A new Archetype for the Black Male?

Chris Rock said something interesting this weekend while on the Bill Maher Show. Basically he said that he hopes Barack wins so that Black children will finally have a new ideal that they can aspire to. you always hear people telling their children "you can be whatever you want when you grow up" but his point was that, until now, that was definitely not true for Blacks.

I'm dismayed by the direction mainstream Black culture took in the eighties and how it is still languishing under self-perpetrating stereotypes and ignorance. One of the things I've always thought was missing for Black culture was a new archetype and I think, if he wins, Barack will provide that.

Not sure how mnay of you know about Jungian psychology or what archetypes are, but basically I am saying that I wonder if a Black President would be able to change the "being ghetto is cool" mainstream stereotypes that have dominated Black culture for the last 20 years or so.

To simplify, I wonder if a Black President would make "being ghetto" not so cool anymore and the new archetype could be "being educated, refined, poised, well-spoken, and successful". Instead of Michael Jordan, Tyler Perry, and Tupac being role models for our young Black men, there would be a tall, handsome, powerful Black man who is in charge of the entire country, and who got there by being educated, courageous, and still aware of his heritage.

Any thoughts?

 

Pretty good read. I just hope that public figures such as Sen. Obama can change the perceptions about black men in a positive way.

See what happens when you give us a top-notch education?:smt003

 

I too would very much like to see this become reality. Black men are demonized and have to overcome stereotypes (both from within the community as well as from others) like no other group of people. I would love for more people to think of Stanley O'neal instead of Shaquille O'neal, Colin Powel rather than TI, and yes Barack Obama instead of the typical negative stereotypical black man that is perpuated in all forms of media. Long story short, I hope and believe that black men will be portrayed as the part of the "answer" and not just as the "problem" on all levels. Barack is another step in a long line of great role models.

 

Yes, also in the role of (global) leader actually. I really look forward to his problem solving.

 

http://whitewomenblackmen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8515

 

Thanks for all the responses and sorry I posted a topic that was already ongoing...

 

But you ougta know who controls the Media. The same way George Bush was made to look like a complete laughable idiot, they could easily do the same with Obama.

But what fascinates me the most is that people actually believe that Obama is some sort of Einstein specifically trained to solve this great enigma aka the black plague. Lets face it people....it will not happen in our life time, and im sorry if im being cynical but the chances of us ever seeing a high degree of success within the black community that measures equilaterally to that of whites are very dim. Its like the code has already been erected, and we are mere subjects in this course

To break this chain of devastation would require many(light years) of ,as Obama said, CHANGE. But habits are very hard to change, especially if these "habits" have become major aspects of a "culture".....but i guess if the black community wants to see "change", some part of our beloved "culture" has gotta go

 

Very good post. Especially the last paragraph. Agree 100% although i'm a little more optimistic.

To the original poster, alot of the problems in the black community are mentally ingrained habits. Remeber alot of blacks questioned if Obama was even "black enough" (as ridiculous as that is) or stood a shot until he got legitimized by Iowa and it become clear he had a chance to go all the way. Then of course at that point blacks were totally behind him and crying buckets of tears on election night like they believed in him all along or like they would even have respect for a brother like that if he wasnt so iconic.

Fact is alot more inner city blacks are not going to start having value to a man like Obama over Lil Wayne anytime soon. The fact is all of the great traits Obama has as a man (politics aside) would be admired by and transcend many cultures but would barely even be respected in inner city black culture since it is so warped. but as I said since he is the most iconic figure in the world now, of course these kind of blacks are quick to take credit and claim him now.

What I am more afraid of happening is that once some of these ghettofied blacks start noticing that their self inflicted problems are not magically going away they will start to claim Obama is a sell out or Uncle Tom. But as far as a world scale goes, having Obama as president is def. a step for the image of black men.