When I first began this course, I was not very interested in participating. I feared it was gonna be the same boring routine like in grade school: you reading an old book that you may or may not like, annotate and then doing a complicated essay. I am beyond happy that this was not the case but was a more flexible course that ended up being my favourite course in my first year of college online. I believe this course spiritually touched me thus revealing to me what fuels the success of the type of writer I am.
(Unit 1):
In the first Unit we were assigned to explain our opinions and experiences in school. I did not take a liking to it because I had to talk about a traumatic period in my life within a class I believed I was going to dislike. However, despite my pessimistic assumptions, a thought clicked in my head that the mood might change when I learned that I typed over two thousand words and other students were struggling to reach 400 words. At the end of the assignment, I received a B which I was satisfied with because of the work and emotional energy I put into an assignment I found painfully exhausting.
Looking at Unit One in retrospect, I cringed. But despite it being my least favourite assignment, I did learn important details about my writing ability.
What I learned in retrospect:
– Spacing out words into multiple paragraphs: In the future, I will break up my big entries into multiple paragraphs per chapter/entry. It is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read versus a giant paragraph entry.
– Clear and realistic Evidence: I naturally struggle with using evidence to back up my analysis. For this assignment, it was more difficult because I had to not only fight through short term memory but also dig up painful memories from long ago. From now on when I am assigned to elaborate on my life details, I will use evidence after my analytical explanation to make my points overall stronger and better.
(Unit 2):
Unit 2, was not only my favourite unit, but my favourite assignment for the entire year out of all my classes. The task was to use any subject and form it into a research annotated bibliography. I chose to do a bibliography on the Cold War which, ironically, was around the 2020 election so I believed it was a great opportunity to re-analyze some modern American history. I was highly passionate when typing this assignment and it resulted in a grade A. What this revealed to me is when I’m passionate about literature (or anything for that subject), I do an exceptionally fantastic job.
Main components of my research paper that I’m proud of is powerful mixture of point organization and thorough analyzation. Here is an example:
(Entry) – “Throughout the 19 year conflict, an estimated of over 58,000 US soldiers died and an overall estimation of 1-4 million people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed as a result of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is remembered as a failure as well as a human rights violation that America is negligent for.”
(Analysis) – “The Vietnam War is perhaps the most controversial proxy during the Cold War. It overall rippled the country leaving lasting scars on the United States as a whole. This ripple revealed to me one of many of flaws this country suffers: American prejudice and how it negatively impacts the world.”
(Important quotes) – “Psychologically, the effects ran even deeper. The war had pierced the myth of American invincibility and had bitterly divided the nation. Many returning veterans faced negative reactions from both opponents of the war (who viewed them as having killed innocent civilians) and its supporters (who saw them as having lost the war)…”
Throughout the entire assignment, I experience so much joy through writing that I have never felt before. Being able to use history, a subject that has provided me a sense of comfort through dark times, was very pleasurable alone. That pleasure fueled so much passion and motivation which ran deep in my literary skills. So deep that it created a masterful bibliography of over 5000 words. I worked late and had my father, who is also a historian, proofread the thousands of words I typed. At the end, I received an A.
(Unit 3):
Unit 3 was an assignment I was nervous to do but I had faith I would do well. The project was to use the information you attained in Unit 2, and use it to create an article that attracts your targeted audience. Although I was a little less enthusiastic about this Unit compared to Unit 2 because of having to narrow down my Cold War research to specific details and ‘talk in a way’ that I usually do not for my targeted audience (the youth) to understand.
Highs – After learning the importance of using organization from Unit one and seeing its success in Unit two, I utilized it by organizing and using titles.
Lows – Where I was lacking was elaborating and clarifying on the points I used while not using enough information in my article. Another minor issue was bolding the headings because it seems OpenLab does not utilize bold text.
*Unit 3 revision/corrections* (important note: half the revisions I did unfortunately got lost and deleted as I used the ‘Save Draft button and I could not recover it.)
2020 is going to remembered as a sour year for most. Things like the COVID-19 pandemic and rise of awareness of police brutality are main factors. Another factor may possibly be the result of the election for some fellow Americans. For older people, they may remember the 70s-80s as a tough and sour time to live. When bad things occur often, it’s best we educate people, the youth in this case, on these subjects. In this article will educate the reader on the importance of the Cold War by revealing its true nature on Modern America.
For the youth to grasp the important message of this article, we must begin with a brief summary of what the Cold War was. The Cold War was a global standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union (now simply called Russia) from 1947 to 1991. They both wanted to expand their opposing political influence to world thus creating various forms of conflict. In the history books, it is said the United States won the long standoff, but readers of this article will understand the enemy being fought was America itself, leaving a negative footnote for future generations. This is why:
Tyranny of the majority: when the majority population exploits and abuses their power over minority groups (smaller population). In America’s cases, tyranny of the majority is the majority white people in government positions. This majority was often a disadvantage in terms of economic and social progress for African-Americans. This flaw rippled and divided America during the Cold War.
Conclusion:
As this course ends, I am proud that I have grown closer with reading and literature as a whole because this course taught inspired me to not only read more, but to read more about topics that I enjoy. This is a joy I have not tasted in a long time. I proudly announce that in order to strengthen this new passion, that I have chosen to continue strengthening my English abilities through Ms. Hall, the one who made it possible for me to enjoy reading again.
