Black Manhood in the Face of Physical Challenges
By Nazsa S. Baker, Christopher St. Vil, Hashim Garrett
In Hashim’s Shoes
On May 7, 1990, 15-year-old Hashim Garrett recalled a sound of alarm while walking to the corner store with his friends. After he heard his friend yell “Look out! Run!” he turned and saw someone else around his age aiming a Tech 9 at him and his group of friends and he began to run. He noticed while running away from the unloading firearm that his pants made a funny movement and he felt something hard hit him in his back. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, the movement his pants made were bullets going through his leg and the pain in his back was another bullet. Aside from the two bullets Hashim felt, there were four additional bullets. Six bullets passed through him, leaving him with a total of 12 entry and exit gunshot wounds. Hashim fell to the ground and when he tried to move, he couldn’t. Most importantly, he couldn’t feel his legs; he felt alone.
Post injury, Hashim had to learn to cope with his disability and continue with life. From ages 16 to 18, he eventually got into a relationship and purchased a car. By 19, he had a full-time job, graduated from high school, and went to college. However, it was during his freshman year that he struggled with undiagnosed depression. He found himself self-medicating with alcohol, drugs, and even different relationships, trying to heal. Navigating life as a teen with a firearm acquired spinal cord injury and a chronic medical condition, he learned to focus on what he could control. His disability didn’t prevent him from doing the things able-bodied young men were doing such as getting a job, being in a relationship, driving, or furthering his education. His concept of being a man was being self-reliant, providing, and feeling like a protector.
His concept of manhood and masculinity changed as he met and engaged with older men who were mentors, fathers, and husbands. What he learned from them is that masculinity also meant being emotionally available, sensitive, understanding, compassionate, forgiving, in addition to being a provider and protector. These attributes weren’t mutually exclusive, and they reshaped his understanding of what it meant and currently means to be a man. He came to realize that the intersecting experiences of being a black man can be just as emasculating as having a physical disability which often leads to feeling stigmatized, marginalized, powerless, and weak. Intersectionality through the intersection between gender and race place Black men at such a disadvantage within the social hierarchy that by some, they are viewed as a crippled demographic. However, he refused to allow his disability to make him feel inferior and chose to draw strength from knowing he’s a survivor, not a victim. He recognized the resilience and fortitude required to thrive in a society that often works against someone like him, a Black man with a firearm acquired disability. Hashim’s story invites us to explore two questions:
- How do Black men negotiate their manhood/masculinities in the face of their physical challenges?
- What can able–bodied Black men learn from men who experienced physical impairments due to firearm violence?
Black Men & Firearm Violence
Black men and boys in the U.S. disproportionately experience acts of violence and are at increased risk of victimization compared to their racial counterparts. While research suggests that men and boys in general are more likely than women and girls to experience potentially traumatic events such as robberies and simple assaults, for black boys living in poor neighborhoods in particular, this risk is exacerbated due to alternative socialization influences that increase the likelihood that they will be the targets of crime or violent victimization. Furthermore, issues associated with violent injury do not end in the hospital because patients of violent injury are still in need of services post-discharge. In fact, some research suggests that the experiences of black males within the trauma unit/medical setting is less than favorable compared to their racial counterparts. This disparity in rates of violent victimization often result in them acquiring disabilities that have lasting impacts on their quality of life.
Intersecting and Negotiating Identities
Able-bodied individuals often overlook individuals with physical disabilities, intentionally or unintentionally rendering disability invisible. It is often said that disability regardless of the mechanism by which it is acquired (i.e., at birth or due to accidents) makes men less masculine. Once a physical disability is acquired, men’s bodies are seen as less than ideal and most importantly devalued. This is due to the significant emphasis American society puts on men called hegemonic masculinity, “the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy which guarantees the dominant position of men and the subordination of women”. Hegemonic masculinity is grounded in bodily performance that emphasizes power, dominance, and physical strength over others. Research has suggested that attention to three social processes are necessary to understand the experiences of disability: stigma associated with disability, gendered interactions, and the importance of the body in enacting gender roles. The presence of a disability or handicap compels those around the disabled person to view them as incapable and impotent; that a disabled body is missing something or lacking something essential.
Some men with physical disabilities feel the societal pressure consistent with the requirements of hegemonic masculinities. There is an immediate need to perform and consistently re-perform masculine tasks such as being the breadwinner. Having economic power not only speaks to financial independence but the ability to provide and take care of those who are considered dependents (i.e., women and children). A key feature of what it means to be a “real man” is independence. Men with physical disabilities are constantly fighting against skewed perceptions of what men with physical disabilities can and cannot do. Disabled men specifically, in comparison to able bodied men, may be feminized or seen as incapable of autonomy, bodily strength, and aggressiveness. Lastly, because the physically disabled body deviates from the expected norm, it complicates how one engages in gendered performances. This complexity has resulted in a dichotomy of sorts where some physically disabled male bodies are viewed as vectors of weakness whereas others are interpreted as pillars of strength and admiration for overcoming adversity.
Black men with a firearm acquired disabilities
Marginalized populations, specifically Black men, are constantly constructing and reconstructing masculinities because they are denied access to the true embodiment of hegemonic masculinities. Despite hegemonic masculinity being exclusionary and most men never achieving it, men in general benefit from the mere idea of it. Black men are forced to idealize hegemonic masculinities and perpetuate stereotypical ideas of manhood while experiencing significant amounts of inequality in their everyday lives from their levels of education, and economic opportunities (institutional racism and oppression). Black men have unique responses to their social worlds because of their intersecting identities. Black men experience masculinities in an interesting way that require them to move between being powerless in mainstream society and holding power within their own communities. While their general intersectionality (race, class, gender, and level of education) already marginalizes them, adding a disability to the equation further marginalizes this demographic leading them to deviate even further from the mean of normality.
What does Hashim’s story teach us?
Because of the way masculinity is defined, men with disabilities in general, must negotiate the limitations of their bodies with respect to the prevailing demands of what American society says a man is and does. However, when you’re a Black man with an invisible or visible disability, you’re at a disadvantage. Hashim’s story teaches us it is important for men to alter the way they think about masculinities, and this would be helpful when one is coping or trying to make it to the next level. We can address systemic injustices and build a stronger, more unified community by mobilizing, mentoring, supporting, and advocating for other men instead of basing decisions on hegemonic masculinity not meant for Black men.
Nazsa S. Baker is a postdoctoral fellow at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers, School of Public Health. Dr. Baker’s research examines the lives of Black men with firearm-acquired disabilities and hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs). Twitter: @Nazsa__
Christopher St. Vil is an associate professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. His research involves the evaluation of community violence and hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs).
Hashim Garrett is a student at Rutgers University School of Social Work. He is also a survivor of firearm violence, motivational speaker, and advocate for nonviolence and social justice. Twitter: @GarrettHashim
