https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4 Abigail Dawson en-us 2021-04-21 14:50:20 UTC 2023-01-23 04:03:41 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f54a.png dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1442965318 In this photograph, Deborah Luster has interpreted the last view of a crime victim who was lying face up on the ground before his last breath. This powerful image represents the racial injustices the black community faces against law enforcement. Many people found the image emotionally moving because it puts you in the perspective of the victim so you can feel how tragic the last few minutes of his life were. Instead of being surrounded by his loved ones during his last moments, he was defeated by the overpowered police system and left on the ground all alone with no familiar comfort. ]]> 2021-04-21 15:04:48 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1442965318 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1443034060 This song written by Childish Gambino is representative of the violence that black Americans receive from bigger and more powerful dominators. But part of the music video tied to this song is centered around Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) dancing among younger school children while disaster wreaks havoc in the background. Amidst the dance circle, gunfights, fistfights, and police chases break out in the back where the public eye cannot see. This is hinting that America uses entertainment as a form of distraction to make people believe that violence against African Americans only lives in the past. Discrimination has always been a big social issue yet it is rarely discussed in any form of media, discrediting the black community when we should be trying to resolve acts of racism. Pop culture entertainment such as music/ music video productions is often used to distract the public eye from greater problems (such as racist-related hate crimes) so that the news media will cover more events that people are interested in and familiar with. By creating a song that calls out this disrespect to the black community, Donald Glover has combined music entertainment and social awareness to force people to recognize his work as something greater than just a song. When the video was released, it generated a lot of public attention and people began to acknowledge these injustices that the black community faces daily. Glover's video pushed America one step closer to achieving social equality. ]]> 2021-04-21 15:17:27 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1443034060 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444084519 Tod Clifton's death was significant in many ways because it sparked the downfall of Harlem and the uprise of protests. Clifton suffered a violent death when he was shot by a police officer who tried to arrest him for selling Sambo Dolls without a permit. Knowing that he would never gain the respect of the Brotherhood, Clifton parted ways with the organization and essentially chose death over living a life without pride and dignity if he stayed with the brothers. Clifton's death is representative of the injustices and discrimination the black community faces. An African American will lose his/her life due to police brutality, people protest for black rights but they wear off after a while and the cycle starts over again and again, leaving African Americans as the victims of racial hate crimes. ]]> 2021-04-21 18:42:28 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444084519 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444128317 "both spend their life trying to find a warmth called home"
This quote from Smith's poem is very symbolic of past and modern-day history in America. Many people of the black community spend most of their lives struggling to find a place where they feel secure and accepted. Everyone needs a place where they can rely on law enforcement to help them when in need, but members of the black community have always been targeted by police and are victims of cruel and unusual treatment during criminal investigations. This discrimination does not only apply to law enforcement, but to many people that feel superior to African Americans because of their race. Many African Americans are robbed of their security because their communities fail to acknowledge them as people. Therefore many people of the black community find it difficult to call a place "home" when they do not feel as if their rights are safe and protected. ]]> 2021-04-21 18:52:06 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444128317 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444134046 In Invisible Man, the narrator's main struggle is defining his personality. He is constantly on the move searching for a place where he feels noticed and appreciated, though he is metaphorically "invisible" throughout the novel. The narrator's constant reason for relocation is based on mentor figures that have falsely encouraged his growth. For example, in chapter seven of Invisible Man, the narrator moves to New York in search of job opportunities, only to have his trust betrayed by Dr. Bledsoe in a letter of recommendation. This sends the narrator out in search of a new home where he feels validated. ]]> 2021-04-21 18:53:26 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444134046 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444219994 This poem is about social inequality and people who got their lives taken due to the carless criminal justice system. Even though there is so much awareness of BLM in modern-day,  history keeps repeating itself and nothing is being solved. "America is Loving me to Death" is a statement of irony because there have been so many people protesting for black rights recently, but African Americans are still losing their lives due to police brutality. This raises a couple of questions concerning the recognition of the black community. Are the protests really helping us move closer to racial equality, or are they counterproductive? How many people actually care about the abolishment of discrimination and the improvement of our society?]]> 2021-04-21 19:13:38 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444219994 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444245575 “And when I tell you, what will you know that you didn’t know already, except perhaps his name” (Ellison, 455).
This quote from Invisible Man is from Tod Clifton's funeral. Clifton's funeral attracted many people who were protesting in honor of black rights. In the narrator's speech that he was essentially forced into giving, he hints that many people in the crowd are in attendance for the wrong reasons. The narrator says, "what will you know that you didn’t know already, except perhaps his name", meaning that the crowd does not know anything about Clifton's significance besides his name. The narrator feels that a huge portion of the crowd is only at the funeral for their own personal disenfranchisement, and not in celebration of Clifton's life. This questions the recognition of BLM protests because there is a difference between people genuinely caring, and people that protest just for the sake of following trends. This allows history to repeat itself after the trends die down. ]]> 2021-04-21 19:19:44 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1444245575 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1447590239 Looking closely at this painting, you'll find that the words of the 8th amendment are hidden within the canvas. The 8th amendment prohibits law enforcement from using cruel and unusual punishment against criminal defendants. This is largely reflective of America's repetitive history and how black individuals have always been victims of discrimination. By discrimination I mean that black criminal victims are handled with intense violence and unnecessary interrogation during a police investigation whereas white criminal victims are treated with regard to the eighth amendment. The color scheme of the painting is also representative of the battle between blacks and whites, where the amount of white paint is dominant to the black paint, much like in real life. You can also see a mixture of red swirls within the painting and I think that it stands for violence and cruelty exerted by the flawed police system. No matter the number of black individuals that lose their lives to police brutality and the amount of people who protest, history will keep repeating itself until there are drastic changes made within the law enforcement system. ]]> 2021-04-22 14:48:57 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1447590239 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1454955755 This poem written by Blount represents the struggle of the black community to be seen/ noticed by dominant members of white society. When they are treated poorly by these "superiors", it is not even worth it to stand up for themselves and fight for their recognition.

of the past is the past; I was so dim, 
he never saw me—of course, I saw him.

This part of Blount's poem tackles not only a literal aspect of real-life but a metaphorical aspect as well. The dimness (darkness) of his skin is the reason why people of the black community go unrecognized by dominants. Metaphorically speaking, the author is suggesting that no one sees him because he was been pushed so far into the dark where no one can recognize him. The black community has been suppressed for so long that no one even recognizes their struggle as a social issue. ]]> 2021-04-24 17:42:44 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1454955755 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1454964845 A Sambo Doll represents the diminishing image of a black person who entertains compliantly for white people. They also play with the idea of negative stereotypes of African sensuality. The Sambo Dolls are used as a symbol of slavery in Invisible Man. When Clifton cuts ties with the Brotherhood, he resorts to selling these Sambo Dolls on the streets of Harlem. He performs dancing and laughing with a Sambo Doll on strings suggesting that he himself also holds power just like the superiors at the Brotherhood who have treated him disrespectfully. By dancing around acting as a Sambo Doll, Clifton is embracing the image of the racist object that the Brotherhood and much of society have believed him to be. ]]> 2021-04-24 17:49:17 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1454964845 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457148863 2021-04-25 23:04:02 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457148863 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457150230 2021-04-25 23:05:18 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457150230 dawsona2021 https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457170798 2021-04-25 23:24:10 UTC https://padlet.com/dawsona2021/phx2irulfl6ka0g4/wish/1457170798