How do deviant’s express deviance? No conversation about deviance can occur without discussing the impact that African-American’s and other minorities have on the description of deviant behavior. Most conversations of deviance begin with western input definitions and descriptions. In that light deviant behavior is any behavior deemed against the norm is defined by second hand information received by western scholars. The information can be viewed as being received as second hand because for thousands of years people were able to interact with each other without labels prior to Aristotelian categorizations. As a black woman I am personally tired of the minority group defining acceptable practices for the rest of the world simply because they have been able to successfully rob scores of the world’s people by simply inventing a gun. In essence the deviants are defining deviance throughout the world simply because of a power illusion created by money.
Deviance was constructed well before the works of the renowned scholars listed in Goode’s “Deviant Behavior”. One of the earliest attempts to associate deviance with African people was Dr. Richard Cartwright’s report in the New Orleans Medical Journal entitled, “Report on the Diseases and physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race.” (Cartwright, pp. 691-715) In this work Dr. Cartwright explained almost every difference in African’s between white people in terms of physicality rather than the cultural expressions he was describing. By carefully reading this account a roadmap to current theories psychologists and sociologists subscribe to in some way begin from this short-sighted world view. Goode states that in defining deviance there must be a “focus on the number and power of the people who define a given a given act.” (Goode, p. 16) However; I would interject that from a historical standpoint race and its subsequent spoil of victory “power” seem to have more of an impact than number in many cases. The easiest assignment that you can give a person of color is to commit an act of deviance and it is also the hardest. If one replays nearly every conversation on deviance they have ever participated or listened to African-Americans are rarely left out of the conversation. Even when there is apparent deviance operating in western culture whites in particular Africans and their descendants are foremost on the list of areas in which deviance originates. For example, many like to blame rap music lyrics as a source of the connotation of deviance when the majority of rap music is purchased by whites and the majority of record label executives that contract rappers are white. (Kitwana) The starving artist is then penned as the culprit of deviance rather than the sick people engaged in frenzy to promote dysfunction. In addition, rational people don’t use an art form to pigeon hold a group of people’s existence however, when sociologists define deviance in self-serving terms the deviant group retains authority.
An author or sociologist who defines deviance as an act against the norm and then adds that the number and power of those who judge the act as a precursor to a working thesis on the matter is also preserving cultural exclusivity in that it allows people with power to maintain the status of setting the rules. It is absolutely preposterous to believe that a small minority of people because of financial acuity and their manipulation of facts retain rights and privilege over the majority in defining normalcy. Of course the subset of “societal deviance” includes that each particular group maintains their own set of beliefs and values that must be considered however, this still promotes the idea that normalcy is found in one particular group yet members of other groups can still define normalcy of their own but, does not give it rights as the majority because of their lack of power and number.
As a black woman I wake up every morning as a deviant. Cartwright’s legacy includes that because of the color of my skin that normalcy can’t be defined with me. It was believed that Africans had more nerves so that they were unable to control impulses. When I go to the store, I’m almost certainly watched in case I may fall prey to impulsivity and steal something. Because of the neighborhood that I live in it is perceived that there will be scores of deviant activities that surround me that I can’t fight against. When I am summoned I’m considered a girl or “gal” in the South even though I have given birth to a son who is an adult. When I approach anyone about a problem I may be experiencing I am quickly scrutinized in an attempt to keep me from “getting over”, and receiving consideration without merit. When I point out issues that impact my sovereign rights I am quickly dismissed as an “angry black woman”. Every aspect of my daily interactions are inspected for deviance because it is a given that I embody deviance. I am presumed to be unable to care for my children, myself and certainly that I am unable to make decisions for the majority because I am somehow defective. Just being a college student is considered deviant as most times I am overlooked as some meritless affirmative action experiment. Simply engaging in classroom discussions is often an exercise in helping me understand the real world, rather than embracing of a different point of view. For 3 ½ years each and every classroom interaction has included some sort of degradation ceremony where I’m forced to defend my culture or “socially distance” in order to retain normalcy when in fact there is nothing any different about my existence than anyone else’s. Waking up in the morning and continuing to choose natural hair over processed is an act of deviance and a degradation ceremony all its own. By wearing my marked status I am immediately put on trial and my group loyalty is brought into question. The only way to circumvent the sentence is to punish my hair by straightening it.
Goode further impacts this rhetoric in that I do not have the number and power in the United States or throughout western culture to be normal, or at least to define deviance. Marked statuses don’t perform at any different level than any other group except that the labeling that occurs prevents the ability to acquire the money and power in order to effect change. How I wept in reading Cartwright’s condemnation of Africans in America to deviance by narrating the point that it is a peculiarity that the “Negro” responds to love and respect. (Cartwright, pp. 691-715) While Goode’s definition is true I believe a better way to study and define deviance would leave out the question of power because the powerful are often the main contributors to deviance. In discussing this dilemma with my partner Gihoon I was immediately brought back to an interaction with one of my son’s best friends who attends middle school with him. When Samnang first came home with my son I immediately recognized he was Cambodian. Long Beach California has the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia. My son Antonio burst into the door and said, “Mom this is my friend Sam. But, he really has another name but we call him Sam.” Then my son grabbed his backpack and showed me the letters SAMNANG written across his backpack in indelible ink. I immediately asked him, “Well how do you pronounce it?” His eyes told me a story I knew all too well for myself. He was so accustomed to his name being butchered that he was a little shocked by my desire to know how to say it. I gave it a try and pronounced, “sam yang?” His eyes lit up. “I said that’s the right way?” He answered in the affirmative. I asked him if he preferred to be called Sam or if it was just the best way for keeping his name from being mangled. He said that Sam was OK. I told my son later that there is no reason to be unable to pronounce another person’s name we all have the same lips and mouth. I asked Gihoon where he was from and then has he been asked, “Does he know Karate?” Even though Korea and karate are not synonymous I recognized that a pan-Asian stereotype may be one of his experiences as well. It seems to me as if we may be creating a majority.
