Race, Sex, and Suspicion: The Myth of the Black Male

Whether portrayed in blackface, shuffling along in the minstrel plays of the nineteenth century, or as the "gangsta" of rap music, sporting a row of gold teeth and baggy pants, or as a dangerous suspect justly shot nine times by Brooklyn police who went to the wrong house; whether he is made to appear as cunning, crooked, and ultimately demonic cop in Training Day or a subservient, uneducated chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy; whether he is demonized on the cover of Time magazine, the black male is a social construct.