Keep your eyes on this page for updated opportunities to improve your grade via extra credit assignments. Â They will be in the form of either video or reading, and an honest, full, response is required to be considered extra credit. Â Points will go towards lowest graded assignment.
10/22/2015
Extra Credit Opportunity:
Construct a response to the following article, in light of having watched Pt. 3: The House We Live In. Â How much has changed in our nation since racist FHA practices? Â What do you think of what’s presented in the article here? Does this affect you– maybe even your community?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/georgia/
Poke around this site and read/watch/learn more about the Lost Children of Rockdale County. Consider how this syphilis outbreak, news coverage, and treatment varied from previous treatment of people with the illness (i.e., Tuskegee)
Post your comments below.
Syphilis outbreak in Rockdale County differ from the outbreak in Tuskegee in various ways. The outbreak in Rockdale involved young teenagers who were involved with drug and alcohol usage and multiple sex partners. However in the Tuskegee outbreak patients were considered to be experimental subjects and treatments were denied to them. Also it was only done to African American whereas in the Rockdale County it was both Whites and African American.
Within the Rockdale County syphilis outbreak, the CDC and the state department of health were contacted immediately. This was the first step in the difference between the Tuskegee outbreak and the Rockdale County outbreak. These teenagers had been engaging in sexual activity which is what lead to the syphilis outbreak. No one was misinformed here. This situation was a lack of self control as well as a lack of education in regards to STD’s. It was surprising to me that the issue was addressed immediately because it was such a small town and everyone was nervous about their reputation. Another issue within this story is that it was geared towards these two girls. The men were interviewed but only briefly. I believe that in society when women are seen to be sexually active it is looked down upon way more than men. This is one reason why i believe this story focused more on the girls. Also, their parents were in denial that these girls were ever into any trouble. Many times when parents are more strict on their children it leads to the children exploring things in secrecy without the parents knowing. This might have been the situation within the Rockdale county outbreak. Another huge issue within this outbreak was that white girls were having sex with african american men. As mentioned in the interview, a relationship between an african american man and a white woman was still a touchy subject. Since this took place in the south, there was still a separation of races at this time. Since the girls had more sexual relations with the african american men than the white men, this made a huge statement within the town as well. Overall, i believe that this situation was handled more appropriately than the Tuskegee outbreak. These teens were engaging in sexual acts without knowing nor wanting to find out what diseases they were coming in contact with.
Fantastic response!
Tuskegee syphilis and Rockdale county syphilis are conducted on two different times. In Tuskegee syphilis people are mistreated and weren’t aware about their treatment. The experiment also didn’t have enough fund to provide the medicine to the patient. On the other hand, Rockdale county syphilis was conducted in a rural area, however the authority was contacted right away and the victim was provided enough support to better the situation.
In response to Extra credit:
The victims of the Rockdale county and Tuskegee experiment are different than each other. Tuskegee experiment occurred among the rural Afro- American society. On the other hand, Rockdale county experiment was conducted among a combined society especially in young people. The Tuskegee experiment was an unaware threat for the people who have no idea about the disease. Rockdale county experiment was conducted within the consent of the population. After the syphilis of Rockdale county government was contacted initially which was very rare in the Tuskegee syphilis. More likely, Tuskegee syphilis was an experiment for a specific small rural population to figure out the cause of disease; on the other hand Rockdale county syphilis was occurred for the lack of inexperience in sexual activity.
The outbreak in both situations varied in many ways. The Tuskegee experiment was conducted on minorities who lived in rundown neighborhoods, some of the individuals were given syphilis and expected a treatment. Some people had it without knowledge of it. Rockdale on the other hand was a more developed community which was also predominantly white. The majority of the kids who had syphilis were white and it was believed it was contacted through sexual contact. The kids were having unprotected sex with numerous partners at the parties they held at their houses.
The age group in both cases are also very different. In the Tuskegee experiment there was a wide range of people with different ages, the Rockdale outbreak consisted of teenagers under 19. Several articles were written about the Rockdale kids, while the Tuskegee didn’t receive any attention even though the men were dying and not receiving the proper treatment for the disease. An effective follow up was done in the case of the Rockdale kids. The Tuskegee experiment was an experiment that was planned and carried out, the Rockdale kids was a case study.
In my opinion the Rockdale kids could have avoided the whole breakout from occurring if they didn’t participate in parties where they were having unprotected group sex. The man of Tuskegee were not well informed on what they were getting into so I do not believe the Tuskegee experiment could have been avoided. Some of the men did need treatment for “bad blood”.
