Group Project

I am really excited to be doing a project like this because I believe that through effective communication anything can be done or changed. Our project is the viewing of the film , "A Different Kind of Black Man". We decided our audience would be educated, opinionated , black men who would typically be perceived as straight, stand up men in their community, and discuss masculinity in the black male community and masculinity in the black gay male community. We wanted there to be a visible, non-difference between the two as it pertains to masculinity. Because the basis of the argument would be all men want to be, is men, in their community, in their families , at their jobs and anywhere else in society. Besides showing the video which includes older black men, we also wanted to kind of hit close to home with the gentlemen that we would be speaking with, therefore we invited two open gay black male speakers who are well known around the campus to tell their story and their struggle to portray masculinity and still be comfortable with themselves in their community. One young man is well known, but he is not out to everyone yet. The fact that he wanted to speak on this matter was a shock to me and my group because like I stated he is well known and we wanted to avoid any targeting of one individual or him just being uncomfortable after his discussion. However, he and the other young man was very willing because they stated they had been wanting to have this discussion for some time now and they feel that this would be the best time. A controlled environment, an honest but respectable environment, and an environment that includes many of their friends. Even though, we have had a minor setback with our original group of men, I have a wonderful diligent group to work with so our event will take place next Wednesday and I know we will have a successful discussion. Since we know this is sort of a sensitive topic we came up with ideas to make the conversation fun, interactive and ongoing. So, hopefully we have just as well a turn-out as we would have had from our original group. I am very excited and interested on where this discussion will take us.

Boys of Baraka

After watching the film "Boys of Baraka" I felt hurt and shocked. Like I mentioned in class I feel like the system let them down twice, I mean just seeing the look on their faces and the hopelessness they had once they got word that the school closed down was heartbreaking. I believe that yeh the school succeeded in temporarely placing them in a new environment, reminding them that they were kids, and providing them with individual attention; however, it failed to teach them survival techniques and how to cope with the daily stress that they see in their community in a positive way. Not the survival techniques that they learn back home which is fight, shoot, and violence is the key, but enhancing their ability to unite with positive people, talk out their problems, work through their problems and teaching them that their environment does not dictate their life. The school system failed in also not setting up something for the children back home, even in the summer time , to continue to stay in touch and learn. My question would also be Why Kenya? and another would be where were the african american teachers? Even though there were african teachers at the school the majority of the teachers were white,which is not a huge issue if they were willing to be there for the kids, however the kids still had no one to relate to that could show them , "Hey I come from where you come from and we can all make it out together." I feel like they took the boys out of one environment and put them in another that only taught them how to displace their anger, their anxiety and their feelings. Individually I believe the young men were confused when they came back. The school also missed the mark in making that connection of when they went back home. Even though some of the young men continue to succeed what happened to the majority of the others that were not exactly in the forefront of the film? In school, I was also the smart one, but I was never teased for "acting white" or "not being black enough". So I can't personally can't relate to "acting white" article. My school was predominately african american all through my years growing up and I remember talking to everyone. I was always outgoing. Only thing that I remember used to make me so upset, I just thought was pure ignorance, was in middle school there was one young lady that used to always say, " I wanna marry a white guy because I don't want dark babies; black babies ain't cute." That statement used to make so mad. Although I struggled with self-esteem issues growing up I never was ashamed of who I was and I remember always thinking it's sad that she does not like herself that much to reproduce such a beautiful race of people. Today, now that I know what I know, that statement makes more sense to me .