As a reader, writer, and scholar what I can say is that words, organization, and critical thinking was hard for me in the beginning but now I feel like I have gotten better at it. I mean trying to find the right words, the bigger picture, and what you want people to take out of your story or essay has its perks for example. As a reader I am guided with information in which let me know what not to do as a writer, and also the things I should do as a writer. I mean I read and learn how to say certain things, how to be organized, and how to intrigued the reader, but reading and doing is way different. As I read the lines and in between them I understand that no reader wants to see unorganized work. Being a reader, we want want to know the point in why someone wrote this, they want to be guided and informed rather than misinformed we want a purpose. As a reader we want to be able to get an understanding. I learned that I want to be able to think, and even sometimes be confused, I even want to be able to ask myself questions because that is the key to being not only a good reader but also a scholar and especially a writer. As a reader when reading books, articles, and etc. I was taught to look for the main purpose look for the plot, and look for what I’m being informed or persuaded to do. Throughout a book my goal as a reader is to to feel the reader, the reader needs to bring out every emotion because that is what a good book does. As a scholar I am guided by my teacher who guides me with these sources, and does their best to provide an understanding on what people want to see. They provide us with information and how we can better our work and selves as we begin to work on writing. I learned to be prepared, to ask questions, and have your work criticized because that is the great process of preparing to be a writer. As a writer I learned to care about your readers. Ask questions to yourself from a reader’s perspective. When writing it is essential to know how to use your words because if you do not it will only confuse the reader. As a reader, writer, and scholar I would be able to take back the importance of being a reader, writer, and scholar. I mean as I enter my next chapter, I want to be able to bring the importance of reading and getting the understanding of what I am reading. I want to be able to take Professor Hall critics of my work to focus it on my future work. For example, Professor Hall has explained to me that I should be more organized with my work. When writing I always tend to jump into different topics. I did not know how to introduce my work properly and as a result of that I tend to leave the readers lost and confused. She taught me that I need to be more vivid give the readers a chance to see and experience how I felt and honestly, I agree with her. When writing I never actually left the readers with an image, I would just say things and expect them to understand. As a writer that is something in which you can not do. You have to expect the readers to not understand and it is your goal to make them understand because that’s what writing is all about. Writing is about telling your story, and telling your story is about getting heard, and getting heard is about being as vivid as possible, and being as vivid as possible is about showing the readers rather than just telling them and honestly, I want to be able to show my readers why what I say is important, and why they need to hear what I’m saying. I want to be confident in my writing and that is something that I feel as if is important for me to take with me in writing. Earlier in the semester I wrote and just wrote without thinking. It’s weird looking back at my work and reading it because even in my letter to self which was an assignment in which I had to write a letter to myself. Looking back at the letter I was even unorganized then. I talked about things in which I wished rather than the things I needed to do. I was more confused on how to inform, persuade, and even tell the reader, but now I understand the concept of writing, and why it is so important in which was something I never questioned enough before. My favorite assignment was most definitely unit 3. The idea of creative writing is intriguing to me. For that unit I wrote a poem where I basically talked about how the media is dangerous when it comes to the idea of a “criminal” in today’s society. I never actually did a poem before and to be honest I hate poems. Like they have always been the hardest thing for me to write only because it has been hard for me to smoothly write. Before I would write like this and I quote “Life was has been a distant memory”, but now I would say, “As I reached the bridge between Love, Pride, Friendship, and trust I’m trapped between the door between reality and a dream because within ever step I made 10 stories went missing in my head”. As I write in hopes to have the readers understand and question me because that is another key point when it comes to being a writer. Some noticeable lessons would be to think about the reader when writing. Usually when I would write I would never actually think like a reader. Instead I would just write like a writer. Like I said before I would hope that people understand what I was talking about. When you are a writer the goal is to put all your knowledge together from being a scholar, reader, and writer because that is how you become a better writer just by opening your mind. I am proud to say that now a days I am able to think like a reader, scholar, and writer which has helped me become better and I thank Professor Hall for that. A notable lesson that will forever be stuck with me after completing many of my assignments would be to not be all over the place when writing. In the future I plan on being a criminal defense lawyer to help the people who have happen to be wrongfully imprisoned. When having to defend someone I need to be organized and know exactly where to place things and how to place it or else I would be a terrible lawyer, and that is something that I do not one. So being in a class that helps benefit me like in this class it really continued to inspire me to follow my dreams. When I first started this semester, I would throw information in without explaining it and even throw words in that did not make sense. All the classes that I took this semester honestly help me become better at understanding, speaking, and persuading and I’m glad that I did not drop out. I feel like because of Covid it was hard for me to put my all in the work honestly it still is hard but I feel like I am doing way better now with my organization. When coming in I would revise my work so I already knew what to do and how to do it but my teachers from high school would never really go over it again more like skim it, and they would tell me I did a good job even though it never felt good. Looking back at my work I was a terrible writer so I feel as if they have been lying to me my whole life and that sucks, but professor hall I could tell that she actually read my work, and cared about what I had to say and that is important to me. I do not think I was given much peer feedback, and when I did, I think they was just doing it for the grade so nothing really stick out to me. The most challenging of this semester would probably be the fact that I was not physically in school. Being at home and working from home its extremely hard to stay focus or even keep hope. Like my whole life is passing before me and there is nothing that I can possibly do about it which sucks. Like I have a very bad issue when it comes to procrastination, and I have always felt unmotivated and covid has not made anything better but recently I applied for this scholarship, that as a result I cannot afford to fail, but honestly this has been stressful for me and probably for everyone but one thing I can say is that I tried my best.
