#raisingvalue

This system is based on ignorance and exploitation. One of the best defenses I have personally scene against this system is the improvement and rising respect for social sciences in the academic community. Studies in fields like sociology, psychology, and history have gained such a standing that well thought out and executed research carries weight. It is now about getting that information to the general public in a way that the reader can digest its context and feed their soul. Which leads me to the second part the reeducation of America is necessary to complete the full circle and lead this country on a road to recovery and compassion. The type of compassion that seems to be fading more and more due to rising fear and anxiety.

A common theme in my Introduction to African American Studies Class is a retelling of American History. It is a history that is all too real, but a history that has not been told. A common question routinely brought up in class is “Why was I not taught that in all my years of history classes?” First off let me start off by saying we know why, IT”S RACISM! When you look at most of the academic text books in circulation for elementary, middle, and high school we find that most of them are published in Texas. Which is a cause for concern because that can lead to biases just due to majority of the text coming from a singular source, the classes are catered to prepare students for standardize test that is primarily made by a Pearson. Now we have a body of student reading text books from a state with a long history of racial oppression for a standardized test that is from a singular source. The result is the lack of education, or misrepresentation, or even downright neglectfulness of black history.

I was doing additional research I started to focus on some of the recent deaths of black men and women like Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Lamia Beard, and Tanisha Anderson. We have seen the videos on Twitter and Instagram and watched the outcomes. In an article from the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson says, “African American men are being taught a lesson about how society values, or devalues, our lives.” Wow. Black men are being taught a lesson. This “lesson” is not an accurate depiction of the entire black community. We cannot deny that there has been a recent rise in racial profiling and police brutality against minorities, specifically African Americans. Michael Steele, the first African American to head the Republican National Committee was quoted saying, “Clearly a black man’s life is not worth a ham sandwich when you put these stories together.” While researching I found an article/blog post titled: “7 Things Worth More Than a Black Person’s Life in America.”

While it is important to note these tragedies it is also vital to show how the black community is being uplifted. Our project is about the history but also #RaisingValue. I wanted to highlight the recent Million Man March that was held in Washington, D.C. The 20th Anniversary of the Mason Million Man March was Saturday, October 10th. Students here at Mason, including alumni and members of the Black Student Alliance, a student organization on campus attended. On Instagram they used the hashtag #MasonMillionMan, they wore crewnecks, and they all walked united. This was a peaceful gathering with the young and the old, fathers and sons, and even women. The theme was #JusticeorElse and there were many powerful and inspiring speakers and activists. In a CNN article Representative Danny K Davis, who was present at the march in 1995 and 2015, said the rally was a testament to struggles and progress, past and present. The Mason Million Man March was successful and powerful but yet there was no media coverage. This is a prime example of how the media influences and shapes the negative perception of the black body in America.  Most, if not ALL, news stories are about crimes. If you are only shown one consistent image you will begin to believe that it is true. #RaisingValue starts with redirecting the dialogue and media coverage to black excellence, power, and strength.

http://mic.com/articles/96378/7-things-worth-more-than-a-black-person-s-life-in-america

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/10/us/million-man-march/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/12/mother-deceased-unarmed-black-men_n_6318494.html

The scholarly article that I chose was Michael J. Pfeifer’s “The Northern United States and the Genesis of Racial Lynching: The Lynching of African Americans in the Civil War Era.” In his article Pfeifer talks about lynching being a national issue not just a Southern thing on the Mason-Dixon Line. In my Introduction to African and African American Studies course we discussed the faulty myth that slavery was just a Southern thing. Lynching, like slavery, was something that occurred everywhere. Lynching as we discussed in class was the mutilation, burning, hanging of blacks. Pfeifer talks about how racially motivated violence was not new. He says, “White southerners had collectively murdered African Americans during slavery, engaging in extralegal executions by hanging and burning at least forty-four slaves in the South from 1824-1862.” (Pfeifer, 622).  This article further shows how black bodies were devalued, commodities that were easily disposable.

Pfeifer discusses in his article the hanging of Marshall Clarke, and African American in Milwaukee. Clarke and a friend, James Shelton were walking and two white men by the names of Darby Carney and John Brady, saw Clarke and Shelton interacting with White women. An argument ensued ending with Shelton stabbing Carney. On September 6, 1861 50-75 Irishmen swarmed the jail, grabbed Clarke beating him along the way, and hung him.  Pfeifer argues that lynching was supported nationally. In Clarke’s hanging, bells were rung from the fire department to summon the community to watch. These lynchings/racial violence are powerful reminders that black lives of men, women, and children, have been repeatedly abused, tortured, and dehumanized. Pfeifer only writes about 2 lynchings in detail. How many lynchings actually took place from slavery to now in 2015? Too many lives were taken because of white supremacy and the idea that our brown skin makes us less than. We have value.