The Assassination of the Black Male Image. - book reviews

Black Issues in Higher Education, March 5, 1998 by Sharon E. Moore

The Assassination of the Black Male Image, authored by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a media critic and political analyst, offers a thoughtful perspective on the racial and sexual stereotyping of Black males.

Readers may be familiar with the author through his CBS News coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial, for which he served as a commentator. A prolific writer, Hutchinson is a syndicated columnist. His works have been featured in such newspapers as The Los Angeles Daily News and USA Today and in such magazines as Harper's, The Nation, Black Scholar, Ebony, Upscale, Essence, and Jewish Currents.

Hutchinson's current text is a valuable contribution to the literature on African American males and their experiences within American society. It uses an array of real-life anecdotes as examples of the many ways in which the image of Black men is devalued.

Hutchinson opens the book with a synopsis of the Rodney King incident. Citing King's treatment by the police and the subsequent negative coverage of him in the media as an example, Hutchinson lays a backdrop for a historical analysis of the creation of the image of King -- and all Black men -- as menacing, sex-crazed, ominous beings.

He asserts that this image -- which is perpetuated by the media and Hollywood -- was initially created by Europeans upon their first encounter with native Africans. With only a rudimentary understanding -- if any at all -- of the cultures, customs, and religious practices of Africans, Europeans decided that what was familiar was desirable and what was unfamiliar was not only undesirable, but inferior and negative.

These negative descriptors became a part of the psychological tools that were used to support the European enslavement of Africans. Hutchinson goes an to describe how prominent nineteenth- and twentieth-century sociologists fostered and promoted these concepts through their writings, which gained wide public acceptance. Currently, these negative descriptors are still prevalently used in the oppression of Black people.

Using specific incidents in the lives of everyday citizens and prominent public figures -- including Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakan, Colin Powell, O.J. Simpson and Mike Tyson -- the author crosses socioeconomic, political, and class boundaries to make the case that all Black men are subject to the same prejudices and suspicions, regardless of their background.

Hutchinson examines the fear of political and economic competition, racism, and the desire for global dominance as some of the etiological factors in the development and perpetuation of these myths by the majority population.

The book also shows how the media and Hollywood have been effective in negatively skewing the image of Black males through typecasting and negative reporting. Chapter tow analyzes the press coverage, by five major national daily and weekly publications, of three domestic events that occurred during 1993. Each of the events either involved criminal acts of focused on negative life circumstances of men. He found that in every instance, Black men were depicted as lazy, immoral perpetrators of crime. Conversely, White men were either given positive or neutral descriptors, or very little coverage.

The last chapter suggests remedies for dealing with the pervasive myths and negative stereotypes. Hutchinson's prescriptions include an economic boycott of media that promote negative images, and cooperative efforts among Black businesses, manufacturers, and establishments to support and promote positive images of African Americans. He also indicates that efforts to promote positive images of Black men may be hampered by members of the Black community -- both men and women alike -- who have bought into the negative huperbole.

Although readers may be familiar with some of the themes in the book, Hutchinson places the assassination of the character of Black males on a continuum through the use of past and current examples of how the assassination takes place. This book is an excellent resource for academics, scholars, and those who want to understand the nature and scope of the attack on the image of Black males.