Month: October 2018

In my AFAM class “Living While Black”, we’ve recently discussed prominent African American figures such as Angela Davis (my queen). In specific regards to Angela Davis we watched an interview conducted at UCLA around this time in 1969, when she was a TA/student there. While she addressed many different topics throughout her interview, one I felt stuck out the most was her mentioning of the “Institutional Racism in the Education System”.

It was not that long ago when African Americans were finally given the chance to attend public schools here in America. But as the Supreme Court clause of “separate but equal” took over the conversation in terms of establishing certain institutions for African Americans, it became evident that the equal in the separate in equal was in fact not equal at all. African Americans were given disproportional supplies and support when establishing certain institutions such as schools. While their white counterparts were receiving brand new textbooks, they were given outdated, inaccurate second-hand ones that were probably headed for the dump.

What this then caused was the immediate setback for African Americans as they received second rate educations due to negligence. Angela Davis addresses these disparities as it caused many African Americans to seem “unqualified” and overlooked in the college admissions process. She discussed how at the high school level leading up to college many African American students were encouraged to lean towards more vocational career paths rather than educational ones as it seemed for ‘realistic’ for them.

But what I admired about Davis’ interview was that she expressed that what these colleges deemed as ‘unqualified’ amongst African American student, she identified as ‘potential’. Davis highlights that while the education system ostracizes African Americans students, they still hold much potential to achieve as their white counterparts.

Now that we are in 2018, not much has changed unfortunately. As I sit here today as a Penn State student, I don’t really realize how lucky and rare it is for me to be here. I forget the fact that I am part of the 5.98% of African American students here at Penn State, which is actually pretty high as far as percentage of African American students goes across the nation (average at the college level is around 8%). Because in reality, it is unfortunately rare for African Americans to attend college after high school.

We still face the same issues where inner city public schools are given sub par funding and resources. And though we identify these schools as ‘inner city’ the demographics of these schools are still predominately African American and now Latino American as well. These kids are too often overlooked and ignored in terms of receiving an adequate education ultimately setting them up for failure. It’s this vicious cycle for African Americans, without education in today’s society you lack equal opportunity, which then leads to this struggle for survival causing many to turn to crime instantly creating this pipeline of African American youth into prisons. It has been noted in many studies, ( I’m referring to PEW Research: Mass Incarceration) that there is a connection between broken education systems and the possibility of imprisonment.

But as we come to face all this information what is actually being done? It takes more than African American celebrities like Chance the Rapper donating to inner city schools in Chicago to fix these issues. It takes the government recognizing why there are issues and how they can solve it. Because it order to take down a broken system, everyone must recognize the part they play in said system and begin the effort to rebuild.

Given the recent article we read for homework (yes I know I’m blogging about the homework, ew) I felt inspired to discuss it further because I feel as if Wesley Morris touched up on a very important issue concerning African Americans.

In Wesley Morris’ “Rise of the NBA Nerd: Basketball Style and Black Identity” he discusses how the portrayal of African American NBA players have changed over time and why. While we already discussed this in class I felt as if we didn’t touch up on an important part of the article which was Black Identity.

I was recently discussing this with one of my close friends as well in my AFAM class actually which is the issue many African Americans face: our identity. As society as often portrayed us to fit certain stereotypes, we have unfortunately taken in those stereotypes in our communities and have used them as the standard for what an African American is.

I recall a girl in my class describing how though she lived and attended a school in the suburbs and while many of her fellow black classmates did as well, she found a handful of them to act a certain way. She described how her friends would purposely act “ghetto” and as if they were from the “hood” when they weren’t at all. It’s these issues of identity many of us African Americans face, that if we don’t act a certain way or come from a certain area we aren’t “black” enough.

What I love about Morris’ article though is that it combats these stereotypes and shows the diversity in what African Americans can be. He mentions pivotal characters such as Carlton from Fresh Prince of BelAir and the Huxtables from The Cosby Show. While to you these may seem like any characters, to us these characters display what Africans Americans can be. We can attend prep schools and live luxurious lives. We can be doctors, and lawyers, and dentists and dominate higher level professions. Morris also states that “there are people who never thought they’d see a black American president”, and that also goes along with it. The fact that being the President of the United States is something that was never really associated or a possibility for African Americans.

Unfortunately while I have always personally believed that I could truly achieve any profession of my liking despite the color of my skin, that is not a reality for many African Americans. The “hood” stereotype has sadly been the epitome for Africans Americans for so long that it’s become the only thing that many believe. That they cannot strive in the world, pursuing and behaving however they please without fearing the fact that because of just that they might be considered “not black enough”.

But just as Martin Luther King Jr. preached something all African Americans should say is that “I am black, but I am black and beautiful.” It is those words of self-love that will help us disassociate from the stereotype. Because not only are you beautiful, you are beautiful in everything you achieve and hope for in life. You are beautiful in all your diversity, you are beautiful because you are different and fearful of being just so.

 

Being that we celebrated World Mental Health Day yesterday, I believed in was only appropriate to discuss issues of mental health within the black community. Unfortunately there is a major stigma concerning mental health as it is overlooked and often ignored though a number of African Americans deal with issues of mental health.

