It Takes a Village

An old African proverb says that it takes a village to raise a child; the author writes that Black teachers are caring and feel that they too must care for children in order for those children to feel good about themselves and grow into healthy and competent adults. I completely agree with this. Going through elementary, middle, and high school I did not have any Black teachers. I did have a few teachers that did really care about me, my life and my future. I found that I did better when I had a teacher who took the time to ask me how I was doing. I don’t mean just the average “how is your day going”, no my teacher would ask me how my work is going, how my friendships are going and more. During my time in her class I did considerably better than I had done in other classes.
According to ChaCha.com from Kindergarten to 12th grade a child spends about 74% of their life in school. That is way more than half, teachers and classmates must have a great influence on a child. I remember my teacher Mrs. Garcia, since I was in the Montessori Magnet program I had Mrs. Garcia for both for and fifth grade. Mrs. Garcia always made sure that I was Ok when she saw that I was having difficulty in a certain subject she would call my mother and ask if it was OK that I stayed after so she could work with me on whatever I was having trouble with. Mrs. Garcia did not take this much time with all of her students. She always told me that she was very proud of me and knew that I was going to do great things and accomplish many things in my life. I attribute my academic success to not only my parents but also to teachers like Mrs. Garcia.
-Mary J. Williams

Welfare Exploiter Now and Then

For me Star Parker still exploited the welfare system after she stop "living of the county." In the seventies and eighties she directly exploited the system by living wild all the while having California tax payers to pay to support her. Once she ended those rants she used the welfare system to create a name for herself. By speaking out against it and making it a major component in her book she indirectly exploited the government system of welfare. I do not think she has the right to talk down on others who directly exploit the system when she too once directly exploited the government and now she indirectly exploit the system. She is a hypocrite.

-Jasmine E. Williams

Well and Fair

Trapped in a revolving door. Can you see her? Her face full of distress and anguish. She is shackled by a system that will not allow her to stand on her own; but does she want to? Is she willing to sacrifice the lifestyle of dependency, and risk the foundation that barely allows her to stand? Or will she attempt success, relinquishing all the comforts that she believes is vital to her living. As we discuss Sandra Golden's piece in class, this is the image that replays in my mind. She's stuck. I realized that it is not just the physical aspect of depending on government assistance, but it is the mental state that it leaves single-parent women. She feels inadequate. "I felt dehumanized and humiliated. My self-esteem had been reduced because of the caseworker's discriminatory attitude. I also felt mentally abused by the caseworker's insensitivity." Is this the purpose of Welfare? The definition of welfare is: financial aid and other benefits for people who are unemployed, below a specific income level, or otherwise requiring assistance, especially when provided by a government agency or program. Nowhere in that definition are words like DEHUMANIZED and HUMILIATED. Assistance. Assisting or blaming. Blaming black women for being, "...unmotivated, unskilled, uneducated, and responsible for bringing fatherless children into the world." There have always been doubts about whether Welfare was helping or hurting our black women, but after reading the first page of this piece, the whole idea of Welfare is far more questionable.

Lessons Learned Beyond the Classroom

Educational literacy is stressed in this society because it is ultimately what will advance a nation to becoming the best it can be. The United States has stressed that ultimately math and science education will work towards the betterment of our nation to be technologically savvy and be the most innovative and resourceful country in the world. That is our aim, and this is why there is a push for more math and science oriented camps and schools, pushing more and more children in that direction. While math and science are important, the humanities such as music and English are important because they give an insight into the human experience that clinical subjects such as math and science cannot give. This is one reason why those entering fields of medicine, for example, must have a year of English as to not forget the human side of medicine, to learn and understand the complex struggle of human struggling and to help to alleviate the pain of someone who is suffering. The point is, there is something to be learned in even the most seemingly unrelated of circumstances, lessons that can be used in the everyday dealings of life.
In Unearthing Hidden Literacy, Lillie Gayle Smith discovers the lessons she has learned from the grueling work of picking cotton in her aunt’s cotton field. She took a course called “Black Women’s Literacy”, which made her drudge up the memories of her work in the field. She hated this work and viewed it as a negative experience, but when she carefully thinks about her experience, she finds that there were many pleasant things that she could take from cotton-picking. For example, she learned the value of earning money and independence, and also how to hope through the direst of situations from the elders in her community. This makes me think of how I felt in high school when I felt defeated in one of my math classes, my worst subject at the time. This caused a cascade of events, from me dropping from a high level precalculus class to a lower level one. I was so disappointed because I had worked so hard to do my best and I did not receive the grade that I wanted. I was also moved into other different classes because of this one grade. It was a low point in my life that could have broken me, but after being upset, I picked myself up and pushed forward. I was so motivated to conquer the beast that had always worked against me that I ultimately defeated.
Sometimes you have to push through the obstacles that work to detract you from your dreams, and I was and am motivated to push through anything that tries to get in the way of my goals, from difficult classes to negative relationships, I do not have the option to fail in my endeavors. I would’ve never learned this life lesson if it had not been for this negative experience, and just as it made Smith a better person to work in the heat of those cotton fields, my experience with my class has made me more determined than ever to succeed in everything that I do. From academics to social activities, that lesson was one that I learned that applied to other things in my life outside of the classroom and one that I will retain has I navigate through my college experience.

