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