I know personally I have struggled with my mental health and found myself not being able to really communicate it. Due to this stigma in the black community, mental disabilities are frowned upon and looked at negatively. Personally coming from an African household, my parents didn’t really believe in mental health as the culture they grew up in viewed it as taboo, something fictional. Due to this lack on knowledge/belief, it made it very uncomfortable to deal with certain issues as I feared being looked at as ‘crazy’ causing me to often ignore and invalidate my feelings.

For many African Americans this is a reality. Where having a mental disorder can cause you to be shunned or invalidated. This issue also becomes worse in some cases for African American males specifically. As they have to deal with keeping up a certain image of being this strong provider, having or dealing with issues of mental health is seen as a ‘weakness’.

While these issues are often seen as taboo, unfortunately they come up one way or another. In recent studies according to the US Office of Minority Health, African Americans teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than are white teenagers (8.3% versus 6.2%) even though we make up for a smaller amount of the population. They also stated that African Americans held beliefs related to psychological openness and help-seeking, which in turn affected their coping behaviors. This led to participants in the study not being very open to acknowledging psychological problems they’ve dealt with. They also pointed out the fact that African American men were particularly concerned about the stigma and that stigma and judgment prevents African Americans overall from seeking treatment for their mental illnesses. In the study it was indicated that African Americans believe that mild depression or anxiety would be considered “crazy” in their social circles. Many believe that discussions about mental illness would not be appropriate even among family.

While reading many of these statistics can be saddening, again it is unfortunately a reality for many African Americans, including myself. But even when facing issues of mental health, there are issues within treatment itself. Studies have found that because less than 2 percent of American Psychological Association members are African American, some may worry that mental health care practitioners are not culturally competent enough to treat their specific issues. Many have stated that this issue is compounded by the fact that some African American patients have reported experiencing racism and microaggression from therapists.

Another issue often overlooked concerning treatment is the mass incarceration issue that effects the black community. Rather than acknowledging these problems, society tends to turn the other cheek for African Americans. As there is a gross overrepresentation of African Americans in jails, POC are found to make up 60% of the prison population. This is not because  ‘African Americans commit more crimes than others’ because that is simply false. This is due to injustices committed against African Americans often causing this pipeline directly from the black community to prisons. But that’s an issue to be further discussed for later.

In hopes of combatting the ignorance surrounding mental health, there needs to be more discussion, acknowledgement, and validation of mental health within the black community. It’s okay to have an ‘off’ day, it’s okay to feel a certain way sometimes because at the end of the day we are human. Do not ignore your feelings because you’re afraid of being viewed as ‘crazy’. And while this may be easier said than done, remember even if you do ignore them they will manifest in some way and come back, even worse sometimes.

Taking from my experience I truly hope those out there going through similar things, despite your race, know that their issues and feelings are valid! That what they’re going through is understandable and worth talking about.

Here are some appropriate topics to make jokes about:

• Your Boss
• Traffic
• Funny Personal Experiences

Here are some inappropriate topics to make jokes about:

• Rape

While I may feel this is the general consensus among decent human beings, I guess as always our so called ‘president’ didn’t get the memo.

Recently attending a rally in Mississippi, Donald Trump mocked the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford doubting her alleged sexual assault.

Now while Republicans have done, and continue to do everything in their will power to discredit Dr. Ford’s testimony our ‘president’ decided to go on NATIONAL TELEVISION and confidently mock the testimony of a rape victim. I truly do not know what in his right mind thought it was okay to do this, wait let me take a step back because I am assuming his mind is ‘right’.

When stumbling upon the video on twitter, I was disgusted beyond belief. He goes on to say that a “man’s life is shattered” because of the “evil people” who falsely accused him. Within those few sentences alone our ‘president’ revived rape culture. What’s sad is that when spewing out this disgusting propaganda there are people behind him cheering him on, applauding him for his words.

The first thing that came to my mind after was how the millions of victims of sexual assault across the nation had to witness this. They had to sit and listen to this man, who has been accused of many acts of sexual assault which have later been PROVED, invalidate their experience with sexual assault and put shame on them. It amazes me how someone of such vile history as Trump, could have the audacity to call anyone else evil. Because those who rape and ruin lives are not evil, no. Instead their lives are ‘shattered’ when an actual victim finally gains the confidence to speak about the acts committed against her. Because god forbid we acknowledge assault victims and take about the heinous crimes men have committed. How their lives are forever changed and will never be the same or ‘normal’

Please also remember when reading this I am not accusing men as an entire gender. I am accusing the select few who ARE rapists and do not respect women, men such as our ‘president’. Trump claims that men are the ‘real victims’ due to false accusations. But according to a study conducted by Stanford students, they found only about 2% of all rape and related sex charges are determined to be false using information directly from FBI data. They also found out that only about 40% of rapes are ever reported to the police, and this is partly because “victims know that if their claim becomes public, their every behavior will be scrutinized, they will be shamed for their sexual history, and they will be labeled as lunatic, psychotic, paranoid, and manipulative.”

With events such as our ‘president’ mocking a victim, there is no wonder why women are afraid to speak up about their experience. Because the few times women DO report their assault, they are immediately questioned and blamed. Women not only have to deal with the constant fear of something happening to them for simply existing, but also have to face a system that tries to discredit them the moment something does.