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!!

Black Men

To think that only 2% of psychologists are African American's, isn't surprising, but still disturbing. Knowing that African Americans have a different psyche than white American's shows how hard it is for white Psychologists to relate to African American patients. To know that a person is unable to relate to you really discourages you from being personal and sharing information with that person. Seeing that black men already have a hard time sharing information with black women, I feel like they don't even consider sharing information with people who don't look anything like them. Not only will African American men feel uncomfortable, but the judgement of the white psychologist will be off. Studies and research are usually done from a Eurocentric view, so it's seems impossible to be able to help someone who not European with Eurocentric solutions. Cultures are different, experiences are different and life styles are different. All of this has an affect on the way you think about yourself and the world.

Black Heterosexual and Black same-sex couples both have to deal with stereotypes in today's society. Society has specific characteristics for heterosexual men and women and homosexual men and women, and when someone steps outside of "character", society is shocked and unwilling to accept the differences and natural instincts of others. We constantly have to label everything in our world, no matter what it is.

Stopping the Relationship Cycle

The problems and challenges, that are going on in African American relationships, all relate to each other like a domino effect. Once something doesn't go right, it causes everything else to tumble as well, and leads to many issues. Solutions that I think can positively effect the black community consist of EDUCATING our young black women and men.

-Teach them our TRUE history

-Teach them what they really are worth and their value.

-Teach them how important their African American brothers and sisters are to their lives.

Blacks are feeding into the negative stereotypes, becoming what they hear. Some African American men believe all they can be are athletes because that is all society has taught them. If they only focus on sports then they are uneducated and unable to get a job. This causes the woman to have to step up in the household, making her the dominant person.

Issues that need to be addressed in counseling African Americans consist of the communication within their relationships, the stereotypes of African Americans, and the loss that women deal within these relationships. I felt like these issues would take more than just a realization of what the problem was, because they are so much deeper than what the surface shows. Unfortunately, we can't change history, but we can alter our future.

2 Anti-beliefs that relate to history:

"I'm not good enough to be loved"- This is something that African American woman still face with today because during slavery, they were raped, beat and treated any kind of way. Dehumanizing them making them lose sight of their true value and worth

"I'll lose anyone who gets close to me" - During slavery, families were torn apart, men watch their wives being raped, and women watched their husbands being beat. This statement means, to me, that anyone who loves me more than the average, cares for me more than I can imagine will be taking away.

An African American Man can be described as self-determined, family oriented, prideful, and spiritually humane. Though some men may have forgot or may have simply got off track to what a real man is, I believe they still exist.

African American Relationships

Check out this great MSN video - Redefining black relationships

The African- American Women and the Male Female Relationship Dilemma: A Counseling Perspective

Afr Relationships, what we constantly talk about in class. This article summarizes all of the concerns we have regarding black male and black female relationships. The article talks about the history of African American Men, how they were torn from their families during slavery limiting them to be the leaders in their family, and African American Women, how they were forced to become the dominant figure in their families.

The article then explains the contemporary issues black relationships face, such as black men not being able to uphold their "male like" duties due to society's barriers, and how black women usually have to settle because of this. The article later talks about the loss women face in these relationships whether they are physically or emotionally.

Communication was summed up in two paragraphs in this article, though I felt like it is one of the most important topic. A lot of black relationships are unstable or fail to succeed because of lack of communication. This led to the stereotypes in the black community. This article explains that our black men are feeding off of the thought that black women or "undesirable" and etc. While black women see that black men only want sex from us.

The article ends in explaining how there should be more research on black relationships, black males and black females, and I agree.

5 Questions

1. Living in a class apart: The separate world of America's Black elite”—how are the issues discussed in the article still impacting African Americans today?

I think a main issue in the black community today that refers to this article, is skin complexion. Who knew that this would be an issue within the black community, since it has been and issue against the black community for over 400 years, and I believe even before then in certain areas the different tones of African skin was a symbol of division. In today's society, they stereotypes aren't as bad, but they are still an issue. If you have a lighter skin complexion doesn't mean you are automatically stuck up and if your skin complexion just happen to be darker doesn't mean you are less prettier than the next. These idiotic stereotypes, show how the "house slave" and "field slave" mentality may have had an affect on the psyche of black people. Now our struggle for black unity is expressed through comments like #teamlightskin and #teamdarkskin. In the article it is expressed through the "brown paper bag test". All of these expressions, to me, explains how our black community then and now are unconsciously crying for help.

