White America fears African American males. The fear was evident during the Trayvon Martin case. Its evident every time a black male is pulled over by police for no reason other than being black. Many white Americans agreed with Zimmermans reasoning for stalking and killing a young black kid based on the clothing that he wore and what it represents to White America. The police justify harassing all black people based on the actions of a few.
I find this to be highly irresponsible and extremely disrespectful. African American males have been harassed, incarcerated and murdered openly without any consequence on the basis of fear for far too long.
Although the media plays a huge role, this was the case way before the T.V. was invented. From the time we were given freedom, they have been trying to lock us back up. W.E.B. Dubois stated in his book Souls of Black Folk:
“The police system of the south was originally designed to keep track of all negroes, not simply of criminals; and when the negroes were freed and the whole south was convinced of the possibility of free negro labor, the first and almost universal device was to use the courts as a means of re-enslaving the blacks. It was not about crime, but color that settled a mans conviction”
If we fast forward back to 2013 we will see that African American males make up the absolute majority in prison despite the fact that as a group black people only make up 13% of the overall population of the country. There are more 
black men in prison then there are in college. African American males have the highest rates of expulsion and suspensions in school. All this does is desensitize black children to punishment therefore preparing them for capital punishment. Fear is one of the biggest if not the biggest reason for such disproportionate numbers.
On one end America has to change the way in which they view African American males. On the other end of this, African American males have to change the way in which we view ourselves. Only then can we begin to change a horrible tradition that has been present since the original Africans arrived in shackles many centuries ago. UNTHINK