Katie's Eyes: The African American Family: January 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Welfare Queen.

Read this article.

We were given an assignment to sort people by race. Here's the link: race sorting. Let's be honest, I completely and utterly failed this game. I think I may have gotten like four right... apparently I can't sort put people into classifications by starring at them. oops?

Then I started thinking, who I am anyway to see what these people's races were. It shouldn't concern me in the slightest. They're just ordinary people, like me. Which got me thinking about the own "Race Game" I play. I'm biracial, and the beauty of being biracial is that I have an "exotic" look. "Exotic" meaning people have no idea what I am. So when new people start talking to me the question always arises...

"excuse me, what are you?"

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your race?"

"Are you [insert some race]?"

"Hola, [insert very fast spanish speaking]?

and the list goes on and one... For me, this question always brought a smile to my face because I knew it was time to play my own "race game." So I'd follow their question with my own question...

" No wait, guess! I love when people ask me this question!"

so then the game begins, they start shouting out every ethnicity possible. If I got a free trip to every place a person guessed I was from, I would've circled the world. twice.

So eventually, they'll guess one of my ethnicities, and I'll say, "Close. What's the other half?" then I'll have to tell them the other one.

The End?

Class and this game got me thinking... I've just let this random person put me into a racial category, and now I have been categorized, and now they can check off the box in the imaginary census in their minds as to what my race is. They have put limits on me by checking my box and confining me to a certain race.

What seemed like a fun game, is now kind of looking like a not so fun game...

They've subconsciously or consciously put limits on me as a result of knowing my race.

PBS then posted some facts on: Is Race for Real?

1. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remember social policies and advantage some groups at the expense of others.

2. Most variation is within, not between "races." Of the small amount of total human genetic variation, 85% exists within any local population, by they Italians, Kurds, Koreans, or Cherokees. Two random Koreans are likely to be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.

3. Race and freedom were born together. When the US was founded, equality was a radical new idea. But our early economy was based largely on slavery. The concept of race helped explain why some people could not be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.

These facts stood out to me (out of the ten).

First, the colorblindness point. I'm not sure if I agree or disagree. If always been a proud supporter of seeing people as individuals as opposed to a race. The problem is, not many people have the same "progressive" ideology of not seeing color, just an individual. I believe this notion of "colorblindness" would work if everyone thought the same way; however, if there is only a few people thinking this way it won't work. Then I thought, what if everyone was blind?? Like actually blind. I have a feeling people would still find a way to classify people, by the pitch of their voices. I feel like categorizing people, and being in a category above a person is ingrained in human nature.

I feel like this is an appropriate time to say what I believe would help promote peace and potentially end racism.

Making babies with someone a different race than you!

Meaning, what if everyone married someone that wasn't their same race, made babies. Multiracial babies. These multiracial babies would then make more multiracial babies with other multiracial babies. and so on.

Colors would be so immensely blended.

How would this end promote world peace?

Many of todays conflicts are ethnic or religious based. If people of conflicting or different races made commitments to one another and produced children then the world could potentially be a better place.

Privilege.

7 of my privileges.

1. I can walk down 6th street and get free drinks because I am girl.

2. I am easily accepted & welcomed by people of medium complexions because I am ethnic.

3. People are more willing to let me watch their children because I am girl.

4. People are more responsive to me because I am a UT student.

Note: this was not easy, and is probably not the best list.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Presidential Candidates

Saint Newt Gingrich, Savior of the modern African American

According to Republican Presidential Candidate hopeful Newt Ginfrich, the African American community should demand paychecks over food stamps. Good ol' Newt even offered to go to the NAACP to teach African Americans the importance of demanding for paychecks. What a sweet man for willing to take time out of his busy schedule to go talk at the NAACP conference to tell African Americans, "F food stamps, go get a job!"

Although his statement was only twenty-five seconds long. It spoke volumes to me.