2. In the article by Offner, P. (2002). What’s love got to do with it?: Disparity between black men and women, the author presents several explanations for why Black women are advancing so far beyond Black men. What would you add to these explanations?

While families encourage higher learner for young women, I think they encourage sports for young men. Seeing that you are more likely to be successful when you have higher learner then that means black women are more likely to be successful leading them to be farther beyond black men. It's rare to find young men who make it to the pros, so that leaves a large group of young black men at a place that is lower than the status of young black women.

3. From the editorial by Raspberry on “Successful women who are childless”, (A) what percent of African American women between 28-55 years old and earning over $55,000 a year are married? 29 Percent. (B) Further, according to Cornel West, how has the ratio of black men to black women college students at Harvard changed between 1970 and today? Went from close to even to 9-1. Compare this to John Hope Franklin article.

Franklin and Raspberry talked about the same issues in there articles. They both talked about how the number of father-absent house holds and families increased over the years.

4. From the article by Eckholm, E. (2006), “Studies sound alarm on plight of black males”, (A) How has the plight deepened for black men in the last 2 decades? (B) Describe the two factors cited by Holzer and colleagues for keeping black employment rates down.

We have more poorly black educated men because of high school drop outs. This puts them at a higher disadvantage in the community. To keep the employement rates down you simply have to keep them out of school and keep them incarcerated.

5. From the article by Edwards, A. (2002), “Bring me home a black girl”, What does the term "annihilation through integration" mean? How does that relate to the Black marriageability index today? After reading the McLarin and Evans articles, discuss the implications for the marriageability index among African Americans. Does either article speak to perhaps an increase in marriageability index among and between African American couples?

Another interesting Photo

AFR Time Line

The African American history and accomplishments naturally blows me away. I get amazed every time I review the history of my ancestors and all they overcame. It makes me feel proud. I didn't realize how each detail of our history could have an effect on black families, good and bad.
I tried to stick to a couple of events that impacted the black family, but it was so hard to deliberate what was more important because EVERY detail is important in our history.

*Early Days and Slavery

-1619- A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. This effected the migration and separation of families. Fathers were torn apart from their families and I believe that had a negative effect on the male psyche and well being.

-1781- Free blacks in New York City found the African Free School, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated. This impacted the black family by education aspect. Starting the education of young children and building and sculpting leaders. Education has an effect of black family because what you learn will determine how you raise your families.

*Building Democracy

-1867- Five all-black colleges are founded: Howard University, Morgan State College, Talladega College, St. Augustine's College, and Johnson C. Smith College. There will be more than 100 predominantly black colleges by the middle of the next century. This effects the black families through education. The oppresion of black colleges, gives a professional standpoint to the African American culture. We over came obstacles of not being able to red in public and now we are to the point where have our own source of higher education. Higher education means better jobs and opportunities for our families.

-1911- The National Urban League is founded to help the many African Americans who are migrating to the cities find jobs and housing. This helped with migration as well as job opportunities for African American families. People were able to move to different locations, providing a better life for their families.
*Civil Rights This is the time, to me (based off the time line), where people are challenging their talents and gifts.

-1963- The MLK March was an important event because of how it taught younger children about self determination (involving them in the process), and then it taught them unity. This moment brought the community closer together, and I believe it broguht the families closer together as well. A tragic event that happened during this time was the killing of the 4 girls. This event was traumatizing, but I believe that it also brought families closer together, creating unity.

-1967- Edward W. Brooke became the first African American U.S Senator since reconstruction. This to me also shows collective self esteem. Accomplishments like this gives the black community something to be proud of. They can use these people as an example to set high standards for their family.
*Modern Times

-1972- Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed. Giving African Americans more jobs so that they can have access to a better living. This employment has an effect on their migration, education, and housing.

-1983- This year was full of success stories. Vanessa Williams becoming the first black Miss America. Points in out in the American culture that Black people are beautiful too. Astronaut Guion "Guy" S. Bluford, Jr. becomes the first African American in space. These things gave African Americans a sense of self worth. People were able to value being African American because they are able to "name drop (call out a lot of names who are important to society)". This has a different effect on the male psyche.


