The Devaluation Of Young Black Men: How Stand Your Ground Legislation Is A Manifestation Of The Fear Of Young Black Men In America

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable will discuss the evolution of “Stand Your Ground” legislation throughout the country as a response to the perceived threat by White Americans of young black men and the use of the legislative process to promote the ability to shoot to kill young black men with impunity. This topic will be analyzed through the lens of several conflict theories including the critical race, racial threat and black feminist thought theories. The discussion will include the objectification of young black men as nemeses within society who need to be corralled and eradicated because they have no legitimate value, as manifest through their criminal tendencies, which justifies the state’s failure to protect them from harm by eliminating the duty to retreat (previously required by shootings carried out in self-defense), the authorization of vigilantiism as a new form of lynching, the impact of devaluation of the black male on black females and other topics which reflect the devaluation of the lives of young black men.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII: Roundtables

Discussants

• Doris Lewis Edmonds, Norfolk State University

• Bernadette J. Holmes, Norfolk State University

• Carla Denise Miller, Shenandoah University