Plans and Implementation

I have two service learning projects that have been keeping me busy, but I'm really enjoying them. One of them is Men of Distinction, and the other one is Theatre for Dialogue. Men of distinction is basically a survey for black men about black men. Edden is doing a great job of leading this project. She has been the main connection with the ACC men and have been filling me and the rest of our group memebers in with every detail concerning this project and what needs to be done. My other project, Theatre for Dialogue, is one that is really exciting to me becuase of all of the artistic work and thinking that is taking place within our group meetings. We have people are in and used to be in VAV (voices against violence) who are helping us facilitate this project, and I think we are moving along nicely. I dont want to give away too much information about what we have planned, but I'm sure the class will enjoy it.

Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes

With all of the AFR classes I have taken, I believe that this was not the first time that I've seen this film/ It's really shocking to me that the young men felt like it was O.K. to treat the young women like that. The way the young women carried themselves was also unacceptable as well. I do think that music can control your thoughts unconsciously, causing you to behave or think in the way that is similar to the music you are listening to. With this being said, not having a filter, someone who can tell you that this is NOT the proper way to treat a lady, can lead to disrespectful actions. If ladies aren't being taught how to take care of themselves, then they may think its acceptable for men to take control of their bodies. Empowerment needs to be done for both black men and women,. so they can learn how to really value themselves, and ignorre what is "suppose" to be for entertainment.

Achievement Gap

I think the systemic and individual factors both work simultaneously and have a huge affect on these kids lives and educational success. The areas they are living in, which they have no control over affects their behaviors and how they act as individuals. How they act as individuals have an affect on their academic learning. The economic status of the school, not being able to provide resources, also affects the child's success and achievement gap. The young men, in the Baraka program, did have some kind of family support system, but sometimes you need a little bit more than family support, which is why the program was good for most of them.  Some of them were able to learn from the experience and make something of themselves even if they didn't continue the program, but others needed a tad bit more support or a longer experience to take it with them. 

With the "Closing the Gap" article and what I make of these differences are very clear. The difference isour children don't have the resources, "only 21% of blacks were upper middle class or higher, where as 73% of whites were". Not only the resources, but the learning that is being done. SOme of the students are being taught how to take a test instead of how to do critical thinking. I can't stress enough how the lack of resources can affect a person's full potential of learning. Yes there is an achievement gap, and yes there is oppression. 

Racial Identity

Racial Identity 

It took me a while to determine how white privilege is expressed throughout the identity developmenet stages. I'm still not completely sure. What comes to mind is the simple differences between the White Racial Identiry model and People of Color Identiy Model. The first stages in both of them is a pretty clear explantion of how whit privilege is available in society. For the White Racial Identity Model, their first stage is Contact. People in this stage pretends as if their arent any differences between humans and race doesn't really exist. Ignoring the differences in one another because noone has brought it to your attention, because you are more than likely able to fit in, is probably an example of white privilege.  You dont deal with the issues around you because they arent concerning you. In the People of Color Identity model, the first stage is the Pre-Encounter stage, which means that these people of color deny their own culture and want to be white. These people see that there is white privilege and they want to some of it, there self-esteem must not be high because they damage themselves mentally because of it. 

I think the knowledge of white privilege has a effect on my daily encounter more than white privilege itself. Since I've taken this class, I'm always over thinking things, which is a good and bad thing. Sometimes I work myself up because I would feel that everyone, in a classroom for example, is against me because they have more privilege than me. Other times I'm not bothered by it, and i feel as though my voice needs to be heard because their privilege is unacceptable, like marching in the Trayvon Martin ralley. 

I'm very comfortable with who I am. I love my culture, and proud of who we are and what we have become, for the most part. With my understnading, I feel as though it is my duty to make a difference in today's societies. If things are still the same, when it is time for me to leave this earth, then I did not do my part. I'm so grateful for this service learning project because it helped me get started with making a difference, even if it's the slightest difference, in the world.  My change will NOT stop here, for there is too much that needs to change. 

Affirmative Action

A lot has been going on in our country that is so far beyond me right now. I can't stand it... but I will take a stand.

The affirmative action case is little interesting.

Something that stood out to me was "for no reason other than the color of their skin, they need special assistance.." when I read this, my immediate reaction was "WOW... really?" This statement alone is NOT TRUE, ans you can tell that it comes from a PRIVILEGED PERSON! When they make EVERY elementary, EVERY junior high school, EVERY Neighbor hood, equal in EVERY neighborhood, with the same resources and skilled teachers, then maybe just MAYBE it would make a tad bit of sense. Then we would have to take make the the background of people, the experiences, and family history of others equal as well, and I'm afraid that is just not possible.

Sure, I agree with that it should target disadvantaged, it just so happens that the disadvantaged is usually majority black and Hispanic. Even if we were born in to a "privileged" family of doctors and lawyers, I honestly believe that the privilege of a successful black person still doesn't add up to the privilege of a poor white person. It's sad, but SOCIETY made it that way.

