[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

In addition to it’s lyrical genius, Kendrick Lamar’s live performance of “The Blacker the Berry” at the 2016 Grammy’s also tells a very impactful story. With his background dancers taking the stage bonded together in a chain gang, and his band behind literal bars, Lamar made the direction of his performance very clear. Lamar and the eventually shed their chains to the line “As we proceed to give you what you need,” –a Biggie Smalls reference–and makes his transition into a more “crowd-pleasing” rendition of his anthemic song “Alright.” By getting rid of the chains to give the people “what they need,” Lamar was making a rhetorical nod to the persistent use of black people for entertainment purposes only. That is to say, mass incarceration and criminalization of black bodies is ultimately not an issue so long as it does not interfere with our society’s ability to exploit them for their talents. For its lyrical and rhetorical impact, this one of my favorite live Kendrick Lamar performances and it is definitely worth watching.

 

Link to performance: https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/15/11004624/grammys-2016-watch-kendrick-lamar-perform-alright-the-blacker-the-berry

 

Photo Credit: Getty Images (http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/kendrick-lamar-grammys-performance-robert-griffin-iii-rg3/1rxq4rf7a0czi1nx1rxagi2l31

 

 

 

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

Pat Brown, a white woman in Maryland, recently uploaded an advertisement on a meetup site to gauge interest in a  white women’s yoga group so as to “…allow space for White women to gather in the name of yoga, surrounded by the supportive community of White people, White yoga instructors, and all around safe White spaces.” This idea is blatantly problematic on many levels. The most obvious, of course, is the overt ignorance towards what cultural interest groups are intended to do. Many white people do not understand that we do not live in a post-racial America and the exhaustion associated with simply existing in this ever-expansive white space makes these groups an essential part of life for many people. Pat Brown has shown herself to be racist through many other instances, including priding herself on being “…the only white member of a line-dancing group that performs routines to soul and R&B music” and worrying that her granddaughter, who is “…three-fourths white and one-fourth black, would not be accepted by black groups she might want to join one day.” Pat Brown’s desire to infiltrate spaces of color that she is not welcome in and her defensiveness when called out about it perfectly illustrates the intersection of white space and white fragility.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/white-womens-yoga-how-a-meetup-experiment-exploded-on-the-internet/2019/02/25/07fc2d80-3452-11e9-a400-e481bf264fdc_story.html?utm_term=.111c51dd65d0

 

 

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

This cartoon encompasses a few of the themes from the past few weeks. Shooting Smokey the Bear because he “looked threatening from a distance” is a nod to the all too common excuse that white people use to justify shooting Black people simply for existing. In the context of the national park, which was once native land, it is also interesting to note the symbolism in the killing of a bear. Indigenous tribes revere and respect nature and animals as the land we live on is theirs before anyone else. A white man shooting Smokey as his family looks on is clearly symbolic of the death of indigenous space at the hands of white people.

Cartoon by: Dave Granlund

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

This poster board presentation was put together by Philadelphia high school student Ma’Kayoah Goodwire-Thomas and her classmate to be showcased the Student-Led Mass Incarceration Symposium at the school district’s headquarters. The District Attorney, who made himself available to answer questions from students, noted that the students know and understand the ills of mass incarceration and its disproportionate affect on Black communities. The students whose work is specifically highlighted in the photo created a plan that highlighted the ways they would improve the criminal justice system. Goodwire-Thomas and her friend suggest more funding for probation programs, support for these programs from formerly incarcerated people, alliance from family and the community, targeting specific representatives and senators, and reaching out to youth. In order to evoke real change, it is essential to educate and mobilize young people, especially those who have been or will be affected by mass incarceration. Oftentimes, the best solutions for problems faced by the Black community come from members of the Black community.

Photographer: Ryanne Persinger, The Philadelphia Tribune

Source: https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/high-school-students-lead-discussions-on-mass-incarceration/article_8e266f13-2c35-58d2-ae81-5a1927f949df.html

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

The photo I chose this week depicts the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betty DeVos, greeting mostly black parents and children at a rally for the promotion of school choice programs in January of 2017. Currently being championed by the Republican party, the current school choice program is rooted in racist and segregationist ideals. One of the most obvious displays of this, the article outlines, is that “when choice options exist, only students whose families can research those options, navigate the application and acceptance process, and get their children to those options can and will use them” (Newton, “When School Choice…”). Understanding and abusing the disparities between access to resources between white communities and communities of color reinforces the long-standing segregation between the two. The structural advantages wielded by the parents who have the time, resources, and knowledge to seek out these opportunities for their children are more likely to do so, and by extension, more likely to reap the benefits of them. From a rhetorical perspective, having Betsy DeVos meet parents face-to-face and inform them about their “choices” makes her seem interested in providing equal opportunities for all students, when in reality, she is doing the opposite.

