American Dream Picture final

There is an image by Constance B. Schultz that portrays an elderly woman and a American flag in the background. The elderly woman is holding a broom and a mop as well. The reason I chose this image is because this shows the American Dream not being carried out or not being a possibility for this elderly woman. She has had to live her whole life as a second class citizen in a nation which preaches eqaulity for all but does not put those words into implementation. All the woman life she has had to be a servant to the white man not having any rights herself. The American flag behind her symbolizes the interdependence of our states working with the federal government to provide the freedoms we so charish as a people. That is what it should represent but in actuality it does not. Up until that point it represented equality for whites not blacks. The picture was taken four years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But it was taken six years after the famous Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education which gave black students the right to attend the same school as white students. There had been progress made when the picture was taken but not enough for African Americans to have full rights as American citizens. African Americans were relegated to only certain jobs of servitude. They could not own their own business or work independently for themselves. It was always working for the white man. In class we watched videos showing blacks as servants such as Aunt Gemima who was a heavy set black woman always serving the white family by cooking and cleaning.
Since the founding of our country we have considered our country to be the greatest on earth. with freedoms and liberties expressed in our constitution. We see the United States as the land of opportunity for everyone no matter their race, color, creed. That sadly is not the case. The Founding Fathers discriminated against minority groups. They put African Americans into slavery, they deceived Native Americans and took their land through unfair treaties. Many of our political leaders owned slaves including Thomas Jefferson. So the American flag symbolized that you can be free and have opportunity only if you are a white man and own land.
This photograph is a reminder of the past indiscretions we have made as a country. The woman in the picture never experienced freedom eventhough she lived around freedom. Future generations of African Americans would get to experience freedom because of the hardwork and dedication that many black leaders showed in past generations. In the past many white people had contempt for black people because they were seen as unclean and could not be educated. Scientists of that day even would say the white man brain is better than the black man. The picture illustrates how African Americans are close or hovered around freedom and wanted it so bad but were unable to receive it because of the color of their skin.
I found this image at www.content.answers.com
I believe my performance on this blog was good. What I tried to do was take what I learned in the Eyes on the Prize video. I learned about that time period which included the Civil Rights marches and the killing of several black leaders. It gave me a better perspective on the time period.

Razor Sharp final draft

This poem called Stay Razor Sharp and it focuses on how we live our lives. If it is in a divine light, or dark void. The poet describes the many hardships that we go through in our lives. But if we are kind to other people no matter how difficult the circumstances are, you will have a peaceful heart, accomplishing things might be harder but in the end you will be proven right and you will have eternal life.
I picked this poem because it relates to the many people we have talked about throughout the course. For example Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of peace and non-violence that no matter how much hatred and violence was around him or how much he had to deal with himself, the constant death threats he remained firm in his convictions.
If you do not have peace within your heart it will continually rot, and you will turn into the people that have the same hatred for you. In a world filled with war and violence directed toward innocent people the more peacemakers we have in this world the better off we will be in our societies. The sad part of it is our society promotes war and violence. The media sees it as some game which is for entertainment purposes. The kind of television that is shown today destroys the hearts of the young and old. For example you will have propaganda films today promoting wars in countries. That is the same thing that occurred during World War II. The video we saw in class about Japanese camps which basically showed you the positives about them living their not being harmed. The video made it seem that the conditions at the camps were good and livable.
The poem talks about how "Blessed things will come to the blessed", no matter who you are or what your background. Acts of kindness will always be acceptable. If by some chance they are not acceptable in this world, they will be acceptable in eternal life. It might be hard sometimes to do the right thing. The world doesn't always like to do the right thing. People have been martyrs for standing up for equal justice and civil rights for all. Rosa Parks stood up to the system and refused to sit at the back of the bus and Martin Luther King Jr. life was taken from him because he promoted equality for all.
This poem is very good because it explains how peace will always win out over violent acts of aggression. Peace is the engine that will always drive our society. In the tough times being peaceful and kind is extremely difficult. Many individuals who went through the Civil Rights movement experienced this first hand. Many times the media does the wrong thing and promotes an agenda which is counter productive to peace. People should stand up for what is right not just what is popular. What the marchers did in the south was not popular among the majority of the south but they did it anyways because they wanted blacks in the future to live in peace. If we practice peace then our world will be a better place.
I found this poem at www.zimbio.com

Race War song

There is a song by Ice-T called Race War which he raps about African Americans in our society today and the struggles they have gone through. Ice-T explains how many white people love him and love his music. He says they should show the same respect for people of his race and other minority groups. There is a difference between the way they treat the well to do black man compared to the average black man or minority group.
The reason I chose this song as a media item is because this song really talks about the discriminatory policies that our government has put into place. It is one thing to actually pass a piece of legislation which is good but when the legislation is not implemented well it has an adverse effect on minority groups. For some people they feel the U.S. government has focused more on starting wars in other countries than actually focusing on the needs of its citizens at home. Or the government will create divides against the different minority groups. For example the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a great piece of legislation that was long overdue. It barred discrimination at lunch counters, buses etc. But it did not stop discrimination against blacks because some people especially in the south have racist tendencies towards them, even if the laws are forbidden they will find ways around it. The law that was passed because of past discrimination against people such as Rosa Parks who refused to sit at the back of the bus or Emmitt Till who was horribly killed because he talked with a white woman who thought he was threatening her. The perception by some people in the government or media is that blacks and other minorities are still threatening to our way of life. Ice-T says all the minority groups are blacks and are not represented as a society today. Too many people that are in leadership positions want to focus against the issues of the black man. Ice-T says not even the police are on the black man's side. For example the Rodney King beating in Los Angles
Ice-T does a really good job in his song of explaining the issue of race as he sees it in our society today and how its been used throughout history. Where I think Ice-T goes wrong is he goes by "the everyone is against us philosophy", and doesn't place more of the blame on blacks as a society. Does the white man deserve blame for past discrimination? Yes. But some of the blame should go to blacks. For example most single parent homes are found in black families. Which leads black men into crime, then in turn leads them to jail. Is it the government fault this happened? No. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions. I believe the blame should not be put all on one side.
I found the song at www.asklyrics.com/display/Ice-T/Race_War_Lyrics/132759.htm

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.