The Barbershop

SPCOM223 By: Vershawn Young

• main idea: “the conflict that stems from the sometimes converging, but oftentimes diverging, racial and gender expectations that are held out for black men and that we hold for each other”
• very complicated and multi-faceted feelings surrounding race/heritage/cultural image and stereotypes vs self-identity
• since difference races/cultures are already so segregated, there’s a strong desire to feel a sense of belonging with the people you’re supposed to be similar to
• the conflicting desire to do things that are seen as “black” to embrace your racial background and to belong, but also to avoid doing things that are seen as “black” to not perpetuate stereotypes and build structures that oppress black men
• the barbershop is a “racial and cultural distinction”.
• connection to “3 ways to speak English” and how Lyiscott talks about the distinction between home, school, and social English
• they often feel like just living and being authentic feels like a constant performance, where their racial and gender performance are judged
• and when they fail to meet those class, gender, and racial notions that others ascribe to them, they’re punished

Perhaps some black men in that barbershop are also trying to avoid racial and cultural punishment. Instead of negotiating two worlds, maybe they have chosen to live in only one— a microcosm, a subculture of white society that accepts and mandates a certain sociolinguistic performance of masculinity.

It’s my desire to reconcile my ghetto past with my middle-class aspirations.

First off, it makes me think of Green Book.