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March 10, 2019 at 3:03 pm #4787LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
In past discussion a lot of people posted about Colin Kaepernick and his protest of racial injustices in the United States by choosing to sit or kneel during the playing of the National Anthem during NFL games. This week’s topic of lyrical representations of segregation gives a great opportunity to address not only his protest but the song during which he chose to make his protest. While researching the Star-Spangled Banner, I found an interesting short documentary that explains the history of the song and some of the controversial aspects of many of its lyrics. I was surprised to learn that we do not even sing all the verses of the original song, just the first two of the original four. The documentary does a great job at explaining that this may be because the third verse, “decries the flight of blacks from slavery to the British side, to serve in the British Army.” If you read the lyrics of the third verse, they are quite disturbing. Some parts even celebrate the death of the slaves that chose to defect the British side to gain their freedom, “Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.” The song leaves little room for interpretation as it specifically names the defected slaves and hired soldiers as those whose deaths are being celebrated, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave.” It makes it hard to understand how people could deny the existence of the kinds of injustices that Mr. Kaepernick chose to highlight while listening to a song that originally displayed such a flagrant disdain toward slaves specifically.
Video Source: https://youtu.be/UavegoYV8_A
Star-Spangled Banner lyrics and Information: https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx
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March 3, 2019 at 5:41 pm #4638LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
For this week’s theme on white spaces I chose to share an interesting chart I found. The chart was created by Dr Anne Milne, a New Zealand educator, activist, and lecturer. She produced and used the chart to demonstrate different white spaces within the New Zealand education system to workshop members. While this chart is directed toward the white space interactions with the indigenous Maori, I think it is a good example of how we can look at how white spaces affect people of color and indigenous people in our own country. It is interesting to look at how Dr. Milne plots not only the overt but the but the covert white spaces and practices that she believes persist within the New Zealand educational system.
Article and Photo Source: http://www.annmilne.co.nz/blog/2019/2/6/swimming-with-sharks
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February 24, 2019 at 12:43 pm #4316LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
Concerning native exclusion and the making of “America’s Best Idea”, I decided to share a photo from the article, “From Yosemite to Bears Ears, Erasing Native Americans From U.S. National Parks.” The article itself is very interesting and outlines the systematic mistreatment and role of indigenous people in relation to the National Parks System. The photo I chose is illustrative of a trend which developed in Yosemite National Park wherein the native population came to be used and viewed as a park attraction. The article explains, “native people had become an important part of the tourist experience, whether as laborers in the valley’s growing service industry or as an authenticating aspect of the encounter with wilderness.” This photo shows a few ways that indigenous people were exploited during tourist drawing events including advertising for, “Indian men stripped and painted as warriors will receive $2 for the two days.” The article elaborates on this practice, “Yosemite Park and Curry Company would dress up the Indians in the village with Midwestern headdresses and costumes and parade them around on horses,” Brochini says. “It was a big production, almost like a Barnum & Bailey sideshow.” The photo and article help explain and illustrate the widespread mistreatment of indigenous people, especially, in relation to the National Parks System. The overall acceptance by the American public of this treatment allowed it to continue for decades and in some ways it continues today.
Article and Photo Source: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/erasing-native-americans-from-national-parks/
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February 17, 2019 at 2:16 pm #4122LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
I decided to share a still from the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Most people have seen this movie and I think it is representative of a larger trend in the cinematic and television portrayal of prisons and prisoners. In class we discussed our societal views regarding criminality and sin. Specifically, the idea was raised that we tend to form a chasm between ourselves and those we view as “real” criminals, despite the fact that we all have broken the law in some capacity. We have to believe that there is some natural criminality, oftentimes rooted in sin, behind the crimes of those we imprison to justify their separation from ourselves. If not, we would be forced to acknowledge a system that disproportionately imprisons people of color, the indigent and the mentally ill. The portrayal of prisoners in television and movies serves to reinforce the separation between the incarcerated and the general public. The Shawshank Redemption, The Last Castle, Con Air, Cool Hand Luke, Midnight Express, Escape From Alcatraz, The Longest Yard, Get Hard, Law Abiding Citizen and Prison Break all illustrate Hollywood’s approach to concealing the disparities and injustice within our criminal justice system. In most cases, the audience is introduced to a white protagonist, who find himself imprisoned either through some mistake, injustice, or crime rooted in altruism. The works elicit sympathy and understanding for the white protagonists who are unjustly forced to navigate in a society of “real” criminals. The cinematic approach is not unlike our own, where we refuse to admit that a person in prison might not deserve to actually be there. They may be innocent, imprisoned because of the color of their skin or simply unable to pay for an adequate legal defense, but, to portray this truth would mean having to actually acknowledge the truth.
