Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This Blog is set up to be used as a space for thoughts, ideas, and network building through the indigenous spirit and knowledge of Hip Hop Culture.
The Knowledge Bank
Blog Archive
-
►
2010
(23)
- ► 09/19 - 09/26 (3)
- ► 09/12 - 09/19 (2)
- ► 09/05 - 09/12 (12)
- ► 08/29 - 09/05 (6)
-
►
2009
(6)
- ► 11/01 - 11/08 (1)
- ► 10/25 - 11/01 (1)
- ► 10/18 - 10/25 (2)
- ► 10/04 - 10/11 (2)
-
▼
2008
(12)
- ► 11/16 - 11/23 (1)
- ► 11/02 - 11/09 (1)
- ► 10/12 - 10/19 (1)
- ► 10/05 - 10/12 (1)
- ► 09/28 - 10/05 (1)
- ► 09/21 - 09/28 (1)
- ► 09/14 - 09/21 (1)
- ► 09/07 - 09/14 (1)
- ► 08/31 - 09/07 (2)
- ► 08/24 - 08/31 (1)
Contributors
- A.E.
- Angela S.
- Ashley
- B-EZ
- B. Rob
- Brandon
- Candyce
- Corrine
- D.Brown
- DJ
- Dee
- Diane Pye
- Dr. William M. Patterson
- Eryka
- Esquire S.
- Fatimo
- Flong
- Genesis
- Hamilton
- Julia Anna Pollack
- Kinyetta Lashawn
- Laurie Chavannes aka Lolo
- Lilapril
- Marnita
- Marques
- Martin
- Matt
- Michael Richards
- Natalie
- Nino Brown
- Reggie
- Rhae Battles
- Rhonda
- Richard McGee
- Roy L-T
- S. Burdine
- Shantel
- Sharonda
- Stephanie
- Tarita J. Preston
- Teryl
- Tykisha
- W Dub
- anorwoo2
- april
- bheath2
- lmac27
- lori gold patterson
- mike1447
- mykahne
- yaebeen na
26 comments:
I must say the first time that realization of status mattered was when we moved from the city of Chicago into the southern suburbs. My parents rented out our house,and we would come back to make sure everything remained in order. Once, we arrived into the new community as the first black family on our block surrounded by elderly whites. They treated us not any differently from the others in the area. Yet, I had a conversation with others in the community and they said blacks lived here before, but they could not afford the property taxes or mortgages any longer.
Another, thing which caught my eye in this stature was once we would head back to Chicago, my friends would talk about me. There were comments such as you think you are better than us, you have changed your style,vernacular, and person in general. So, I was looked upon as the sell-out in the area. But, I thought nothing of it until others began to denote my changes in my attitude and character! But, that never stopped there after we moved even farther south, had our home built from the ground up, and all that wonderful stuff the heat came even harder. We became the "elite". But, I always told them where I came from made me who I am along with the upbringing as well as morals/values made me, not the materialistic values!
I was 4 years old when I first realized that race and ecomonic status mattered. My mom and my twin sister, and I were going to a farm in the country near chicago, IL. I had never been to a farm before and this was the only place we could afford to go to because it was free to take a tour of the farm and see the baby animals. I reached down to pick up a baby pig when a little girl around my age was reaching for the same pig. As I reached down she looked at me, gasped and said "Ewh don't touch that you Nigger!" I did not know what that meant but i knew it was bad enough for her mother to come over and wisk her away and isolate her as if I was tainted with the "Black gene." I did not notice that everyone around me was white and that I was black and different until that moment. I was about 7 when I first realized that girls were supposed to do girl things and not play football with mesh jerseys on. Before Christmas, I asked my mom for a skate board and some army men. What she got me for christmas were barbie dolls. I hated barbie dolls but that's what I got because girls were supposed to play with girl toys and boys were supposed to play with boy toys.
I remember this as clear as day. My first two jobs is when I realize how much race matter.I was 16 years old working for Ebel's Ace Hardware in Chicago Heights, IL when I was called a "nigga" on my job by one of my co-workers and by a customers. No matter how much rage and anger that run through my body at the time, I kept myself under control because beating the shit out of this man and woman would have cost me my job. Me boss was a white man, very had working with a family. His name was Mike, and he took up for me. Being that I was 16 I had never experience something so intense in my life. Also my mother was the manager there as well, and she definitely had her input on the situation but it was over shadowed by the owner of the store because he was racist his self. I guess we were really just hired for his quota because out of 150 staff members in 8 different store there were only 10 black workers.
