The African American Community and the LGBT Community - Free Essay

The film “Djuan Trent on the Importance of coming out,” is a clip that shows how African Americans can achieve their dreams (Human Rights Campaign, 2014). Growing up in a quiet place, Trent always wanted to be a model but never knew how to make it. What inspired her is that she knew that choices could change the perception of someone. Since she was a beauty queen, she knew she would be the next Miss Kentucky (Human Rights Campaign, 2014). Years later, Trent changed the perception of people to show them that color does not matter, but decisions make a difference.

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After watching the Video about Djuan Trent, I was impressed with her determination as a model. The most intriguing part is how an African American wakes up one day and becomes Miss Kentucky. Trent has changed the history of modeling by showing people that anyone can achieve their dreams. The clip left me asking myself what prevented blacks from achieving their goals (Human Rights Campaign, 2014). The Video has also made me understand that if anyone wants to achieve anything, they can do it so long as determined. The clip has made me believe that every person’s dreams are valid, and anyone can reach them.

One Significant Challenge from the Film

The fact that many groups rise and fail gives me the idea of the model minorities and how they can succeed not because of biological or innate differences but rather when cultural forces are put at work. When someone is an outsider of a specific society does not mean that there is no future. As known, many immigrants wonder if they can survive in a foreign land. Due to this, they end up teaching their children how to be precious in an outside area (Lazear, 2017).

My take to this question is that anyone can take away your business or home but not your knowledge. Religious minorities and newcomers usually face hostility or ridicule. A suitable example is the Cubans who went to Miami during Fidel Castro’s era. However, in the 2012 election cycle, the issue was raised again. The same was also combined with the superiority complex to avoid underestimation (Postnikova, 2019).

The above example shows how diversity can make minority groups successful. One thing noticed is that there is nowhere I can go and not become successful. So long as I have the right mind and remain focused, then I can achieve my dreams. Today, America shares the traits that ‘together there is proper success.’ One challenge to me is applying the superiority complex, which is a belief of exceptionality.

Any individual who comes from a different background and lives in a foreign land experiences something known as the ‘triple package of traits.’ According to Lazear (2017), many groups instill themselves to be superior to others, which is why they are successful. People feel insecure when others feel superior. This combination is also very unstable when this person has to prove himself (Lazear, 2017). To make matters worse is when impulse control is added because of how it forms the resist temptation. People who sacrifice to gratify their fate to other people pursuit their future goals.

It is well known that the triple package violates the thinking of Americans. It is also well known that the claims of superiority are dangerous and deceptive, but people who succeed in America claim that they had a deep sense of exceptionality. For instance, Mormons know that they are the gods of the earth because they can lead people to salvation (Lazear, 2017). Suitable examples of groups that can be referred to as the Persian superiority complex are the Iranians.

In American culture, security should be a lever of success. Any person who develops the inadequacy feeling must go through therapy (Alnatheer, 2015). Parents should also stop instilling insecurity feelings to their children if they want them to succeed. Even though this is achievable, insecurity is a big concern in groups that live in America that is unconsciously or consciously instilled in children.

The only solution to this challenge is to run against contemporary culture. Various movies and books extol the idea of living in any place and how to control the impulse of being in a foreign land (Alnatheer, 2015). The best way to apply the superiority complex is to stop the dominant culture from spoiling the happiness of children with excessive demands or restraints. Successful groups that live in America have taken a different view from their childhood by teaching habits that will guide them at tender ages.

How the African American Community Can Be Treated Equal To the LGBT Community

The African Americans have always been a vibrant community to the transgender, queer, bisexual, gay, lesbians, and same gender loving group. These groups have also been facilitated by pioneers like Marsha P. Johnson (transgender activist) and James Baldwin (the gay novelist) to modern heroes such as Jason Collins (basketball star) and Laverne Cox (an actress) (Lin et al., 2012). African Americans and LGBTQ have made enormous changes in fighting for economic, racial, and social justice.

