Our Demeaning Culture

Imagine being an African American male, walking down the street. You are well known and famous so you really have no privacy whatsoever, but you continue to try and mind your business. It is known that you are homosexual and you prefer males rather than females. You continue to mind your business before eventually, you are encountered by these two white men, but are unable to see their faces because they are shielded by the color they despise. They are yelling at you

“Aren’t you that faggot Empire nigger”

You are then attacked by this chemical substance you cannot identify. You then start to feel this tight feeling around your neck. It’s not long before you realize it’s a rope. They yell again

“This is MAGA country”

You are unconscious.

On January 29th, 2019, actor and singer Jussie Smollett was brutally attacked. He was attacked with slurs regarding his race and sexual orientation, and an unknown chemical substance. The perpetrators then followed up by yelling the implication that this is Trump’s country, tying a rope around his neck in the form of a noose.

This act against Jussie Smollett is unacceptable. The fact that people are still marginalizing blacks and gays is ridiculous. Jussie Smollett was doing nothing by minding his business, going on with his Monday like any other day.

What made this act even more disturbing is the fact that they put a noose around his neck. Knowing the hardships of African Americans and their history with lynching, this is beyond disturbing.

– Rose M Torres

 

Families, a group of people bound by blood, who love each other unconditionally. Young and old, they will live and grow together. But that love can change in an instant. losing a family member brings pain and mourning. Rather than age taking someone away from you, what if it was someone else who took the life of your relative, your sibling, your child, your grandchild? All because of the color of your skin? Simply because it would be “better without your kind of people here?” How would that sound? How would it make you feel?

Young 7-year-old, Jazmine Barnes, a black child who was fatally shot and killed by a white gunman who targeted Jazmine and her family. Her life was taken from her as she and her family were in a car. They could have been heading anywhere, possibly on their way back home, maybe to an event, or somewhere to just spend time together. All taken away by a complete stranger, a single man who had his own opinion on race, and believed that her family and their people didn’t belong.

So unsuspecting, minding they’re own business, and yet, of the entire family, a child had her life taken from her. The hopelessness the mother must feel, yet she had the power to fight back. On January 5th, 2019, near where the event had taken place, Jazmine’s mother, Lapora Washington, had rallied people in her community to band together to search for the man who had shot and killed her child.

regardless of whatever type of violence or crime this should be defined as, it is still incredibly unacceptable and a disgusting act to shoot at a family, and leaving a child dead. A child, whose life was ahead of her, had her life taken by a random white stranger, who decided they didn’t belong. As dispicable of an act this is, there are still several examples of hate and violence such as this shown towards many races, striking fear into the hearts of innocent people, but….

No parent should have to bury their child.

– Ellis Sek

 

On August 24th, 2018 the Washington post made an article about Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States who is a hot topic after a press conference or even the most minuscule move. Considering his position of such high power it would be expected that he treats it as such, instead he causes controversy anywhere he goes. With coarse and immature choice of language, he handles himself with incredible as though he is above the law which is not how a president should handles themself. In this article by The Guardian Trump calls many people “dumb” and “dummy” on twitter. He reportedly says the “N-word” Omarosa Amigault Newman states in another article by The Guardian Trumps language is unhinged and doesn’t not care what others think. No matter what, he is the president and the Vice President, Mike Pense is even worse than the president. The president used a myriad of words towards minorities and still belives that African Americans aren’t of inferior intelligence constantly calling them “dumb.” He will never change the way he talks, which is bad for people that expect a mature man out of Trump instead he acts like a child in the face of criticism and does not take it. There are some things that will end right change in this world and Trumps actions are one of them.