Newt Logic

1. African Americans = Food Stamps

In this case, Newt Logic simply means everyone on food stamps are people in the African American community. No one else in the United States is on food stamps. Only Black people are poor and stealing money from the government in the form of food stamps which brings me to second point of Newt Logic in this statement...

2. African Americans = Stealing

According to Newt Logic, African Americans are stealing from their governments in the form of food stamps. How so? It's "free money" from the government to help one put food on the table to provide for one's family if one isn't within the means to do so. Newt Logic does a marvelous job of covering this up by saying "they should demand paychecks." Paychecks require someone to have a job, paychecks aren't simply given out at random.

3. African Americans = Lazy

The third point of Newt Logic starts bringing points 1 and 2 together, since all African Americans are on food stamps and according to Newt Logic this is a form of stealing there can only be one reason for this... African Americans are lazy. That's why Newt Logic claims they should "demand for paychecks" instead of sitting on their a**** waiting for the government to shower them with food stamps. The questions remains... how does one overcome laziness?

4. Newt = Savior

Newt will save the African American community. He will teach the African Americans in our country to get jobs so that they will no longer by lazy, no longer steal from the government, and no longer receive food stamps. Newt will go to the "black people headquarters" aka the NAACP and teach them to work! Newt takes his part in the white man's burden very, very seriously.

You may be thinking, okay Katie, maybe you've read into Newt Gingrich's comments a little too much. You may highly doubt that so much racism could be spoken in a twenty five second statement, but are my ideas of "Newt Logic" really that far off. Think about it? I'm not flat out calling Newt a racist, but his comments are extremely alarming. Another alarming example of a presidential candidate making an alarming statement was by Rick Santorum...

Note: Sorry for the biased beginning of the video.

Yes, he really did just say that. I don't believe I need to explain Rick Logic on this one...

In conclusion, I believe it's important for potential presidential candidates to consider the words coming out of their mouths and how they may be interpreted by the American people. Personally, I've been a bit embarrassed by the circus of Republican candidates parading around.

A New Civil Rights Movement?

In 2005, a journalist from the NYT published a somewhat controversial article entitled A New Civil Rights Movement. In the article the journalist brought up some startling statistics still relevant in today's society. The journalist also makes a link between slavery and the African American people of today.

I've listed a few of his most provocative statements and statistics:

1. "One of the cruelest aspects of slavery was the way it wrenched apart black families... it is ironic... that now much of the most devastating damanges to black families, and especially black children,is self-inflicted."

2. "we have enire legions of black youngsters turning their backs on school, choosing instead to wallow in a self-imposed ignorance."

3. "HIV and AIDS have literally become the black plague."

4. "Two-thirds of them are born out of wedlock, and nearly half of all black children brought up in a single-parent household are poor."

5. "There is a crisis in the black community."

At the end of the journalist's piece, he urges African Americans to have a movement similar to the Civil Rights movement to empower African Americans to help combat the ills that are plaguing the

African American community.

After reading the article I first wondered who the author of the piece was...

This is him.

Bob Herbert

Once I answered that question ( Yes, I was wondering whether or not he was black or white), I began to really think about his piece. A new Civil Rights Movements? No, what I believe the African American community needs is an empowerment movement. In the 1960s, African Americans (along with other races i.e. Hispanic Americans) fought for their basic human rights and civil liberties. Lo and behold, they achieved resounding success to be marveled for decades to come. What's the problem? African Americans received their rights, and it seems many are just ignoring their basic liberties or don't know what they are. They have yet to really find a strong voice in this age where everyone under law is created equal. I would argue it is now time for African Americans to rise up in a self empowerment movement to help the community as a whole achieve their full potential.

Am I talking down about the African American community? No. However, I will not turn a blind-eye to the startling statistics in the African American community regarding crime and violence, children without stable family structures, incarceration, drop-out rates, drugs and alcohol abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior, HIV and AIDS, and the list goes on and on.

What the hell?

