This was probably the third or fourth time I’ve watched Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and it still manages to be captivating funny and emotionally challenging. It was a great way to finish a class in which we have discussed the many issues examined in the film like, multiculturalism, gentrification, racism, white supremacy, segregation and police…[Read more]

This week we looked at the plight of refugees in the United States including misperceptions both positive and negative and some of the processes that bring Refugees to various locations around the country including San Diego, which is a major center for Refugee resettlement. In class we spoke about the many hard decisions communities have to make…[Read more]

In this weeks readings about gentrification and in my own experience it is obvious there is a huge disconnect between the way white people and corporate power structures portray the goals and benefits of gentrification and its dire consequences for the culture and livelihoods of urban communities especially urban communities of color. Rich, “hip”,…[Read more]

Ta-Nehesi Coates’, “The Case for Reparations”, sends a powerful and comprehensive message about the United States need to confront and remedy the ugly history of slavery and oppression of black folks in America for the past 400 years. It does not deal in the inflammatory rhetoric of many contemporary politicians who oppose any reckoning with the…[Read more]

In this weeks readings we learned about the deliberate and long term efforts to keep black folks in America oppressed and disenfranchised after slavery was finally abolished. White power structures and the white populace were violently opposed to the integration of black folks into greater American society and they used methods of terrorism,…[Read more]

We read multiple articles this week about the resiliency of urban populations, the idea of a compassionate city, and the spacialization of race and the racialization of space in The United States. I think it is important to consider many factors when analyzing and considering all this complex information in such an uncertain time and environment.…[Read more]