Revision for Unit 1
For Revising unit one my goal was to fix the issues. When writing my unit one I was all over the place. I was unorganized, confused, and was confusing the readers. When looking back at my work and hearing feedback from Professor Hall I completely agree with what she was saying. I did not put much background information, or even put it out there on what the purpose was for me to write this. As a result of that when re-writing my unit one my goal is to give the readers a purpose to reading. Give them my opinion on education, and be specific on what I am writing this for.
Unit 1
The thought of sitting in class pen to paper has always been a very difficult task, never because I did not want to write I just never felt the need to write. When it comes down to Writing it has always been my personal way of finding myself. In writing I am able to be vulnerable, a hero, a villain, and even the version of myself I refuse to show because in the end of each story, essay, and poem no one knows unless you tell them, and that’s the reason to why I love writing. When it comes to writing I always felt as if my goal was to write about something I cared about or even something that I thought people should know, hear, and feel. When it comes to school it always seemed as if the English curriculum failed me. They failed me because within everything I was told to write it just never seemed to sit right because I never cared for what I was told to write, I more cared about the importance of my thoughts, and emotions being able to be broadcast to the world but kept secret. The English curriculum always based themselves on things that just did not interest me. I never was able to show the creative side that pleaded for me to let out and I hated the idea of school because of it. I would have to write essays on things that was considered as important just because I live in America. Write paragraphs on why I used a certain strategy in math. Write things that I did not really care about, not because I don’t care about the history but because it was a history that many individuals changed throughout the years or even try to leave out. I was trapped in a endless cycle of misinformation from learning that Christopher Columbus founded “America” to learning that we live on stolen land, but as of today we still celebrate Christopher Columbus for “finding the land”. It was all so confusing and it did not make sense. As they teach slavery, and teach segregation, and teach the struggles that people face on a daily we still allow people in white to threaten the lives of many. We sell confederate flags in which people say it is not a bad thing but have males dressed in white hanging black males in front of them. We see statues of white males, and those exact white males are the ones who owned slaves and fought for slavery, and etc. Then we learn about Y=Mx+B and as of today I have yet to use such an equation. As I grow older school has always been something in which I was told one thing just to be misguided in the future, and that has always been something in which puzzled me. As a result, I have learned that I have stories in which I want to share, stories in which I hope people can relate to but in high school I always felt as if school was something forced, and made to misguide you in the future.
Urban Assembly for Law and Justice told me to wake up prepared to learn. As I scrambled out of bed, into the shower, into clothes that was uncomfortable, skipping breakfast, and onto a bus. It was an experience in which I repeated for years. As I walked into a building sleepy from the day before due to family issues, and work that teachers provide me the day before I was trapped in an endless cycle of depression that never quite budged. My problem was that I always thought learning was something in which they wanted the people who they taught to be interested in, or even find away for the students to want to learn more, or even care more. Maybe I got the wrong memo because the more I hoped for high school to end the more I went falling in the lines between meet, and did not meet, but even then I still felt as if even though teachers told me I had met the these expectations set aside in the end I had no clue on what I really did or how I did it. Instead I searched the walls, and books for guidance because what I did not learn or what did not interest me was something that ended up being up to me to complete.
As I sat in silence hearing the screeching of the marker tracing the board, I looked out the window hoping that maybe just maybe I would be able to see more than I was given because while I was still able to see I never really felt as if I was seeing much these days.
Then again I want to be able to tell the story of my 1stparent teacher conference, and how my math teacher cared more about bullying me rather then teaching me.
It was a chilly afternoon of my freshman year. As the sun began to disappear into the clouds, and as we lined up waiting to enter into a building in which my mom called school, I traveled the halls of the familiar faces, and wish that I could just disappear. My mom turned the corner as students and teachers filled her hands with information about me, they gave her my report card, and things that was supposed to determine the kind of student I am. In which I always thought was weird being that they are giving out “my information, without me even giving them any information to begin with. As we roamed the halls going in and out the classroom conferencing with different teachers about my behavior in school, and my grades. So far, all the teachers had great things to say like I was “on task” and “quiet” being that it was my 1st year in high school, and I did not know anyone so there was not much to say to anybody. I did my work and stayed on task, and asked question when needed but otherwise I kept to myself. Soon after we roamed the halls walking into individuals who were happy with their children and others who were not, I strolled the hall alongside my mother hearing the laughs, and hearing the yells of parents looking in the eyes of their child, I was stuck in the in between my mom being proud but questioning if she should really be proud. My mom was not happy nor mad, but instead chill. It was something I expected with my mother where she would just remain calm and neutral until she finished with the whole parent teacher conference and then boom, she picks and choose if she should get upset or not and I always hoped she didn’t because no one wants her mad.
