Take Control of Your Culture - American Studies - Blog

THE SAMBO!!

 This sterotype isn't as strongly believed as it once was but the fact is that African American men were once  viewed as kind of childish, laughing lazy kids with excellent musical ability is just wrong. This  false and just morally wrong inaccurate, for those of whom were slaves i'm sure they didn't  have the option to be lazy or to just sit around all day playing and laughing. They were abused and made to work for no pay and some mush put in an animal trough. The fact that any slave master would resort to endorsing this streotype is truely one of the biggest hypocrical statements of any decade. Most masters didn't lift a finger unless it was to whip one of his fatigued slaves for the piteful work they had done because they were barely fed and clothed. How can you poke fun at a group that had been degraded and enslaved only to be beaten and treated worse then any animal.  

 

Da'Boris B.

Racism on "Survivor" Parody

 

This clip happens to be a parody of the show "Survivor" and here some racial stereotypes are used to create a view on how the show could be racist. Towards the end you see that the all white team has an advantage over all of the other teams with different races.

"When Black Men Succeed"

    In American Studies 3-4th period classes we were assigned to find something about race and as I browsed the interwebs I found this study.  

    When I read the title to this article, "When Black Men Succeed", I thought about how black man succeeding, makes news.  I thought about the significance of the topic and how it actually makes news is insulting.  Though as I read on I began to understand that the writer of the article shared the same view as me. The article talks about how when black man DO succeed in business, they are usually surrounded by a bunch of whites.  

    This article talks about how a study was conducted that shows 3 out of 5 blacks come from low income families.  Many blacks struggle to go to college or esteem to be anything great because most come from an unsporting lifestyle and are led to believe that they cannot get in to college (or succeed greatly in life) even if they tried.  This negative influence usually comes from their living conditions and lack of positive reinforcement from those around them.  Not only does it come from people in their life but also from the media.  The media portrays the upper and middle class as white law abiding citizens, while it portrays the lower class as blacks and latinos as criminals and convicts.  Even though in some cases this stereotype is true, it doesn't help aspiring blacks to see other blacks portrayed as poor gang members.  The media supports these stereotypes despite them not being true.  

 

Link to study: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/06/study-aims-learn-why-some-black-men-succeed-college

Good Hair

The movie "Good Hair" is about how black people have different hair than white people and how they feel that they don't have as beautiful hair as white people. The movie "Good Hair" talks about how all of the different types of hair are beautiful hair and that the stereotype that black people have "nappy" and not as beautiful hair as white people isn't true. It's not fair that black people are said to not have as beautiful or "good" hair as white people because that stereotype isn't true because all types of hair are beautiful.

Dark-skin vs. Light-skin?

    Today in american society, many African-Americans are still left with the bitterness of slavery. Even though slavery was abolished in 1865, the events that occured seemed to leave the race seperated and somehow against each other. It all goes back to slavery and there being 2 different types of slaves, the field slaves and the house slaves. Usually if you were darkskin then you would have to work the fields but if you were lightskin you had the privilege of working in the house, having it a bit easier to be a slave because the master felt because you were lighter, you were closer to being white instead of more African. Because of this many house slaves began to believe that they were better than the field slaves because they were lighter and had it easier. The field slaves then started to envy them because they had a better advantage.  Even after many years alot of African-Americans still hold on to this stereotype that being lighter is better than being darker because it traces back so long ago. It is now 2012 and most African-Americans have started to accept the fact they ware beautiful no matter what shade they are, while some still feel that being lighter is better than being darker. In the end, everyone within the African-American race is beautiful and honestly, shade doesn't really matter.

All Black People Like Chicken.

 

    In this video clip comidian dave chappelle talks about the stereotype that all black people like chicken. Though he dose exaggerate, he tells us about how people in our modern day all believe this stereotype is true.  This is a perfect example of raceism in America. It takes place in every state.  Dave is basically saying if your are black and raised in a African American family you will like chicken. This is by no means true. America's two most popular meats are beef and chicken. African Americans dont make up the majority of America's population. This tells us that Chicken is popular among all races. Many people in America are black but dont care for chicken. Just becauce you are a certain race dose not mean you only like to eat the food that the majority of your race enjoys. That Goes for all races.

I Am Not My Hair. April Bell

There has always been the stereotype of your hair makes you, especially if your black. The song "I Am Not My Hair" describes the stereotypes perfect.  The difference between the whites and black has supposely been distunish from each others hair. The song is saying your hair does not define you. And she uses hair because it is often an issue that arises with African American women. In society black people who like to wear their natural hair is "not good hair."  or as she says in the song "bad hair means you look like a slave" , or is put down for having no hair. In this song she had to realize whatever people told her about her hair does not mean anything because its about the inside beauty. Black women with no hair has not seemed to be expected. And the stereotype of black being "bald-headed" is not right. People do not know how low that can make a person.  