What's wrong?

Something has to be wrong.

Whatever people are trying do to stop this alarming trends is not working, and although Herbert's idea of a "new civil rights movement" may seem extremely radical. Honestly, I would argue it's what the African American community needs.

It needs a jump start. it needs to be revamped. it needs to empower itself from within and rise out of it's ashes. I'll be frank, things are not looking so good for the African American community as a whole. Something needs to be done and fast.

It's saddening that so many negative attributes are embedded in the culture of the African American community.

The time is now to unite together to fight the statistics.

Obviously this isn't something that will happen overnight, but I believe a shift towards this movement could be immensely beneficial.

-----

Here's Bob Herbert's Article.

One of the cruelest aspects of slavery was the way it wrenched apart black families, separating husbands from wives and children from their parents.

It is ironic, to say the least, that now, nearly a century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, much of the most devastating damage to black families, and especially black children, is self-inflicted.You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know that some of the most serious problems facing blacks in the United States - from poverty to incarceration rates to death at an early age - are linked in varying degrees to behavioral issues and the corrosion of black family life, especially the absence of fathers.Another devastating aspect of slavery was the numbing ignorance that often resulted from the prohibition against the education of slaves. It was against the law in most instances for slaves to even learn to read. Now, with education widely (though imperfectly) available, we have entire legions of black youngsters turning their backs on school, choosing instead to wallow in a self-imposed ignorance that in the long run is as destructive as a bullet to the brain.I remember interviewing a 17-year-old dropout in Brooklyn who had already fathered two children by two different girls. He wasn't working and he wasn't helping to support either child. I asked if he had considered going back to school. He looked at me, puzzled. "For what?" he said. Most black people are not poor. Most are not criminals. Most are leading productive lives. The black middle class is larger and more successful than ever. But there are millions who are still out in the cold, caught in a cycle of poverty, ignorance, illness and violence that is taking a horrendous toll.Nearly a third of black men in their 20's have criminal records, and 8 percent of all black men between the ages of 25 and 29 are behind bars.H.I.V. and AIDS have literally become the black plague. Although blacks are just 13 percent of the overall population, they account for more than half of all new H.I.V. infections. Black women account for an astonishing 72 percent of all new cases among women.This is frightening. Black children routinely get a rough start in life. Two-thirds of them are born out of wedlock, and nearly half of all black children brought up in a single-parent household are poor.Those kids are much more likely to drop out of school, struggle economically, be initiators or victims of violence, and endure a variety of serious health problems.We can pretend that these terrible things are not happening, but they are. There's a crisis in the black community, and it won't do to place all of the blame on society and government.I've spent years writing about unfairness and appalling injustices. Society is unfair and racism is still a rampant evil. But much of the suffering in black America could be alleviated by changes in behavior.What's more, those behavioral changes would empower the community in ways that would make it easier to successfully confront opponents in government and push the society in a more equitable direction.The problems facing black people today are comparable in magnitude to those of the Jim Crow era of the 20th century. There were leaders in those days who were equal to the challenge.I believe that nothing short of a new movement, comparable in scope and dedication to that of the civil rights era, is required to bring about the changes in values and behavior needed to halt the self-destruction that is consuming so many black lives. The crucial question is whether the leadership exists to mount such an effort.A good first step would be a summit meeting of wise and dedicated men and women willing to think about creative new ways to approach such problems as crime and violence, out-of-wedlock births, drug and alcohol abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior, misogyny, and so on. Addressing issues of values and behavior within the black community should not in any way imply a lessening of the pressure on the broader society to meet its legal and ethical obligations. It should be seen as an essential counterpoint to that pressure.Most important, it should be seen as a crucial component of the obligation that black adults have to create a broadly nurturing environment in which succeeding generations of black children can survive and thrive. Despite the sometimes valiant efforts of individuals and organizations across the country, we are not meeting that obligation now. And that's because there's a vacuum where our leadership should be.