We soon reached the door of my algebra teacher I was introduced into an array of disappointment. She was such a disappointment in my eyes. As a teacher she believed that student is supposed to understand the things she teaches right away, and that’s not me. She and I clashed a lot due to are different views. She would tell me the reason for me not understanding was because I was talking, and being rude, leaving out the fact that when I asked she always ignored, and when I raised my hand she always ignored, but when I yelled she made sure to call my mom, or the principle. I never knew what the hell she wanted from me because every time I tried with that lady it was as if I was being pushed 10 steps back. As my mom reached the door, I locked eyes with the teacher in which I knew was going to give me the most trouble. She said things in which I couldn’t even believe for myself as my mom nodded intrigued with all of the “new things” that she told her. She said things like ” Your daughter has a hard time listening”, “She does not pay attention to what I am telling her”, “She always has something to say”, “I constantly have to repeat myself to Daziah”, “Daziah has a hard time staying on task, she always is talking to her friends or partner”. She would say things in which she saw but never cared to ask. I mean she said I was having a hard time without even asking why, and the answer has always remained the same I just did not understand, I will listen, and listen, and ask questions but in the end I was still left with that feeling of being lost in a room without a real guide to help me follow through with what I needed to be done. As my mom sat there in disappointment, she gave me a chance to explain myself. There was so much I wanted to say in such a short amount of time. I wanted to yell scream even. Tell her how I personally believed that she was a horrible person, teacher even. I even wanted to tell her how she was so busy worried about getting money instead of doing her job. She did not care, and she was one of those individuals who around others was such a “loving”, and “caring” person but around people who was not considered as authority in her eyes was someone who she believed that she can walk all over. Hate was a strong word but her actions proved to me that hate is something I should feel, but in the end, who am I to go against, an adult. Things would go badly on my part regardless if I spoke or not because my mom taught me to never ever raise my voice or talk back to an adult, and I guess that was because of the Caribbean in us. She as of today has been the reason to why I the despise math, being that when I needed her for help, she refused me, and left me to fend for myself in a world where math was something that they told me that I needed, but never really felt as if I needed as much as they claimed. She taunts me, she knew I was struggling and it seemed as if he wanted me to. When I reached the 12thgrade she ended up being my math teacher again and let me tell you. She never stopped making my life a living hell I guess that’s what she was supposed to do.
A Short Reviewers Memo
My intentions in writing this piece was to share a experience in which has stuck with me for years and changed my view on teachers, and math. When writing this I did not really have any hopes but I guess I kind of wondered if there has been others who had faced a teacher or teachers in which tried to prove so hard that they knew who we was as a person without actually knowing anything. I guess I want people to take away from this is maybe that maybe it would be better to stick up for yourself. I think I am having most trouble with giving more imagery, having the readers get a sense of how I look the room look, my mother’s expressions, and things like that. Also I know my grammar is probably terrible. I guess I need help with the things that I have listed above. When reading this can you all highlight the parts that confuse you. Maybe the things that you all do not understand or want to hear more of.
-Thank you for your time and patience
Daziah Rowe
Unit 2
Research Question: “How does the media influence our ideas of implicit bias, especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality.”
As of today, living in a world where technology, and the internet runs the show we are faced with coverage of the world day by day from different standpoints. We live in a world where we base life off of what we see on Tv, what we read on the internet, and how people react on social Media. When reading and hearing about things without doing research it becomes are biggest problem. The media is a place where people are able to spread awareness to the different types of things that takes place all over. Some of the information can be true and some could be false at the end of the day it is filled with different types of biases, and misinformation of touchy subjects. Explaining and breaking down the truth of the media we will be able to establish a sense of what is true and what happens to be false. This is important because people are becoming less and less aware about what the purpose of the media is which is to persuade an audience into believing what they want them to hear or what they believe people should hear. Day by Day some individuals use the media as a way to put fear into individuals’ hearts. They use the media to paint criminals as a certain race, victims as a certain job, or a certain gender, and they paint a certain race as something superior. As a result, the people who view these certain types of the media are persuaded to fear the individuals that are broadcasted as the criminals. The ones who views certain bias kinds of media often react in ways which can be something positive or negative, but majority of the time they react in a negative way, which can be in a physical or in a mental way. When it comes to the media people need to be more aware to what they are looking at it, or where they get their information from. Media is something that majority human beings rely on whether is to get information or for entertainment. Regardless Media is what people look to, and being that many people look to media many people have also been brainwashed by the media. In my research question I am focusing more on news channels meaning CNN, and Fox News, which are both talking about the same topics, but I want to focus on how they broadcast what is going to their audience.
For example, when watching certain news Channels like Fox New compared to CNN we see the same things that are happening but worded differently, which can influence ideas of implicit bias when it comes to ideas of race and criminality. While researching this questionmy goal is to bring awareness to how the media portrays certain individuals, and how they inflict their biases on to a certain race. I want to be able to compare two news channels talking about the same topic, in order to be able to portray how the media picks and choose how they want to convey certain topics, certain races to be exact. Finding information in which would not help my case if I find it useful, I would still use it being that I would be able to write about it. Having different standpoints on my topic is important in portraying how certain News channels are made to manipulate people and force their political views or views in general on individuals who get their information from them. In all honesty there is no pros to instilling a negative point of view of a certain group of people just to bring false awareness. I do not understand how people can say we live in a world of peace and inequality if some major news channels as of today are constantly picking and choosing who they give equality and bring peace to.Being that my question is based around the media. I’m going to base it around the most popular news channels known in America. I will be comparing two different news channels but on the same topic. So this information is considered as good being that they are straight from the biggest channels out.
Asmelash, Leah. “How Black Lives Matter Went from a Hashtag to a Global Rallying Cry.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 July 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/07/26/us/black-lives-matter-explainer-trnd/index.html.
