[SANG LEE]

For this weeks lyrical share, I decided to share a part of YG and G-Eazy’s song, “Endless Summer Freestyle”.
“All these blacks gettin’ killed, my n**ga
Please tell me how these white folks feel, my n**ga
Cops killin’ black kids and get off scot-free
What’s the difference, what would happen if a cop shot me?
White privilege is real, black lives matter
I hope the barbecues at Lake Merritt get blacker
Town sh*t
Racial inequality, police brutality
This sh*t is all real, please pay attention to reality”

Within this the two bring up police brutality and the inequality/white priveledge that occurs. This also reminded me a lot of Blindspotting where Collin constantly gets scared whenever there are cops around… when in reality, they are supposed to make citizens feel safer. Furthermore, through these lyrical representations, it allows listeners that are not people of color or who do not know about police brutality to understand and realize the struggles that people face on a daily basis

[SANG LEE]

One of the topics of white space that we discussed in class is the notion that the people who occupy “white space” or white privilege often don’t realize that they do have these certain privileges that other people do not. One blatant example of the use of white space was evident as recent as last week where “a Republican congressman [used] a black woman as a prop to prove that the most racist president in modern history [was] not a racist”. This irony and use of a black woman as a trophy is a clear cut example of what those that occupy white space believe is okay to do. The argument that because you have a black friend it means you’re not a racist is basically like saying a serial killer is not a murderer because they have friends that are alive. I believe that in order for white privilege to stop, the people within it must understand what it is like to NOT be a part of it, however that is easier said than done.

Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/03/01/your-black-friend-doesn-make-you-woke/3Eao3nC4f316T66gagrkgM/story.html (picture from Associated Press)

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[SANG LEE]

For this weeks photo share, I’m sharing this picture of a project done by Ben Wood and David Mark called: Indigenous Renewal: Alcatraz Occupation Remembrance + Ohlone Presence Celebrated. This was to bring awareness to the lack of representation for Native Americans in a country which was built on the lands of these natives. This movement wanted to use Alcatraz as a Native American museum, and is extremely symbolic because they decided to place “Indian’s Welcome” over a sign that has the words “United States Penitentiary”. Furthermore, instead of using “Native American” they used “Indian” to symbolize just how misrepresented they are in history and in everyday life today. This explains how they felt like they have never had a voice, and how they are shaming us for brushing them aside to focus on “American” ideals.

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[SANG LEE]

This week we talked a lot about the problems within our prison system and the ineffectiveness of prison reform. One of the main things that we talked about was this concept of “out of sight, out of mind” where the prison system was structured so that it allowed for citizens to not think about prisoners or what they go through on a day to day basis because these prisons were isolated from the public. Because of this, there is rarely any talks about prison reform due to the fact that its nowhere to be found on a day to day basis. This cartoon represents how flawed the prison system really is. It condemns people for the crimes that they do commit, but once their sentence is up – they do not provide them with the tools to succeed in life again and to not commit the same crimes as they did prior to going to prison. Furthermore having a mark on your record as a felon makes it so that it is very hard to find jobs — which in return causes these former prisoners to get back into criminal activity

Source: Dave Granlund https://www.davegranlund.com/cartoons/2012/07/24/us-prison-system/

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[SANG LEE]

This graph was taken from vox.com in an article that talks about segregation getting worse within the school system in America. One of the landmark cases in United States history is that of Brown vs Board of Education. Within this case, it ruled that segregation in schools were illegal and that they should integrate people of color. This was pivotal in allowing equal education to anyone regardless of race, however a lot of people believed that this was a cure for segregation but rather it was just a bandaid. In recent memory, segregation has been even more prevalent in schools as the notion of white flight and clusters of ethnic groups become bigger. Within this article it talks about how segregation within cities is still about the same as in the 1980s and how school districts do little to “ameliorate the segregation”. With the pass of No Child Left Behind, schools focused more on test grades which created a ranking system where families that could afford to send their kids to a better school did.

