https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3 Forwards? Backwards? Sideways? en-us 2017-12-06 16:34:12 UTC 2017-12-19 17:17:45 UTC hello@padlet.com rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/213800088 This text highlights important parts of the "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and the author of this text, Toni Morrison, looks at not only her opinions or questions she has but also at questions or thoughts that Twain might have had while writing his novel. While this novel made her very uncomfortable, she read it multiple times because she knew it was educational. Morrison also speaks out against how people attempted to get this novel removed from libraries and schools because it would make people uncomfortable or people couldn't deal with it. Morrison said "It struck me as a purist yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children. Amputate the problem, band-aid the solution" (1). Here, Morrison is saying how instead of educating the children about the meaning and origin of this word, as a society, we are going to censor the book to appease the children's parents because t makes them uncomfortable to talk about it.
https://neebefinalexam.weebly.com/uploads/2/8/4/9/28496677/morrison_huckfinn.pdf]]> 2017-12-06 16:57:38 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/213800088 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/213812103 I really like this source because it shows different perspectives with the words and also different topics. The people range from young to old, white to black to Chinese, men and women and the topics range from who should be able to use the word to modern culture and the word being used in music. Some of the people thought that it was pointless discussing a word when there were so much worse things than this word. Others think that the more the n-word is used, the more it stays present while there were opposing views which they think that 30 years from now, the word won't have any sting to it at all. It was really good to hear all these different opinions. The major thing that I did notice from hearing all these opinions was that the older generation seemed to dislike the word more and was less inclined to say it. This source was really great because it showed as many perspectives as they could and I think that is the key to fix this race issue in America. It's not about focusing on that one word, it's about hearing and actually taking in others opinion on this subject. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dre/features/the-n-word ]]> 2017-12-06 17:21:34 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/213812103 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/214353033 This source gave a lot of information that most people knew except for the percentages. It's good to know these statistics and more people should just to create awareness. I think the most surprising fact this source gave me was that 55% of white Americans belief that there is discrimination against white Americans The sad part about this source is the amount of African Americans who won't go to a doctor or who won't call the police because they are afraid of facing discrimination. To be completely honest, I'm not surprised about these statistics, yes it was surprising to see how large of a number of white Americans ho believed they were discriminated against. Racism is a big problem, especially in the United States and the fact that people are worried about going to the doctor because they are afraid of discrimination worries me. Ultimately this source was just statistics so it didn't grab me like most articles about racism. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/10/24/559116373/poll-most-americans-think-their-own-group-faces-discrimination]]> 2017-12-07 22:45:11 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/214353033 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216363908 This article starts off talking about how a national tragedy, in this case it happens to be the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and how it can affect peoples views on Patriotism. Just like many things in this world, there can be different forms of Patriotism. Raghunathan says, and I think most people would agree that 9/11 made people love their country more and showing that by the American Flag example that she used or by becoming racist towards Muslims. Both of those things did happen after 9/11 and she says that the racism flowed under Bush and Obama but now that Trump is the POTUS, racism and patriotism are hand in hand more often than not now. She then talks about how even though she was worried on the ground in New York City on that day, she was more worried about the racism following the attack. People would kill innocent people and say that they were a Patriot. She then continues to blame the POTUS and his policies. Ultimately, people are entitled to their opinions and I don't believe it is good journalism to bring out your opinion in your work without also being able to look at it from both sides.
https://www.thenation.com/article/too-many-americans-think-patriotism-means-racism-and-xenophobia/]]> 2017-12-15 00:52:20 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216363908 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216368115 I think what Angelou is trying to say in her poem is that we, maybe not as a whole society, but as a black society, they are losing touch with their past and it is affecting the current generation. That also would connect with the thing people said in the N-word interviews about how the current generation will constantly say the N-word and it takes away the pain that older generations had to struggle with. In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," everybody would be saying "nigger" and those generation had to deal with the sting every time that they heard it. Nowadays, if you were to say that word, most people, especially in the younger generation, would just shrug it off because they hear it so often, then sting has disappeared. There are many perspectives of this and I personally see it as Society going both forwards and backwards. The sting has disappeared but also has they history that made the sting there be present. Another point I think she is trying to make is that we need to come together as a society and work together if we are ever going to fix the problems that we have.
