LAND OF THE FREE 1

Land of the Free: Black Man in the United States

by

Alizé Bland

B.S. Program in Psychology: Forensic

Mansfield University

for

Dr. Grethen Sechrist

PSY 3309: Stereotype and Prejudice

April 2021
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Abstract

Demographic Information
Name: J. K. Brown DOB: 06/19/1958
Residence: Philadelphia, PA Age: 63
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual (Straight) Sex: Male
Ethnicity: African American (Black) Religion: Baptist Christian
Name of Interviewer: Alizé Bland Date of Interview: 04/16/21- 4/17/21

Earlier research suggests that prejudice is not having the information but judging,

discrimination is having the information and judging. For many years it has been a long

understanding that Blacks in the United States are down in all categories across the board; when

it comes to religion, schooling, housing/rent/ownership, and finances. On top of that, blacks are

subjected to all kinds of mistreatment in their in-groups and outer-groups and police brutality and

harassment. This interview was to gain insight into the life of a minority due to the simple fact

that their group membership is highly discriminated against and understanding the prejudices

that people hold toward them. It was also done to focus particular attention on experiences that

have made the interwivee a target of prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination. The interview

focuses on concepts from the Stereotype and Prejudice course, including experiences of

stereotypes, prejudice, or discrimination that interviewee has encountered in their life, intergroup

dynamics, and identification of how their characteristic of "difference" had affected the way

others perceived and treated them, and how they felt about themselves.

Racial Discrimination in School and the Workplace

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In 1972, J.K. attended an all-white school for the 8th grade, he had ranked #2 in the state

after taking the state test while having the highest grades in the school. Later, that day, he had

gotten a message to come to the principal's office. The principal told him he was in trouble for

invading a white girl’s space in the cafeteria, then proceeded to beat him with a paddle. To

defend himself, J.K. threw a book at him and the principal had him transferred out of the school

and put back into his old middle school where the neighborhood schooling system was

underprivileged; they had put J.K into the “AF” class where the black kids as well as the “dumb”

and “retarted” kids would go.

When he graduated from high school, his favorite teacher, Mr. Halstead told him to

attend a trade school instead of college because blacks shouldn’t go to college and if they did,

they wouldn't make it.

Despite being in a class having only 3 monitories; a Latino man, a black woman and J.K.

himself, his college professor stood in front of their whole architectural class and expressed how

he felt sorry for the three of them because a white kid with a H.S. diploma or a white H.S.

dropout will have a job in their field before they would even though they were the best students

in class.

Back when midterm grades used to be posted in the hallway, J.K. had experienced white

privilege firsthand when one of his white classmates went to the professor’s office against his

wishes and demanded to know why they received an A+ (original score of 94, boosting their

grade to 108) and J.K. received an A- (score of 99, lowering his grade to a 94) when he always

had straight A’s. The professor told them that it was because of the bell curve and if J.K. had a

problem with it he should’ve come to him.

In 1976, J.K. got his first job in the suburbs as a motorcars associate. Being the only
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black person there and quickly rising to the ranks, a few white guys had a problem with taking

orders from someone who was black and told J.K. that he was a “diversity hire”' and it made him

feel as if didn’t deserve the job. Soon after he received a desk and a tiny office cubicle

workspace which happened to be near a white woman’s desk; the woman’s boyfriend made her

quit her job (knowing it was their only source of income) after angrily declaring that she doesn’t

need to be around black people and spit on the floor as they left. When J.K. became the top sales

manager, a white colleague of his would take his top sales reports and change J.K.’s name and

put his own name on all of his work to keep his job. Telling other white colleagues that if J.K.

had a problem with it then he would have to fight him, that way they’ll both lose their jobs and

he got fired anyway. Sometime before the previous event, J.K. was teaching a new sales

associate how to drive the delivery truck and the guy spit into his own chip bag and drink then

told J.K. that he did it so that he wouldn’t have to share with a nigger.

While working at Lowes and being the only black man there, J.K. became a department

manager in lumber. J.K. got called into the office by the day sales manager for ringing up

another black person and asking why they won’t hire more black men and women, the response

was that the white women who worked there felt intimidated by the black women, so they told

them that they had to leave the job. So J.K. brought up the fact that people were stealing, and the

day sale manager told him that if they were white then it was fine to let them steal because they

would get in back because of insurance.

During the ages of 18-24, J.K. served in the military; there were two different speeches

when approaching the white soldiers and the black soldiers. For blacks, it was “the only color

you see here is green. There is no black nor white and with you must protect your fellow officer

because race doesn’t matter.” For the whites, it was “keep your boots shined and we’ll take care
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of you.” J.K. time in the military made him feel that if you were black, independent, and aware

then the white people around him were afraid and because of that they would do anything to try

to and keep him down. To him being black in the military meant that you had to act humble and

couldn't be intelligent around white people and not being able to communicate with other blacks

because they felt intimidated by it.

Police Harassment and Police Brutality

PSY 3309 course material states that about “1 in every 1,000 Black men can expect to be

killed by police. The risk of being killed by police peaks between the ages of 20 and 35 years for

men and women and for all racial and ethnic groups. Black children are six times more likely to

be shot to death by the police than their White peers.”

K.J. said that “I've been pulled over about 25 times, gotten maybe 5 or 6 tickets for

seatbelts, GPS holders, air fresheners hanging from my mirror, and driving with a suspended

license for not turning in my old car plates after I sold the car.”