Jasmine Bryant

Reel Women

Is it just me or is it really Black women against the world? Not only do we look like animals in the music media world we have not advanced in Cinema portrayal in the sixteen year span examined in Joanne Kilgour Dowdy’s, “Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films.” These realities of the way Black Women are seen in White Society are becoming depressing. They are depressing because it has taken class discussions and assigned reading to open my eyes to this truth. In her account which views “literacy as a lens,” Dowdy analyzes nine films and out of the nine films dating from 1985 to 2001 there was only two positive Black women portrayed out of the nine women examined. Coincidently, those women were overshadowed by white powers. One was killed off for being an inspiration to her students and the other not recognized as a key supporter of the music program. I don’t like my new feeling but not I seem angry all the time. I know I have no right to be angry because I don’t know where to point my finger. Whose fault is it? Do we still blame it on the institution of slavery? As a Black woman I am tired of blaming all of our race’s short comings on slavery. We have to do better as a people. Our foremothers strived to advance our race and their progress seems to digress as more generations are formed. He most detrimental by for has to be my generation, generation X. When will we take back the pride and uplift our people? When will we start showing support to Black companies and creating positive role models on the television screen? I think its time.

-Jasmine E. Williams

When Will We Stand Untied?

The quote used in the title, “She was workin’ like foreal,” is extracted from the conversation two of the participants was having. The young women were discussing a scene in the controversial music video, “Tip Drill,” by recording artist Nelly and how the video models in the video degrade the entire African American race of women. In the scene the girls explain one video model looked as if she was “hittin’ it from the back.” (Richardson 800) The term “hittin’” is a hip hop term replacing the act of having sex. While one of the participants feels the acts young ladies perform in clubs and in the music videos do not degrade the race of African American women I disagree. While I do agree that it is a personal choice to partake in such acts, because Black Women have been viewed as object of amusement for men, it does cast a negative shadow over the entire race of women. Because those women seen in the media gyrating and submitting to sexist acts such as allowing a credit card to be swiped down her behind to make assumption that her body could be bought society will view all black women as submissive to the discriminating and degrading picture that is painted by the lyrics and performances in the music videos. While I do view these negative portrayals as one reason for the sexism and racism Black women must endure, I do not believe the solution to ending the discrimination is being searched for. Until Black women unite and make a stand against everything that digress us as a people.

-Jasmine E. Williams

When Are We Really Going to "Fight the Power"?

I was just reading the experiment that we were assigned to read and write on, and I got to the part where “BE” is sharing her opinion on strippers and “tip drills”. What I got from what she was saying is that women who strip in order to better their lives can be respected and those women who just strip to make a quick buck cannot be respected. However; the way I look at it is if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well then I most certainly is a duck. So just because a woman may be stripping to put herself through college, she is still a stripper. She is basically selling her body not necessarily for sex but nonetheless selling it. I don’t want to sound as though I am judging those who do those sorts of things to get by, but there are other ways to make money. I also think that all women should be respected no matter what their job is. This may sound contradictory, but the fact is that at the end of the day or night that woman is still a woman. I do not agree with or respect the job that she has, but she should still be respected as a person.
I know that we have all noticed the African-American obsession with all things Anglo (this is a generalization; I know not all Afro-Americans are). So therefore in music videos who do we mostly see being glorified by the rapper? Usually a light skinned girl with long flowing hair, or a girl with very distinct exotic features. Well this would lead one to possibly believe that the lighter you are the more beauty you possess and the better you are treated. The girls who are participating in the “rap session” make it clear that it doesn’t matter what shade a woman is, she could be as dark as 11:59pm or she could be light and bright, as long as she is a black woman gyrating her hips for a group of men in a music video she is not going to be respected and she will inevitably be treated as a “tip drill” even if she is not.
After reading a little bit more I came to the realization that, I do in fact identify with the Hip-Hop culture just as the girls in the session do. Does that make me guilty by association for entertaining the degrading ignorance that is constantly being shown on my television screen or blasted through the head phones on my phone? Am I partly responsible for the degradation of my sisters because I support the industry by buying, downloading, and dancing to the music that is blatantly referring to all women as female dogs and hoes? I think I do have a little bit of ownership in the problem, actually we all do. Well those of us who listen to and identify with the culture (Hip-Hop) do anyways. If we as women, not just Black women, but women of all different races came together and decided to boycott this type of music and treatment of women we could severely impact the Hip-Hop industry and maybe change things for the better. May be one day women will not be seen as objects for men to ogle or whatever they do, but we need to start being proactive about it now. For most of us it would be really hard to stop listening to Lil’ Wayne or Gucci, but as someone great once said, every journey begins with just one step. -Mary Williams