Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tim Wise/ Brown Vs. Board of education extended off of Danielle's Blog

I really thought that Danielle wrote about the connections between the videos, the article, and the website really well. i actually had thought of many similar points when i was watching the videos myself, which is why i chose to extend off of her blog. She first goes into talking about how racism is still exists in todays world. Then she begins talking about the videos and how Tim Wise said "Barack Obama is a light skinned African American, this possibly giving a comfort factor to white voters. He is worried that if he was darker, or if future candidates to come are darker that this will make white people uncomfortable with letting themselves give the candidate the deserved vote."  Now after hearing this it clearly shows how racism still very much exists in todays society, and it's awful to think about it but Americans need to be more aware of that fact that it does still exist. Wise also mentions later on that white people are oblivious to things. That if we want to find out the issues we need to go to the people who are being directly effected by it, which i totally agree with. 


She then goes into talking about how in order for black people to share the same privileges as white people they need to be extraordinary people. for example she talks about Obama and says that black people must be be exceptional at their task. In Obama's case he was. He was accepted by the public for his intelligence and sophistication. However she also brings about another point Wise uses. He said to take George Bush for example. He was president of the united states for eight years and most people would say that he's an idiot. Now if George Bush had been black there was no way he would have been elected. There is a perfect example of how racism still exists in the current society. Danielle then uses a quote by Wise to sum it all up, which i thought was great. 


"The proof of racial equity will be the day that people of color can be as mediocre as white folks and still get hired."


This is such a good quote because it's so true. it's terrible to think about but it shows just how much rasicsm is still a big part of society. how is it fair that because someone is white that they are allowed to be mediocre ad still be considered better than someone who is black? that doesn't make any sense to me. it's just plain unfair. why should people of color have to work ten times as hard to gain the respect of society when a white person who doesn't work at all automatically gets it? In no way is that fair. 


She then goes into talking about the stereotypes Wise mentioned in his video, which were pretty amazing.
6 out of 10 people said...
1.black people are precieved as less intelligent
2.black people are less patriotic
3.black people are less hard working than white people
4.75% of white people say that black people want to live on welfare


she then goes into talking about how this proves racism still exist today. i totally agree with her. these statistics are crazy. 
In her last few paragraphs she talk about Bob Herbert's article and shows how it relates to the Brown vs. board of education from 1954. She used two great quotes which i thought really stuck out to me in the article as well. 
1."If you really want to improve the education of poor children, you have to get them away from learning environments that are smothered by poverty. This is being done in some places, with impressive results. An important study conducted by the Century Foundation in Montgomery County, Md., showed that low-income students who happened to be enrolled in affluent elementary schools did much better than similarly low-income students in higher-poverty schools in the county." 
This quote pretty much says it all. It's not kids race that is effecting their learning. it's the environment that they are in. now this is a problem they we should invest in fixing. there is always so much talk about education and how important it is. look at providence right now, with all of the teachers being fired. Maybe we should focus a little more on what Herbert says and fix the environment first, because based on this article it seems that this could greatly improve education for these children. Like Danielle says everything goes back to the brown vs. board of education case years ago. they argued "separate but equal", however it wasn't equal at all. it caused segregation and racism. another great point that i thought she made was that it's similar now with student stuck in poverty schools, and without integration the student will only suffer. this is a great point and i totally agree with her. we need to work on doing a better job of this. her last quote was,
2. "Studies have shown that it is not the race of the students that is significant, but rather the improved all-around environment of schools with better teachers, fewer classroom disruptions, pupils who are more engaged academically, parents who are more involved, and so on. The poorer students benefit from the more affluent environment." 
now if this is the case we need to work on improving these environments, because we spend so much money on everything else in society. well lets focus on fixing the problem rather than blaming it on something. i agree with Herbert's argument. 

I chose Danielle's blog because i thought she made some really good points and i personally thought a lot of the same things while i was watching and reading these assignments. Personally this has opened by eyes a little more to what's going on around me. i have to admit i am one of those people who Wise says is oblivious to thing around them.


=racism_-_cartoon.gif

1 comment:

  1. I really like your blog post it really lays out the main facts of everything that connects the videos and articles together. It's really amazing the statistics that Wise gives because it makes known that racism does indeed exist to this very day whether people believe it or not. AND I AGREE that I too am a little oblivious!!

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