“Remember, it's always whites' ball”: Descriptions of African American male communication

Abstract

This paper represents a phenomenological approach to studying the communication of African American men. Through the use of critical incidents, indepth interviews, and focus group discussions, descriptions of lived experiences were collected from over thirty‐five co‐researchers over a two‐year period. Six essential themes are discussed as central to African American male communication: (1) the importance of other African Americans, (2) learning how to communicate with non‐African Americans, (3) keeping a safe distance, (4) playing the part (snap!), (5) testing the sincerity of non‐African Americans, and (6) an intense social responsibility. Implications for further research are discussed.