I guess in so many was race, gender and economic status matters. We deal with gender issues everyday. Getting a job; being a black male and not being able to get a job no matter how qualified you are for the position. We see this at the University in class, at the parties and more. Just my thoughts...
The first time that I noticed at economic status mattered is when I was living in chicago. I went to school pin the downtown area and I saw the highrises began to disappear one after the other. I began to see the neighborhood change around me. I began to see more minorities moving to surburbs where only white people lived and more and more I saw white people in the city. I also rode the red line and when I really started noticing alot of white people getting on the train at 55th and 63rd and thats defintely how it began. Gentrification is on the rise.
The first time that I recognized that race, gender, or economic status mattered was when I got stopped by a police officer because he claimed that I matched the description of an African American male who had used a stolen credit card at the gas station. I found this to be really shocking because I was just walking home from a long day at work. I still had on my work uniform and I had not been to any kind of gas station that whole day. I even showed the officer my time card which said that I clocked out at 10:00pm and he claim the stolen credit card was used at 9:00pm. This was a whole hour before I got off work. I could just tell the officer knew I was innocent, but he was just trying to harrass me and get me to do something out of order so that he can charge me with disorderly conduct. He took my id and called another officer over. Here I was surrounded by two armed officers trying to harrass me knowing that I had nothing to do with the stolen credit card. They took my wallet and went through everything in my wallet. They even counted my money in my wallet. They verified to make that all the credit and debit cards in my wallet were mine and not stolen. My phone rang all of a sudden and I picked up and the officer took my phone away from me and hung up. It was my mom calling me. I felt like I had no say or control because those officers were armed and they could have caused all types of harm to me so I tried to remain calm. I was already stressed from work and was looking foward to just going home and relaxing. The officer gave me my wallet back after he went through it. He didn't put things back the way they were in my wallet. The other officer gave me my phone back and said I was free to go after that. None of the officers even apologized to me ot made it seem that they made an honest mistake. I now view the police in a different way than I used to. I used to hear a lot of stories about racial profiling or discrimination, but never thought I was going to be a victim of that until the officer stopped me.
While living in Alaska, practically everyone showed kindness and respect to one another. There was one family that didn’t give the same courtesy to my family. The daughter of this particular family always looked at me in a strange way. Every chance she received, she would always point out the differences between us: my skin color, my hair texture. I never noticed it until she said something. I remember going over to her house to see if she wanted to play. Her mother gave me the coldest look and told me that her daughter is not allowed to play with me. She called me a troublemaker right before slamming the door in my face. I went home crying not understanding the situation, wondering what I had done wrong. My mother explained to me that their family was racist; they didn’t like me because of the color of my skin. I remember telling my mother that I was the same as they were. She told me that they didn’t believe so and I was never to play with that girl again. I was only 5 years old when this happened and I recall the situation like it was yesterday.
I’ve always wanted to look at this world as though we all are one, but often, many occurrences change that. I can think back to when my father was living and he was running the family business. He would often try to get accounts with many of the larger companies, but they refused him. He was well qualified and he had all the proper equipment with the best rates, but because his skin was shades darker than the next man, they turned him down. I remember many times when we would drive to other cities to pickup truck parts and the service clerks would turn up their nose at the sight of use. All this just makes you think about how many civil rights leaders put ass to foot for this country for change and how people are still stuck on the same nonsense.
I honestly can't say that there was one particular incident that helped me to realize that identifiers mattered in determining my place in society. I believe that it took me a fairly long time to understand the importance of these identifiers because I grew up in a very sheltered and often diverse environment. The only incident that jumps to mind is my parent's participation in the class action lawsuit against Denny's. One day I overheard my mother speaking about the action to someone and I inquired about the details of the situation. In explaining the act of discrimination committed against her and my father, it was then that I truly internalized that racism and discrimintation were not tools of the pre-Civil Rights era but in fact still tools of the present.