K.J. recalled the time when he was about 9 or 10 years old when he and his father went

for a drive down to the local plaza mall and the police pulled them over. They had guns on both

and their flashlights in their faces; saying that they matched the description of a black man who

stole the same model car.

K.J. recalled a time when he was harassed by the Philadelphia police at 11 years old

when he was on his way to the store for wearing the color red. They threw him and his older

brother into the back of a squad car and said that they were being arrested for walking outside at

night and refused to let them go home until a parent came to collect them after waiting an hour

before calling his parents. Another example was when K.J. was about 13 years old and staying
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with family in another state and some white people who didn’t want them playing in their local

playground called the police on him and his siblings for fighting, being too loud and laughing too

much.

In 1976, when K.J. was 18 he was stopped by the police because the screws and ropes

that held the license plates together were plastic, giving him a ticket for improper display. How

he had a brand-new car and that there was nothing wrong with it, so he went down to the police

department to make a complaint. The very next day those same police officers came to his

residence and banged their batons onto the hood of his car and told him that they didn’t

appreciate him telling their Sergeant on them. An older neighbor who lived across the street

called the police and the captain came and told K.J. that “you’re never supposed to make a

complaint against the police even if you don't do anything at all.” and sent K.J. on his way.

When K.J. was in his 20’s, and on his way to pick up his friend so that they could go on

their double date; a cop car pulled next to him and sat there watching him for some time and a

few minutes later about 6 to 8 cars blocked the road and began pointing guns at him saying he

matched the description of a black male with a white shirt who stole twizzlers and tootsie rolls

from corner store. After blocking the roads, they were pointing guns at his car and began

searching him; after they saw he was unarmed and was not the man in question, they called him

after his double date was over and told him to come down to the police station to answer some

more questions. During the interrogation they pointed a gun at him and held a gun to his back

trying to intimidate him and force him into saying he stole the candy from the store.
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Religion and Miseducation

For the African American population to be 12.5% of the U.S. population, the black

community has been found to be more religious than the U.S population as a whole; with 87

percent being affiliated with a religion and 79 percent saying that religion is important in their

life. J.K. is affiliated with Christianity, specifically Baptist Christianity. Baptist Christianity

started after the end of Civil War when some blacks wanted to peacefully practice Christianity

away from racial discrimination. This led to the opening of the Baptist churches with a separate

practice away from white Christianity and all their belief systems. Although it is Christianity,

Baptist Christians practice the same rituals as the other Christians but go by the word of the Old

Testament. Religion is a huge part of J.K. 's life; he faces internal struggles as he tries to follow

the rules of the Bible, being judged by other Christians for not honoring blessings and having a

deep understanding of the testimonies as well as having the mentality that he has to be a perfect

soldier of the Lord, when religion has a hold on you and the things you do. He continues to be

led by temptations also known as backsliding when it comes to things like smoking, drinking and

other extracurricular activities. But there are many interpretations of the Word and the

translations of the Old Testament and the New Testament; where black Christians tend to bud

heads with one another about what is right and wrong, the actual Word of God and the meaning

behind them and whether Jesus is a black man.

Credit and Finance Discrimination

Black Americans are more likely to be denied financial loans online (using social security

number) and in person (by appearance), only in comparison to white people, but also in

comparison to immigrants who come to this country. Blacks are given higher interest rates and
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are also restricted to lower value credit products, home loans, auto loans, personal loans,

business loans, etc. Although black men make on average $44,000 annually, when it comes to

credit, black women are more privileged than black men.

Generational Trauma and Division among Ourselves

Black immigrants are respected more than black Americans, all the while benefiting from

reparations that are meant to right evils of America's past. They benefit from the work that our

ancestors did and the pain they had to suffer. Examples include Jim Crow laws, redlining, etc.. .

Education, employment, etc. . . .From what I know Juneteenth represents the day in which the

last American slave was freed. However, it doesn't mean much because we suffer from a far

more dangerous form of slavery, not physical, but mental and psychological enslavement. They

have enslaved the minds of many of our people. Also, it remains in the U.S. Constitution that

slavery (physical bondage) is not yet prohibited, in the sense of prisoners/inmates, in which most

of our Black men are suffering from until this day.

What did I learn From This Experience?

That I am deeply disappointed in our “great” nation. That one’s opinion and attitudes affect their

judgment and carry generational prejudices and stereotypes that turn into discrimination. That

the blatant racism that blacks race in this country is terrible and everyone who even utters a

single word about or has ever mistreated someone because of the color of their skin should go to

hell. Moreover, black people need to get their life together and start building something, that we

need to come together as a community so that we won’t have to rely on government assistance or

experience discrimination in stores and stuff like that. This way, instead of our decreasing black
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male population, which makes a small amount in the United States, we can build it by having

black men in the homes and restoring black families. This can all be done if we start depending

on ourselves.

References

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Appendix

1. How does your annual household income compare with others in the United States
and others in your own community?
2. When it comes to sexual orientation, do you think of yourself as heterosexual,
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homosexual, bisexual, or something else? How was your experience growing up with
your sexual orientation?
3. Tell me about any challenges you have endured being a black man living in the
United States?
4. What does Juneteenth mean to you? Can you tell me more about what that means to
you?
5. How do you feel about the reparations that is supposed to be given to the descendants
of black slaves?
6. Have you ever been denied any loans or any financial? Why do you think that was?
7. Did this interview make you uncomfortable in any way or bring up any unwanted
trauma?
8. What do you think about the division among the black community and the family
social dynamics?
9. What was it like growing up in the city?
10. Did you experience or know someone who has experienced intercity conflict?