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My mom is a strong supporter of talking about and going in depth on race and slavery within schools. In AP US History our lesson on slavery was supposed to be a larger unit and yet we managed to skim through it in less than one class. I agree with the article in which they say that this is not okay. Terrible things were done to people of color in the past of this country but we can't hide from it. This article says "nobody changes their beliefs about race, equity and education in an instant, or even a day." I think that a lot of teachers shy away from going into the truly graphic and horrid parts of our past but those are things that could stop future racist happenings, especially within schools. Race makes people uncomfortable and that is why it is not often talked about in a school setting but the answer is rather because it is uncomfortable we need to talk about it.

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We may not realize it coming from such a white community, but while we may be sheltered from most racial incidents there are bias's that happen closer than we think. For example, this past school year at UNH there were, according to an article by NHPR, over 100 reported incidents of racial as well as religious bias. According to a student when she and some other students who felt discriminated against went to administration about it they did not seem to really care. Similarly to this on a smaller level there was an incident on a bus with student from Marshwood High School in which a student yelled out an extremely racist and crude comment with black students on the bus. For some reason some people feel as though they are better than these people of color because that is what history tells us. No child should have to go to school and be worried about being threatened or accepted. The fact that fellow students and classmates of these people are doing these things makes it even worse because that means they will just grow up thinking this is okay because administration doesn't make a big deal out of it. This connects to the idea of white privilege. This source is particularly moving because it happened so close to our little town of South Berwick. In terms of what is in Huck Finn this is an incident in which we have gone backwards. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn it is shown that for the most part the only ones who feel compassion are the children who don't have these biases. This is clearly no longer true. Now not only are there adults with these misconceptions but there are kids and teenagers.

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As students get ready to return for another year at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, for some, there's still unfinished business from last year.

After a series of racist campus incidents, students of color called upon the administration to make UNH a safer, more inclusive space, and presented a list of demands.

Last year there were close to 100 reported bias incidents at UNH. They included the vandalizing of school property with racial slurs and swastikas, while some students report having been spit on and having rocks thrown at them.

Gabby Greaves is a senior at UNH.

"I have family from all over that are messaging me like are you okay? What's going on on your campus?" she says. "And when we were meeting with administration they were like kind of nonchalant about the whole situation and that's really frustrating."

Greaves helped organize a group of students that presented a list of sixteen demands to the University's administration this past May.

One specific demand is a call for a cultural competency course that all students would be required to take before graduating. This includes raising awareness on the effects of implicit bias and stereotypes.

"I think a course like that would inform the students on how to learn about other cultures that aren't your own," Gabby says.

This isn't the first time students have made a call for a class like this.
Déjà vu all over again?
Chandra Craven went to UNH from 1995-99. She's originally from Boston and says she would go days on campus without seeing another student of color.

"I don't think that people quite understand it but when you say it and break it down and say, one of twelve black females on a campus of 12,000 people, then they get it."

Craven grew up navigating majority-white spaces, but even that couldn't prepare her for some of the things she would hear at UNH.

"I had a girl come up to me and say what's wrong with your hands, and I was like what are you talking about? And she was like its dark on the one side and light on the other. I said, excuse me? Apparently she had never met a person of color in real life."

Craven adds, "Those kind of questions were a constant thing and you can never turn it off. "

In the fall of 1998, after repeatedly asking the University to address race relations, students from the Black Student Union staged a sit-in in then-President Joan Leitzel's office. They drafted a list of demands titled "Broken Promises." Those demands included a call for a cultural competency course.

"It wasn't just for the students to help us to feel more comfortable on campus," Craven says, "it was also for leadership and teachers. Because, let's not forget we had like three teachers of color on campus."
A culture of appropriation
This past May, one of the tensest moments on campus came after a few students posted photos on their social media wearing ponchos and fake mustaches while joking about deportation.

The issue of cultural appropriations, or distorting an oppressed group's culture, was also happening on campus in the 90s. Craven points to an example of that - SIS, or Sisters In Step.

Sisters In Step is a step group that was started at UNH by three women of color in the late 90s. Chandra Craven was an original member.

"It's a combination of hip-hop meets traditional African call-and-response dance rhythms," she explains.

When Sisters in Step started, it gave women of color a team of their own. A year later the group decided to invite men of color to join.

But today, people on campus say the group that started as a place of refuge for students of color has become an almost entirely white team, and a few women of color were cut from the group at tryouts.

Sisters in Step didn't respond to our request for comment.

"It hurts me to the very core of my being that they have taken something that literally," Craven says, "and I'm sorry I'm gonna cry here, that literally almost saved my life because I was at my wits-end being at UNH."
Would it have made a difference?
One administrator who's been on campus since the 90s, remembers a different UNH.