In “How black lives matter went from a hashtag to a global rallying cry” by Asmelash Leah as reporter of CNN she writes an article that talks, about what many mediasdo not want to talk about.Meaning she talks about a topic in which most medias have a negative bias on. CNN is one of the few medias in which tries to limit as much of their biases as possible where they try to hear all standpoints. They point out what most individuals are not willing to see or listen to due to the stereotypes that are portrayed of these different races. In my eyes they come off straight with what is happening. In the article they tell their audience what some of other medias refuse to share. They talked about what the black lives matter movement represented. Where they informed the audience that the black lives organization is a movement in which started in order to voice to the public about the injustice that black people face on a daily. Black lives in America have been considered as something of less value in the eyes of America. Why have they been considered as less value is probably because as of today through movies, books, tv shows, and media in general as a whole they find ways to make blacks/ African Americans the perpetrator to a story in which they did not write. In this article they try to explain how the movement started off by the killing of a young unarmed black teenager by the name of Trayvon Martin.Who was labeled as suspicious based off of the way he looked, he was an African American who had a hoodie on and a bag of skittles in his pocket. He was shot by a man named George Zimmerman who as of recently is selling the gun that he used to shoot Trayvon Martin for 138,900, and if you are wondering George Zimmerman was acquitted. CNN helps spread awareness to the purpose of the black lives matter movement which was made to help bring awareness to the injustice that black people face on a daily bases due to the color of their skin, and people like Fox News who labels people who are darker then a paper bag as dangerous and criminals. CNN uses their media to broadcast to the world that there is more to individuals than what people are saying. As of today, we live in a world where people ignore the fact that white privilege exists. CNN is one of the few news channels that speak on the behalf of all, and speak out for the black individuals who care about the injustice that we face. They give the black live matter movement a platform where they can speak out and give an understanding to people all over the world that they are not criminals. Also, they are able to point out the wrongs within in the movement in a way where they do not downplay the race all together. I am not saying that black individuals do not make mistake and are not wrong at some points but CNN voices out what the movement is doing wrong, and what they are doing right. They do not call them killers or label them as criminals though. They allow black individuals to show their intelligence and broadcast to the world that all they want is equality. CNN uses the media in a way in which does not uses their biases like Fox News does but instead they use it giving people an open mind of what it really is. In the article they are able to prove that race, and criminality should not be able to connect back to one race. In the article they made points like:
“BLM’s goal, according to its website, is to eradicate anti-Blackness and create a society where Black people are able to thrive in the US.”
“Folks in the movement have been consistently fighting to reverse that trend, to raise awareness that this is not the way we’re supposed to live,” Scales told CNN”.
These three points have stood out to me because looking into the article they make these points in a way to use their platforms in order to preach the importance of not only the black lives matter movement but of the way they should be represented on tv. Reading this article, we are able to get a sense of how this news channel is able to limit their biases as much as possible. They play a role in a positive way. In this article they show how there is more to the Black Lives Matter Movement, and how they should not try to flip this movement into something that it is not.
In this Fox News video O’Reilly sits down and talks to the audience about how black individuals are the ones who are “out of control”. He tells the audience that since the defund the police matter took place, and the police officers have gone on strike crime has gone up due to the black lives matter movement. He explains to the audience that the black lives matter movement is a group of rioters who are causing chaos in the streets of Chicago. He tells his viewers that African American individuals are the real killers. In his video he explains that the black lives matter movement is a movement in which is destroying communities. He later goes on to justify the killings of these unarmed African American victims who are as of today being gun-downed by cops. He gives out the assumption that black people are something in which we should fear. When I mean assumption, he would paint these images which focused on how black males are the main one killing compared to any other race. He goes on to explain to the audience that the black populations are the ones to commit the heinous crimes against other American citizens, and against their own kind. Bill O’ Riley preaches to the audience that African Americans are the real threat in America. He justifies his points with statistics. In these statistics he says that African Americans between “the ages of 14-17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of other teens of different races. To justify that the Black lives matter movement is a scheme to “kill more Americans” he adds in statistics in which “proves” that ” white individuals are the ones who are getting killed more by police officers” which is his way of convincing the audience that the black lives matter movement is overdramatic and dangerous. He then shows a clip in which some group of black live matter protestors go into a place and shout black lives matter. In the video they came off as hostile, they snatched the mic, and one of the girls in the video yelled at the person holding the mic. It’s pretty interesting watching this video being that we see it without any backstory to what lead up to the moment or even before the moment even came about. So, we have no clue on any information about the video or who these people are. Throughout his time in the Fox News video I was able to come to the assumption that Black people are criminals and dangerous and I am a black woman. He gave the perception that all Black lives matter protestors was hostile and rude to any kind of authority or any kind of race even their own. I get that vibe that black people do not care about anything. This perception of this one video of hostile protestors is what the audience will see, and would think about every black person from all over the world. People who do not interact with black people and watch the fox news would get the impression that all black people are the same, they will think of them as criminals, dangerous, ignorant, irrational, and all of the negative things know to men. Bill O’ Reilly is preaching about how hostile and irrational these protestors are would have viewers believe him. He paints this idea of Black people being the voice and image of what a criminal is, and how they sound like. Unlike CNN where thy voiced-out people from the movement, and what are pros, and cons about the black lives movement Bill O’ Riley did the opposite. Instead he came online to about millions of viewers and told them to basically fear the movement, and fear black people because they are murders compared to all races.
