Saturday, October 30, 2010

Blog #5 Internalized Racism

In Malcolm X's autobiography he talks about the internalized racism that african americans had and some still have because of the white supremacy and how he also experience it as a child. He said he was the lightest of all the siblings and because of this he was favored by his father. His father would take him to his preachings and a lot of places. Seems to me he was proud of his son for his skin color more than the others and wanted to show it off to people. For the same reason his mother treated him less than his siblings. Although she was half white herself, her mother was raped by a white man and malcolm was possibly a constant reminder of that.
Early in Malcolm's life he realized that many lighter skin african americans felt gifted over the darker ones because they were closer to the white man in complexion which gave them a sense of power and pride. Malcolm on the other hand learned to hate this. Because of the whites being the oppressors later on it made the african americans feel they were inferior and while some decided to fit in others decided to rebel. Malcolm would preach that its NOT ok for the white man to try to do whatever they wanted to black people and get away with it, because it would continue the cycle of oppression. Thats why he encouraged them to fight back in any way possible.
If you look closely you would see that a lot of countries hate America for the same reason of dominance and its not just african americans. Also, since its considered the best in the world and the land of opportunity many people from all over the world migrate here just to live the "American Dream". America has always had its way of getting a lot of power and coming across as the most powerful and for this many countries had felt less competent and come here to see if they could live a better life. So its this white supremacy that made this happen all from the very beginning.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Post #4 Muhammad Ali

i decided i'm doing my essay on Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali was a former boxing heavyweight champion. When he was being drafted into the army he refused to go. He did this because of his religious views. Because of his strong belief he was stripped of his title. He preached a lot at colleges and universities gaining more support. Another reason he didn't want to fight in the army was because he said that the vietcong did not do anything to him. And that fighting for america would be like fighting for the white man.
I'm interested in this because his belief was so strong that he even risked going to prison for a long time, as he says in the packet, "Art, Politics, Protest" in the article, "Clay Refuses Army Oath; Stripped of Boxing Crown", "It is in the light of my consciousness as a Muslim minister and my own personal convictions that i take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted in the armed services. I do so with full realization of its implications and possible consequences. I have searched my conscience and i find i cannot be true to my belief in my religion by accepting such a call." Muhammad Ali stuck to his beliefs and went a lot of years without boxing fighting for justice.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Post #3 on Malcolm X's Speech, "What does Mississippi have to do with Harlem?"

Personally i liked Malcolm X's speech because to me it makes a lot of sense. First and foremost his main goal was to get what everyone else wanted which was freedom and equality. He did this by making some good points and encourage some action whether it be legal or by force. His audience was to black people to actually fight for their freedom one way or another. He said that the language white people spoke was violence so if that was the language they spoke and understood and nothing was to be done by the government then black people was to speak the same language. "If his language is with a shotgun, get a shotgun. If he only understands the language of a rifle, get a rifle...". In other words he wanted to fight fire with fire.
Malcolm also stated and tried to open people's eyes by saying that it doesn't matter if the north is less racist than the south, because the white people over there might have 'smiled at your face and show their teeth but stick the knife in your back'. What he meant was that it wasn't just a problem in the south or anywhere that was just a part of American, the problem was the whole country. He gives a good example, "If one room in your house is dirty, you've got a dirty house. If the closet is dirty, you've got a dirty house...". Meaning the problem had to be resolved everywhere throughout the whole America and not just one part. The rich whites were manipulating the poor whites and blacks into more racism and conflict and not focusing on the big issue that the politicians were taking advantage of all the poor people not just the blacks. Still the racists were spread everywhere oppressing the blacks whether it was blatantly or subtly and were tied together in some way or another. He mentioned that the people that were voted did nothing for the blacks. They stood quiet and didn't do nothing when the blacks wanted to sit down.
Malcolm placed a lot of emphasis in his words. He wanted justice either the easy way or the hard way. This was his message to the people. And so what i see was him trying to fuel their anger and rebel to get what they wanted as he says, "I'm not for anybody who tells me to turn the other cheek when a cracker is busting up my jaw. I'm not for anybody who tells black people to be nonviolent while nobody is telling white people to be nonviolent...". He spoke to the people's feelings of suppression, resentment, and anger and to me it seems that it was effective.

Blog#2: Question 1

For one myth that i didn't know about that i learned from Reed's book, "The Art of Protest" from the "Singing Civil Rights" section was that Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't the founder of the civil rights movement. In fact, it was a black woman named Ella Baker that started the movement but has been much discredited despite her hard work among other activists. I thought that Martin Luther King was one of the few leaders in the civil rights movement when in reality he was just one of hundreds of leaders and one of thousands of activists. It also said most often he was a follower than a leader in the movements actions. Also most of the hard work was done behind the scenes by black women which men got credit for. Some of these women were Ella Baker, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou.
Another myth that was said was the exaggeration of white people's role in the movement. It was mostly a movement of black people and some white people did help but media has exaggerated that they also did a lot of hard work in changing racism. He points out that white people said if blacks stopped talking about color that racism would disappear as if fighting for their rights wasn't crucial. Also, that the white politicians had used the Ku Klux Klan to basically do the 'dirty work' for them in an effort to continue oppression. What i have realized is that there are a lot of cover ups in history and the stories are sometimes mixed up often confusing people from what really happened in the past and thats how myths are created, because sometimes the people with power doesn't want the mass media to know the entire truth about something and controls what should be learned and what shouldn't. That's why i think some myths need to be challenged and find the real truth.