ABSTRACT
This brief report describes the basis for an in-progress analysis of Black men’s interactions and meanings of race in the family context. Embracing her personal network of kin and friendship participation, Diggs presents verbatim family messages about family relationships and race from two self-ascribed Indigenous (Native) American/Black and African (Liberian)/Black cisgender males in Exhibits One and Two exemplars. Considering future Black males and family communication research, a strength-based model that focuses on the helpful values and perspectives inside Black family culture is the frame. Negative representations of Black males that are regularly consumed by the wider, biased cultural gaze and imagination are a problem to their daily existence. The author authors this research in progress report as an opportunity to shed light on the concerns and values these two Black family men have that shape their messages inside and outside of their family structures.