Source: Data was from National Center for Education Statistics

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/5/17080218/school-segregation-getting-worse-data

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[SANG LEE]

For this weeks continued conversation of segregation, I decided to share a photo of segregation that was as recently as the 2008 election. One of the biggest statements that was said when Obama won the election was that it showed racism ended in America. There was this notion that because we had the first black president, that this era of progression was fully complete. However, what actually happened was that people became more vocal on their dissatisfaction of having an African American president. Further more, in the most recent election of Trump, it gave people more the reason to segregate and gave them validity that being racist was okay. This brings up the idea that for every two steps forward, we take one step back. Yes it is progress but there will always be segregation even in this day and age. The idea of segregation is not ancient and outdated. It is very much prevalent in the 21st century.

Source: Evette Dione https://www.revelist.com/politics/america-responds-obama/5855

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[SANG LEE]

Source: LA Johnson — https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/01/16/509325266/how-the-systemic-segregation-of-schools-is-maintained-by-individual-choices

One of the prevalent areas of segregation happens within the schooling system. What was a landmark decision in desegregating schools in 1954 has slowly, over the course of 60 years, reverted to a new system of segregation. The concept of No Child Left Behind created a ranking system among schools which then in return pushed parents to want their children at the best schools. Those that could afford to send their kids to the best schools did, while those that couldn’t had to stick with schools in predonimantly minority communities. Within this article, the author talks about how “it is important to understand that the inequality we see, school segregation, is both structural, it is systemic, but it’s also upheld by individual choices” and further explains that “As long as individual parents continue to make choices that only benefit their own children … we’re not going to see a change”. This type of segregation wasn’t one that was brought knowingly. It was built on a deep rooted systematic racism that has always been prevalent in American culture

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[SANG LEE]

Source: Metro New UK — article is in sbindependent.org: Here is Why Blackface is Racist by Giovanni Ortiz

Within these past two weeks we discussed many topics in regards to the idea of space and race and the privileges associated with them. One thing that resonated with me was the idea of white privilege and their inability to understand systematic racism because it has never affected them. In this photo, we see two caucasian men putting on black paint on their faces, making their lips look extremely large — to resemble the stereotype of black people. Whats especially daunting is that there are numerous cases of this happening even in this progressive era of people doing blackface and not understanding the social harm that it does. Essentially this mocks those that are black because these caucasian people, whether directly or indirectly, are ridiculing black people by essentially saying: We can mimic you and look like you, but we will never face the segregation that you’ve faced because all we have to do is go into the shower and wipe off the black paint.

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[SANG LEE]

In regards to this weeks theme of LGBTQIA, one of the main issues that we were faced with was that of two steps forward, one step back. With the administration that came into power in 2016, it certainly felt that way. Under the Obama administration, there was progressive movement in regards to gay rights and privileges such as gender neutral bathrooms. It seemed as if everything was headed the right direction, as merely at the start of the Obama administration, they were against gay rights to marriage, but with the sway of the public, they changed that stance and eventually gave them the legal right to marriage. However, once the Trump administration came in, it certainly felt like a step back from the progressive movement that swept the nation. Right off the bat, they took down the LGBTQA page on the white house’s website and pushed for schools to not allow students to choose what bathrooms and locker rooms they associate their own genders with. With these rollbacks and denials of rights, people rushed the streets and protested these changes as seen in the picture below. Many people felt fear, anger, and disgust as they saw all the progress just disappear in what seemed like a second.

Source: Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lgbt-rights-marchers-take-to-streets-to-express-pride-anger-at-white-house

 

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[SANG LEE]

The picture that I want to share for this weeks continued theme of undocumented immigrants is the prototypes of Trump’s wall. He used the fear of illegal aliens as propaganda within the 2016 election and was most notably known as the president who wanted to build a wall between Mexico and the United States. His presidential run truly showed the fears that the majority of citizens had at that time and still to this day. People were scared of all the undocumented immigrants coming in and stealing jobs and leeching off government programs, whereas the truth was completely different. This wall was a symbol of fear and hatred and it truly isolated undocumented immigrants and more specifically DACA recipients as they feared for their status in America. This wall wont do anything to change what is going on in the US, where millions of lives are still at work and creating a better economy and society all without having any sort of citizenship or right.

