https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr Have we moved forward, backwards or sideways? en-us 2017-12-06 17:13:41 UTC 2017-12-19 17:24:43 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Shakinghands.png annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214335711 This source discusses the several underlying messages Twain uses in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". The importance of Jim's character is delved into. The only way Huck can live a life of freedom, without being overcome with feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts. Huck is a social outcast, which is expressed quite morbidly, and while he is desperate to be free, he often feels a cynical form of loneliness and depression when by himself. Jim gives him company, but also freedom, as Huck has control over Jim as a runaway slave. Twain's message towards society is expressed through both Huck and Jim and serves as a powerful message ]]> 2017-12-07 21:15:44 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214335711 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214371148 This story provides an extremely powerful message on how sometimes oppression on black people isn't always in the negative form. It isn't always swearing and beatings and racist slurs. Sometimes it is the treatment of black people like they are this special sentient creature, not just another person. And these people are blinded by ignorance, and are thereby confused when a black person becomes offended when they're being treated as though they're an animal and not a human. It also connects with the ironic obsession with black american culture, and cultural appropriation, a big issue that still faces our country today. ]]> 2017-12-08 01:59:43 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214371148 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214373355 The N-Word is one of the most debated epithets in the country, and is strongly overused by people who do not have the right to it. It is meant as a derogatory term, and some of the black people in this video express that they see it as such. While some are unfazed by the word, that doesn't mean it should be tossed around by those who don't have the right to use it. Ignorance is a big problem in terms of this word being used, some people play it off like it's no big deal, and to white people it may not be, but for black people it is. Others use it specifically with the intent to hurt, and belittle a black person, and that is just not acceptable. And so many people outside of that race, believing they have the right to say that word, and choose to say that word, shows how are society hasn't completely moved forward in terms of racism.]]> 2017-12-08 02:26:29 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214373355 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214570091 As Ta-Nehisi said in the following video, "words don't have meaning without context", and here he summarizes that different people have different relationships with different words. And that fact seems to be typically accepted within every aspect of community, except for black people. The fact is white people don't have the proper relationship with the N-word, to go around using it freely. In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Huck uses the n-word profusely when referring to Jim and other black people, that was the 1840's and was a critique from Twain about the usage of that word. Twain's over usage of that word is meant to provide a message to those who use it, a message that still seems to lack in reaching everyone today. Some words, certain people don't have the right to, they don't have the right relationship to use that word, and that should not be questioned, especially such a derogatory word such as the N-word. ]]> 2017-12-08 17:01:46 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214570091 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214576362 This video tells the story of Clint Smith, and how he was raised as a black boy in America. He recounts a story of him and his friends spraying each other with water guns in the middle of a parking lot at night, and how his father dragged him away and expressed that he can't be like his white friends. This connects to present day, and the hundreds police brutality incidents that have occurred with black people. To them, a black boy with a water gun, is a thug with a shot gun, while a white boy is simply a white boy with a water gun. Black people are almost naturally seen as threats, no matter how innocent they may really be. This is a big issue facing our country today, and it still hasn't changed. Black men and women have to take extra precautions just to stay safe, sometimes at the expense of their own childhood. Black people are not being seen as people, they're being seen as threats, and that is a problem that has yet to be addressed.]]> 2017-12-08 17:16:27 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/214576362 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/215114617 "You say you don't see color...but that's all you see. You're so hyperaware of it, and of trying to look like you aren't prejudiced, you can't even understand that when you say race doesn't matter all I hear is you dismissing what I've felt, what I've lived, what it's like to be put down because of the color of my skin." (Picoult 238)

This quote, from the book Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, comes from an African American woman who is criticizing her white lawyer for saying she "doesn't see color". This quote shows how white people do not understand the blatant ignorance and disregard they are showing towards black people, and racism in general, by saying they don't see color. People tend to say this because they believe it's the right thing to say, and that they are a more morally upstanding person because of it. When the reality is they are simply being dismissive towards the issues of other races, or they are over-analyzing and going above and beyond to make sure they don't look racist, and that really is just as bad, and that point is made through this quote. ]]> 2017-12-11 17:07:30 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/215114617 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/215506873 This video discusses the dozens of racist issues that still plague our country today. Sometimes racism isn't as blatantly obvious as owning slaves, as discussed, it turned from slavery and Jim Crow laws and such, to not giving black people the same financial benefits, and not hiring black applicants who have all the same requirements and skills as a white applicant. As said in this video, people often believe racism has gotten better in the country because the racist systems we replace the old ones with, look better on the surface. Our country hasn't improved racially, the problems have just been covered by more problems that aren't perceived as "bad", and many people are ignorant to this fact, and therefor, are unwilling to fix it. ]]> 2017-12-12 16:51:15 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/215506873 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216550214 This article describes the history of this country's war on racism that dates back all the way to the 1800s. A big connection with this article can be made with Huck Finn, when it talks about the Constitution stating "all men are created equal", yet looking down on an entire race as inferior proves to be a massive contradiction. Mark Twain takes a jab at this through social commentary in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". As the story is written in the 1840s, slavery was a big thing, and Twain is basically showing how wrong and immoral it is, through subtle commentary throughout the book, with the way slaves and African Americans in general are treated. He is showing readers how screwed up the ways of American society is, especially one that claims for all people to be equal, but clearly doesn't practice that. ]]> 2017-12-15 16:50:36 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216550214 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216559256 This article written by Lexi Brock tells her story of growing up as a multicultural teen in America, faced with dozens of slurs and stereotypes no child should have to endure. In America, people are quick to stereotype, especially with black people, either as dangerous thugs, are "ghetto" girls. This, and the amount of slurs that are thrown towards black people , show just how ignorant people still are to the cultural and individuality of black people, multi-cultural people, etc. Another problem that arises for people like Lexi is that they don't seem to fit in one way or the other. She is, quote "not white enough for the white kids and not black enough for the black kids", it's all about race. What race someone is and where they came from and "what they are" seems to trump simply being a person. Black and multicultural people are condensed into the color of their skin, and that needs to stop. ]]> 2017-12-15 17:13:36 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216559256 annie_montanus https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216927534 This Ted talk describes the change, or lack thereof, of racism in America. Black people are dismissed from places such as motels, restaurants, apartments, simply because they're black, and it is covered up by the same excuses, "We just ran out", "there are no more rooms available", but will more than cordially accept the next white person to walk through the door. This isn't new in our country, racism has been around for centuries, yet even in modern day, is still as active as ever. Improvements have been made, but as this video discusses, black people are still being denied the rights of white people. To connect to Clint Smith's TedTalk, it comes to the expense of childhood, for black children, who have to be taught that they will face all sorts of troubles for the color of their skin, and simply can't be like the rest of the children. Because in this day in age, being black still trumps being human.]]> 2017-12-18 13:06:09 UTC https://padlet.com/annie_montanus/erk9inia5uzr/wish/216927534