Due to my multi-cultural background, I noticed the racial differences amongst society at a young age. I am a product of a bi-racial relationship that required me to travel between homes for most of my life, prior to acquiring the ability to take care of myself. Therefore, I was subjected to significant lifestyle changes between households. As early as I could remember, I was always able to tell when I was traveling to my father’s house from the Westside of Chicago to the Humboldt Park area on the Northwest side. Although it was a five minute drive, I noticed that the ethnicity of the people changed at a certain point in which the community showcased a more Latin background. Although there was a difference in ethnic background, both minority groups are subjected to the same treatment within society. It wasn’t until my mother moved to the South suburbs that I noticed the difference in lifestyles due to economic status. For the duration of my life spent between households, I consistently compared the different communities in which my parents lived. In the end, the suburbs provide more opportunities for minorities, to a certain extent. Ultimately, this observation has changed due to the apparent Gentrification of the ghettos within the Minority communities. In doing so, the inner city “downtown” area has undergone a massive reconstruction in order to generate income economic status closer to the corporate economy of Chicago.
I first realized when race mattered when I was 7 years old and I transferred from George Manierre, an all black elementary school near cabrini green to Newberry Academy, a magnet elementary school that was predominantly white. The two schools were only about 4 blocks away from each other, but it seemed like two separate worlds because no one from my old school would come across North Ave. because that street is pretty much what separates the Cabrini Green community from the affluent Lincoln Park community. In my old school, I never thought about race because everyone looked like me other than a few Puerto Rican kids who went to school with us, but I just thought they were light skinned at that age and I didn't see any differences from them and me until I got older and found out that they were hispanic.
My realization about my race came the first day I transferred into Newberry. It was already a culture shock to see that their were mostly white students, but their were also Indians and Hispanics too. I felt so uncomfortable when I transferred and I was scared to talk but the teacher had me stand up and say my name, what school I came from, favorite food, and side of the city I live. After I told the class my name, I went to Manierre, I liked chicken and french fries, and I live in Lincoln Park during the week with my parents and cabrini green with my aunt, a white girl laughed and said "You're ghetto". I froze when she said that and the only thing I could do was stick up my middle finger and my teacher told me that she apologized and we had to go to the principal's office. Me and my parents had to meet with the girl and her parents and they apologized and said they don't no where she got that from. I really didn't care what they had to say and this was a basis for my distrust in white people for a long time. I ultimately ended up staying at Newberry because my mom told me that I couldn't let ignorant people hold me back from getting a good education but to be aware of the bad ones but don't hate everyone that looks like them because it would make me as bad as them.
The first time I even noticed a difference in race was the summer after fourth grade. I was born and raised in a northern suburb called Waukegan. When I was growing up there, it was a prodominantly black community. I always thought that it was normal that there weren't so many white people around because I was never exposed to how false that really is. We moved to another suburb about 25-30 minutes away from Waukegan and that alone was a huge culture shock for me. I never knew there was an area with so many white people around. For once I was the odd ball out. People definitely looked at me differently because I talked and acted completely different from what they were used to. It took a very long time for me to adjust. At 10 years old I learned how important people looked upon you based on the color of your skin. I was never judged until I moved to that area and will never forget it.
The fisrt time that I realized that race mattered was when I was 10years old and I was at the grocery store with my mother and cousin, who was only 8years old at the time. There was an elderly white woman probably in her mid 60s, and she had her purse in her grocery basket, however she was a distance away from the basket. Me and my cousin departed from my mom and went down the isle the woman was in, There were others in the isle all of whom were white, who passed by the woman's basket and she continued to look for the items she was buying, however,the time she saw us passing by her basket, she literally ran to her basket and gave us the most evil look that I have ever seen in my entire life. Me and my cousin later told my mom, and she said that some people will not like us simply becaise we are black. This is the first time that I had ever experienced racism, the first time I realized that race matters to some people, Me and my cousin were shocked and hurt by the incident because I realized that this lady juged us by the color of our skin, when in reality we would never steal from anyone. I will never forget that. Being a black woman sometimes I feel I have both the gender and race cards playing against me, however I have never personally had a situation where my gender mattered. Economic status does matter in our country, however, I dont think it ever occured to me that much because I could always afford the same clothes as my peers, and get allowances from my parents, and I was involved in a lot of extra-curriculars. Looking back on it I realize that we probably couldn't afford everything I wanted, but my mom always made it happen so I never thought of us as "working class".
