The Condition of the African American Male Town Hall was an opportunity for you to learn about the culture of policy initiatives or bills. In this instance, discovering the role that Hip Hop will play in the process is where you begin forming questions such as What sort of programs or projects have been used in the past to support African American men and how successful were they? What sort of funding will be availble to communities poised to address the issues?, Who will be targeted to do that work?, How authentic will they be to the population that they serve?, How will success be evaluated?
When you go back to Chang's book, you'll find similar reoccurring themes, themes such as poor housing, high unemployment, fatherless homes, etc.. Use the content of your reading to help provide a cultural context to position the bill as you develop your project proposal. Through your work or proposal you may be able to help recommend strategies for implementation on a local and statewide level.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
The town hall meeting showcased the level on concerned amongst males of all ages within the African-American community. Unfortunately, I found myself consumed within the conversation pertaining to abundance of fatherless homes within our society. I was rather fond of the arguments provided by the younger generation of African-American youth as they portrayed a sense of questioning as to why their father decided to flee rather than facing his responsibilities as a man. Ultimately, the comments by the members of the younger generation appeared to touch all the men within our group as it appeared to create a united feeling of disappointment. Yet, due to their age they were unable to understand the complications of being a black man within our society, which could have prevented their fathers from being there. Therefore, fatherless children tend to learn from their surroundings due to the double duty life imposed on the mothers. As a result, many of these children are learning through today’s “Hip-hop” to develop an aggressive, guerilla warfare mentality in order to survive their communities. In contrast, the foundations of hip-hop could be manipulated to enhance the lives of these children.
At the conclusion of the meeting, I was left questioning whether it was possible for the generational curses imposed upon the Negro community to be broken. Through my eyes, I noticed a minimum of four generations of men who have endured, or will endure, the society that has continued to implement political policies aimed at keeping the black men down. In addition to the blatant acts of racism linked to the Reaganomics, brought to my attention were the unfair legalities behind the child support system, judicial system, health, and educational systems to name a few. In contrast, I was left with a belief that the African-American community must return to its roots, the church, in order to develop unity amongst one another with the goal of empowering ourselves as a unit in mind throughout all facets of the American society.
After attending the town hall meeting i realized there were a lot of issues that our black communities feel strongly about. And for the most part these issues affect our black men but in the end effect our whole community. Because the issues such as health, education, criminal justice, economics and fatherhood are all intertwined within each other and are all effected by one another. It was great to hear the strong opinions of the people in the community and the issues they have with our government, law and education. They have great concerns about how are black males are being treated and the disadvantage they have a black males. I also think that it was important to hear from the young black males that attended because we need to know what they want to see from us. One kid said he just wanted someone to talk to that was important to know because if he has a mentor or someone to talk to that could keep him out the street and in return out of jail. After all this it is easy to see that the youth today is really influenced by popular culture and it is important that they see the positive aspects of the black community. That is where we come in to play because we are hip hop and it is our job to see that change comes about. Each generation of the black community has had there own struggle and have fought for different issues and rights. We see now a days that black men are being racially profiled and not getting the same benefits as the white men. So this town hall meeting helped me see the needs of our youth and what its that we can do as adults/youth to make a change and create a better atmoshpere for our black youth. I think that we can start by having such meetings as that one to figure out what needs to change then start going to the people who can make these changes if we start documenting different senarios that take place we can provide information to the people of power saying that something needs to change in our communities because we still do not have the same equal oppurtunities as our white counter parts. Then from there we can implement new organizations that can promote change and provide an oppurtunity to educate our youth and get them prepared for the real world.
I was in the group that discussed issues facing education and the criminal justice system. Most of the problems that were addressed like the lack of funding for public schools as well as the racial profiling in regards to the criminal justice system have been discussed over and over again. Some interesting ideas that I haven’t heard that much were discussed and could potentially make major improvements throughout school systems and for criminal justice. Some brought up the issue that some teachers are not properly trained to deal with minority students and sensitivity training and some knowledge about the culture the students come from would make a major impact on the quality of education young black males receive. This is very interesting because using hip hop to engage students in the classroom could be very successful. Something as simple as understanding the environment a child is growing up in can make a huge difference in the level of interaction between the student and teacher. In most cases understanding hip hop culture means understanding the student’s culture. Training teachers on understanding underlying meanings such as signs of respect that might be construed as rudeness would make a major difference in the quality of education students receive. As far as the criminal justice system goes I can’t think of many good ways to implement hip hop. The problems we addressed were the unequal treatment of black criminals in comparison to their counterparts. I think that some solutions to these issues would be a review of past cases and a case by case evaluation of trials and punishments given for the same crimes. Also there should more alternatives to punishment for black youths like there are for other races.