Image source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2018/06/12/when-school-choice-is-no-choice/#23ac75e14914

Photographer: Maria Danilova, The Associated Press

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

As we have discussed in class, the Great Migration, white flight, and restrictive housing policies have created an unbreakable cycle of segregation and disenfranchisement for communities of color. For decades, Bedford-Stuyvesant, more commonly know as Bed-Stuy, has a been an epicenter for New York City’s Black communities.Black parents and educators, both who are privy to the ills faced by Black children in predominantly white schools, have rallied together to create their own educational agenda. To meet the needs of the Bed-Stuy community, numerous local charter and private schools have implemented an Afrocentric curriculum as an alternative to integrated schooling. To make this curriculum work, these schools employ black teachers and highlight black culture in literature and the arts. These schools aim to instill the ideals of black power and pride in a way that most integrated schools fail to do entirely. Ultimately these schools wish to provide Black students the same educational quality and environment afforded to white students at private and charter institutions. This image speaks to the importance of teaching children to celebrate their blackness, especially in a world that does everything but.

Date: 8 January 2019

Source: The New York Times; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/nyregion/afrocentric-schools-segregation-brooklyn.html

Photographer: Demetrius Freeman

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

As we have discussed in class, the Great Migration, white flight, and restrictive housing policies have created an unbreakable cycle of segregation and disenfranchisement for communities of color. For decades, Bedford-Stuyvesant, more commonly know as Bed-Stuy, has a been an epicenter for New York City’s Black communities.Black parents and educators, both who are privy to the ills faced by Black children in predominantly white schools, have rallied together to create their own educational agenda. To meet the needs of the Bed-Stuy community, numerous local charter and private schools have implemented an Afrocentric curriculum as an alternative to integrated schooling. To make this curriculum work, these schools employ black teachers and highlight black culture in literature and the arts. These schools aim to instill the ideals of black power and pride in a way that most integrated schools fail to do entirely. Ultimately these schools wish to provide Black students the same educational quality and environment afforded to white students at private and charter institutions. This image speaks to the importance of teaching children to celebrate their blackness, especially in a world that does everything but.

Source: The New York Times; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/nyregion/afrocentric-schools-segregation-brooklyn.html

Photographer: Demetrius Freeman

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by ALYSSA CLAYTON.

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

This image directly aligns with the topics we have been discussing in class this week, specifically the effects on the Great Migration on segregation patterns in the Midwest. Governing, a D.C-based print and online publication focusing on state and local government news, recently published the results of a longitudinal study regarding the persistence of segregation in this region. This study focuses on the effects of black-white segregation as well as the institutions that perpetuate the system. The study reports that though segregation might be more obvious in major cities, it is also a considerable phenomenon in smaller cities and towns. Factors that were highlighted in the study include white flight, school and residential segregation, and income disparities. This study is essential to reaffirm the idea that the days of segregation are far from over.

Source: http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-segregation-series.html

Photographer: David Kidd

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[ALYSSA CLAYTON]

This image theorizes race and space in the modern context by providing a stark example of the sustained racism in the educational system. After receiving a less-than-desired score on her SAT, Kamilah Campbell made the effort to improve her score through seven months independent and in-person study. As a result of her effort, she raised her score by 320 points, a reasonable improvement given the length of time and intensity of her studying. The College Board grew suspicious of her grand improvement and immediately flagged her exam for review because “there [appeared] to be substantial evidence that [her] scores … are invalid.” If there was “substantial evidence” that her scores were invalid, then where is it? As we all know, in cases where academic dishonesty is suspected, all parties who were allegedly involved are called in for interrogation. Why aren’t other students being questioned? As a native South Floridian, I also know that Miami Gardens is a lower-income area, comprised mostly of Black persons. Claiming that significant academic improvement from someone of Campbell’s demographic is a blatant example of the educational establishment attempting to defame and discredit a hard-working student.

Source: CNN News; Photographer Unknown

Date: 3 January 2019

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