In honor of our 53rd annual super bowl, I bring to you a story I have always wanted to look into but never really did until now. As many of us know, there has been a controversy when it comes to kneeling during the national anthem. It has been stated that players must stay off the field if they do not want to stand or they could face a fine. At face value, this may not seem like a racist policy, but if we dig deeper into the makeup of race in the different layers of the NFL, we come to see that about 70% of the players are black. When it comes to higher positions though, blacks make up about 20% of the head coaches, 9% of managers in the league office, and 0% of CEOs or presidents in the NFL. The policy was put in place by the owners of the NFL, which is 100% made up of rich white men who are in no way affected in the same way as the black players on the field. With this pot in place, it is a lot more likely that a black player would be fined than any other race. If they take the other option and stay off the field, they are now being made invisible so it’s truly a lose-lose situation for them. Our president even made a comment stating that any player who kneels is a “son of a bitch” and “maybe shouldn’t be in the country”. With so many powerful wealthy white men disproving this, it’s hard to combat and stand up for your rights. I don’t believe many people realize how connected to race this actually is. It makes me wonder that if blacks are being oppressed in a game in which they make up the greatest percentage and it seems to just blow over, how will we ever find equality?

By: Jaide Tucker

You’re an African American 9 year old girl. You live in a nice neighborhood in Alabama. The sun shines, the days are long. You love math and want to become a scientist one day. You have those “Big American Dreams”. You’re still so pure. You have so much hope for the world. You walk down those sunny streets to go to school. School is where you know you have to start to achieve your dreams. You walk in, happy as can be. You meet this boy. He’s a nice boy. You guys click. You guys talk about everything and anything without worry or fear. You’re 9, there’s only so much to talk about anyway. He’s white, but you think, “why should that matter…?” It shouldn’t. But the kids at your school beg to differ…

You’re called all types of names and bullied.

“Kill yourself.”

“You think you’re white because you ride with that white boy.”

“You ugly.”

“Black bitch.”

“Just die.”

The thoughts overwhelm you. Anxiety takes over. You find yourself crying. You feel hopeless. You have all these negative feelings. You’re not accepted cause the color of your skin. How will you become anything if you’re not accepted because your skin is not white? “What is this” you think to yourself. You’ve never felt this way before.

You can’t take it much longer. You’ve been eaten up from the inside by these negative feelings. It’s reached your heart, the source of all your love. All your hope. All your dreams. You only see one way out. And now those negative feelings begin to show on the outside. The outside damage has managed to fully break your heart.

You’ve given up.

On December 3rd, 2018, McKenzie Nicole Adams was found dead by her grandma. She was 9 years old. She was bullied for developing a relationship with a white male while being African American herself. She should’ve never been hurt in such a way that caused her to feel devalued to the point where she felt like she was worth nothing. Where she felt like her life meant nothing, even though it was worth everything. Especially to her mother, who mourned, “My world is gone … my first love…” Her everything was stolen from her cause her skin was darker than the other kids.

It’s always because of color.

– Rose Torres

Collectively as a nation, the United State has reached record highs in the reported number of STD infections. Year after year we keep beating ourselves and the number is constantly spiking. Despite the constant increase, funding to help prevent STDs has decreased by around 40 percent since 2003. Though this is a problem that anyone could be impacted by, African Americans are impacted the most out of all ethnic groups. It has been shown that Blacks also have the highest poverty rate which can be found to directly correlate with the STD levels. Due to the lower income levels, Blacks are less able to afford proper sexual healthcare services and are therefore more susceptible to not getting treated, and passing it on. It is hard for us as individuals to make a large scale impact when it comes to changing things like this, but it is still possible. We can start by taking more precautions in our everyday lives. For example, it is important to practice safe sex if you decide that the time is right, and always make sure you get tested and have your partner tested too. Many people don’t know until it is too late and they have already passed it on. We could also petition to the government to have them spend more money to fund the prevention and treatment of STDs. Having more funds would lead easier access to care for many people who could not traditionally afford it. It all starts on the individual level though, so we should all remember to be safe so that we don’t have to become a part of the statistics.