I can't pinpoint a specific period of time as to when I noticed that race, gender or economic status mattered, only because I lived a very "neutral" life growing up. I am mixed and when I was younger, very much of a tomboy. I went to a mostly white high school and am from a mostly white town so it wasn't abnormal for me to have white friends or hang out with my white friends. I dont think I've ever blatantly encountered race being a major "problem" until I got to college. I just feel like this campus is very segregated and each race has their own preferences. Luckily, I've never been a victim of dicrimination for race, gender or economic status, but it is out there and a prevalent problem in our society. Hopefully with the outcome of this year's election, some of that will change! NOV 4-nake a difference: VOTE!!!
For me the first time I recognized that race mattered was in high school I went to a predominatly white high school and in junior high i was the star i was in all the plays in chorus got directors awards and everything and everybody knew I was talented when I got to high school and wanted to get involved the white directors would pick less qualified people to play parts and do solos that when it was clear that it wasnt about talent it was about the color of my skin. Then when I came to this universtiy it was very cler that I have to work ten times harder then the white girl sitting next to me just to get noticed because "im not as smart as her" there is no reason why I should not get an internship or a job and im more qualified then the white girl. And that is just how life is and its VERY REAL!!
I think the first time I realized that economic status mattered goes back to when I was around 4 or 5. I was living in Moline, Indiana, but going to school in South Holland because the school system was better due to the predominantly white neighborhood. I felt like I had to be white in order to be better and my mother's side of the family always instilled that in me. In the same environment I always recognized that my grandmother had reaised my auntie and my mama to be independent and nurtured my uncle to be dependent on her.
The first time I realized that race, gender and economic status mattered when I was in fourth grade. I went to go visit my aunt who stayed in the suburbs of Chicago and her house was huge. I remember when we were leaving that my mother and grandmother mentioned how they hated that she acted like she was so much better than everyone else. My mother was extremely upset because everyone had grown up together and she felt that my aunt was trying to put on "airs". I also noticed that my aunt used skin lighteners and always made a point to make friends with white people, and make negative comments about people with darker skin. It was then that I realized that race and economic status mattered. It seemed that white people had everything and to attain this "wealth" my aunt had to downplay her roots.
One of the first times I realized that race, gender, or economic status mattered was when I was about 15 years old. I realized that race mattered because I grew up with pretty much all of my friends being white, or the couple kids that "acted white", but i had just transferred to a my rival high school, and I played basketball and ran track. So even though I was friends with some of girls at my new school, everybody let me know how damn white I was, coming at my head for how I was talking and for what I was wearing, like I thought I was better than them. After I guess squashing some race barriers in high school, race hadn't affected me again until I came to U of I.
I would have to say that I recognized that all three mattered at different times or stages during my life. I had recognized and learned that race mattered the earliest out of gender and economic status in my experience growing up in a predominantly white area on the outskirts of Dayton, Ohio. I was surrounded by “whiteness” outside of my immediate family, where I lived. I guess nobody had to really tell me that race mattered because I could see how it mattered on a regular basis throughout my city. Race became so apparent to me when I entered the school system as early as 1st grade. I clearly saw how the principal, teachers, and students interacted with me and the other black students differently compared to the majority white students. Sometimes it was the little subtle things, and at other times, it was the big obvious things that happened that made it even more apparent that race did matter. Some of the subtle, and more obvious experiences that I was cognizant of were things like: how the teacher praised the black student(s) for doing a good job compared to the white student(s); my white classmates perception of me and other black students as not being as smart as them; how the principal disciplined me and other black students compared to the white students…we were made examples of in front of the whole class; and how the teacher taught their subject excluding the contributions made from my people and other non-white people. Probably the most apparent thing that led me to understand that race matters is the lack of non-white teachers throughout my K-12 educational career. I had one Black teacher from K-12, and that teacher was my father. My dad was my World History teacher in my freshman year, and my African American History teacher in my senior year of high school. Also, I knew that if my dad did not petition and fight for the implementation of African American History at the high school level, then all of the Black students that matriculated through the high school in his 30 year span of teaching would not have learned about the contributions made by their culture world wide. My parents have been the only Black teachers in the Piqua City School District for the past 30 to 40 years. My mom is still carrying the torch, now that my dad has retired. Also, since his retirement, African American History has been left out of the high school curriculum.
