Patriarchy continues to loom large over representations of Black masculinity in the age of President Obama

While many hailed the election of the first black president with Barack Obama to be the beginning of a new “post-racial” age in the United States, the incarceration rates and racial wealth gap reveal how little has changed in the past six years. Crystal Belle examines different constructions of black masculinity in the age of President Obama. She argues that society must focus on dismantling patriarchy alongside institutional racism as both force black men to perform particularized visions of their identities.