Questioning the System

Imagine that you were a victim of a treacherous crime. A crime committed at your own school by your own fellow classmates. The crime? Breaking and entering your vehicle. The consequence? A verbal warning. The reasoning? Skin color. The criminals are 3.8, Caucasian, Flag team members, and you are a 3.2, African-American, multi-club member. Due to the fact that the Caucasian girls were in good standing with the adminstration, the principal decided to let the students off the hook, and forget about the whole thing. Expect you haven't forgotten. You were victimized. Taken advantage of because your opinions and rights were of no value, and had no influence to the decision of disciplinary actions. By using their power in rank, your school leaders helped to force and support what is known as: institutional racism.

Those accepted, established, evident, visible, and respected forces, social arrangements, institutions, structures, policies, precedents and systems of social relations that operate and are manipulated in such a way as to allow, support, or acquiesce to acts of individual racism and to deprive certain racially identified catergories within a society a chance to share, have equal access to, or have equal opportunity to acquire those things, material and nonmaterial, that are defined as desirable and necessary for rising in an hierarchical class society while that society is dependent, in part, upon that group they deprive for their labor and loyalty. Institutional racism is more subtle, less visible, and less identifiable but no less destructive to human life and human dignity than individual acts of racism. Institutional racism deprives a racially identified group, equal access to an treatment in education, medical care, law, politics, housing, etc.

As you can see institutional is prevalent everywhere, yet we are afarid to question the system. The reason we're afarid is because it might threaten or jeopardize our postions in institutions and society. If we are not able to set aside our fears, than social injustices will continue to occur everywhere, especially in education.

In school were taught that the world's accomplishments were done by Europeans which supports white supremacy in education. History teaches us about the so called "discoverer" of America, Christopher Columbus, a murderer, a theif, and a rapist. By celebrating Columbus with an official holiday, it sends the message that even the most immoral acts of a white person deserve praise. So why don't we learn about the beliefs of Malcolm X, or Frederick Douglass, famous black leaders? Its only on special occasions or certain holidays that we hear about the accomplishments of a black person, and their works should certainly be attributed to the advancement of African Americans. In high school, were required to take European based history courses, and if we wanted to know anything other than that, we had to seek the info. elsewhere, because the Shoreline School District didnt have multicultural studies courses or even African American history. We were forced into learning about a history other than our own. On the subject of Black History, the month of February is set aside for the celebration of blacks, and also other ethnic minorites. By recognizing Black History Month, we praise and recognize the struggles and trials African Americans have had to overcome thus far, but at my high school, Shorewood, that idea was not well supported. With our assmeblies produced and ran by students, putting in there own time, teachers must also sacifice their valuable class time, seeing that the assembly wasn't required or even supported by the faculty and 75 percent of the white student body. Sports assemblies were mandatory, and also morally, and financiakky supported by the school. Doesn't that send a message to the students that something as important as Black History, really isn't? It taught me that student learning about history of other cultures wasn't necessary and even denying them their privilege to gain knowledge of a history other than those of European descent.

Racism doesn't just come in color form, there are prejudices in everything. In education we have fought for the separation of Church and State, in order to keep anything religiously affiliated out of the classroom. If this is true, why do we have "winter breaks" around a Christian holiday; Christmas and not a Jewish holiday; Chanukah? Jewish students in my high school were only allowed a maximum of nine excused absences in order to celebrate their religious holiday, but Christian students were able to relax and not worry about absences because their "winter break" just happens to be at the same time as their religious holiday. While there are quiet forces trying to changes things, the government continues to back these unethical issues I have posed, which makes them even more difficult for us to prevent.

Oppression is very diffucult and very painful. Unless we can recognize it, we cannot help it.

OMG, I'M SHOCKED!!!

So I get this text message from a friend telling me to check out a blog site called Bossip.com. He tells me to look for the title “This Boondocks Episode Has Many People Upset At The Use Of The Word “Ni**er” With Uncle Ruckus & Jimmy Rebel“ and says this is what you should blog about for your women studies and cinema class. I watched the episode (which by the way, this was the first Boondocks episode I’ve seen) and about literally less than a minute into the episode I WAS SHOCKED!!!! This “adult” cartoon , which I’m sure adults aren’t the only ones that watch the show, was the most outrageous and cruel things about fellow African-Americans! And what’s even more outrageous the writer is BLACK!!! In fact Aaron Gruder, writer and creator of The Boondocks, plays his own character in the cartoon. Before you do watch this episode, I will warn you that they do say the word “nigger” about 100 times. Watch!!!

