Stay Razor Sharp

This poem talks about how we need to stay calm as a people and need to seek peace whenever possible. In a society that promotes violence and war we need to demonstrate peaceful means in order to achieve our goals as a society. It might be extremely hard to follow the peaceful path but it will help us as a society in order to prosperous nation. The black population did follow this method in lectures we have talked about in the sense that they did not want to create conflict and make things worse for them. It also created problems for the black slaves because they did not stand up for themselves and which prolonged their misery as a race. This poem came from zimbio.com

Joe Louis

This is a picture of boxing great Joe Louis who was one of the great sports stars of the 20th century. He is sitting on a chair and setting his head on a wooden fence. He is staring into the distance and wondering about something that I can only speculate about. During his boxing career Joe Louis was treated as a second class citizen even though he was heavyweight champion of the world and he defeated the top ranked German boxer. When he did so it was during the time period before World War II. This gave the America something to be proud of because he defeated someone who was associated with the Nazis. Even with all the accolades he still wasn't able to receive the same rights as every other white individual. Even some of the most famous black performers of the day were praised for there work but did not receive equal rights. The image of from the library of Wayne State University.

American flag and racism

There is an image by Constance B. Schultz that shows an elderly woman and a American flag in the background. The elderly woman is holding a broom and a mop. It represents the occupational stereotype of African Americans in that they only do manual labor jobs and they cannot comprehend white collar jobs or jobs that require an extensive education. Back in the 1800's you had scientists of that time period say that white people were smarter than black people and it was scientifically proven. Black people had to be slaves or be involved in servitude. After a while they probably believed all that was said about them and just gave up and did there duties because that's the way life turned out for them. This picture represents how America was not the land of free. Our founding fathers might have said "all men are created equal", but that meant if you were only white and owned property. The elderly African American woman wanted to experience the American Dream but because of the racism that has existed since the beginning of time and the policies that the American government has put into place she was unable to do so. The image also shows me how sad this woman is that she was subjugated to a life of servitude and future generations might be able to experience a life of true freedom that she was unable to experience. For some people they could be born into the American Dream and think that America is the greatest nation on earth. Others see America as a place that is free if you are white and of a certain economic class.
I found the picture from the answers.com website and it is called African American photography to about 1960.

Ice-T song

There is a song by Ice-T called Race War which he raps about Blacks and the injustices they face in their everyday life. Ice-T says white people love him and the music he makes as a successful black man but in general do not like the black race. They treat regular black people differently than they do black celebrities. It is the certain black policies that the government puts in place that hold the black individual down. He says you are a racist even if you say you have one black friend. Not only are blacks getting squeezed but also Mexicans and other races. All people that are not white are facing the same struggles as blacks. He in the song talks about a race war. What did these races ever do to deserve the injustices they are experiencing. The white race tries to create friction between the minority races so they will not hold the white race accountable for the past injustices that the minority races have experienced.
This song is similar to what we have learned in class in the sense we have racism in our society today and Ice-T talks about that a great deal in the song Race Wars. He says the white man will do anything to disparage the black man and other races that are different from them. He also blames blacks for not standing up for themselves and accepting the white culture. Throughout history the white man has done despicable acts to blacks and suppressed them making them conform to the white lifestyle or they would face instant death. Their were blacks that probably throughout history that thought they were inferior to whites in every way possible. In the song Ice-T talks about blacks voting for political parties that do not share their best interests. In the material we talked about how blacks put alot of trust in Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia government but were deceived by them and would not end slavery while also making treaties with Indians but behind their backs continually taking their land.
This is a very interesting song that puts into perspective the conflict between the different races. Ice-T in his song blames the system for the problems blacks have faced and also blames the black individual as well for easily conforming to the white culture. He wants African Americans and people of all minorities to stand up to the white society and not be taken advantage of. I believe in some points Ice-T is right about how minorities have experienced injustices and how there is great distrust among those communities. In the past I would say he is correct about how the white individual has taken advantage of the black individual and many of the problems that minorities face is because of the white man. But now I believe Ice-T is wrong. Many of the broken homes we see in our society today the majority of them come from African American families. Because of this blacks are more prone to committing crimes and the jail rate is higher for them compared to white individuals. I understand Ice-T frustration with the many injustices that minorities have experienced but he needs to place more blame on minorities for their misfortunes not just blame the white man for everything.
I was able to get these lyrics from asklyrics.com.