When compering the Tuskegee syphilis outbreak with the Rockdale County outbreak we can see the significant difference in overall medical treatment and response.
The Tuskegee study is an example of a straight racism and unethical experiment. The doctors from Tuskegee case had no intention of curing the syphilis outbreak. For them that particular syphilis cases were a chance of exiting experiment on “bad blood” Afro-Americans. In the other hand, the Rockdale County case shows the syphilis outbreak among the white teenagers from Georgia. Initially the outbreak case was granted very minimum attention because of the stigma of ” bad blood” syphilis. Back then people thought that syphilis is strictly assigned to black race, and have nothing to do with white race. Blame for the outbreak went to 2 white teenagers and of course to Afro-America men, with whom teenagers had initial sex with. However , all the cases of syphilis got proper medical treatment. There was no experiment involved, no research conducted on infected people.
Tuskegee vs. Rockdale
The Tuskegee syphilis outbreak was handled quite differently from that of the “Lost Children of Rockdale County” in that, the Tuskegee situation was unethical and stigmatic while the Lost Children situation received immediate health care with respect and ethics.
In Tuskegee, the medical team did not treat the poor black people with respect or with much form of humanity. Even the way in which the experiment was titled as “Bad Blood” was already degrading to the subjects of the population being studied. The title gave this feeling as if they are referring to animals or some creatures of low significance. The medical team was unethical and prejudice, they tried very hard to lay and confirm the stigma or stereotype that syphilis is only for the back population. They did everything to steer away from including many significant facts that contributed to the outbreak. These facts would show the other side of the story, that, those black men in particular did not have health care readily available to them in general or did not have the financial means to get health care. During the “Bad Blood” experiment was the first time majority of these men have ever been examined by a doctor.
Syphilis in Rockdale was totally preventable in the majority of cases because the residents were of upper middle class or wealthy and could afford quality healthcare and supervision for their children. Rockdale residents were mostly of white descent. The children were allowed to do whatever they wanted without supervision. In fact some knew better, yet, they choose to sneak away behind their parent’s backs to indulge in sexual and inappropriate activities. The boys and girls were involved with multiple sexual partners, at times, in group sex resulting in the syphilis outbreak. The activities did not only involve white girls and boys, it involved white girls and a mix of both white and black boys. White girls having sex with black boys– is a big negative in this region. When the outbreak became apparent, the health department was quickly contacted and swift measures were taken to treat these teenagers, mostly white girls. This is a big difference in comparison to the way the Tuskegee outbreak was handled.
I believe if the population of Tuskegee with syphilis was white, the manner in which they were treated would have been similar to how quickly, ethically and respectfully the white teen agers from Rockdale County received treatment.
There are many differences between the Lost Children of Rockdale County and the Tuskegee. They both take place at different time and location. These teenagers from Rockdale County were given the cure as soon as doctors found out that the teenagers had syphilis unlike the participants from the Tuskegee who did not receive the cure. In addition, the parent and their teenager should be blame this syphilis outbreak because the parent should have paid more attention to their child and the teenager should have not participated in sexual activity. On the other hand, the doctors and the researchers who support this Tuskegee experiment should be blame for causing harm to the participants and lying to them about the treatment.
The differences between the Rockdale county syphilis outbreak and the one in the Tuskegee’s case reside in the way each one was addressed. In the case of Rockdale County, the problem was straightaway addressed by an intervention of the department of health. Even if the outbreak’s cause was a luck of: self- control, education and of parents supervision of the teenagers, the way how the problem was addressed was based on a socio-economic and racial criteria. The teenagers in the Rockdale County were from and middle upper middle class. The concerned party was not misinformed as it was the case with the Tuskegee African American victims. They were not denied medical treatments. Also, there were no noticeable ethical issues from the medical staff when it came to their behaviors toward both the affected teens and their families. I must add that girls were given more attention not because of gender but because they were involved in sexual activities with African Americans which constitutes an abnormal behavior even though it is not an acceptable activity that teens should have. If both cases of syphilis in their social settings were different as well as how they were handled, they both share a common point which is the disconnect between individuals’ basic needs and the overall functions of the communities. This disconnect was a major factor that had contributed directly to the degree of severity of the problem
After I read the article, it hasn’t change that much in terms of racism as it should be. According the landlord, dominant White racial people are still taking the Blacks as a minor group and they denied to give them the social dignity. I feel shocked when the landlord was mentioning there was a black person was visiting the apartment and how the White people are reacted about it. This shows all though we are trying to set an equal society, as long as we are not changing our mind it wouldn’t be possible. I believe the White people are taking their financial power to keep them in a separate place in terms of renting an apartment. The landlord can think about his profit in business but at the end of the day it will be us who has to change in mind to set an equal society.