"A lot of people of today will say, you didn't do this, you didn't do that, but having been there at the time I can tell you it really was a big push into the future, says Dean of Students Ted Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick was on the receiving end of the demands made by students of color in 1998. He says the University has worked out a lot of those issues.

In the late 90s there were two African-American student body presidents. Representation for students of color on campus has jumped from one percent to eight percent.

But one demand he says hasn't been met is a course on cultural competency.

"What's the value of having a class like that and would that class have made a difference if it would have been on campus for the last twenty years? The answer to the last part of the question is absolutely," he says.

When contemplating whether the UNH administration has done enough for students of color on campus, Kirkpatrick is equally sure of his answer.

"Never. I mean, even if we got A grades, the moment you get complacent you're dead - so, no, it's ongoing work and it's ongoing work for the nation."

One difference between the demands students are making today and those made nearly two decades ago is that, this time, the dean himself is named.

"The last demand is that if these things aren't done by the end of the coming academic year that I'm replaced in my job as dean of students."

Kirkpatrick says there's still work to be done and that the administration is taking steps in the right direction.

"This fall we have a cluster hire of three African-American faculty. If you asked me to predict that last year, whoa boy, the odds are long on that. White people did that."
Taking a toll
UNH students on campus this fall will be working on these issues and waiting to see how the administration responds. At the same time, many on campus don't see a problem.

"Just within my peers they think we're blowing this out of proportion," Gabby Greaves says. "They don't see it as a much larger issue that's been going on for decades."

Gabby Greaves, like Chandra Craven, knows the effects of being a student of color at UNH. While she's battled depression, others have transferred or dropped out because of the campus' environment.

"To have students come to the university and have to deal with racism, homophobia, transphobia on a daily basis and then still have to perform the same as their counterparts who aren't dealing with those kind of systematic and interpersonal discriminatory experiences that is really difficult. And it takes a huge toll on you mentally and emotionally."

The question facing all sides is whether or not students will be returning to a university that's ready to address these issues, or if this conversation will be passed down to yet another generation of students.

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At UNH, Student Demands After Racist Incidents Feel Like Déjà Vu

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As students get ready to return for another year at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, for some, there's still unfinished business from last year. After a series of racist campus incidents, students of color called upon the administration to make UNH a safer, more inclusive space, and presented a list of demands.

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This article goes off of what Ta-Nehisi Coates said in that, from their perspectives, other races than black want to be included and feel left out because they can't use this word. The irony in this statement is that, at least here in Maine, those of us who are white are constantly surrounded by our own race and if we have no personal connection we at least have that. This connects to the idea of white privilege and the short article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. The white race is given so much just from being born white. Most of which our race takes for granted. Even though we may not realize or mean anything by saying it, it doesn't mean that there isn't meaning behind the word. This was a really good source because most of the sources that I have found are from adults so it is interesting to see the perspective of someone my age and the pain they feel.

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Kendrick Lamar released his latest album DAMN. on April 14th of 2017. This album immediately went to the top charts and was viewed by many as one of the greatest rap albums. He grew up in Compton, California where his parents had moved to escape the gang life and there was still violence but Lamar was inspired by it rather than consumed by it. In his song DNA he is fighting back at people such as FOX News who have attacked him because of his race and he is saying that he is the same on the inside as everyone else. In this way we have gone forward because during Huckleberry Finn should a black person fight back at all they would be whipped or killed and now black artists are writing some of the most popular music about how the discrimination isn't right and that the people who are attacking them are no better than they are. About three quarters of the way through his song Lamar writes "When I was 9, on cell, motel, we didn't have nowhere to stay. At 29, I’ve done so well, hit cartwheel in my estate. And I'm gon' shine like I'm supposed to. Antisocial, extrovert. And excellent mean the extra work" (Lamar). In the music video for this song Kendrick would seem to be doing a similar thing to that of Langston Hughes by trying to inspire his race to stand up against the discrimination and not be afraid.

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About "DNA."

On "DNA.," Kendrick Lamar adopts multiple viewpoints; celebrating, critiquing, and exploring his black heritage and culture. In the music video, Kendrick and actor Don Cheadle appear to trade bars, engaging in an argument using the song's lyrics during an interrogation scene. We also learn that "DNA" stands for "Dead Nigger Association."

Lamar is wearing a traditional Kung Fu uniform throughout the piece. In an interview with , Don Cheadle confirmed that he inadvertently inspired the 'Kung Fu Kenny' persona. Cheadle portrayed a Chinese-speaking martial artist named Kenny in the 2001 action-comedy sequel .

At the beginning of the video, the song "YAH." can be heard echoing above-almost as if it is playing in Kendrick's head as the camera pans down. "YAH." comes directly after "DNA." on DAMN. 's tracklist.

