Targeted by law enforcement, criminals, overly aggressive, savages, might be good at sports, might be good at singing or dancing, loud, sex crazed, thugs – these are some of the descriptions seven black men in different stages of life used to describe how they see black males portrayed in the media.

Being told “you talk white” to growing up thinking cops hated black people, these men share their perspectives of how media portrayed them and how that translated to their real-life experiences.