[Simone Singh]

For this weeks photo share I felt that Kendrick Lamar’s song “The Blacker the Berry” was the most appropriate. This album, To Pimp A Butterfly, was one of the most thought-provoking lyrical representations which highlighted the struggles and and institutionalized racism that Black communities face, at the same time highlighting hypocritical actions as well.

There are two verses that I want to discuss that relate to this theme.

I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015
Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean
Been feeling this way since I was 16, came to my senses
You never liked us anyway, fuck your friendship, I meant it
I’m African-American, I’m African
I’m black as the moon, heritage of a small village
Pardon my residence
Came from the bottom of mankind
My hair is nappy, my dick is big, my nose is round and wide
You hate me don’t you?
You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture
You’re fuckin’ evil I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey
You vandalize my perception but can’t take style from me
And this is more than confession
I mean I might press the button just so you know my discretion
I’m guardin’ my feelings, I know that you feel it
You sabotage my community, makin’ a killin’
You made me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga

In this first verse Kendrick highlights the feelings of being Black in America and within American society, even highlighting the differences of how Blacks look versus the mainstream White population, which have used these racial features in racial slurs. The negativity surrounding Black Americans and culture is visible yet, the mainstream society has no problem appropriating Black culture such as music. I also believe that the lyric regarding the last lyric is a reference to how Black communities were sabotaged with the influx of drugs and the subsequent increase of violence and killings, thus pushing this stereotype of Black communities.

I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015
Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean
I mean, it’s evident that I’m irrelevant to society
That’s what you’re telling me, penitentiary would only hire me
Curse me till I’m dead
Church me with your fake prophesizing that I’ma be just another slave in my head
Institutionalized manipulation and lies
Reciprocation of freedom only live in your eyes
You hate me don’t you?
I know you hate me just as much as you hate yourself

This second verse is especially powerful. Kendrick explores the relationship of Black Americans and primarily Black men into society, in the aspect of highlighting that they are essentially irrelevant and invisible. This is furthered with his lyric that the penitentiary would be the only one to hire me, where institutionalized racism targets Black men and makes them more likely to be in prison than obtain a degree. He mentions directly that the institutionalized racism is institutionalized manipulation and lies and that we do not live in a post-racial society.

 

Overall, I feel that Kendrick Lamar poses as a force for bringing visibility to current issues and maintains himself as a strong lyrical voice in this time period because of his focus on relevant topics.

 

Link to Song/Image: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm25619724

Date: 2/20/2015

[Simone Singh]

For this week’s photo share I thought it would be interesting to understand the role of a 911 dispatcher and even the police in regards to the issue of white space. While searching for a photo for this weeks photo share I came across an article from Vox, “I used to be a 911 Dispatcher, I had to respond to racist calls everyday.” By Rachel Herron. Which highlighted the viewpoint and experiences of 911 dispatchers when dealing with the issue of white space. Originally I had planned to use an article regarding a woman in Oakland who called the police on a group of Black people who were BBQ-ing, citing that they were using a charcoal grill when they weren’t supposed to be but what was in fact a form of white fragility and taking over her perceived notions of what didn’t belong in her space. But I found that this article highlighted a unique and insightful perspective on the brevity of the issue.

The article states many instances of how many calls come because of racist reasons. The BBQ incident in Oakland, the calls for Black neighbors parking, using shopping carts, the list goes on and on. The writer also highlights how many dispatchers have no choice but to write the report and put it in because it is their duty. She states the story of other fellow dispatchers who had to deal with racism from citizens calling to make a report and acronyms to show how much law enforcement wouldn’t or didn’t want to take these reports but did anyways because of their duties. But she also makes note that institutionalized racism is real and prevalent and that there are people within the system such as officers who are racist as well in their beliefs and practices such as over-policing and biases. The author finally closes by talking about what brought her to leave the job and what brought her other co-workers to leave. The photo itself is a cartoon image of a woman handling calls from different areas for dispatch work. Above her are comment boxes and the entire image is shades of red and many different shapes to highlight urgency. It is almost funny to show that the job itself is serious but handles so many different calls for issues regarding race and racism. I found that it also highlights how stressful and difficult it must be for a dispatcher to deal with these many calls with initial racial bias but be unable to change it.

