Black Panther Party arose to power so that there is more safeguarding of the rights of the black folks who were continuously being oppressed and their rights were not being given. (Mary et al.). Unfortunately, the peaceful and resilient group was taken in as a violent group and its leaders were targeted and assassinated. However, the black panthers still left a permanent mark on nationalist and freedom movements around the world by its peaceful efforts to uplift the black folks.