The article shows the real scenario of our society where racism is still exists. I think very much all minority races are become victim of racial attack some matter of their life. The article reveals how the landlord are feeling more comfortable to give the apartment to a White rather than a Black. Because he knows if he can provide the Whites an apartment where are no Black people living he can make his profit twice than before. The landlord also tells us that how Black people are suffering financially; as a result when they offering 7 to 8 thousand dollar to move they are not denying to do so. If we think in the field of business, the owner is doing everything what he needs to do to make more money. However, if we look in our society in this new era, we still classified ourself between whites and blacks and hammering the humanity badly. The article also shows us that although we learned about the racial discrimination at our school or colleges; we are not quit following it in our real life.
In the past FHA practices almost guarantee the white to have loans and refused black people or even people who lived near black people. black were not allowed to buy property. however it is not the same today because a lot of black people earn property. but, we are still facing problem such as black and white are inhabited in two different neighborhoods. in the article Ephraim said, when black people move in a community the value of that area goes down. we watched in the movie how white people pack their belonging to move when they see black people is moving to their blocks. I was surprise to read in the article how some of the white tenants refused to pay the rent because a black tenant is moving to the building. may be the white people believe that the area won’t be clean any more, and the worth of the are won’t be the same. The government will not pay that much attention to the area where black lives on. sanitation and snow removing will be neglected. once against we learn about the impact of racism in our society. yes it affect me in my community. the street is not clean. sanitation come to pick up the garbage to late and sometimes they don’t even show up at all. I believe a white neighborhood will receive a better care, and better attention.
In the past FHA practices got whites to sell their homes because Blacks were moving in. Blacks started taking over communities that were once predominately White, but with a larger price tag than what they were being sold for. A lot has changed because now Blacks can own their own properties and in some communities live beside Whites. The sad part though is some of the FHA practices are still happening under the table. I feel like racism is one of those things that just doesn’t ever go away. Like Ephriam was saying, he didn’t want to call it “being a racist”, that some of his tenants didn’t want Blacks living in the buildings he was renting out. But just because its not being called racist doesn’t mean its not being practiced. This does affect me in away because first I can’t help but think if this will get worst or better in the next five years. Secondly, it reminds me of a time the landlord of my building tried to do something similar and say she will only rent out apartments to Africans because they pay their rent on time, but the Blacks don’t.
I think that he is promoting racism. He may not be a racist since he is doing it with a business perspective. But since he is ok with doing it he is just as guilty. I think it is dumb that people feel they can choose and pick who lives in a building with them because they pay a lot. I also think he is a thief for paying people bits and pieces to move out and raising the rent thousands. This also shows that he has no ethics/morals and is willing to just about anything to make sure he is getting his money. He should at least think about the families he is putting out and how it can affect their future.
I am not sure if this is going on in my community, but I would hate to find out if it was. This isn’t affecting me currently because I live in a black building. But with the ongoing gentrification that has been taking place I have noticed more whites in my neighborhood. A lot of the families in my neighborhood have been living there for 10-15 years plus. So I would think this will be a perfect area for thieves like Ephraim to target.
I think a little bit have changed since racist FHA practices; however, the aspect of racial discrimination is still present around NYC communities. Previously, the ownership of the house was strictly accessible to white people only. The FHA was continuously refusing to back up loan for Afro-American members of society. Moreover, white people, who were trying to buy a house next time Afro-American had their loans denied. Such a racist behavior resulted in creation of racial neighborhoods around the New York. Those particular racial communities were and still are exposed to poverty, crime, and stigma of social assistance due to residential segregation back in past. Now days, any minority group is able to buy house or any property around NY. However, the “racial phobia” is now a dominant barrier. Some white people are afraid to live or buy a house next to member of minority group. In their opinion, particular neighborhood will be more unsafe when racial group will start to come in to it. According to GW Gibson’s article, tricking and replacing black tenants with white tenants is very common in NYC. Especially, ares like Bed-Stay and East New York are full of evil landlords and investors trying to buy out Afro-Ameriacans and other racial group out of their properties to create more expensive and upscale neighborhoods. Based on them, white people can pay higher rent and make particular area more attractive for potential new people looking for place to live. Above behavior in terrifying and sad. It shows clearly that everything in NYC goes about profit, discarding people and their values.
