Eliree Yakpasuo

English 102

Dr. Wynne

31 March 2017
Black Oppressions Impact on Black Men
Imagine a parent who must consistently deal with backlash from other children just

because of the color of their skin. In the same manner, African American men face this reality

every day. The oppression of black men shape the way their perspectives, way of life and

mentalities when growing up. This influences everyday life decisions such as the way they dress,

the neighborhoods they live in, schools they attend and jobs they apply for. A TED talk entitled

How to Raise a Black Son in America by Clint Smith and the article, In Search of Manhood:

The Black Males Struggle for Identity and Power by Aza Nedhari are genres that both discuss

how oppression has shaped African American men in this society. Although both genres may be

similar, they both use different methods to convey the same message: oppression has had a major

impact on African American men perspectives.

In the TED talk, Clint Smith talks to listeners in a way to raise awareness on how black

men grow up. He tries to reiterate the fact that there should be no difference in a white childs

upbringing versus a black childs. Smiths use of analogies persuades the audience to attempt to

create a change in the world. Smiths target audience is all of America but, specifically white

Americans who promote racism and do not agree with the indifference factor between the black

man and white man society. The TED talk was done in a formal tone to show the speakers

seriousness on the topic. The use of specialized vocabulary such as vigilante, humanity and

tombstone further show seriousness towards this topic (Smith 2015). Moreover, the speaker

delivering his speech used TED as a credible source which allowed listeners to confirm that the
information is credible and worth listening to. The speaker evoked sadness, laughter, and

relatability as he reminisced about times where he has been mentally impacted by oppression.

The speaker spoke on times when him and his brother would get into confrontation with other

children as a child just because of their skin color. He told stories of when he felt less of a

person because he lived in a world where skin color was a determining factor when it came to

decisions such as jobs and schools. Not only did the speakers use of words and emotion allow

the audience to feel where he is coming but also, many individuals felt closer to the issue.

Although the speaker only had five minutes to speak and had to immediately begin the speech,

he grasped the audiences attention through his sincerity even in such little time.

In the same manner, the online article entitled In Search of Manhood: The Black Males

Struggle for Identity and Power tries to raise awareness and inform an audience about how

oppression affects a black man; unlike the talk show, Nedhari uses written words to convey this

message. It informs readers about current day oppression as well as other forms of oppression--

slavery (Nedhari 2009). Nedhari intends to make readers understand that the perspective of many

Americans are impacted by their ancestors and resulted from years of oppression. The goal of the

writer is to inform all people of color about racism and indifference in hopes to educate the

American race about a dangerous path that needs to changed. The paper is quite long, which

might hurt the authors ability to convey his message. The language is very formal, almost too

formal causing the reader to be confused and maybe miss key information. Specialized

vocabulary, such as: Nigger, crack head, and white male patriarchy are examples of

informal language he used to defy against such a formal tone (Nedhari 2009). The writer uses

many in--text citations, statistics, and direct quotes allowing the reader to see the credibility of

the paper. The writer tried to get a shock value from the reader, thus causing them to want to do
something about the problem. He/she evoked shock by using statistics as well as educating the

reader on things they might have never heard of. The information is in paragraph form with

headings. The headings allow the reader to see the big ideas that will be conveyed within and

section, and it breaks up some of the small text.

In conclusion, there are both similarities and differences that can be observed after

reviewing both genres. The audience and purpose for both genres are to educate America as

whole, but they each target different demographics. The TED talk targets white America, while

the paper targets black America. The TED talk is more comical and relatable, while the paper is

more serious and scholarly. Although, the TED talk has some comedic relief it shares the same

serious tone when referring to the oppression facing black males. The TED talk was the most

effective in conveying how important it is for the oppression and mistreatment of black males to

be stopped. Not only did it comment on black oppression and how it impacts black men but also,

it was the most effective because the audition could hear the emotion in the speakers tone and

could better relate to that versus Nedharis online article. Nonetheless, the article was amazing

but, people tend to understand emotions and relate to situations better when they have actually

experience the situation first hand. The firsthand accounts, comedy, and relatability allowed the

listener to be more swayed and more likely to do something about it. The genre chosen to convey

a message determines how effective the message is and if the person reading/listening will care.
 Works Cited

Nedhari, Aza. "In Search of Manhood: The Black Male's Struggle for Identity and Power."

Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 1.11 (2009).

<https://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=32>

Smith, Clint. How to raise a black son in America. Online Video Clip. TED. TED, Mar. 2015.

Web. 18 Feb. 2017. Source:

https://www.ted.com/talks/clint_smith_how_to_raise_a_black_son_in_america