NCJ Number
179336
Journal
Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment Volume: 1 Issue: 2/3 Dated: 1998 Pages: 165-181
Date Published
1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Theories related to racial inferiority, culture of poverty, racial discrimination, and political economy are usually advanced to explain violence among African Americans; these theories, however, fail to underscore the deleterious influence of cultural oppression and cultural alienation on African Americans generally and on African American male youth specifically.
Abstract
A cultural alignment framework is presented to examine the role of cultural oppression and cultural alienation in the lives of black youth. The basic assumption of the framework is that violence committed by black male youth is a function of their internalization of alien concepts of manhood that reflect the impositions of European-American culture and the nefarious legacy of slavery. In the cultural alignment framework, violence by black male youth may be prevented by bringing these young people in line with Africentric values, values that underscore a collective and spiritual orientation to life that is consistent with traditional African philosophy. The cultural alignment framework recognizes that, although the black community should play a pivotal role in preventing and reducing violent crimes among black male youth, human service professionals who are likely to come in contact with these young people also bear responsibility. Human service professionals can help by familiarizing themselves with organizations that sponsor manhood training and rites of passage programs for black male youth and by ensuring schools are more culturally appropriate for these young people. 67 references