Following his initial encounter with Cheadle, who seems to be portraying a law enforcement figure, the ending of "BLOOD." suddenly begins playing; when Cheadle turns on the lie-detector device, he begins convulsing, almost as if in a trance. This snippet comes from the video of Geraldo Rivera criticizing Kendrick's lyrics on "Alright," one of his most successful singles. The music video also contains snippets from "Hood Politics," another song from Lamar's March 2015 award-winning album, To Pimp A Butterfly.

Lastly, the song's second verse samples a different segment of the same Fox News clip from "BLOOD." and it's worth noting that "BLOOD." precedes "DNA." on the album.

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DNA. Lyrics: I got, I got, I got, I got- / Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA / Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA / I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA / I got

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This article by Toni Morrison puts an interesting light on the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. One of the parts of this article that I found especially interesting was when she writes "(besides Judge Thatcher) all of the white men who might function as father figures for Huck are ridiculed for their hypocrisy, corruption, extreme ignorance and/or violence" (Morrison 5). She talks about how the only characters in the book that are able to see compassion and true feelings are children. The Wilk children as well as Huck are the only ones besides Jim who show feeling while most of the white men in this book are cruel. It's an interesting perspective to take that only children and the black race have emotion and care especially because Mark Twain was a white man, and although he was writing the book to take place forty years earlier than he wrote it, it was still a major issue while he was writing it.

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TED: A Tale of Two Americas. And the Mini Mart where they Collided.

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TED: A Tale of Two Americas. And the Mini Mart where they Collided.

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I thought that this TED talk was especially powerful. It told the story of an Islam being shot by a white supremacist 10 days after 9/11 and his struggle to gain back what he had lost and fight to take the man who shot him off of death row. At one point the speaker says "America today is a spritely young body, hit by one of those stokes that sucks the life out of one side, while leaving the other worryingly perfect." In the eyes of the speaker America has gone sideways. In terms of being accepting of others from other countries we have made huge steps towards where we need to be but it is rather the acceptance of our own race into the middle class and out of hunger that needs work. In this way we have gone sideways

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I watched several videos in this project and it was really interesting to see the different opinions throughout. Some felt like it was this word that shouldn't ever be said while some used it in their everyday life. This was a really good source for a couple of reasons. The Washington Post is very reliable and the fact that it came from a bunch of different people from different backgrounds and from different races made it very real. I think this is some of what Huck struggled with. The idea of if he should say something bad about Jim or not or in his case if he should apologize to him or not. Now in his case it was much harder because almost everyone was racist, however, the idea of not being sure whether something is acceptable to say or not is a pretty constant problem in modern day society. I was in the car with some friends one time after our last performance of The Little Mermaid and we were listening to music on the way to get food. The song we were listening to was a very popular song sung by a black man with a lot of use of the N-Word. While the rest of us would stop when the word was said she seemed to barely notice it like it was normal. Afterwards we talked about it and she said that she doesn't see any problem in saying it if it is in a song as long as it isn't a derogatory term at someone.

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During this talk, Coates brings up the fact that for some reason it is societally accepted for whites to use the word "nigger" in a song or in daily life, while if a black were to say something like "faggot" or "white trash" they would be shamed. In this way society has stayed the same. In Huck Finn the whites in society would say whatever insults they wanted about other races and not get in trouble while if a black man or woman were to say anything disrespectful about the whites they would be whipped. Now while the punishment is not nearly this harsh anymore the main principles are the same. We have adapted this word as if it is somehow ours. It doesn't matter if you don't mean anything by it when you say it or sing it during a song because the meaning is still there and the word still represents a time in society that was cruel. American kids these days don't even think before saying the N word or faggot in a joking manner. Society, on this issue, has gone sideways.

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This piece was written as slam poetry to be read a certain way in front of an audience. He speaks with a lot of passion about how America has in fact gone backwards. The world is constantly changing and with it this race has stayed the same so as society moves forward, race has gone backwards. This connects to the idea in TED: A Tale of Two Americas... in that while half of America is this perfect side, the other side is seriously struggling and that side is race and all discrimination. "Every so-called race, gender, and sexual preference.
Every per-son as beings of sound to acknowledge their responsibility to
uplift the consciousness of the entire fucking World." This is powerful in that it calls out Americans by saying that they need to start being conscious.

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You and Your Whole Race by Langston Hughes

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You and Your Whole Race by Langston Hughes

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This poem is written in the perspective of the black race. In his opening line he writes "You and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which you live And be ashamed" (Hughes). I find this interesting because he is not simply hating on the white race but in fact he is angry with his own. He is saying that they should not be afraid to speak up and make a change and that they should no long hide in the shadow of the white race. This poem was written to inspire his race to stand up and make a change. This was written in 1930 and I believe that in this issue we have in fact gone forward. So many of todays professional athletes, musicians, actors and more are of the black race and they have fought to get there and it was certainly not easy. Langston Hughes saw this poverty and was angry because it seemed as though his race had accepted that this was their life when he knew that it could be so much more and it has become so much more.

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You and your whole race. by Langston Hughes