Photo Source: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-shawshank- redemption/images/30619689/title/andy-photo
- This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVAN.
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February 3, 2019 at 11:53 am #3674LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
For this week’s continued discussion on segregation I decided to post up this picture which includes two very interesting statements made my Milton Friedman. Friedman is a famed economist that won the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics. The first comment in the picture was made by Friedman in 2006 and advocates for a school voucher system to be implemented. The second comment was made by Freidman in 1955 and is far less successful in hiding the racist and sometimes religious motivations behind the support for school voucher systems. As you can see, the 2006 comment makes no mention of race, but instead just advocates for a school voucher system. The comment for 1955 is far more revealing. Friedman’s 1955 comment is explicit in its message: a school voucher system would allow for legalized segregation of school children. A school or education voucher system is one in which the government issues vouchers for each child who is entitled to free education in the United States and allows their parent to decide which school they would like to send their child to and redeem the voucher for tuition and other educational expenses. Opponents of the system have long argued that this system is racially biased, allowing for a form of white flight out of public schools and into privately owned schools that do not have to conform to many federal regulations and mandates that public schools must adhere. This includes being able to select who they admit based on race or religious affiliation. Without the benefit of schools that have been established for many years with large endowments, under this system children of color would find themselves being forced to choose between private schools with very few resources or public schools with highly diminished resources. What is more disturbing than this system or even Friedman’s comments is the fact that our current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos supports this system. Friedman’s comments show how the racist ideology behind the program has slowly been covered up or at least diminished to hide is underlying motives which is undoubtedly to continue segregation in schools.
Photo Source: https://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/02/12730/segregation-school-vouchers
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January 27, 2019 at 4:21 pm #3511LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
I chose a Theodore Geisel cartoon about the push to use the labor of African Americans in the United States military during the war effort of World War 2. Geisel, or Dr, Seuss, has been critiqued for his portrayal of minority community members, especially immigrants of Chinese and Japanese descent. I think the image is interesting for a few reasons. The overall message of racial equality in the United States military seems to be a good one and one that would have undoubtedly helped the war effort. However, I find it interesting that this push seemed to come out of necessity rather than actual remorse or recognition of the injustices thrust upon people of color and immigrants that were present in the United States in the 1940’s. The cartoon doesn’t even imply the reduction of segregation but the allocation of black labor as a necessity for the war effort. During this period white service members were given almost exclusive access to the most desired positions, duties, and resources while service members of color were not even allowed to enter combat until the war effort reached a point that it was a necessity. In terms of this week’s theme of segregation, I think this cartoon is a perfect example of how there were attempts to maintain segregation in this country even when the labor and self sacrifice of those being segregated was an absolute necessity for war effort.
Cartoon source : http://wwiivirtualmuseum.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-post_12.html
Artist: Dr. Seuss, 1942.
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January 20, 2019 at 3:51 pm #3251LOYD-MICHAEL SULLIVANParticipant
I chose a picture of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14<sup>th</sup> Dalai Lama as my contribution this week. This picture was taken during the 2017 UCSD commencement ceremony. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and has spent much of his life advocating for the religious freedom, nonviolence, and compassion. Many civil rights leaders that immediately come to mind when I think of them seem to focus on one group of people or movement. While the Dalai Lama does have a personal stake in advocating for the religious rights of the Tibetan Buddhists which he leads and Tibetan autonomy, his advocacy is widespread and crosses over all religions, nationalities, and identities. The Dalai Lama has made comments that affirm the rights of all followers of all religions and denominations, the LGBTQ community and has even stated that it is not out of the realm of reason to believe that the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama could be a woman. I truly believe his message of compassion and open dialogue makes him one of the most influential civil rights leaders, especially of those living today.
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Photo: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/multimedia/Dalai-Lama-Tenzin-Gyatso-Visits-UC-San-Diego-429113743.html
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