Source: Frederic J. Brown from politico.com

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[SANG LEE]

The photograph that I chose for this weeks photo share is a picture of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders that were at a rally outside of Trump Tower in 2017. It is very significant to me because as an undocumented immigrant myself, I feel as if a lot of the public’s idea of what a Dreamer is or an undocumented individual is geared towards Latinx people. This allows politicians to gear fear towards these Latinx individuals and many people can stereotype what an undocumented immigrant truly is. Much like how after 9/11, terrorism was categorized with the religion of Islam, crimes by undocumented individuals are wrongfully categorized towards Latinx people. There are many misunderstandings as this topic is one that not a lot of people can relate to and the people that it does affect can’t do much to fight against the oppression due to the lack of rights.

Source: http://time.com/4992021/asian-americans-pacific-islanders-representation/

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[SANG LEE]

The theme of islamophobia resonated with me because it was a concept that persisted after 2001, but over the course of time, the concept of islamophobia was something that not a lot of people talked about because it became so ingrained in society that it was a normal thing to question a person wearing a hijab or anything that related to the religion of Islam. I chose this picture because it showed exactly what mainstream mindsets were like during the time when ISIS ran fear among Americans. It is especially ironic because it depicts a person cutting everything in “Coexist” and leaving the islamic symbol representing the idea that Islam was leaving all these other values and ideas behind and not caring about anyone but themselves. This truly depicts people’s islamaphobic nature

Source: Rick Mckee

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[SANG LEE]

Within this weeks theme of Japanese Internment, one of the main concepts that came out of these discussions was unfair and unjust treatment. There was a huge fear of Japanese Americans, and people did not view them as American, but as Japanese. There was a sentiment that you couldn’t trust any Japanese people, regardless of citizenship, because you couldn’t trust their loyalty. DeWitt, the person who administered the internment program explained how “it makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese.” This fear spread throughout America, and essentially what happened was the isolation of all Japanese Americans. They were placed in camps much like how the German’s placed Jews into concentration camps. This photo resonates with this theme because the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, this Japanese American store owner put up this baner saying “I Am American”. This showed how even people contributing to the American society and economy were targeted. People who spoke English as their first language but just looked Japanese were even sent to these camps.

Source: photograph taken by Dorothea Lange in March 1942 just after the store owners internment

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[SANG LEE]

This photograph of a mural depicting Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Nina Simone from the artist Ernest Shaw was taken by David Muse in 2015. One of the main pivotal aspects of James Baldwin’s fight for civil rights was his literature. It brought forth racial tensions that were happening throughout the United States and had an overarching theme of social unity. He used his words through writing to depict his feelings about an unjust and unfair system and really showed his audience what I was like to be in his shoes. While James Baldwin fought through his writings predominantly, Malcolm X used his words but both fought for the same cause. They emphasized a unity amongst the black community and to fight for what they believed in. Within this mural, Nina Simone is also depicted because of her way to bring out issues through her songs. All three civil rights activists had distinct ways of fighting for what they believed was right, however their end goal was the same and each person was successful in their own ways.

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[SANG LEE]

One of mainstream media’s pivotal portrayals of Malcom X was this violent radical individual who wanted to dismantle a system of racism and oppression. As the article below stated – When Malcolm X was assassinated, many of the phrases used to describe him consisted of “extremist”, racist” and “demagogue”. While a lot of ideas were portrayed extremely at the time, a lot of his ideas eventually aligned with that of Martin Luther King Jr. This image essentially humanizes Malcom X and shows its viewers that he was just like anyone else and someone who fought for a cause. By placing himself within a group of people that were of different races and of him smiling, it essentially humanized Malcom X into someone who wanted more than violence and his well known position of “Black Power”. At the end of the day, he wanted equality within a system of persecution, maltreatment, and abuse and would do whatever he could to get those rights for his community.

This photo does not have an author, however I will credit the author of an article who published this photo on their website.

Steve Hahn — March 28, 2012

https://newrepublic.com/article/102109/malcolm-x-biography-manning-marable

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