I’m not the one to get all mushy and whatnot, but I was ecstatic to attend the town meeting especially since I was tired from all day classes. From the information I gathered, I found that there are people who still really care about their community and the people who reside there. I tried my best to stay fully attentive with the conversations because there were some really great topics on the table. There was one thing that caught my attention; I didn’t see many people pointing the finger at the next guy for all the troubles and corruption going on, but what factors and solutions could be used. In many cases, people are quick to point the finger and depict what is going on, but no one really has a good solution to anything. I was really happy to see many Blacks in the room and they were following with opinions and whatnot. Overall, the meeting was very insightful and it has got me in the mood to become a mentor. Like Amber said, “one little boy just wanted a person to talk to”. I can remember a time when all I wanted was a person to talk to and share thoughts with. I also agree with Nino when he said that we need to get back in touch with our roots (the church). In order to help assure this renaissance, I’ll do my part by starting with this mentoring program.
I wasn't able to attend this meeting but due to the notes taken by a group member of mine I am able to post my comments.
Living in a fatherless home can be rough sometimes depending on who is the barrier between you and the street. As displayed in the Russell Simmons book he stated that he never had to want for anything and there was never a day when he never ate because he family was well educated and working. It was the pressure of his peers and the demons in the street to sale drugs and make money. Hip-Hop ultimately changed Russell Simmons life for the best.
Living in a fatherless home is not always a bad thing. I grew up in a fatherless home so I don't understand what it means to go out there and get yours as a shorty. You want to become a man so fast because you want that respect from your peers. You want to be heard and you want people to listen as well. Black men are always such an easy target. As black men, health, education, and fatherless home affect a lot of home and to some black men this is not a important which is why it creates the problem that needs solving.
How can we help black men is the question or is it too late? Churches homes, community service, rallies, community functions are hard to come by anymore because of the negativity it brings around the community if someone from another side is not respected. In Jeff Chang and Russell Simmons book; the connection between the two books and what was said at the Town Hall meeting addresses all the concerns that was mention and talked about at the meeting and in the books. We have to find a safely and more effected way to communicate with these children to let them know that they are not alone. I am a mentor to 4 different kids and I have a child of my own. As a father is it always important to stay current in Hip-hop and other music because you want to know what music is really sending the best message. History plays an important part and like Nino mention going back to our roots is important as well.
I learned that the system is setup for the African American Male to fail at the Town Hall meeting. I learned that we need to wake up ourselves and do something to help our African American Males because if we do not, we are going to loose them to incarceration or death. I also learned that we are the primary voice of young African American Males as young college students. Whatever type of effort we put in is what we are going to get out. Investing in young African American Males is basically investing in our own future success. Success does not just come overnight. It comes with lots of hard work. I also learned that we need to communicate more with our local politicians and school officials in order to get stuff done. We have several resources on campus and it is imperative that we take full advantage of these resources.
The town hall meeting was a great exoerince for me. I felt like this was very benefical if your group has not selected a topic that they want to tackle. It was especially helpful because there were young people there from the community expressing their feelings. I have known that there are things that effect the Black community but I never realized how hard it was for males. the town hall meeting really open my eyes to that. The criminal justice system and the educational system appears to be setting up our black men to fail. with the laws that are out there I cant just see the black men falling into the same traps consistenly. For example the rock to powderded cocaine sentence. People who live in impoverished areas tend to use "crack" because its a cheaper drug to use and people that I assume deal the most drugs and crack in particular are black men. The reason that some of the black men turn out of these ways is because of the enviornment they grow up in the type of family they are raised by. Some dont have that positive influence in the home nor the neighboorhood. Nor does it help to listen to some of the "hip hop" artists who constantly glorify selling drugs and " the thug life". Sometimes I dont think that people in the music industry realize how much influence they have on young people and when they dont realize that all the things they might think is cool or accpetable goes on the market and the youth listen to it and try to live that lifestyle of their favorite artist but when they do that they dont get the car with the 22's or the ice around their neck. They get jailtime with a felony on their record which may ruin them a lifetime of success. From trying to follow their idols.