So when we talk about “white privilege,” this is what we mean. Whites in NYC are free from the burden of landlords wanting them to leave because of their and tenants calling landlords in case you accidentally move in. Must be nice to have this privilege. White people, enjoy your whiteness and the housing privileges in NYC that result from it. What a privilege!!
I agree with the author when he said about Jewish landlord because I live in a heavily based Jewish community. Most of the businesses and properties belong to them. I must say that Jewish make most of the decisions such us the one linked to the price’s decision. Let me just give a simple example: just two years ago, the rent of one bedroom apartment was $1000. Today and because the “Jewish” are the owners of the properties, the rent of the same size apartment went up 60%. The construction of a new Arena “Barclay Center” next door is also to blame for such change. When it comes to making money and development, Jewish have their say but why not when it comes to schools and transportation?. The answer is that they take their kids to private schools with their own cars
Since the FHA practices, nothing really haven’t change that much, yes some neighborhoods are mix with whites and every other race, but there are still those who want to stay and keep everyone separate in this country. From what i read in the article everything that they are doing is wrong, there men have no ethics and morals at all, also it only continues to separate all races in this country and if this keeps up racism will never end in this country. I know this use to happen back in the 80’s, but come to find out it is still happening in the twenty first century all i can do it shack my head about this all. Within my community, i know the rents are way more then they use to be, but no one has ever came to my door offering me money to move, will it happen that is something i do not know.
Racism has changed a lot over the years, with various reforms that have been made, but obviously there are things that laws can not change: these are the perception that humans being have of each other, and the way that they categorized the different approach that everyone uses to live his/her life. Behaviors have a lot to do with this, because there certain moral and civic codes that have to be respect for everyone, but some people break them; I guess that in these days is what more affects the racist problems. About the article, those people are interested in make money, do not matter what methods they need to do, even giving others prices to push them out, what is repugnant.
I never have been in a situation like that, I do not feel the target of racism or discrimination.
This story in the article “I Will Put In White Tenants” is appalling. This reminds me how the Blacks were treated when they could finally purchase house in Levittown, Long Island. The Whites moved out of the community with all their businesses and resources leaving the Black people to suffer.
I felt horrible reading the article that black people are treated in such a manner today by all other people. Black people are so buried with stereotypes that make them much unlike humans that aren’t worth anything in the eyes of the masses.
I am wondering if the problem now is really the fault of black people. What can they do to gain respect , and power? Despite many efforts to influence equality why is racism so prominent against Blacks and the minority people? Maybe black people really need to command respect by getting better educated to have more spending power and to raise the social standards among themselves. Also the white and other people should be educated on how the black people got into this kind of outcast situation. Hopefully, this will bring some fairness and equality. Although the government seem to turn a blind eye on the truth, it would be great if the majority gets monitored and heavily penalized for illegal and unethical actions against other humans.
There not much changed in our nation since the racist FHA practices. Based on the articles, there are people that are still racist and they do not see other races as equal. For instance, when a black person tries to move in that building, many white people in that building were upset about it. What Ephraim did was unethical, but he did what most business person would do which is to make profit and satisfy his wealthy tenants. This FHA practices does not really affect me. It might affect my community.