Fox News has influenced our ideas of implicit bias, especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality being that they show a certain perception of a group of people painting them as something that they are actually not. Fox News is one of the media channels who instill hate, and strong hurtful biases of black individuals. They bring their audience fear. Fear is a root too are current problems and fear as a result can lead to serious problems where people can be hurt, arrested, and can end up dead. This lived aired video viewed by everyone in the world gives an image in which people should fear black individuals because they are the “cause” to all “criminal” events that are happening in the world.This clip of one of Fox News; News reporter is an example of how media influence our ideas of implicit bias especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality. Bill O Riley projects his views as a white man living as of today. He expresses the fear of the Black Lives Matter movement. His bias is allowing people to continue to base criminals to a certain race which is African American individuals. In an article I read by Fox News they try to justify cops, people who are killing unarmed black males by saying that the black lives matter movement shouldn’t be a movement basically because of black on black crime. As of today O’ Riley in his interview establish from off jump that African Americans are criminals. He brings up statistics from an unknown source in which he uses to try to justify why African Americans should be arrested , and basically should be stopped. He uses statistics which are saying that white individuals are the ones who are being arrested more than the African Americans .He uses that statistic to try and prove that the police as of today are doing nothing wrong , and how African Americans are getting arrested because they are in the wrong. He then goes on to say that crime rates have went up due to the black lives matter movement due to the defund the police situation. He tries to tell the media that African American individuals are the threat in which cops need to eliminate. He starts off with saying “Black lives matter movement is killing Americans”. Reading and hearing that phrase from the jump you can make the assumption that African Americans are the one who are the cause and root to all problems. When a person only watches Fox News, they are getting biases in which are labeling certain groups as the predators, and how people should protect themselves. Bill O Riley classify black individuals as suspicious, in his news broadcast he says “The Chicago police no longer stop suspicious people” then goes on to say ” Black males between ages 14 &17 commit homicide at ten times the rate than white and Hispanics teens combined”.He labels African Americans as the criminals. This implicit bias as a whole compares African Americans to criminals. He uses his media to try and prove to the public that African Americans are Americans biggest threat. He then forgot to add the number of black individuals who are wrongfully committed of murder. Did you know that black people are 7 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder compared to a white person?He uses his media to broadcast his thoughts and his wrong statistics in order to convince people that black individuals are the ones who people should fear, and as a result of that people tend to react in a way in which puts African Americans in danger, and is one of the reasons to why the black lives matter movement continues to stand tall.
Part 1
A.
News, F., 2017. Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally Blamed For 3 Deaths, Dozens Of Injuries. [online] Fox News. Available at: <https://www.foxnews.com/us/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-blamed-for-3-deaths-dozens-of-injuries> [Accessed 12 August 2017].
B.
Yan, H. and Sayers, D., 2017. Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally: What We Know. [online] CNN. Available at: <https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/13/us/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-car-crash/index.html> [Accessed 14 August 2017].
Part 2.
A.
In this article Fox News writes how “supposedly the white supremacist” group are the ones who are in charge of the killings, and injuries in Charlottesville . They go on to blame both sides of the riot saying the they are both at fault. They explain how trump and many government officials spoke out saying that both sides were in the wrong.
B.
In this article CNN writes how the white supremacy group has been the main problem for a long time but has been overlooked because no one wants to admit to white privilege. When it came to the removal of the confederate monument. They talk about how many people all over did not agree with the violence that these white supremacy groups have started. They’ll out these white supremacy groups for what they are which are hateful people They announce to the worlds of the dangers of these groups.
Part 3.
A.
Throughout the Fox News article, they put quotation marks around white supremacy as if it Is something that is not known. They use these quotations to denounce these groups in my eyes. They even use the title “Charlottesville White national rally blamed for 3 deaths, dozen injuries” This title in my eyes makes people believe that the white supremacy movement was not the one who committed these crimes being that they use the word “blamed”. When someone uses the word blame it means that they are the ones who are being held responsible for these certain acts its kind of like they are being held responsible but are not the ones who actually did it like false accusations in a way. This article as a whole kind of tries to tell a half story blaming both sides equally. Fox News use their media to tell a side in which they try to say how both parties were reckless, while the many who were injured during the riot was majority of the counter protesters who wanted the statue to come down. In this article as I read it, I get this sense that they are basically saying that they had reasons to act the way they do. They give this sense of them being unsure of what is going on.
B.
In the article the CNN writes how pro white organizations are very dangerous. They explain how may government officials feel as if these pro white groups are dangerous and I agree. These Pro white groups are made to incite violence on people of different races. Their goal is to incite hate against these different groups which makes them dangerous. CNN also goes to explain that they are dangerous, and how many government officials believe that they need to come together to try and dismantle these hate groups. CNN also doesn’t place all blame on the white nationalist groups. They place blame on the law officers, and some government officials being that they did not ensure the safety of both parties. They give a sense of them knowing what they are talking about, and gives the full truth. They also explain how it started off as a non-violent protest, before both parties clashed and ended up in altercations. We begin to see that a white nationalist then goes on to kill 1 and injure many by running into counter protestors.
Part 4
A.
“Charlottesville white nationalist rally blamed for 3 deaths, dozens of injuries”
“Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler had planned what he called a “pro-white” rally to protest Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a city park.”
“In May, a torch-wielding group that included prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer gathered around the statue for a nighttime protest, and in July, about 50 members of a North Carolina-based KKK group traveled there for a rally, where they were met by hundreds of counter-protesters”
B.