First, I'd like to say that the Town Hall meeting was very insightful. It amazed me that the City Council Meetings get so much "publicity" and something that affects minorities in the community doesn't.
Alot of who you are and who you grow up to be involves the trials and tribulations faced in childhood. In my particular group lack of nutrition, leaders, and parenting played a crucial role in the develpment of the youth. After we moved passed the physical needs of eating habits affecting performance in the classroom, it seems as though the lack of black men as role models dominated the conversation. When we had the young men from the community speak in our group it was clear that they felt they could do so much better with guidance from a black male than someone else who may not understand what they're going through. It's like now more than ever the gap between the university and the community needs to close. We go to school here so tha makes us just as much a part of the community as the "townies."
The town hall meeting held was very informative and useful to the Champaign County. Our young African American males are victimized to drugs, gangs, abuse, and isolation. Our society today is set up for them to fail. They have to work twice as hard to survive. I found it interesting that many young African American males came to the meeting. My group discussed the health issues and we had about ten young males. One of them touched my heart the most. He basically told the group that he was adopted and lived in a women centered household. He did not have any male figure to look up to. He was basically crying out for help and a mentor. I realized a lot of these young males would love to have that special man in their life to teach them the fundamentals and tricks of the trade. The problem is finding male mentors to take time and talk to these young men. There are a lot of Caucasian mentors that devote their time to the schools, but where are the African American people? I mean, nothing is wrong with Caucasians mentoring to our young minds, but can they really relate to them personally? It's the black community's duty to give back to its people and its future masterminds. And like many repeated, we have to start young in order to put a dent in these young African American male's brain.
As I mentioned before, my group spoke about health issues. As a group, we agreed that our community is obese and struggle with diabetes. It's our job to educate these children and give them the proper knowledge on a balanced diet. Most of the kids walk around with pop and chips and believe that's breakfast. I work at an elementary school, and most of the children come in eating cookies, candy, and sometimes sweets. If no one tells them it's wrong, they are going keep on doing it. Also, we discussed how children are improperly diagnosed with HDD or hyper active disorders. They are given medication that could harm them in the long run and sometimes they are not given any medication so their disorder gets worse. The parents and hospitals are in fault for this. They need to be properly aware and educated about the child's needs. Programs need to be designed in order to properly care for these special children. Most parents just go with the flow in other words. They do not even know the proper caring techniques designed to treat the child. Hip hop as a culture could embrace these issues of health today by creating programs to educate the minds of many African Americans; not only the children but the parents and guardians as well. Music embraces the soul and eating right should also. Going to get an annual check up should not be so difficult. Clinics and medical cards should be easier to access. Some people do not have insurance so they have to take alternative routes. There are African American physicians out there that could be reached. There are foundations and fundraisers that can be re-established or developed. Hip hop is a culture that can influence the black community as a whole. It just takes that one soul to stand up and make it happen.
I learned at the Town Hall Meeting that the African American Male here, in the state of Illinois is in a state of emergency. The various reasons why African American Men have not been succeeding is constantly growing and everyone seems to be able to identify the problem but unable to find and solutions. The town hall meeting attempted to counter this problem by gathering a large crowd and get them to voice their opinions. But although it was a great attempt, I don't feel anything was truly accomplished. Of course, people's opinions were voiced and ideas were throne out there, but by many who I feel are not in tune with today's youth. The youth that attended were almost silent, especially when compared to the adults that participated. But where there is a will, there is a way. Hip Hop has always been a voice to that of young people. Young people love hip hop because it can inspire them as well relate to the things being expressed in the music. Hip Hop addresses the problems with society in some cases just as well as town hall meetings. Hip Hop can also educate and that what really needs to be done in the 5 categories. The African American male is not doing as well as its counterparts because they are inadequately educated and ill-prepared for the situations and opportunities needed to succeed. We as African-Americans need to just unite like they did at the town hall meetings more regularly just to get the word out. If people were just willing to embrace hip hop like the kids do, then maybe the kids would listen more to what was being said. If you want to reach the young African-American males, the use something they can relate too. Music, Fashion, Media, Education, and Mentoring. It helped me.
The Town Hall meeting touched on the major issues in the African American community. Solely on the African American males. Our group sought out whether or not the problem is in the criminal justice system. Obviously that is key to why many black males are incarcerated or dead. A big influence on that is racial profiling. No matter what anyone says, it is there and it always will be. The only way to rise above it is for them to better themselves. By aspiring to go to school instead of getting mixed up into stuff they shouldn’t is a start. By focusing on the education systems and making them better is another key to that progression. Although it may be hard on the streets for these males to make the best of themselves, they have to want to do better before anything changes.
