Christian Armour,
Starkville, MS
I’ve often myself have asked myself many times before why people fear black men so much. As a young black man myself, the last thing I would want is for another individual to be afraid of me simply because of my race. However, as I explored this topic further, I’ve come to understand that people fear black men because of the dangers we pose when we decide to try and be successful in a world that wasn’t created for us to be successful in. People see us as a threat not because of our skin complexion, but because of the fact that many of us won’t conform to the racial stereotypes and lifestyles that have been put in place. The expectation is that a black man is going to grow up to become some type of criminal or unlaw abiding citizen, however, when the opposite happens and a black man chooses to try to be successful, such as by becoming an entrepreneur or working high-paying jobs that not many black men work, that is when the fear arises. The fear of black men arises when a black man doesn’t conform to who a black man is supposed to be in American society.
