The lyrics I am choosing are from J. Cole’s “1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”)”. This song in general is both a response to younger rappers and a commentary on hip-hop and what it is like to be a black man in the music industry. A few lines really stand out to me that I would like to unpack.

“They wanna see you dab, they wanna see you pop a…[Read more]

To me, it’s not even the “BBQ Beckies” and “Permit Patties” of the world that best represent white space. While their actions have brought attention to the prejudice surrounding space, I think just the every day segregation and separation in space is what I notice. Almost every day, I am in a space that is mostly a white affluent population and it…[Read more]

Forest Rangers and Picnic Grounds sign: National Park Service website

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/index.htm

Mather Mountain Party:

https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/04/24/national-geographic-and-the-national-parks-a-brief-history/

To me, the photos of the people say a lot about who, was welcome and benefitted from national…[Read more]

inmate photo: Tony Avelar, 2010

graduation photo: Mike Carriveau, 2017

I think two instances where we think of people lining up are at graduations or ceremonies and as prisoners. These situations are perhaps exactly the opposite because being incarcerated takes away most of one’s opportunities for careers, housing, and education.

This is a Norman Rockwell painting depicting Ruby Bridges. I chose this because I think the color and framing enhance the absurdity of an elementary school student needing Federal Marshal escorts. I also chose this because I remember it being used for Jonathan Kozol’s “Still Separate, Still Unequal” article for one of my classes. This article…[Read more]

My photos are from the Bronx during the 70s and 80s. The Bronx started as an immigrant neighborhood that was further desolated and isolated after a highway was built through it. This is typical of urban renewal projects; they targeted minority neighborhoods and often made conditions worse for people by using slum clearance rather than actually…[Read more]

I chose these images to represent segregation between schools in America. I think a lot of people still have the idea that separate can be equal when it cannot. As we briefly mentioned in class one day, large amounts of funding for schools come from property taxes; therefore, school funds and quality is somewhat dependent on home values. On top of…[Read more]

For this week’s photo I chose a recent photo of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This photo was taken this year and is used in this article about her recent fight against cancer. However, this is not why I chose a photo of RBG.

RBG is not considered an activist by most people and in fact she is not truly an activist and certainly…[Read more]