 

Source: https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/5/30/17406092/racial-profiling-911-bbq-becky-living-while-black-babysitting-while-black

Photographer: Javier Zarracina/Vox

Date: Oct 31, 2018

 

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[Simone Singh]

 

For this weeks photo share I wanted to share an image of the workforce that the National Parks Service had in 2015 from an article from High Country News. We discussed this past week about the lack of racial diversity in the visitors to national parks and we also discussed the diversity or well the lack thereof of the workers of national parks. In this photo we can see the disparity of white workers comparatively to other races and ethnicities. In many cases the workforce consisted of 80% of the workers being white in many of the regions of America, with the overall workforce for America being 77.1%. What I felt was important was the article which discussed the lack of diversity in the workforce, citing even one instance where a man in one of the high ranking National Park positions left because of the lack of diversity and worked towards creating a non-profit to increase diversity in the workforce. Additionally, the article discussed the instance of worker Nancy Fernandez and Lewis and Clark National Park, where the nearby town had begun to have a new Latino community. Supervisor Scott Tucker wanted to introduce the community to the national parks by creating a picnic for them, and was surprised when no one showed up. Although Tucker was sensitive to some cultural issues and wanted to increase diversity in the park visitors he did not understand at first why the Latino community members would not answer the door to uniformed men, especially from the government. This led him to implement a program to hire diverse workers like Fernandez who was being introduced to the outdoors and had the cultural knowledge and language to encourage members of the Latinx community to take part in the national park. The article highlights that the parks services is working on different routes to increase diversity in the workforce such as this. I felt that this was an important topic and one of optimism to be more inclusive and to understand the mechanisms behind why the parks are not diverse. I also feel that although we know the history of the national parks isn’t glamorous it is important to be aware of these issues and to work forward to create solutions, and I feel that this was an important step in Lewis and Clark.

Source: National Parks Service and US Census Bureau

https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.14/why-has-the-national-park-service-gotten-whiter

 

 

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[Simone Singh]

For this weeks photo share I decided to share a picture of a protest about mass incarceration. The sign, held on each side by Black folks states, “Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide” which I felt was an extremely moving statement about the status of many Black Americans today. The article which had this photo covered that 1 in 30 Black males (this is dated in 2015) will find themselves in prison. It also highlights the negative impacts of Clinton’s policies which exacerbated mass incarceration and how Bill Clinton has apologized for which that would have no impact on the situation of many communities of color. With the background of the photo and what is seen in the photo I would iterate this as being related to our class discussions and going over the documentary, 13th, and the photos we looked over with the prisons which were invisible. I think covering that when people go to prison they essentially are invisible as well as even when they leave prison the effects follow them along and define them to that role such as, those convicted of a felony being without the right to vote. Essentially, mass incarceration silences its victims and this silence and willful ignorance by the general populace will lead to an end to these communities. I think that is something to think about in our daily lives, as in how many lives are affected and how many people who are being silenced even now.

 

Source: https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/07/16/with-1-in-every-10-black-males-under-30-in-prison-we-need-more-than-apologies-from-bill-clinton/

Date: July 2015

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[Simone Singh]

For this week’s photo share I decided to share a photo from Bedford Academy High School in Brooklyn to show that segregation, although may in the legal sense be ended due to Brown v. Board, is still prominent in our society due to institutionalized practices. This particular photo is from USA today, the article cites a UCLA study which confirms that Black and Latino students are more likely to attend poorer schools while white and Asian students are more likely to attend middle-class schools. The article also highlights that segregation is prevalent not only in urban areas but also suburban neighborhoods.

I felt that this photo and this piece truly resonated with what we talked about in class during the week and I felt that it tied in well with the articles which highlighted concepts such as: white flight even in suburbia, Asians and the “model minority” myth, racism directed at all minorities and the reason for white flight and segregated neighborhoods, and poor schools with a high number of minorities and a lack of adequate funding or opportunities for students. I felt that our discussion on school choice was one tied into this as well where parents choose to send their children to the best schools, at the cost of certain schools becoming poorer and providing students with less educational options. In this photo we see a school which appears to be segregated, although outwardly it does not look poor, we can see a high amount of Black and other students who are people of color. I think this is an important visual to what many schools now look like. It poses the serious question of what the solution should be, eliminating parents choice? Or providing more funding? I’m still not quite sure but I felt that important questions were generated this week.