“We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo-Nazis or the KKK,” the vice president said while in Cartagena, Colombia. “These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
“We come to you this morning to reassure you that the Commonwealth of Virginia and all of us that are in this together will not and do not condone white supremacists that brought their hatred and bigotry to the Commonwealth of Virginia,”
“The blame for today’s (Saturday’s) violence lies primarily with Charlottesville government officials and the police officers who failed to maintain law and order, protect the First Amendment rights of rally participants, and provide for their safety,”
My Research question is important to me because as a African American Women living in a world where I watch people who remind me of a brother, a cousin, a sister, an aunt, and etc. I come in connect with many News channels , and many videos where African Americans are being held down, and killed in the hands of people who job was to protect us, or killed by the hands of people who the media told them to protect themselves from. When researching this question, I wanted to find maybe an answer or maybe even a reason to why some medias use their network to communicate this idea of African Americans being the main focus when it comes to “criminality”. As a result of media, they create certain groups for certain people which is a negative thing especially being that many people live in certain places where they cannot interact with all races, and by media labeling a certain group as criminals it becomes a major issue which results in deaths of innocent women, men, and children, also the arrest of many innocent Women, Men, and Children.
Bibliography Entry:
Bridgette Baldwin, BLACK, WHITE, AND BLUE: BIAS, PROFILING, AND POLICING IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER, 40 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 431 (2018), https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/lawreview/vol40/iss3/4
A Summary:
In the Article BLACK, WHITE AND BLUE: BIAS, PROFILING, AND POLICING IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER, by Bridgette Baldwin the author explains how implicit bias and the idea of African Americans being “criminals” is something in which has been passed down from centuries. As a result of that the author tells the readers that media also plays a positive, and negative role to that. The author explains how the media plays a positive role when it comes down to recording and sharing the injustice that African Americans face when it comes not only from cops, racist, and individuals in which the media influence to fear people of color. Bridgette Baldwin explains to the audience that the injustice that African Americans face is real, and is something in which should not be controversial being that it is something we see through these videos where they shoot unarmed black men , woman, and kids. She tales about how the media would forever have a impact on the way African Americans are viewed, and how these stereotypes are something in which would forever characterize African American individuals as the real threat of America.
A Reflection:
When reading this article, I agree with the author because media as of today can have a positive and a negative impact on society. The media as of today broadcast to millions of people from everywhere these topics where people are taught that African Americans are dangerous compared to any other race. he author talks about how not only media but shows, movies, and songs has an impact on how people are viewed. Majority of the time African Americans are painted as criminals, thugs, abusers, prostitutes, ghetto, and so on. There has been a list of stereotypes that was made for black people in which as of today has affected the way that we are viewed. When flipping through News channels, News articles , and Videos shared on my time line on Facebook , twitter, and even Instagram I am thrown with innocent African American people who are being made a mockery of. As of today people blame Tamir Rice parents for letting the 12 year old boy play with a toy gun outside, they blame Eric Gardner for not “complying” they blame Trayvon Martin for “looking Suspicious “, they blame Sandra Bland for ” speaking up against the injustice that she was facing”, and they blamed the death of Ahmaud Arbery for ” looking suspicious while jogging” . As of today they blame the victims of these terrible killing, or even say it was a mistake on their part but not actually admitting to the “mistake on their part” . While Dylan Roof a white supremacist walked into a African American church and killed 9 innocent people, upon his arrest they later took the killer to Burger King before taking him to jail, Or maybe George Zimmerman who shot Trayvon Martin a unarmed black teen, he was later taken to trial but later was pronounced innocent, and as of today is trying to sell the gun that he use to kill Trayvon Martin. When looking at Dylan Roof people are more so influenced to the idea that white individuals are not criminals, even while Dylan Roof was on trial they blamed it on “Mental Illness even then Dylan Roof stated that he was proud of what he did. They tried finding ways around it , but hen it comes down to a African American Individuals they always find a way to label them as the criminal. When speaking of the media and these ideas of Implicit Biases we are seen that African Americans who have not did anything wrong are more likely to be put in a life or death situation unlike the many other races of people who are seen committing a terrible act. As a result of that the media for example Fox News is a media that is broadcast all around the world openly that black people are the real criminals of America. It scares me being that at any time of the day someone can paint me as a criminal or maybe as a threat due to the color of my skin, or even paint one of my family members, my friends, and my family friends as a threat and that could be the end of us only because the media has been influencing people that because I am black I am a criminal.
Quotable:
“Racial profiling allows certain ideas about behavior to be associated with a group of people simply because of racial identity. In the 1980s, African American mothers were profiled as welfare queens, which signified their hyper-sexuality and laziness.25 African American youth in the late 1990s were described as super-predators, which signified their criminality.26 The phenomenon that put racial profiling on the map, *436 “driving while black,” justified the overzealous roadside stops of African American motorists based on the view that black drivers were(…)”
“When it comes to minority suspects, police officers are more likely to use excessive force to initiate a stop or make an arrest. Minority suspects, particularly African American males, are perceived as more threatening, less compliant, and more violent. The linking of blackness to criminality will shape whether an unarmed African American will be shot when confronted during a traffic stop3”
“Yet, while these horrible acts of violence are made visible on computer and cell phone screens across the country, the meaning of these violent acts remains contested. We must remember that even the meaning of real-time reporting is never self-evident and that these visual images of violence are shaped by an older racial logic that continues to justify the killing of black people.”
“While thousands saw Eric Garner get choked to death, many responded that it was his poor health that killed him.47 When Cleveland police rolled up on twelve-year-old Tamir Rice and opened fire without asking a question, many responded that his parents should have taught him to take better care of a toy gun.48 The underlying theme in the interpretation of these racial assaults has been a notion of “noncompliance” by these African American victims.”