Besides the fear of familial rejection of the LGBTQ and the Black African American, this group also face harassment, isolation, peer rejection, and bullying. The issue affects their overall progress in life. Also, LGBTQ and African Americans face challenges accessing mental health support and competent counseling services (Lin et al., 2012). Those who get lucky to receive such services get lower quality than others. Some also go through unintentional and intentional discrimination.

The LGBTQ and African Americans can open up and discuss the challenges they go through. The reason behind this is that most LGBTQ members avoid discussing identity and race (Rivera et al., 2019). However, the only way the two groups can be inclusive when they talk about their characters to understand their interconnectedness. A report released by the Williams Institute revealed that in America, there are over one million African Americans and LGBTQ, where the majority of the blacks are identified as LGBTQ (Davis et al., 2013). Most groups consist of disproportionately female and young people who make almost one-third of same-sex couples.

While the two groups live in many communities, a few of them are densely populated. Washington, DC, is one city with the largest number of African Americans that either life around or the capital city. North Carolina, New York, Georgia, and Maryland are also cities with large groups of LGBTQ and Black Americans (Davis et al., 2013). However, most states do not protect the groups against discrimination.

The best way to make African Americans more inclusive to the LGBTQ group is by providing supportive, affirming, and safe homes to make them experience a positive healthcare dimension (Davis et al., 2013). This environment will also lower distress, risk of depression, reduce the risk of drug use, and increase citizens’ resilience and self-esteem. Affirming and supporting such families will also act as a cushion to harassment, discrimination, and bullying in communities and schools.

Since the two groups consist of the youth, they should share their gender identities and sexual orientation as families to reduce stress. Another way of making the two groups inclusive is through encouragement to allow them to fight negative thoughts. The best way of doing this is by supporting African America and the LGBTQ through professional community and family members training to change the perception about the past (Davis et al., 2013). It is also vital to educate all families in a given community.

The LGBT community and African Americans are part of the overall African-American culture and LGBTQ culture. Before 1969, the LGBTQ was never recognized, but history changed in New York in Stonewall Inn (Davis et al., 2013). It is only through the Stonewall riots that brought global and domestic attention to the gay and lesbian. When the LBGTQ and the African American are appreciated in the societies, they will be able to explore their dreams to become successful

The advancement in social discourse, public knowledge, and public policy assists the coming out and progression of the LGBT community. Davis did the study also shows that such moves have increased the accepting attitudes towards gays and lesbians in society (Davis et al., 2013). The same survey revealed that the acceptance rate increases gradually. Therefore, even though LGBT face racial lens, the black community will be there to comfort them.

Conclusion

African Americans and LGBTQ are groups that face a lot of challenges because of discrimination and identity. While the two groups live in many communities, a few of them are densely populated. The best way to make African Americans more inclusive to the LGBTQ group is by providing supportive, affirming, and safe homes to make them experience a positive healthcare dimension.

References

Alnatheer, M. A. (2015). Information security culture critical success factors. 2015 12th International Conference on Information Technology - New Generations. https://doi.org/10.1109/itng.2015.124Davis, L. E., Wallace, J. M., & Shanks, T. R. (2013). African Americans: Overview. Encyclopedia of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.506Human Rights Campaign. (2014, October 9). Djuan Trent on the importance of coming out [Video]. Human Rights Campaign. https://www.hrc.org/videos/videos-djuan-trent-on-the-importance-of-coming-outLazear, E. (2017). Why are some immigrant groups more successful than others? https://doi.org/10.3386/w23548Lin, Y., & Israel, T. (2012). Development and Validation of a Psychological Sense of LGBT Community Scale. Journal of Community Psychology, 40(5), 573-587. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21483Postnikova, E. (2019). Discrediting strategy in Fidel Castro’s media discourse. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.08.02.44Rivera, E., Poldruhi, M., Ward, C., Jenkins, G., Nichols, E., & Pinter, A. (2019). The Black at the end of the rainbow: Online discrimination among LGBTQ African Americans. iConference 2019 Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.21900/iconf.2019.103350