Yes. This school year is over. This year went by so fast, its crazy! I have had so many good expereinces and opportunities. I am really glad I chose to go to graduate school and not go straight into the teaching profession. Although I was prepared after undergrad, the academic, social, and professional experiences have helped me develop and mature. Grad school has provided me with more choices and options, which would have not been available had I entered the work force. It sounds like I'm finish with my degree...I"m not, this is just a realization. Well...all of you out there in bloggerland, I hope you enjoyed reading the journals and I hope they provided you with some helpful information. This is my last blog, it will be removed in September and new bloggers will post.
Good Luck in all your endeavours,
Jamie
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All the Beautiful Young Women!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Clearly, the violence and rediculous things we see going on in our neighborhoods is a major problem. Why has my society, the streets of Philadelphia, become a war ground and commonplace for senseless murder, violence, drug abuse and other crimes? Of course the media sensationalizes everything, but in order to sensationalize, you have to start with something; therefore, if these murders were not happening, then Renee Chanault-Fattah, or Jim Gardner, or any other news personality would not be keeping a tally sheet of all the murders and comparing it to how Camden used to have the most murders per year, but Philly has taken over.
Since when did it become okay, or a trend to not just tote a gun, but use it and kill people? When I look out society in repect to a bigger picture, not just what is visible now, but also what has led up to what is visible now. I have to think about all that contributed to the trends and socially constructed categories of today. We just didn't wake up one day and say, "Okay, every other person needs to become a murderer," or "Wouldn't it be fly if we could have the highest murder rate in the country?" The fact of the matter is that Philly may be leading the pack, but this is just a prophecy of what could happen across America, which would be a terrible thing.
But really, where did all this craziness come from? It's a history of things that leads us to where we are and where we will go. I'm not putting this on Black men, or even one particular person or group of people; I think the state of Black men in the context of American society, both past and present, provide an understanding of how we have arrived at our current position. (Black men, please don't kill me)
This may sound crazy and it may sound like I'm about to attack Black men, but I LOVE Black men. I just think that their position in society has been devalued and "shitted on" that you can look at how they are viewed and treated in society and understand how society has gotten to where it is now. Take a look at these things:
- Slavery: Black men were forced to watch, in silence, as their women were raped and their children beaten and taken away;
- Slavery: Black men were thought of as 3/5 of a human being and in some cases, lower than livestock
- Post Enslavement: Black men were now legally human beings, but identifiyed by society as boys
-Post Enslavement: Black men were "given" a place in society, they were not allowed to make a place for themselves
- As a result of all the above: Black men have lost thier positions as "head of the house"
- Black men are constantly lived in fear of
- Black men are constantly racially profiled
- Black men are more likely to be wrongly accused of crimes they did not committ
- Black men are more likely to be arrested
- Black men are 7 times more likely than whites to be held in a detention facility
- Black men receive more severe punishments and jail time than their white counterparts who commit the same crime
- Black males are coping with the misery of being a Black male in America, but does not have any coping mechanisms
All these issues and devaluing of one's character contribute to the ethnography of misery and nihility. All this means is that soon, one will think of himself as nonexistant and develop of fear of being forgotten, unappreciated and overlooked, which will inevitably cause anger, depression, distress, and misery. Now think about this...it is not humane to surpress all those negative tensions, they have to be released and dealt with; however, if you don't know how to "deal", then you will "deal" the best way you know how.
Since when did it become okay, or a trend to not just tote a gun, but use it and kill people? When I look out society in repect to a bigger picture, not just what is visible now, but also what has led up to what is visible now. I have to think about all that contributed to the trends and socially constructed categories of today. We just didn't wake up one day and say, "Okay, every other person needs to become a murderer," or "Wouldn't it be fly if we could have the highest murder rate in the country?" The fact of the matter is that Philly may be leading the pack, but this is just a prophecy of what could happen across America, which would be a terrible thing.
But really, where did all this craziness come from? It's a history of things that leads us to where we are and where we will go. I'm not putting this on Black men, or even one particular person or group of people; I think the state of Black men in the context of American society, both past and present, provide an understanding of how we have arrived at our current position. (Black men, please don't kill me)
This may sound crazy and it may sound like I'm about to attack Black men, but I LOVE Black men. I just think that their position in society has been devalued and "shitted on" that you can look at how they are viewed and treated in society and understand how society has gotten to where it is now. Take a look at these things:
- Slavery: Black men were forced to watch, in silence, as their women were raped and their children beaten and taken away;
- Slavery: Black men were thought of as 3/5 of a human being and in some cases, lower than livestock
- Post Enslavement: Black men were now legally human beings, but identifiyed by society as boys
-Post Enslavement: Black men were "given" a place in society, they were not allowed to make a place for themselves
- As a result of all the above: Black men have lost thier positions as "head of the house"
- Black men are constantly lived in fear of
- Black men are constantly racially profiled
- Black men are more likely to be wrongly accused of crimes they did not committ
- Black men are more likely to be arrested
- Black men are 7 times more likely than whites to be held in a detention facility
- Black men receive more severe punishments and jail time than their white counterparts who commit the same crime
- Black males are coping with the misery of being a Black male in America, but does not have any coping mechanisms
All these issues and devaluing of one's character contribute to the ethnography of misery and nihility. All this means is that soon, one will think of himself as nonexistant and develop of fear of being forgotten, unappreciated and overlooked, which will inevitably cause anger, depression, distress, and misery. Now think about this...it is not humane to surpress all those negative tensions, they have to be released and dealt with; however, if you don't know how to "deal", then you will "deal" the best way you know how.
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