The state of African American males in today's society, is one that I would consider as "at risk". I worked in the jobs and economy group, that focused on acquiring and retaining work for ex-convicts. However, the conversation quickly got off subject with the topic of "How do we acquire and retain work for black males in general". Many individuals were extremely upset that the topic had only been limited to ex-criminals.
At the heart of the matter was the need for better education to prevent males from straying down the wrong path. If one looks at the date African American males are sixty percent more likely to go to prison if they do not have a high school diploma. Furthermore once they attain a high school education, although the rate decreases, its harder for them to find work than their white male counterparts.
Hip Hop has always been the voice of the oppressed. And if hip hop were to be fused with entrepreneurial or educational skills we can keep more males in schools.
The African American Male Task Force Town Hall Meeting was very important and significant to have for Champaign-Urbana community. Although I was not able to attend the whole town hall meeting, I was still able to draw my own opinions from what I witnessed in my particular roundtable discussion on the topics of education and criminal justice. It is definitely apparent to me that there is a direct correlation between education and the criminal justice system (school to prison pipeline). A discussion about both education and the criminal justice system as it relates to black males are two complex issues that would need to encompass other societal/policy topics to the discussion to even begin tackling these two specific issues. Everything is connected. Some did mentioned that the Champaign-Urbana community needs to hire a more diverse teaching staff, specifically more Black male teachers and mentors. They were saying that this would help give a positive image to the Black male students. Thus, it would help keep the Black male students in school, instead of in the criminal justice system. There was very little talk in the roundtable about implementing culturally-relevant curriculums in the school systems…this is where I think Hip-Hop could definitely have an impact in targeting successful outcomes for African American males. Implementing Hip-Hop within the school’s curriculum could definitely equip students with the confidence, motivation, determination, and tools to improve their conditions. The idea of an adequate education for Blacks, specifically in this case Black males would have students take active roles in the classroom and in their own process of learning. I believe the schools in the Champaign-Urbana communities should educate students to critically analyze society from their own realities and lived experiences. Implementing Hip-Hop within the school’s curriculum would give Black students the chance to do that.
However, looking at the town hall meeting critically, I would have to ask the question why the topic was surfaced around Black male students and not Black students in general? I definitely think that there is a lot of things plaguing the Black male that should be addressed, but to call a town hall meeting about Black males and not mention or include Black females in the discussion probably hurts more than it helps.
What I learned at the Town Hall meeting is that black children especially men have it HARD. Theres this stigma that black men are inadquate of being a man so they are told not to be the best they can be. What angered me the most was that there was talk that schools were basically implementing failure to these children and the children were being receptive to it. What touched the most was the young men in the room wanted MENTORS! They want someone to guide them in the right path...to be the best they can be.
Hip Hop can be used to address the five categories from the town meeting is that lets remember that hip hop connected the inner city youth to the problems going on within the community. Hip hop can be used to help children get to where they wanna be... the best. Hip hop brings out the inner qualities of someone because hip hop relates problems to the real world. Its the voice of the unheard.
Well after attending the town hall meeting, my eyes were truly widened. Yes, I knew black men have a condition, yet not as intensified as that which was discussed. Mental problems, behavioral disorders, not having a male figure, limited access to educational and life long skills to be obtained in the work place are all lacked in "the condition of the black man"! In essence all of these mishaps exist. We spent so much time trying to decide what exactly is the problems, which begin at youth and formulate into a psychological phenomenon, there was little solution basis for the problems.
Hip-Hop may be used to address these issues by first allowing the youth to see they are not alone. As well as letting them write about their condition and possibly creating a song from there. Educate the young people all about what condition they face, show them success and bettering self starts at home. Maybe there can be a program implemented in which the parents spend at least a few nights helping their children work through the problem faced today...This program can consist of ad and help for parents by their own kind! Letting the children know they are not alone and education in several areas will ultimately lead to the success of the troubled youth!