 

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/05/15/school-segregation-civil-rights-project/9115823/

<span class=”cutline js-caption”>Adofo Muhammad, center, principal of Bedford Academy High School, teaches 10th- and 11th-graders in his Global Studies class in Brooklyn on Dec. 13, 2013.</span><span class=”credit”>(Photo: Bebeto Matthews, AP)</span>

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[Simone Singh]

For this weeks discussion I chose to provide a picture of students entering a “free school” in 1963. This is after a county in Virginia voted to close down all the schools in the district rather than integrate. I felt that this was a photo which truly provided the epitome of segregation within our society and in the height of the Jim Crow Era, where those would stop at nothing to prevent equality. I also felt that this pertained to our class discussions of different movements which wanted to see African Americans have an equal status including the separatists. This past week we read a lot of Baldwin where we explored his thoughts that unity and cooperation from whites were needed to get past segregation and inequality, however in this photo we truly see how unequal the playing field was and how there are certain communities which were unwilling to change. There are also only Black students attending this school because of what I assume is the refusal of the White community to go. I also would like to discuss that even now schools are more segregated due to redlining and other policies which created inequality between Blacks and the greater population and although we may be away from Jim Crow policies we are still facing issues of segregation.

Source: Thomas J. O’Halloran via the Library of Congress

https://kinder.rice.edu/2016/10/24/the-re-segregation-of-schools-and-its-impact-on-students

Date: 1963

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[Simone Singh]

For this week’s discussion I chose a photo of a man waiting for transportation through the Carolina Coach Company in the designated colored section. Behind him stand others who are African American but no one who is white. This photo reflects in the most blatant and visible form about what segregation is and how it used to be in the US. During this time period the races were legally allowed to be separated, so long as they were equal. Although in retrospect many of these separate institutions were not equal for people of color. However, I must also reflect to our class discussions on that segregation is not as visible anymore because it is institutionalized. Although the photo I chose is not a modern example of segregation I think it is important to see the separation even in the aspect of this space being used for transportation because it causes us to reflect that because of past practices we still are segregated in our society comparatively. As a comparison it is interesting to see where our country grew and where it did not grow.

Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/06/05/27-heartbreaking-photos-that-sums-up-the-racial-segregation-era-in-the-united-states/

Date: 1940

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[Simone Singh]

For this week’s photo share I decided to share a photo of a very famous movement of our time, Black Lives Matter. I felt that this was a moving and relevant piece to this theme because it shows the amount of struggle and change still needed in our society in order to create equality. It also addresses the issues of institutionalized racism in our society which disproportionately affect Blacks as a population. The movement started with the highlights of police shootings towards the Black community and the lack of justice to address such a situation. Again, I also believe this relates to our class discussions on not knowing one’s privilege or believing that racism doesn’t exist because one works hard, in the aspect of the spatial and residential segregation which disproportionately affects the Black community even to this day. The movement is still going on today, through protests and awareness, and is bringing light to an issue which plagues our society.

 

 

 

 

Source: https://medium.com/@kdadrevala/the-evolving-nature-of-culutre-in-society-6ed69d416a2e

December 2017

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[Simone Singh]

For this weeks theme I have chosen a picture of Andrew Young, someone I consider to have been a force and leader for the civil rights movement. In this photo that I chose, Young is sitting next to King, I chose this for the reason that the civil rights movement for equality among races has had many leaders, although King remains the face of the movement there are many different parts of it. He was considered a close friend and aid to King during this era and one of the men who helped continue the fight for civil rights. Young went on to be a force for equality and of the non-violence movement. He went on to become a congressman for Georgia, being one of the first from the deep South to do so in the 20th century. Further along his career he also became the US ambassador to the United Nations. On another note, I chose this photo and of Andrew Young because I was able to meet him once a few years ago when he spoke at my community college, from the perspective of a young student listening to his experiences I was able to gain a greater understanding of Young’s and many others impact on the fight for civil rights.

Photographer: Achievement.org (can’t find specific photographer)

Date: 1967

URL: http://www.achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/

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