Affirmative Action

I must start off by saying that I am all for Affirmative Action, although we as a minority have progressed into a time where we don't heavily rely on it as a crutch, it is still relevant and needed in today's society for legal support. There are individuals in this world who do not fully understand this policy and other policies that are put in place to protect and serve minorities which in turn produces ignorant minded people. I don't want to downplay the article "Affirmative action: Racist by nature" in no way because this is a matter that is very serious, however the context he used to support his argument that we should rid affirmative action is in a way "a joke." Like we discussed in class there is no way there could be "reverse-racism". My biggest issue with the article is that it is mainly an opinion and you can tell by the tone of the writer. I learned in my 9th grade English that when you are trying to prove a point, there is always two sides to every story. Even though you stand for a certain position you should always state the facts of the case to either in a way counteract what you are proving or to show similarity between facts and opinion. Now obviously this young man is attending the University of Texas at Austin, however along with his critiques of the affirmative action policy he did not state his opinion nor his journey to get here. He stated that this policy, "In turn, african-americans and hispanics could feel inferior because the government is essentially telling them that - for no reason other than the color of their skin - they need special assistance to put them on par with their peers." However, affirmative action protects race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin. So, it sounds to me from the concrete definition of affirmative action I have obtained , he has singled out only TWO minority groups that he feels the policy is protecting. What about everyone else? If we rid affirmative action how would it affect alot of the people that looks like this young man, Stephen McGarvey and the young woman Abigail Fisher? I think that they have failed to realize that this support system, affirmative action, not ONLY helps african americans and hispanics, but it protects a wider range of people. Lastly, we still have to work hard as a minority to succeed. In this article, he downplays the work ethic of the individuals that actually were admitted into these colleges.

Mid-Term Essay 1

To African American Families:

            As an African American community, we must give our children, especially our young African American boys, something to strive for, something to believe in, and someone to look up to. First and foremost we must rebuild and restructure the black family as a unit which is the first principle of Nguzo Saba, Umoja-Unity “To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race”. According to John Hope Franklin’s article, A Historical Note, “75% of black families included husband and wife”. Then, this modeled to young men the proper way to provide for their family, how to treat women, and most importantly to grow into stand up men. If we are not there for our children and leading them in the correct direction where do we think they will end up?

Black fathers are extremely important in raising successful young black men. In the Dynamic Duo article by Jamal E. Watson, Lawrence Otis Graham was taught and ordered by his father to send a portion of the money he earned to an African American charity, (United Negro College Fund). Therefore, he learned how to work for the money he earned and the things that he desired, he learned how to save, as well as give back to his community. Eventually giving back became second nature to him and he was present in his children’s life to teach them these life lessons alongside his wife. Although, these may seem like small aspects of growing up, many African American boys don’t have positive male figures present and active in their lives. According to the film we watched in class, Urban Prep Academy, many of the young men were appreciative of successful grown black men that believed in them.

We also must help our young black men to believe in themselves and know that they have a purpose in life. Nia-Purpose, “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.” Unfortunately, the downfall of young black men today is that they don’t believe they can strive for better. With societal stereotypes, teachers not really caring about the young men, and the young men thinking that masculinity means being “hard” in their community, it seems as if they have no choice, but to do what is expected of them; which is not much. If we refer to the Africentric Theory and as a community push our young men to Quandrant 1, high in the person/self-worth while low in environmental distress, from Quandrant 4, high in environmental distress while low in person/self-worth, I believe we can change these aspects of building up the black man instead of tearing him down.

            The Empowerment Theory is also important for black families to utilize in the household. “People must see themselves as competent, valuable as individuals and members of a cultural group.” Once black families begin to start practicing this within the family, then I believe society will see a new black man, because although Barak Obama, the president provides an alternative image to the stereotypical black man, the majority of the images are still not good. In the article, Being A Man About It: Manhood Meaning Among African American Men, the top response that black men provided to a question about personal definitions of masculinity, was responsibility/accountability.  Therefore, not just black men, but black families, if we begin to become responsible for our young men, accountable for their actions, knowledgeable of their downfalls, and receptive to their silent cries for help we can take back and alter the image of the young black male. We have to start with change in the home first and build them up from there.

           

           

LGBTQ Discussion

I must say that even though I have enjoyed this class as a whole, I have really enjoyed the discussion of homosexuality in the black community. I believe it was the most informative because it brought to light many of the isssues we as African Americans never really think about. It's not an issue in alot of the communities because it sort of a "swept under the rug" topic. The article "Strange Bedfellows" describes how white conservatives and most of the African American community agree on the issue of legal marriage between same-sex couples not being right. However,  I do agree with Revered Al Sharpton that it should be the church's discretion whether to wed same-sex couples, but it should not be left up to the government on whether two consenting adults agree to commit to one another for life. I believe that if we, as a society, as well as a community focus on bigger issues rather than issues "in the home" then this would really be a better world.
    The discussion on Thursday was very interesting because we got first-hand accounts of living as a gay man, woman and trans-gender individual. I shared with the class before that my best friend of forever had come out to me in 2009 and that I was not shocked or upset she was gay, rather I was upset that she kept a secret from me for two whole years. But now that we had that open talk and our speakers discussing either their struggle or triumph of coming out, I understand why she may not have told me the minute that she knew. How could she have known how I would have reacted? Let alone her believing at the time that I would not treat her any different. So this discussion gave me insight on a personal battle that I had til this day, by figuring out why she did not trust me whole-heartedly with who she really was. Now I know and I am happy that I do because she I love her just as much as I did and I accept who she is no matter what future endeavors she decides to pursue.
  I also learned alot of new terms on Thursday. Some I had never even heard before. One term was when Zack introduced himself as pan-sexual. The reason this term took my interest the most is because you never, well at least I haven't, heard anyone identify with this term even though alot of people practice the lifestyle. It's always kind of been black and white for me before this. You either gay or not, gay man or gay woman, you either mess with one person of the same sex or you are bisexual. And this is all I knew. So for the most part I want to say thank you to all of them as well as our hilarious TA from giving us insight and information from a personal perspective.