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-black-family-pledge/]]> 2017-12-15 01:48:21 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216368115 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216557704 This news article gives somewhat recent examples of racism in a local environment. A couple hours away in Bangor, Maine. A man was not just talking, but pledging to kill African Americans in the Bangor area. In the past 5 years, the black population in Maine has nearly doubled and it is still only 1% of Maine's population. This was back in 2007 so it's not completely accurate for today but that 1% made Maine the whitest country in America. Since we are in the northeast where many African Americans haven't settled, not seeing them very often makes us more likely to believe those stereotypes and might even make us more racist. I really wish it weren't like this but the truth is, it is. Maybe if we were able to experience more cultures we would be able to move forward as a society instead of backwards or sideways
https://search-proquest-com.ursus-proxy-10.ursus.maine.edu/docview/414473117/DC842C57242C482BPQ/11?accountid=17222]]> 2017-12-15 17:10:11 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216557704 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216561335 This source was probably one of the more moderate ones that I used. It gave good background information on the Black Lives Matter movement and it explained what it was all about but nothing I took as super important. They obviously aren't doing this and implying that nobody else's live matter they just want to have the same social justice that white people get. When I first heard of the movement a couple of years ago I thought, "doesn't everybody's life matter too?" Even though everybody else's life also matters, they really just wanted to have that equal social justice that white people already had. As a dumb thirteen year old, I didn't realize this. Overall, this article, while it had good information, didn't reach out and grab me. I don't know if this movement means we are going forward because we are getting the word out or sideways because we keep having to repeat this over and over agin and nothing changes.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ursus-proxy-10.ursus.maine.edu/pov/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=5933455b-f13b-4f10-8220-bccbc9eea251%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#AN=120615801&db=pwh]]> 2017-12-15 17:18:51 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216561335 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216824574 The number one thing in this article that I strongly agree with and think is super important is that Mr. Nesbit kept saying that we need to have a national conversation about race. The fist step in fixing a problem is admitting that there is one. Something this article says is that more than 3/4 of the US population believe that the US does not have a problem with racial tension. I really did not believe that more than half the country does not believe this but over 3/4 is too much. As a country we have made a good amount of progress since Jim crow laws but as this article says most of the younger generation believes that we live in a post-racial society. That was less surprising that the 3/4 statistic but as the article said: "We need a new, nation conversation about race [...]" (Nesbit 1). Harvard has an experiment going online called IAT tests and they test to see if you have any biases over anything and one of the tests is about race. Of the people who took this test, 88% of people have a racial bias towards white people over black people. We aren't born with this biases but it's how we grow up and what we are taught.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-28/america-has-a-big-race-problem]]> 2017-12-18 00:38:05 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216824574 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216827833 "These labels were meant to divide us." That is what Prince Ea wrote in the bottom of this video. The world taught him to be black and us to call him that, it's still just a label but over time we learn to accept that. Who we truly are is not just our skin or as he says, our car. A car we didn't get to test drive and has to keep until we die. Just like the article written by Jeff Nesbit, he also says that we are not born racist. Every baby cries when it heres another crying and it doesn't matter what race or gender they are. What he's saying here is that when somebody or some race, culture, gender, or color is hurting, everybody should be aware of that. I've always like Prince Ea because he says everything he's thinking, it might be a little hidden but not enough to where you can't find it. The Big question that he leaves you with in this is: "Who would you be if the world never gave you a label?"]]> 2017-12-18 01:31:05 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216827833 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216830285 This is such a tricky question. I believe we are going all three ways. There are good and bad things about most things involving race that can push the problem backwards, forwards, or sideways. A couple years a go I was watching an interview with Morgan Freeman and he was asked: "How do we stop racism?" Morgan Freeman responded with: "Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man." Not once since I saw that interview, I never forgot that. The problem with that is, and the picture below shows it perfectly, a white man will see a black man and know he's black and a black man will see a white man and know that he's white. We may not be born racist but we learn to tell the difference between colors. We know the difference and our brains will always tell us that we are different. I would like to be optimistic and say that one day the world will be "color blind" but if I'm being realistic, we will always be able to see the difference. I just hope we don't use those differences to make people feel bad about themselves like we do now. I know earlier I said that we were moving in all different directions and I stand by it. We do one good thing towards racism but it is always counteracted with a bad thing. Ultimately I'd have to say that we are moving sideways because if we aren't moving forward and we aren't moving backwards, there is only one way to go]]> 2017-12-18 02:08:24 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216830285 rheis_cloutier https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216830403 "A week after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I walked into my old hometown bar in central Florida to hear, "Well if a nigger can be president, then I can have another drink. Give me a whiskey straight up" (Arnade 1). This was a very surprising start to the article but it does show how it connects to the title. As a child, he grew up with a father who fought for Civil Rights through most of the 50's and 60's so his childhood was defined by race. At school he was called a "nigger lover." That was the first time I had heard about that phrase being used outside of "To Kill A Mockingbird." When he grew up, he moved to New York and became a white liberal living in the northeast. He said it himself, it's easy to forget about race under those conditions. As a person who has lived in the northeast all my life, I can attest to that. After his father died, he started doing photography as a hobby but while doing this he was able to notice that the poor side of town was almost all dark skinned. While New York had the poor side of town, his hometown back in Florida had a railroad track that divided the town into two different colors. That is one of the craziest things I've ever heard. When there is one or two black or Hispanic people who make it to the top through struggle, we elevate their stories and forget about all the stories where they don't succeed. As a nation, we think we have overcome racism and that we are "color blind." I really don't think it is all that plain and simple. Obviously, when he mentioned a "color blind" nation he was being really sarcastic but to fix a problem, we have to admit that there is one.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/12/america-racism-subtle-dangerous-new-york ]]> 2017-12-18 02:10:11 UTC https://padlet.com/rheis_cloutier/gyvv9nkpr1u3/wish/216830403