In an article written by the Washington Post on June 22nd, 2018 this touches upon the topic of black face and it being around for nearly 200 years. African Americans were not able to play their colored roles instead a non-African American person would play it with black paint on their face to resemble an African American. Many people throughout the 200 year span noticed this. Frederick Douglas, noticed this in his time: “the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.” The white people would eventually understand the struggle of what a black man had to go through, via this black face trend during the times. Bert Williams was an African American man part of the black face revolution. He himself started in many plays, eventually becoming a very successful singer and actor. Yet the cost of him being a successful actor was his dignity. Basketball players are merely demeaned and subject to higher crime rates, and police assault than their white counterparts off of the court. They do not get treated as they should be, for example Sterling Brown got assaulted by the police being mistaken for someone he is not. Even within the justice system black people do not get treated equally no matter what their crime is. Even in the 1920s blacks could make contact with the white people, but they were at a very far distance which wasn’t true contact. Racism still runs rampant in modern media it is just not as noticeable as it once was.

In this new Trump era of Americans, many people who are in the minority have begun to push back. Where the minority become the majority as they slowly rise to power and push back against the years of mistreatment and discrimination from white Americans. In a short article by http://www.kentucky.com , the author, Ruben Navarrette Jr. writes about the sort of marginalization White Americans may feel as America changes in demographics as those races of people rise in numbers. Ruben states in the article that this feeling is what sociologists would call “Cultural Displacement” ; the fear of losing one’s place in society. As stated in the article, this can be triggered through a simple “wave of a Mexican Flag” , “Spanish – language billboard” , or a “press one for English” on a phone. In the article, the perspectives of two white workers who work at a poultry plant are recorded. They don’t speak Spanish but are annoyed at the fact that they must work with Latino co-workers that don’t speak very much English. But just like millions of Black, Latino, and other immigrants who experience this, these two white workers experience the fear to be misunderstood, to be judged, to be unseen. In the one of the workers exclaim “I swear to god, if they don’t say anything in English, I’m going to freak out,” as she points out when some of her Latino coworkers say “Gringa” which in Spanish slang translates to “English speaking foreigner” usually in the perspective of one in a native country. As referred earlier, millions of Black people, just like these two workers, experience this “Cultural Displacement”, fearing to be misjudged, misunderstood, or unseen. for example the misjudgment of being robbed by a Black person. This is still an ongoing problem in America, but to have white people experience this “cultural Displacement” shows how millions of immigrants, Black people, or Latinos, and others alike have been mistreated and misjudged.

Politics are probably one the most important things in society nowadays. It’s something that people pay special mind to. So, this very important thing that draws so much attention to itself obviously has a social base that most people trust. People who follow the Democratic Party and the Republican Party obviously follow the ideas that either party presents, depending on which one you classify as. So what happens when the republican party starts degrading African Americans and considering it a “positive political move“?

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Republican Party member says, “I’m prepared, if the N.A.A.C.P. [The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps,” This degrades African Americans by implying that all Africans Americans rely on food stamps which isn’t true. Statistics actually show that more white people use food stamps than African Americans themselves.

Another political figure named Rick Santorum, former member of the U.S. Senate and Republican Party member, also goes off about how African Americans “rely” on money from the government. He says, “to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.” He tries to make himself look good politically by saying he wants to “give them the opportunity”. Not all of African Americans need to rely on him to give them any opportunities. He feels as if they need to eat out of the palm of their hands for the African Americans to grow and prosper as people. Shake my head.

A “good political move” should not involve degrading a culture. Period.

“Nothing about us without us”, a motto stated in an article by news.un.org which makes a statement for individuals with disabilities, meaning those with disabilities should have a voice and make their own choices in this society we all live in. This article brings the topic of the rights and voices of disabled individuals to light, providing deep, meaningful examples of the ways disabled persons are isolated from some of their rights and how they are not given a voice to make their own choices. But Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed of the United Nations stated as the 2030 Agenda to establish “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDG) to help expand the rights and possibilities given to disabled individuals. This is important as the topic of disabled people are lesser spoken and the UN’s plans to expand the rights and possibilities of disabled individuals will help bring equal access and a louder voice that will ensure equal access, same as normal bodied people. In the article, it is stated that there are disabled women and girls who deal with a “double discrimination” standard, limiting their rights even further than those that are simply disabled. This can act as an example to black people who are racially discriminated and how they are also limited/stripped of their rights. For example, there have been several accounts of police brutality on black people in the US.