Well, as far as economic status is concerned, most cities in the U.S. are segregated…the city that I grew up in is no exception. Most of the Blacks lived on the north side of the city. This also was apparent to me at a young age that the north side was a lot poorer compared to the south side where the rich whites lived. I also noticed that all of the nice grocery stores were on the south side. There was only one grocery store on the north side, and it was raggedy. LOL!
Lastly, I was forced to notice that gender matters through reading books from Black feminist writers like bell hooks, Gloria Ladson Billings, Assata Shakur, and Sister Souljah. It is sad to admit that it wasn’t until recently that I began to see and learn that females, specifically Black females are being oppressed differently than Black males because they are female. I just began to learn that we live in a patriarchal society that allows Black men to have privileges that Black females cannot have do to our difference in gender.
I recognized these things mattered out of the womb probably. My family has always been very socially conscious and talked about racism and prejudice all the time. But, I believe I had my first encounter when I was in about the third grade and I was standing in a currency exchange with my mom, on our campus actually. At that moment there were mostly blacks in the building and two white guys walked by and said, "wow look, welfare checks must have come out today look at all those niggers in there." That was my first time being called a nigger by a white person to my face. I was kind of in awe because my mother was cashing a check she worked hard for and for these dudes to judge us like that, it didn't really feel good at the time. I was a kid and didn't really understand the full complexity of racial prejudice but it taught me a big lesson. Besides, the dudes who said it looked as though they could have used a welfare check they looked like two bumbs. So, I didn't really give it too much thought.
The first time I realized that my race truly mattered was in my seventh grade class. I had been selected to enter a gifted program in which I would be taking highschool level classes. I was just as capable of being in the class as the white children that were there. Eager to fit in, I begin asking the students in my class what their names were. When I got to a particular white student and asked his name, he told me his name. I then begin to tell him mine, and he said "your name doesn't really matter, I'll just call you the black girl." Of course, I was extremely hurt and angry. But at that moment, I realized that it does not matter how intelligent you are and the level of talent that you have. To a great deal of white individuals, we will always be simply lumped as "the black girl/boy" whose opinion or name does not matter. The University of Illinois teaches me that on a daily basis in several of my classes. It's almost as if people completely tune out when a person of color begins to speak. Unfortunately, the only way to cope with it is just to reach your full potential and make it so they have to respect your position.
I realized money mattered when I was young and someone close to got arrested and my mom told me," I gotta go get money so i can get that person out of jail". In my mind I thought if you can pay then you can get out of jail. As I got older, this has only been reaffirmed because I notice that if you have money for proper legal defense you can have a better outcome than someone without money.
I first realized that status mattered when I was going into the 7th grade and I transfered into a magnet school. Going into the school that was in the beverly community I was very nervous coming from a black neighborhood where my grammer school was completly black. Coming to this school i felt that I had to fit in with the girls that had long hair and thin bodies. I just thought that if I had a thin body that all of the girls would want to be my friend. I went home and told my mother that we just had t change all of our habits and I needed to go and get my hair did every week. I now realize that your peers will make you do the darnest things and in all actually what matters most is people accepting you for you. I also learned about the effect of race in our community when people used to always call me white and say that I was mixed with something. I didnt understand why it was such a big deal for me to be mixed and why the color of a persons skin was a major deal!From there I started realizing how race was important.