Black Couples- Midterm Blog

“According to 2009 data from the Census Bureau, 70.5 percent of black women in the United States had never been married — but those were women between the ages of 25 and 29. Black women marry later, but they do marry. By age 55 and above, those numbers showed, only 13 percent of black women had never been married.” These statistics were pointed out in one of Dr. Gilbert’s class lectures. Though they state that this is only true for a certain age group, I find it interesting that from my knowledge, I would think that this particular age group would be the MAIN group looking for marriage. Of course, this is my own opinion, but if this were true, what issues are going on with black couples that prevents black women, from the ages of 25 to 29, from getting married? Relationships within the black community have had multiple struggles such as societal stereotypes, contemporary issues, a lack of self determination, and a lack of responsibility, if we can fix some of this issues that we have as a community then we may lower the statistics of black women who have never been married, between the ages of 25 to 29.

In the article “In Search of Love and Commitment”, Chapman states “how devastating the stereotypes of the shiftless male and the hostile woman have been to Blacks, who internalize these images and bring the feelings associated with them into their relationships.” I think this is a valid point and reason why a lot of black couples struggle with their relationships. So many of black people are focused on either not being the “angry black woman” or not having relationships with “the angry black women” that we forget and fail to realize why that black woman is angry. Black women tend to be invisible to the American Society and this may lead to frustration. In order for us to be heard, we feel the need to be louder and forceful to make ourselves more present. When you pay more attention to the idea of a black woman being mad rather than the issue she is mad about, then of course all you are able to see is the “angry black woman”. For black men who are considered “shiftless”, this may have came about because of the opportunities that are not available for black men. If you have a greater chance of going to jail rather than getting a job, simply because society thinks your aren’t good enough, this could have an effect on your psyche.

Because of the stereotypes, contemporary issues also may affect black relationships in the black community. Bethea, in the article “African- American Women and the Male-Female Relationship Dilemma” points out that since they are “confronted by harsh realities of male selection, African- American women often pursue education as the path to social and economic security.” This may be why women who are between the ages of 25 and 29 have a lower chance of marriage, because they are too busy focusing on careers that will allow them to be financially stable. Black women are no longer looking for men to be their providers since they are failing to provide. Black men, however, have started to date outside of their race a lot more. Could this be because of black women are too “angry”? These issues could be playing into each other, only making it harder for black couples to have strong relationships with each other.

The last and main thing why black relationships are at a struggle is that they have forgotten about Nguzo Saba or haven’t had the chance to learn. Two principles that I think black couples are struggling most with is Self-determination (Kujichagulia) and Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima). I think these two are most important when talking about black couples and relationships because you have to be self determined to know that only those who are in that relationship should define it and collective work and responsibility to understand that couples should share the effort of the relationship and take responsibility together. Self- determination would help couples understand that no one else should define your relationship but you. So many black couples now days have let the media, statistics, and other societal issues control their relationships. Karenga states that Collective Work and Responsibility “calls on us to reaffirm our relationship and responsibility to each other, to our ancestors, and to future generations.” This means to me that what you do now, will affect your relationships, family, and future generations. We are all in this together to save the generations that may come ahead. This mean that these issues that we are dealing with now within black couple must come to an end.

So many things that must come to an end, and so many problems to fix, and I think my class mates have helped me gather my thoughts to hit a couple of points of how we can change some of these issues. Moriah Holmes says in her blog for a solution that if we "Have both black men and women dissect and analyze the stereotypes that society had placed on them, and look at how they have carried over into their personal lives." Casee Patrick says in her blog that “Until we tackle the pressing issue of available black men being prisoners in the system and fix the problems with education and financial stability, we will see this barrier in black America continue in their relationships.” Laleh Mojtabaeezamani posts in her blog that Chapman says the “Blacks need to accept total responsibility TOGETHER so Black woman can be relieved of bearing social burdens alone and men don't feel undervalued and threatened.” This may be hard, but if we attack these issues with full force “TOGETHER” then I believe, a change within black couples will come, and more young black women (ages 25 to 29) will marry.

An Unequal Society

In the last few classes we have been talking about homosexuality in the black community, and on Thursday we had a couple of guest speakers and our TA, Rose, talk about their experiences with their sexuality. I enjoy the fact that through all of the strife from the society about the LGBT community our speakers were still able to laugh about some of their experiences. Knowing that everyone is not on your side, is disheartening, so to see smiles on their faces, puts a smile on my face. Rose also taught us a couple of terms like "dandy" and "gender performance", which was a little confusing at first, but the more they talked about it, the more I understood.

In the Strange Bedfellows article, it became very clear to me that the Anerican society is ruled by LABELS! LABELS! LABELS! What really stood out to me is how some people who are opposed to gay marriages, support civil unions, like John Kerry. Civil unions are rights and benefits for same-sex couples. Believing in civil unions but not gay marriages shows that the society is only thinking about labels and what will show up in statistics.

Being a Christian, it does hurt my heart to see people step away from the church because of societal issues. Christ loves all people, and with a heart that is constantly yearning to be more like his', I love all people as well. It seems as though some people forget what a real Christian is suppose todo because they too are caught up on societal issues.

Love Conquers ALL!!