Foner Said It!

So, in one of the Foner readings (pages 861-866) he addresses The Spread of Imprisonment more specifically pages 862-863) and what was up with that. In 1992 the "case" with Rodney King (Rodney King was beat by a police officer and a by-stander got it on tape) Foner talks about, reminds me of a number civil situations that are happening everyday with the injustice minorities must face everyday. We have the Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman "case", the Brelo "case", the Baltimore Riots, and many other instances where we see things like the Rodney King "case". This issue makes me think and wonder, again, if we really progressed at all when speaking civil-y within the states..? I mean, we kinda progressed "politically", but why does that matter if a minority goes somewhere social and is harmed because wherever that minority went, say a grocery store, politics aren't really encouraged as much as they should be. Now what if you were that minority, how would you deal with such a thing? This leads me to a few questions of: can we solve this civil conflicts? If so, how? If not, how come? Can/May our generation make a difference when talking abut civil matters? Comment below and tell me any solutions you have or anything you thing involving social injustices, issues or whatever... I'm curious!  

Police

I thought it was super interesting having to look at the Time Magazine cover of the many white police officers against one black guy.

I say that because I feel that, especially now, that it is not only relevant, but o'so crucial to understand. Take a look at this:

and look at this: 

Never have I searched such things before, these are just the suggested searches. "police officer kills black boy/black man/ 7 year old boy/ family/ dog... " Never does it say "saves", "rescues", or "does job justly", but it says "kills''. The harsh connotation and denotative meaning of the word makes you feel not "safe" by the police but more threatened. It seems as though they try to do more exterminating than saving. Now, as a disclaimer, I'd like to say that this is not all cops or police officers that have plans of exterminating, nor do I think so, but some; enough to make an impact. Obviously we as a nation haven't progressed much, hardly at all, when speaking of racial (black) matters. As Martin Luther King Jr stated in his letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1963, "The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at a horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup coffee at a lunch counter" The ''horse and buggy'' alludes to the Victorian era of early 1800s-early 1930s...  This shows the obvious lack of progress the races have made within the USA, while other countries are just surpassing by. So I ask, why might that be?

Up Close with WWII

Last week all of the tenth grade American Studies class had the privilege of meeting a navy-man from World War II. To have the perspective of someone from the war was quite amazing; you were given the ability to see how someone thought of the enemy (to an extent), the missions they went on (specifically delivering the atom bomb), and the living conditions. When Mr. Fox's, wife's, grandfather (I totally forgot his name e_e, sorry, something like Undermeijer) spoke of the enemy, the Japanese, he commonly referred to them as "Japs", and I thought that was rather interesting considering the word "Jap/Japs" is seen as a derogatory or racial slur now. It kinda shows how Mr. Fox's, wife's, grandfather thought. But the living conditions the men were given were also kind of striking. The way the beds didn't really seem stable; the way they hungs from the walls and how they went in during the day for more room. The picture below wasn't the one that was displayed on the powerpoint given during the presentation, and these beds also seem "nicer" than what was given to the navy-men (then again the slave-ships were a lot worse but still).

Overall, the experience was great and being given the privilege of meeting the man was marvelous and to have more speakers in would be fun and great interactive experience. 

The Interracial Coming

These past weeks we've been talking about the Harlem Renaissance and how there was a, shall I say, "come up" of the number of interracial couples. Though the couples, or the romance amongst a white and black person, may have been only underground, why was it that the interracial couples had the tendency to be a white male and black female? In 2009 there was a census conducted about the racial relationship statuses. In 2009,  there were 354,000 White female/Black male and 196,000 Black female/White male marriages and the White female/Black male relationship is twice as likely to end in divorce in comparison to the Black female/White Male relationship. Now, during this generation whenever I do see a a child of an interracial couple that is White female/ Black Male I do notice the father or mother is not in the picture, whereas me, a child of a mother who is black and a father who is Italian have both in the picture. With witnessing these relationships first and second hand on a day to day basis raises the question "WHY???" The why is for, "Why on earth is there such a significant difference between the relationships that are practically composed of the same thing?" So that's what's been going through my mind during this past week, but until next time folks, hasta luego. 

Weird Poets

Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore classic American poetry; not because it's good because, let's face it, old poets were indeed weirdos. You have Dickinson going all bezerk with these dashes that make us panic and feel undone. Whereas Whitman is a fellow who is  undeniably gender fluid, he talks of a she, he, and himself but all as himself in the 11th stanza in the packet. The obscurity of these poets is so marvelous for the reason of, well me at least, thinking "what in the sam-heck possessed these poets to constantly end lines with dashes, and refer to oneself as a she and he and I?" I was so confused and irritated with the fact that I was unable to have a legitimate answer as to why Dickinson predicted her death, and even called herself blind. Like, why on earth are you even closing yourself within four walls constantly and not wonder what it beyond those four walls. But hey, maybe it's just Dickinson thing that I'd rather not know, or it is just simply explainable. But, because of these poets and their peculiarities, I do find them really interesting which made their poems all the better (confusing maybe, but at least it's better than boring!).

Poe

This past week we've started reading some poetry in American Literature, and let me tell you, there are most defiantly some interesting poems we've read. But more importantly, there's this really interesting dude named Edgar Allan Poe. "Hmm, that name sounds super familiar.. Where have I heard this name before?" were my immediate thoughts when I heard this, then I recalled this one Simpsons episode where Bart, Maggie, and Lisa reenacted The Raven written by him. But this Poe guy, his life seems like H-E-double-hockey-sticks; I mean his life was just terrible. He was poor, he had a bad love life, and the worst of it all.. he was a middle child. Now come on, being a middle child sucks; it seems as though you're never really as important as the other siblings. Other than Poe being a middle child, his poetry was pretty dang creepy, I mean, lots of morbid, and supernatural things are just always happening. Like in The Cask of Amontillado, I mean he killed a guy in the Catacombs. Like, could you've picked a better place to kill someone, or even store wine. Now, just storing wine by dead bodies is just morbid all by itself, but killing a person, I mean Fortunato shoulda had that coming considering he was quite the jerk to Montresor, but then again he was drunk and it's not everyday you get your hands on the delicacy Amontialldo, though I don't really suggest losing your life over it.

Icha-What?

In American Literature we recently read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and let me tell you, Irving had quite the imagination; in this legend, there was this dude who rode a horse with his head on his hand chucking it at this other dude, there was some dude name Brom Bones, another dude named Ichabod, and a lady named.. Katrina. Don't get me wrong, I love names that are pretty unfamiliar (unique) but two "odd" names and one Katrina it's.... it's something. Hey, what do I know? Maybe Katrina was a pretty hip name back in Irving's day, or maybe even his lover's name was Katrina. Anywho, in this text, Ichabod was this guy who was pretty tall and lanky who was head over heals for the money Katrina had, and also in the text, there was this other guy named Brom Bones. Brom Bones was a tall muscular dude who also liked Katrina for her looks. Katrina, according to the text, was a pretty good looking lady who had lots of money, now don't know much about her personality, but she sounds like the whole package, so who could resist that? So you know, two guys like the same girl, blah blah blah they duke it with words, dancing and Ichabod getting a head chucked at him. I mean interesting, right? Pretty unexpected turn of events there.. I mean, who'd expect that? Irving would, that's who. The whole legend had a whole spooky and peculiar feel that really made me wonder where Irving got his idea from.. Maybe he was just bored and let his imagination run wild, maybe similar events happened to him and he just changed the names, who knows?