I think the first time I ever experienced or recognized that economic status mattered had to be around junior high and my freshman ear of high school. Until then I had assumed everyone had jobs and paid bill just alike. I was naive and young. I didn't think that it was much differences in many people's salaries. But my mother moved me to a Catholic Elementary School for 6th through 8th Grade and she picked up another job to afford the tuition. I began to notice that alot of the other kids parents weren't working two jobs, and some were not working at all. The just had money. One kid was the grandson of a famous hair care product founder. These kids never complained about not having. But my eyes were open even wider once I received a scholarship to attend Mount Carmel High School. I received my scholarship mainly because my mother didn't make enough money by herself to afford tuition and I had earned outstanding grades in elementary school. But when I got to Mount Carmel these kids lived in high incomes neighborhoods like Beverly, Lake Forest, Hyde Park, Homewood-Flossmore, and other parts of Chicagoland areas. They had money and they flaunted it. It was these events that caused me to truly understand that there are some significant differences in the economic status of most people in the city of Chicago and the world. I noticed that people get treated differently because of race and economic statuses sometimes. "Racism still alive, They just concealing it!" -Kanye West-
I first realized that race mattered when I was younger and I overheard my mom talking about a tape of her slapping the shit out of some white woman at work, for calling her a nigger. She straight reached over the counter and slapped the dog shit out of her lol. My moms boss erased the tape, so that she wouldnt have to get fired or into any trouble. I was aware of black separate from white at that age, but I had never heard such an in your face thing before from anybody that I knew, or in my own life. Another time i realized race mattered, is when I got into an argument with a white student, and the white kid said he was going to bring a gun to school and shoot me! The police interrogated me, as if the whole situation was my fault instead of grilling the little white boy and keeping me protected since he was the one trigger happy.
Also! I already knew, but another in your face example of race mattering was just last year January 2007. I was driving a BMW with another black male, and two black females. The other guy couldnt drive because he was on crutches so I had to do it. I was unaware that my license was suspended, and I got pulled over. He could have just written me a ticket and let me go, but instead he decided to arrest me, which forced me to have to go to court, and be on a probationary insurance non-owners insurance, aka SR-22. I think because I was black, in a nice car, he took the worst possible route. I think this because I had been pulled over a year before that, and my license was suspended then little did I know, but the officer at that didnt take me to jail and all that.
In elementary school, I was surrounded by Black children whose parents were hard working class citizens. Most of the children got the new toys and new shoes and things that came out. We were all a pretty spoiled group of children who were not really disadvantaged at all. Some of our parents did better than others but pretty much we were all on the same level. So growing up, I thought this was the norm. The curriculum according to my parents was very good for a public elementary school and I was in all the gifted classes. I was challenged by my teachers and was reading at a high school reading level. Needless to say, race or anything negatively related to it was not an issue for me growing up. I noticed racial differences when I got to jr. high because I started to join sports and organizations where I was mixed with and exposed to children from the other schools in the district. My school was one of four in the district. We had all the more advantaged Black kids at our school. There was a school down the street from me where all of the children with behavioral problems and lower income families went. The children at my school were a little intimidated by these kids because they had a bad reputation. Another school in the district was pretty mixed. It was in a bigger suburb about ten minutes away from my house. They had Black kids, Latino kids, and White kids all in one place. I always enjoyed going to this school when we had games and stuff. It seemed exotic to me at the time. The last school in the district had the largest White population. Come to find out, most of the kids were from a trailer park that was gated off in my community. I found this out and much more about the people who were in this community with my first real boyfriend who was white. We got together after the eighth grade trip with all four schools. Everything was all nice and excepted when we were on the trip but we got a HUGE reality check when we got home to our parents. This was the first time I had ever been questioned by my parents about one of my friends. They were really focused on his race and often laughed at me and teased me about him. This was a shock to me because I was always taught to always treat everyone equally no matter what they look like. We sat down and talked about it and after a while they learned to except my new friend. The same was true for my friend with regards to his dad, but his mom HATED me. She knew I was smart, polite, well-behaved, involved in school, first chair in band (me and Ryan were in band together). She hated me because I am Black. That was the attitude of a lot of people in that gated off trailer park community. When Black people go through there to this day, they are verbally sneered at, snubbed, given dirty looks, the whole nine. They were bitter because Matteson, my neighborhood, used to be completely White. Then Blacks moved in and Whites moved out west. I guess this particular community felt that they had to stake their ground for whatever reason. My mom never allowed me to go over to Ryan’s because he lived over there. Ryan’s mom would never bring him to my house and would never speak to me when she saw me. So this was the first time I realized that race mattered to people. As I look back how our schools were divided kind of shows how economic status mattered in Matteson at the time as opposed to surrounding communities.
Post a Comment