This article was sad but very interesting. Racism is systemic, so much passed down that some racist people do not even realize they are feeding the racist cow; with their ignorant thinking and behavior. This real estate practice may or may not be illegal, but not renting to someone because of their race, skin color, ethnicity, anything that they did not choose is illegal. Also I know somewhere… somewhere in that Torah I can bet my life on it that he is violating a law. He is conning and exploiting people for riches. Now you can do that if you are a business man and a lay non religious person. Meaning that.. hey you have no religious moral reference . But for a Synagogue going, Sabbath keeping, three times a day at least praying Jew… This behavior and thinking is so not in line with any thing righteous. The problem is not racism. It is people and Ephraim is perpetuating it. It also says a lot about those apartment seeking people in general. New York is for everyone. However it has been said to be likened to a tossed salad in stead of a melting pot. Because we have so many different races, cultures, religious groups and nationalities here. These groups tend to settle around each other. Meaning they tend to live near or around one another because it is more comfortable like home. The language, accent or intonation is familiar. The smell of food coming from the store and the houses remind them of their countries. And the business around them start importing spices from their countries or homelands. And we love and appreciate it. We know that we can go to Bayridge for a “real” pizza or Chinatown for some authentic Chinese spice or food. But it would be very off putting I were to move into Borough Park or in a new building on Franklin Ave. and Flushing Ave. Where it is a very saturated Jewish community, and have the balls to say to the landlord I don’t want to live in a building with Jewish people. To come into any ethnic neighborhood willingly, desiring, choosing to be there out of all of the places in the around, including around your own “people” and then going to lengths not be around or live in buildings that the people of the community live in is sick. You have people on Brownstoner.com asking how is Brooklyn to live, and others responding “It is nice. It is the only place that still actually has neighborhoods. The people sit on their stoops, wash their cars, interact with and watch out for their neighbors while the kids play ball and double dutch in the street. However… the neighborhood is still taking a while to “turn over”. Turn Over/ What in the hell does that mean. People put out broad statements like Ephraim saying black people are “messing up”. Who says this? People love to jump on the bandwagon about lies and sterotypes about someone else because it takes the high beam off of their faults and shortcomings and strokes their insecurity, low self esteem, and envious personalities. Obviously when people come into Fort Green, BedStuy, Crown Heights, Bushwick and yes East NY neighborhoods they see beautiful parks, beautiful tree lined streets, bodegas (corner stores) Shopping centers, movie theaters and the like. This is wher black people live and where most “Black” people own, sweep their yards, sidewalks and take care of their homes. How is that messing up? Its so messed up every one is lying stealing and robbing people to be there. Every neighborhood has their renters and home owners. Some have more than the other. It’s just something negative to say and benefit financially from the negativity in anyway you can and not take any responsibility for it. Ephraim said that these white tenants said that they pay too much money to have black people live in the building. That is racist and it is against the law. If you oblige them then your are racist as well. Makes no difference why. Whether if it is because of money, or it makes you feel good to put people down and discriminate against them is still racist. What he is doing is racist and illegal. This is why it is hard for this generation to embrace religion because you cant tell the difference between a righteous person and a heathen. This gets more concerning because “other’s” have had nasty things to say about Jewish people also.. namely the southern whites. I have heard in the past Jewish people mainly Hasidic Jews being labeled as rude, nasty, smelly, dirty, cheap, and incestuous. If i have a real estate business that own, use public moneys, government incentives and tax write offs to keep a race, or group of people out of my building that is against the law. I bet the Nazis did not want to live in buildings with Jews…and if I were a landlord and catered to them I truly wonder how Jewish people would view and see me. Especially if I were to give a response like.. Hey!!! “I know it is a little bit racist but it’s not. They are the ones paying and I have to give them what they want.” I guess that absolves all of the child and human traffickers also. I’ts okay as long as money is involved huh?. Again so telling, so ignorant and so sad.
“Lost Children of Rockdale County”
The Rockdale County outbreak and the Tuskegee break were different. It was different in the way of how both the Tuskegee and Rockdale County was handled in these situation. To the Tuskegee it was experimental only with the black people. However in the Rockdale County the syphilis outbreak was common between black people and white people. The Tuskegee community was not looked importantly when the syphilis outbreak happened. In the Rockland County when the syphilis took place the authorities were alerted right away. The general public was also very concerned about it. This shows that people in the Tuskegee community were shown less importance and values. But in the Rockland county people was shown more importance and values to.
“I Put in White Tenants: The Grim, Racist (and Likely Illegal) Methods of One Brooklyn Landlord,”
We can understand that not a lot of things changed from the FHA act. The FHA protects people from discrimination when they are renting houses. Based on this act tenants in many race and background are not suppose to be discriminate. However based on the history of racial segregation the many people fears this till today. In the article it is mentioned that the land owner is still afraid of giving rents to black tenant because they are afraid that black tenant might ruin the neighborhood for the white tenants. The article also talks about the racial difference between white and black tenants. Many white landlords trick the black people because they believe that the black people will not understand what is going on. I think that this affects many communities because throughout NYC we can see racism is still going on in many neighborhoods. So by following the FHA act we can reduce these issues of racial discrimination when it comes to renting and living.
I don’t think Ephraim is a racist. However, he accepts the racism and supports it. Because of the profit a lot of people are selling their pride for it. Ephraim is fix in that group. It’s really shocked me when I read this article. The White tenants are so racial. Evenly, they just see a black men step in a department of their building, they already call up to the landlord to complain and force him to kick that black men out. Not only that the reasons they were giving out are unacceptable. We are trying to create an equal society. The relationships between all races in the United States seems developed a lot. However, the hate between black and white people is still high. Hopefully, racial discrimination will get out White people mind in the next couple generations. And everybody will live in peace.