President Obama

    The Jim Crow Stereotype is a simple-minded, happy and content black man. This stereotype is saying all black men do not have their own opinion and are happy just to go with the flow of things. I believe this stereotype has been erased from our society.

    President Obama is a perfect example of how this stereotype is no longer a part of our society. Barack Obama is a black man who is the president of the United States.  Having a black president proves that the American people do not believe the Jim Crow stereotype is true.  President Obama is also not simple-minded he believes in change for the better. President Obama does not go with the flow. While being president he removed all the troops out of Iraq. President Obama has succesfully erased the Jim Crow stereotype.

What would You do expirement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhRZjnF5uJk&feature=related

This is a show called what would you do. They do expirements on diffrenet situations to see how people would react, or if they would help. In this episode they do an expirement on what would you do if you saw someone steeling a bike. First they expiremented on a white guy first. When the white guy was caught steeling a bike over 100 people passed by, but only one person tried to stop him. It almost seemed like some people were encouraging him. Then they tried the same scenerio, but this time played by a black guy, wearing the same thing as the white actor, and possibly the same age. When the poeple passed by , pretty much everyone stopped and questioned him, and then someone called the police, and then someone else took pictures to show evidence. This is a sign of racism in america. Also called racial profiling.

Stereotypes:Dave Chappelle different food

 This clip is about Dave Chappelle doing his stand up comedy. He talks about how certain groups of people only eat certain types of food. This shows that stereotypes still exist everywhere and how they are constantly changing. He says an example of how black people only eat chicken and watermelon, while white people only eat vegetables and drink grape juice. Dave Chappelle uses these sterotypes to his advantage. He makes fun of them and over exaggerates them, which makes them funny.

Racist Jokes

Racist Jokes in America have become a common thing. Such as when a black person gets introuble they simply say to be funny, "Is it cuz I'm black?". It has become a very common thing.

But in other cases, they take Racist Jokes to the next level such as...

Q: Why do black people collect welfare so much?

A: It's the easiest way to rob a white man.    -click here for more-

Cultural Analysis of Race

The blogging assignment for American Studies this week is to post a cultural analysis of of a recent work of popular culture that constructs race is an intriguing way.  Also, by the end of the week you should comment on two of your classmates' cultural analyses.  I'll be giving extra credit for those who post their analysis early in the week -- to get the conversation started -- and those who do an additional cultural analysis (as long as the first one is complete).

You can look at the guide to writing a cultural analysis that we discussed at the beginning of the year.

In this particular case, your thesis should argue for whether the work of culture supports or criticizes, reinforces or resist dominant ideologies about race in America.  In other words, does the work of culture perpetuate or break stereotypes of race?  Consider the historical stereotypes we have discussed -- Jim Crow, Sambo, Zip Coon, Brute and Mammy -- but feel free to update those stereotypes with more modern terminology and nuance. 

Racism in America

I see racism occurring on a daily basis, but it frustrates me when people think racism is directed only towards black people. When slavery was happening a while back there weren't only black slaves, there were also poor white people working as slaves. Black people today complain about racism going on, and yes it's true but there is also racism going on towards white people. There's like an idea stuck in people's minds that the only type of racism is directed towards African Americans. Which brings me to another important point. Why is it okay for black people to call white people "white people" but when a white person calls a black person "black person" it all of a sudden becomes a big deal. If God said we are all equal, then believe what god says, not what anyone else thinks.

Racist Commercial

Even across the ocean, racial discrimination is still present, and it's disgraceful.  As in this commercial, a simple black man helps a young girl, by climbing a 100ft pole to get her yellow balloon, and when he comes back down, the mother rushes up, and whisks her away.  The man goes home, and adds one more balloon to his collection.  We thought we hated racism in our home country!  Try going across seas, or across the borders and see how it feels.  It's sad to see it anywhere.  And hating someone based on race is the most ignorant thing a person can do.  When will we all ever learn?

Brutes In Today's Society

In our American Studies class we have been talking about race.  One of the topics we have been going over are typical stereotypes that were used in slave times.  We were asked if these stereotypes were still present in today's society.  The answer is yes.

The BRUTE was a typical stereotype after slavery was abolished.  This term was brought up because people thought that freed African Americans we these savage mean animals.  This was really a fear for some people because they were scared to even be around a African American just because they thought they would kill them.    

I believe that this sterotype is still around and it is portayed in rap music.  Rap music is assoceated with this tough ganster type thugs that people are supposed to be scared of.  A perfect example of this thug type would be the rapper 50 Cent. 

This just renforces the stereotype that the brute is a person to be scared of.  It also is about there lyrics in there songs that promote this brute attitudes alot of them but not all of them are about hurting people and killing people.  People who have never heard rap music and listen to the lyrics could be scared by the things they say.