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Uncle Ruckus crazy character almost gives you the idea that racism might be a psychological illness and its effects might manifest in psychological dysfunction. He is a heavyset, dark-skinned “black” man who hates “black” people. Somehow, he has convinced himself that he is actually a white man with a skin condition he calls “re-vitiligo”. “That’s the opposite of what Michael Jackson’s got,” he explains. Ruckus believes in the sanctity and purity of the “white race.” He regularly reiterates the philosophy that “whites” are naturally better and more intelligent than non-white people in all subjects.

The Uncle Ruckus character is perhaps the most divisive and controversial of The Boondocks cast. However, here’s a not-so-fun fact that seeks to mitigate the absurdity of Uncle Ruckus: “black” people can be sort of hard on each other. For all the talk you hear about us having “unity” and “sticking together”, we don’t always carry it out. That’s a generalization, of course, which is why I keep putting quotations around words denoting racial classifications, like “black” and “white”, and also around the phrase “black community”.

Setting aside any biological components to these words, I think much of the issue centers around our social, and to some degree “imaginary”, constructions, leading us to both complicate and oversimplify the subject of race. But when it comes to Uncle Ruckus, I think there’s a little bit of him in all of us (African Americans), although it might not manifest in real life with the same savage fierceness as it does on the show. It is a cycle of oppression. Racism is the core component of oppression. The media have played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans continuing status as second-class citizens. The media is a profitable industry, in which the elite will continue to suppress the lower class in order to maximize profits.

Uncle Ruckus is seen trying on his “white voice,” and the hilarity continues throughout the episode. It is said that this was one of the more racist episodes that the Boondock’s has released thus far, but they always manage to do it in a way that makes it obvious that they are being sarcastic.

Here are a few quotes from the episode:

“See, Uncle Ruckus…he’s very, very sick. He caught the Nigerian Monkey Pox. Very contagious. As if they internet scams and underwear bombing wasn’t bad enough.” -Uncle Ruckus to Jimmy Rebel

“You know all these years I’ve been singing about niggers, I probably only done had a conversation with 5 of ‘em at the most.” – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus

“You know what the liberals and the NAACP never could figure out? It’s not the color of a man’s skin. It’s not the big lips or how y’all say arr-uh instead of “R.” It’s the attitude, stupid. A fella can’t control what color he is, but he can control his attitude. – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus

“You remember when I said how we hate the blacks because of their attitude? Man, I think that’s a load of shit. You’re just like one of us, Ruckus, and they still hate you. And it’s not your attitude, it’s ’cause you’re black.” – Jimmy Rebel to Uncle Ruckus

WTH are The Tea Partiers so mad about?? The answer won't surprise you!!!!

You probably didn’t need a study to confirm this, but the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality and New York Times/CBS News have conducted surveys that make it clear these rabid Tea Party folks are not just outraged about taxes. In fact, for all their moaning, a lot of them are doing okay financially, so what’s the problem?

""A new survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality offers fresh insight into the racial attitudes of Tea Party sympathizers. “The data suggests that people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability”—25 percent, to be exact—”of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters,” says Christopher Parker, who directed the study. “The Tea Party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race.”

Surveyers asked respondents in California and a half dozen battleground states (like Michigan and Ohio) a series of questions that political scientists typically use to measure racial hostility. On each one, Tea Party backers expressed more resentment than the rest of the population, even when controlling for partisanship and ideology. When read the statement that “if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites,” 73 percent of the movement’s supporters agreed, while only 33 percent of people who disapproved of the Tea Party agreed. Asked if blacks should work their way up “without special favors,” as the Irish, Italians, and other groups did, 88 percent of supporters agreed, compared to 56 percent of opponents. The study revealed that Tea Party enthusiasts were also more likely to have negative opinions of Latinos and immigrants.

These results are bolstered by a recent New York Times/CBS News survey finding that white Tea Party supporters were more likely to believe that “the Obama administration favors blacks over whites” and that “too much has been made of the problems facing black people.” The survey also showed that Tea Party sympathizers are whiter, older, wealthier, and more well-educated than the average American. They’re “just as likely to be employed, and more likely to describe their economic situation as very or fairly good,” according to a summary of the poll.