After attending the town hall meeting I realized that the problem that exists within the African American community is no longer just a situation that adults can deal with, but now the children are choosing to get involved and voice their opinions. I really appreciated the fact that the children had so much to say on things they thought that could be changed, but found it a bit sad that it had come that far that they feel they need to get involved. I think that hip hop can either help or harm the condition of African Americans, mainly males depending on the message they choose to exhibit within the raps and the lifestyles that the our community are picking up on. Nowadays it seems as though our children are raised by technology(music and the artists that produce the music) so by putting positive messages within the raps or making the positive things that they do more accessible, so that the kids aren't just seeing the negative side of the entertainment industry, I think that could help a lot with the condition or the mindset that our children have today. I think the more positive things a child sees someone that they look up to do, the more it forces them to want to be more like that and become a better person. It's a long process that will take a while to reverse, but I believe that if our community works together, we could get ourselves to where we should be.
The most important thing that I learned is that the young males want mentors more than we think. Many young men, are left without a role model to direct them in the right way to have a positive life. In my group we talked about jobs and education. I made a comment to my group that part of the education problem is the lack of knowledge of math and science in the afro-american community. That is a problem because in elementary and secondary afro-americans score the lowest. Yet numbers are used in everyday lives to figure out stats, to manage, money, etc. The census counts population and all the numbers and stats that come from the U.S. Census determines how much money companies, governments, business private and local will budget and spend. My other problem with the education system is that black people do not learn about themselves. There are studies that have found that people learn better when they are also learning about themselves. If in elementary and secondary school we can learn more about black history and current black positive role models than I believe there would be more black students that are involved in their studies.
A way to use hip-hop is to talk about the emergence of hip-hop when American history is taught in schools. That is part of rebellion it is a different kind of movement. Show how graffiti can be true are and not just street second class art. In music class show how DJ's created the continuos breaks to create the sound of hip-hop. In music class I learned about Mozart and Beethoven. These indeed were important composers of their but they were not the only that came along. All of the things that hip-hop has done to change the world from sound, to style, to art, etc. Is put on the back burner and not brought forth as something that can be learned from.
I would like to first say that the Town Hall meeting was a great experience. I never thought I would see so much black involvement and concern on the campus about the surrounding community. The issues that were being discussed and focused on are the issues that we face everyday but many tend to avoid and neglect, such as a fatherless home, education, and society factors. By listening to the younger boys talk. And to be completly honest about what seems to be affecting their lives and how they want it to be different. And all the views and opinons that everybody had to offer about issues, what needs to be changed and how it could be changed. I feel that one should take advantage of what is being said about everything and tie as much of it in to the five categories. And since this is a new generation and hip hop plays an influential role on society, we need to use hip hop as the outlet to reach others now.
At the town hall meeting I learned that there are a lot of pissed off people in the Champaign area. There are people who want change and will work to get change….so they said….I was in the Economic group. There were a few people who spoke over everyone else and basically hackled the moderators. One of the biggest issues on the floor was the lack of work and general civil rights for men when they get out of jail. I was surprised that this was the largest issue. I thought people would be more concerned with how and where to find jobs in this community, how to start Black businesses and the need to support already existing Black Businesses. We barely touched on these subjects. People were sooo concerned about the jail issue. People were demanding that action should be taken against job discrimination for ex-felons but when they were asked if they knew that programs were already in place they said “no”. A particular program that was brought up was the one run by the Urban League. When the Urban League was mentioned there were a few snide remarks. For some odd reason, the Urban League in Champaign has a bad reputation. I had already heard about the program for the ex-felons from the woman who came to speak to our class. The impression I got form her is that it is a good program that guides ex-felons around the job market to help them find employers that will actually hire them and benefit them in the long run. It is a shame that this program is not utilized a great deal, especially when job discrimination against ex-felons in such a huge issue in this neighborhood. The moderator emphasized that we support and improve programs that the community already has in place instead of constantly undermining each other and trying to do something better. This reminds me of a theme that comes up in Chang’s book and a theme that comes up in class a lot. We as a Black community have the crabs in a barrel complex. Instead of working together, we always want to pull each other down to get to the top. In Chang’s book he discusses battling DJs that often turned the crowd against each other and ended in a bloody fight down in Jamaica. He talked about gang wars up here in the states through which Blacks killed each other. He talked about rappers with beef, most notably the East Coast/West Coast beef. He talked about battling between generations of Black parents and their children. Why can’t we all just get along? In Chang’s book, it was also a theme that when we all get on one accord and work together stuff gets done. I think this is what the Champaign Community needs to do. Right now they are “beefing” with each other and they need to get together and make things happen. That means we need to support each other in business, give our ex-felons jobs, get involved in political action, and spread more awareness about programs that can help the Black plight.
Post a Comment