Two principles that I felt were well through out this timeline are self-determination and faith. Self-determination was what people needed to push themselves to do better and make a difference, and faith was what they needed to believe it was possible. These are things that I think the African American culture still holds in society today. In the video we saw today I think expressed how these principles (as well as the rest of them) are very common in our natural way of thinking as African Americans. This is what it takes to be resilient.

-Keara

Was Justice Served??

So I saw this on Facebook and I really wanted to hear from you guys what you thought about this, since we were talking about race last week in our class. I had two different views, one I thought of immediately and the other was influenced by a comment. My question to you all is do you think that justice was served and why even? I know this isn't mandatory, just thought it was interesting, hope you feel the same :).

This happened on TAM airlines.

A 50-something year old white woman arrived at her seat and saw that the passenger next to her was a black man.

Visibly furious, she called the air hostess.

"What's the problem, ma?" the hostess asked her

"Can't you see?" the lady said - "I was given a seat next to a black man. I can't seat here next to him. You have to change my seat"

- "Please, calm down, ma" - said the hostess
"Unfortunately, all the seats are occupied, but I'm still going to check if we have any."

The hostess left and returned some minutes later.

"Madam, as I told you, there isn't any empty seat in this class- economy class.
But I spoke to the captain and he confirmed that there isn't any empty seats in the economy class. We only have seats in the first class."

And before the woman said anything, the hostess continued

"Look, it is unusual for our company to allow a passenger from the economy class change to the first class.
However, given the circumstances, the commandant thinks that it would be a scandal to make a passenger travel sat next to an unpleasant person."

And turning to the black man, the hostess said:

"Which means, Sir, if you would be so nice to pack your handbag, we have reserved you a seat in the first class..."

And all the passengers nearby, who were shocked to see the scene started applauding, some standing on their feet."

Was JUSTICE Served? Please be respectful and honest :)

-Keara :)

A World full of Labels

The "Sorting People" activity was pretty interesting, but it didn't reveal something new to me. In class we talked about how we as a people, naturally label others based off their race. Though I hate the reality of it, I find this to be very true. I am constantly meeting people or seeing different people around campus and automatically wondering what race they identify with. The crazy thing is, I know that RACE DOES NOT MATTER. I look at it as acknowledging the beauty in every race, ethnicity, culture and the blend of it all.

I do know that every doesn't think like that which brings me to my 3 facts that I thought were interesting.

1. Race and Freedom were born together.

This is very interesting to me because it explains that race became existent when slavery was ending. People in power created race so that people of color would constantly be in chains even though they didn't have the metal as proof. In the article, "The Roots of Racial Classification", the authors talk about how there were white abolitionists who opposed slavery, "but they did not necessarily believe in racial equality." This doesn't any sense to be because racial inequality is slavery.

2.Colorblindness will not end racism.

I agree with this. The different colors of people are necessary to create the rainbow we call world. Pretending that we all look the same is not worse than racism, but it's not better than racism either. We should appreciate and celebrate the different cultures of people.

3.Race has no genetic basis.

I definitely agree with this because race is obviously based off of "what you LOOK like". A person can be mixed with white and Hispanic and be considered white, but if the person was mixed with white and black they would most likely be considered black because of the dominant skin tone.

As far as HISTORY....

"If people knew and discussed more openly the history, would we still be so caught up in the 'race thing'? " YES!!!! I feel as though people (who ever has the longer stick) don't care about the history of other cultures because their main focus is dominance and power. If they did know the history, which I'm sure some if not most do, I think it will make matters worse because they know what people are inherently capable of and would fear that this would interfere with their power and dominance.

Privileges I have:

-Education

-UT Student

-Religion

-Technology

-Family (supporters)

All of my privileges listed give/gave set up many opportunities for me. A lot of those opportunities probably wouldn't have been possible if I didn't fall into one of these categories.

To end off this blog post, I wanted to leave you all with a picture to let you know what I thought about the different labels discussed in my blog.

-Keara :)

"A New Civil Rights Movement"- My Response

In the article, Herbert talks about how the separation of black families during slavery still has an effect on African American's today. I agree with his ideas regarding this. I believe that psychologically those images and memories were planted in the minds of black families and were passed on throughout the many generations. I don't, however, believe that we should have another Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights movement was important so that blacks could express to whites that we are human and deserved to be treated as such. Now, blacks need to express to other blacks that we are still important as African Americans. One our classmates that was in my group on Tuesday, called it an Empowerment Movement, and I agree that that is what we need.

-Keara Foster :)