Me and My Bff/Sister Kathryn from 9th Grade

85,000 Black Gay Households

This article speaks about how hard it is to be african american and gay. It compares black same-sex households to black married opposite-sex households, black opposite-sex couples cohabitating, as well as white gay households. African americans make up 14% of the 600,000 same-sex couples of all races. Dang and Frazer bring to light how these african american same-sex households earn less than any other type of household and are economically disadvantaged and within that lesbian couples, the women,  continuing to learn less than same-sex male households. Also,  without the benefits of healthcare due to gay households not being recognized as married couples, for example paid leave to care for a spouse or social security benefits, it becomes harder for same-sex households to provide for their family including their children. With these households being twice as likely to raise children than white same-sex households. Basically, this article emphasizes that with a race that is already disadvantaged due to oppression  from a society that only sees an extremely  "narrowed norm" , it's becomes 10 times as hard for african american families who choose to be in same-sex relationships to survive with the lack of support and opportunity as every other type of family.

Therefore my questions are: If society decides to allow all same-sex couples access to marriage benefits, will it help these issues,  particularly african americans?

How does the african american families of these same-sex couples play a role in these issues?

African American Relationships/ Marriages

In order to repair african american female-male relationships I believe the first thing we need to do as women is LET OUR GUARD DOWN. When saying this I don't mean settle for less, nor forget your values, morals and whatever else you stand for, but allow a man to be a man. I believe that we as women are at times so afraid that a man does not know what he is doing, or won't do something right, and when we are not in control we "go off" ( which implies the "angry black woman" myth.) Therefore, I think step 1 is this. Secondly, I think we should begin praising chivalry in the school system. So many young men grow up believing that if you are disrespectful to a female , or if you treat her like you don't care then that's how you keep her and if she don't respond to that, then move on to the next one (much of this nonsense is from media outlets). No, I believe the same way we teach our babies to say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" to their elders, we need to start teaching and praising our young men to respect women like they would respect their moms, somewhere between recent generations this aspect was lost somewhere. I think the last solution would be communication and like we talked about in class, encouraging therapy to keep the black family together. Talk to each other and listen, not at one another. Encouraging healthy relationships,  I believe these few solutions will begin to sort of change the dynamic of black relationships.
 ~ I also believe that there is still cause for concern on why there are more black women not marrying, because the shocking thing to me is that there are not as many men becoming successful as black women. I have been single since I have been in college and even though I haven't experienced as much as these other women in these articles, I can attest to it being hard to find an eligible, driven, determined, african american bachelor around my age.
  ~Stereotypes about african american men and women have put a strain on the black family. First off women not being able to find an equal financial partner is a major hindrance, also women being in unhealthy relationships where the men are unfaithful is saddening and happens all too often. My main concern is the children. How are these roles passed down to the children and how will the children deal with their own relationships as they grow up? Will these stereotypes play a major role in a continuous decline of marriages in future african american generations?
~ The four distinct ways that men defined manhood were as an interconnected state of being, a fluid development process , a redemptive process, and a proactive course. The two top themes were responsibility/ accountability and autonomy. It is not a surprise to me that these are the top two themes because I hear this often from a lot of men. Although, statistics show that women are becoming more educated and financially independent than men, men still has this innate ability to provide by whatever means necessary. With this trait instilled in them comes responsibility and autonomy. I believe this is in all men in certain ways,forms and fashions.