Then and Now: majority is now minority

History holds quite a list of unsolved problems and questions that have been left unanswered till this day. One shocking event, that owes much of it's panic to America's history of shaky decision making, is the majority births in the U.S. no longer being white. According to the New York Times, the Census Bureau has confirmed that the minority births (including Hispanics, Asians, blacks, etc) have outnumbered the amount of white births. This of course leads to a spur of questions. Will the older community, which mostly consists of whites, refuse to pay for the education of a different youth? Will the issue of population in schools grow to economic meltdown? Can we rely on this new youth on becoming politically active in their communities? These questions come to the table as we slowly come in contact with the larger problem of educating the minority youth. We see this now and we've seen it before. Go back to the 1960's Black Power Movement where the fight for equality among black and white was more than just being able to sit in the same seat, drink from the same water fountain or simply be in the same public park. Dr. Martin Luther King has brought up this issue in his book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community. "The Negro was only 60 percent of a person(King 6)." To further elaborate on the burden carried by the black community of the 60's,  King stated that twice as many black men went to war compared to white. Those statistics are the same in death rates as well but one problem that has entailed the country from then till now is education. King goes on to explain the gaps in education between a black elementary school and a white elementary school. Black schools were behind white schools by three years and only a mere 5% of African american students went on to colleges. That is 1 black student in every 20 white students. This has been the act of superiority at it's peak and it's sad to say that we still see it supported in our older white community. Till this day, minority graduation rates are spotty. Why hasn't this problem been addressed sooner? Will this remain a plague from the past pride and oppression?

These ideas are further described in The Black Power Mixtape. Developed by Swedish film producers, The Black Power Mixtape covered the harsh times of Black Power Movement from 1967-1975.

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Lab Exercise:They Say/I Say

Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Martin Luther King were two powerful people that spoke out against racial inequality in the 1960's. Although they both played a role in the fight against racial inequality, their views varied  in the spectrum of violence and non-violence. King describes the power and effectiveness behind marching. His use of non-violence gave way to involve everyone and anyone that wanted to draw attention to the matter. Stokely contradicts King's ideals by saying non-violence is ineffective for the black man. That the black man is considered violent with no exceptions. He claims violence is necessary in order to attain recognition. Though I concede that King's method is effective, I also am in favor of Stokely's perspective because I believe violence, in drastic times like these, are necessary.

My visit to the Wagner Archives

Open on weekdays from 9:30 to 4,  My ENG101 class went on an interesting trip to the Wagner Archives in La Guardia Community College. Upon entry, the class was split between to small rooms. One room was rather decorated with organized shelves, red carpet, lamp lighting, and somewhat sophisticated atmosphere. The other, a small conference room with a round table and a rather large television. I was sat in the small conference room with a few of my classmates. Our tour guy, for lack of a better term,was a man named Steve. In the conference room, we held a nice discussion about the 1960's and explaining primary sources in the use of researching history. From newspaper cut-outs to television recordings, the Wagner Archives really had it all. Mr. Steve gave us copies of Mayor Robert F. Wagner's speech given July 22, 1964; when the Harlem Riots were at it's peak. After analyzing the speech line by line, we were able to grasp the violent and misunderstood atmosphere of Harlem at the time. In his remarks, the mayor described specifically how there were broken houses, angry gangs and residents sprawling the streets. Later on we went into the cold room where we saw journal writings and paraphernalia from the 1960's. One object that was very entertaining was the giant, gold glove Mohammed Ali signed for Mayor Beame. In one journal entry, which was written in German, Steve went into detail about how the lower east side of Manhattan was an area filled with fresh-off-the-boaters from Germany, Italy and so on. In the end, what I collected from all this was how much global activity started rising in the 60's, despite the Harlem Riots.

    In Mosley’s writing, we find democracy’s purpose has mutated from rights to riches. Science is growing both helpful and fearful while the greater flaws grow bigger under the cover of censorship. This is the obstacle in the pursuit of happiness.
    In chapter three of Workin on the Chain Gang, segregation limited the black American society to labor and recession of goods and rights. As Mosley portrays the image of the white society being distracted by media and wants, the black American society fought off segregation and that gave perspective to the "chains" in America.
   "The black American experience is the history of America. Our struggle to survive in the face of blinding hatred is in part a key to understanding how the chains forged in the modern world might be slipped and avoided in the future(Mosely 47)."

     In Robert Mosley's Workin' on the Chain Gang, Mosley exposes the reality of government, media, the working class and segregation. Although slavery seemed to be a big part of the picture during the 1960's, Mosley reveals the true crime happening behind it. Democracy's purpose has shifted from rules and regulation to money and monopoly. Science is growing stronger, more efficient, and expensive. It grows more convenient and also dangerous. Money shifts power in arguable places and flaws grow bigger under the wing of censorship in the media. These are the obstacles in the pursuit of happiness and even till this day, these conflicts continue to burden us.

     Although Mosley makes many valuable points throughout Workin on the Chain Gang, one perspective that caught my attention in his work was how he focused on the social connection to media. Here is an example of Mosley's take on society's connection with media.

     "Television is our opium, our nightly bowl of hazy, unfocused dreaming. And money is the super-drug, the one fix that you can't leave cold turkey because the withdrawal would be fatal (Mosley 6)."

     I find those lines to be crucial to Mosley's writing because he makes a comparison of society's mundane rituals to drugs. I also find these comparison great because every drug has it's withdrawals. Some easy and others challenging but the one "drug" that is life risking to break away from is money. Television may be a tough challenge for most and others near impossible, but unlike money, there is a rate of success according to Mosley. Sure we don't inject, inhale, nor drink television, but there is a physical and mental prices to pay when withdrawn from it. In such a short and simple phrase, Mosley shows how mentally drawn society is to media.

     In conclusion, Workin on the chain gang has an aggressive and powerful perspective on society's vulnerability. Even with government creating inequalities and being robbed blind of true democracy by corporationalism and monopoly, their flaws and many other conflicts are shielded from the media with censorship.