This brief documentary was produced by filmmaker Byron Hurt in 2008, shortly before Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. It is an exploration through the historical construction of black masculinity in America over time. It compares and contrasts the masculine representations as exemplified by Barack Obama, on one hand, and rapper 50 cent (Curtis James Jackson III) on the other. Ultimately, it pushes the viewer to think of black masculinity in between the extremes.
This video features the voices of a diverse group of 12-year-olds from West Side Collaborative Middle School in New York City talking about their experiences with race, racial identity, and racism. The featured students speak about their backgrounds, families, experiences with discrimination and stereotyping, and the confusion, fears, anxieties, and racial injustices they face in their everyday lives. The video is part of a multimedia project called Being 12: The Year Everything Changes, produced by pubic radio station WNYC.
On February 6th, 2016, during Black History Month and one day before her Super Bowl halftime show performance, Beyoncé dropped the song and video for “Formation” on her YouTube channel and on Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service. The song's lyrics are characterized by Beyoncé reframing stereotypes traditionally used in a derogatory way towards African-Americans into empowering statements which celebrate Blackness. For instance, she states:
“Run the World (Girls)” is a song recorded by Beyonce Knowles in 2011, with the accompanying music video directed by Francis Lawrence. The video displays a post-apocalyptic war-zone in which Knowles and an army of scantily-clad women square off against men in riot gear – all through the use of seductive dance moves. The video ends with Knowles ripping off the military general’s badge and putting it on herself. The aggressive lyrics center on the superiority of women, with much of their power being attributed to their intelligence, money-making abilities, and “persuasion”.
Published in June 2015, this two and a half minute video shows systemic bias in the news when reporters describe the actions of Black people as compared to how they describe the actions of White people. The video features news clips reporting on social unrest from outlets such as ABC, FOX, and CNN and points out biases like when reporters use racially charged words like “thugs,” “wild looting,” “criminals,” and “the bad guys” when describing groups of Black people vs. “young people,” “passionate,” and “fans” to describe groups of White people.