If Tea Party supporters are doing relatively fine, what are they so riled up about? These studies suggest that, at least in part, it’s race. The country that the Tea Partiers grew up in is irrevocably changing. Last month, new demographic data showed that minority births are on the verge of outpacing white births. By 2050, Hispanics are expected to account for more than a quarter of the American population. The Tea Partiers “feel a loss … like their status has been diminished,” says David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which examines issues of race. “If you listen to [their] language, it’s always about ‘taking our country back.’ But it’s really not taking the country back as is. It’s taking the country back”—as in time.

Bositis finds the movement’s arguments about reckless federal spending unpersuasive. Why, he asks, weren’t they up in arms when President George W. Bush launched two costly wars and created a new unfunded mandate with his Medicare prescription-drug plan? Why didn’t they take to the streets when he converted a surplus into a massive deficit? “I don’t like to be in a position where I’m characterizing people as being racially biased,” says Bositis. “But when the shoe fits, what do you do?” Given modern societal norms, “they know they can’t use any overtly racist language,” he contends. “So they use coded language”—questioning the patriotism of the president or complaining about “socialist” schemes to redistribute wealth.""

So, what do you think? Is the Tea Party primarily concerned with government spending and high taxes or do they have another agenda???


Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/236996

Blackface!

America is still very racist in their thinking when it comes to African Americans and criminal behavior. Blacks are thought of as criminally inclined and whites are not. But this throws the salt on the wound. A chase for a bank robber hitting several banks and businesses in the Tri-State came to reveal shocking results. Pursuing a man that was described to be African-American, authorities discovered that their search was for the wrong person and the wrong race. Conrad Zdzierak, 30, fooled many after donning a mask that made him look as though he was a Black man when in fact, he is white.

Check out this video:This is crazy but not surprising.

The blackface minstrel act was a very popular form of entertainment in 19th-century America. It was also a highly racist depiction of African Americans. The stock characters of blackface minstrelsy have played a significant role in disseminating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide. Every immigrant group was stereotyped on the music hall stage during the 19th Century, but the history of prejudice, hostility, and ignorance towards black people has insured a unique longevity to the stereotypes. White America's conceptions of Black entertainers were shaped by minstrelsy's mocking caricatures and for over one hundred years the belief that Blacks were racially and socially inferior was fostered by legions of both white and black performers in blackface.

Blackface makeup was either a layer of burnt cork on a layer of coca butter or black grease paint. In the early years exaggerated red lips were painted around their mouths, like those of today's circus clowns. In later years the lips were usually painted white or unpainted. Costumes were usually gaudy combinations of formal wear; swallowtail coats, striped trousers, large hats. The audience for these shows was largely working-class whites, and at first the blackface character was actually a smart and sympathetic one. But as time went on, the minstrel show took on a more racist tone.

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder in 2008

There are those who believe that blackface is so offensive it should be erased from the cultural record. I am one of those people. Any artistic, technical, or film-history value it has is far outweighed by the repulsive stereotypes it reinforces. It is said to be an example of history that is "best forgotten." But no history is best forgotten. It's foolish and dangerous to censor historical events we're not comfortable remembering. The impulse to erase the historical record of books, films, TV shows and other cultural artifacts of things people find offensive or embarrassing today is a totalitarian urge that results only in ignorance.

Take a stand or Quit?

"Women in the State Police: Trouble in Ranks" by Jonathan Schuppe

I had no idea the men on the force were that abusive and aggressive with the women troopers. It's upsetting to hear that even when a women on the force holds a position of power, it is stripped from them. Its sad to know that these men did not receive disciplinary acts when reports of harassment was reported. Its also sad to know that in there workplace, these women were not in a safe environment nor were these women protected. Why do you think that when one woman went up against the department, that the rest of the women would follow an support each other in taking action to stop the MADNESS??? Unfortunately, these work places are male dominated, male identified and male centered. History has carried over to the present year after year.

When Kimberly Zollitsch, one of the nine female troopers, sued the New Jersey State Police for the consent sexual harassment she and other woman faced from the male troopers. For the past four years she stayed on the force she had reported that the woman in the academy were brutalized in boxing matching with bigger men , they were forced to wear white jogging shorts when on their menstrual , they were taunted and abused vocally while jogging from their instructors, colleagues took pictures of her butt, made copies and posted them at her station, her locker and uniform were vandalized, nails driven through the tires of her personal car, the harassment continues.

On a brighter note of this article, Gayle Cameron who went from joining the State Police when there were only two female troopers from excelling in the academy, became a detective, investigating casinos and organized crime. She said that despite the discrimination in her workplace, she didn't let it overshadow and I quote "a rewarding, worthwhile experience." WOW, talk about a woman whose odds were against her and she still keeps a positive attitude.