In my research I was able to come to the conclusion that media is something in which determines a lot. As of today, individuals use media to figure out what happens in the world. Media is something everyone uses. There are different kinds of sources in which people get their information from or things they watch to get their information from like the different news channels. I used Fox News and CNN in order to establish the two different news channels that talked about the same story. I compared CNN views on the Black Lives Matter Movement and Fox News views on the Black Lives Matter movement. Overall, we are able to see how one news cast gives negative imputes on a certain group of individuals and also gives a negative impact on the group as a whole and another news cast who has people from the black lives matter movement speak up for what the movement really is and not the media switching it to be something that is not. They also point out the wrongs in the movement and give the audience a chance to decide whether they believe the movement is something bad or not. While fox news does not give them a chance to decide whether or not the movement, Is bad instead they make the audience believe right away that they are terrible. The black lives matter movement is not a movement in which we preach pro black instead It is a movement in which we try to justify that black lives matter as much as white lives and any other race. Fox News uses its broadcast to say that black people are criminals, murders, and etc. They give their biases in which they use the black race to determine criminality being that they say that back people are the real criminals of America. While CNN use its media to broadcast that criminality shouldn’t be something in which is determine by the color of a person’s skin which I agree with. Fox News was not able to call these white supremacist organization out as much as they called the black lives matter movement out and their goal is to incite hate against individuals who are not 100% white, or pro white. As a whole they use their media to incite fear against individuals who watch them. It is important that everyone should do more research than what they see on the news or read in an article because now of days people use the media to label certain groups in order to hide from the truth within America. Watching Bill O Riley video was extremely surprising to me. I say that this video was surprising to me because instead of using media to incite positivity he uses his stand to tell how a certain race is basically the only criminals out now. He also called African Americans suspicious. These News channels and media overall is something that people shouldn’t not play with at all, Fox New uses their platform to try and justify police killing black unarmed individuals. It’s scary being a black woman with a younger brother, who has to prepare him for a life where America turn their backs on people that look like me and him. It is extremely important for people to do their research on certain topics especially race or gender topics because these implicit biases can lead to something bigger. They tell us to fear African Americans and not fear the man who goes out with the intent to incite hate on people because they look a certain way. They try to turn their back from the major issue here which is the fact that Racism is real, and inequality is something that many people face on a daily basis. I feel like everyone knows this already but is scared to admit the truth. The black live matter preach on a daily basis that are lives should be equivalent to any other race life on a daily basis and they use the media to switch it around to try and make it look like we are the animals and the criminals when we are trying to be the voices for the many individuals who have lost their lives due to the injustice within the system. The media as a whole is a positive and negative thing people learn from the media. As a result of that people should be more careful of their intentions. Media is not a place where we blame a group of people for certain things and then broadcast to the world that that race is all criminal and all sorts of negative thing. They use the black lives matter movement to say that they incite hate, and are people in which we should be scared of while they have these white supremacy groups out here killing people, and broadcasting hate with no one really speaking up about it. As a whole there is no race that is a criminal and people with large fan bases or a huge audience should not be throwing out their biases like its nothing.
Unit 3
When revising my unit 3 poem. I followed the advice that professor Hall gave me. When I was re-reading my poem for myself, I was able to see how I can confuse my readers. There was times where I would forget to add a word, or add a word that did not need to be added. Then there are lines in which confused the concept of my poem. I had so much grammar mistakes, and just I felt as if before I revised it I kind of seen it to be a little all over the place. I also took professor hall advice and added my 1stcouple lines to the end because it sounded so right.
Dark side of life
By: Daziah Rowe
They say before you die your life flashes before your eyes.
The nightmares, the fears, the dreams, and the defeat faces you all at once, as your soul leaves your body.
As your heart throbs at a fast pace before slowly becoming faint, and you realize
It was All, For Nothing at All
How about this.
As you walk down a street where you are faced with people from TV with pale skin, and blue eyes, they glare, and stare because you are something in which they fear.
Fear the color of your skin
The Shape of your nose
The style you wear
The sway of your hips,
And the confidence they tell you to have, but told shush down when your around people like them.
You throw your hood over your head to avoid them.
They paint you as an animal, a beast of the night looking for your next prey.
As you hear O Riley’s voice boom in your local coffee shop in the unknown area telling those pale skin and blue eyes to arm up against these predators,
You scan the room trying to find who, but can only see those opposite colored eyes faced with yours, as the hair on the back of your neck stands up
When all you wanted to do is go home to the ones you love.
You are trapped now
They bash you, hurtful words, and screams and yells are thrown in your face from a people you barely know.
As those call for the cops scared of something in which they were told you was capable of when in fact you weren’t understanding of.
As the sirens ring and you are trapped in the corner just because you are “suspicious”
As those same men come into the coffee shop screaming at the only colored person in the room, they shoot first, and ask questions later.
We raise our hand and scream please don’t hoot as they yell and scream and suddenly we fall to the floor and are left with 7 holes in are chest.
As they walk over your body and tell the world that “it was a mistake”
As I watch from a distance, girls like me, but loud, sometimes scary, angry, violent, and men who share the same color as me with guns, anger, and eager to kill are plastered on my tv screen
You look for Love, Compassion, and maybe even a chance of Clarity to why they put you in a category of people in which you never met, seen, or even interacted with
I watch the News, I am faced with people who look like me as criminals, Monsters even.
Did I forget to inform you?
Age does not matter when you are in the skin that you’re in.
As they shoot the 12-year-old black kid who only ever wanted to be was a cop.
Maybe when they shot a man who was big as a giant fearful of his color and size that they grasped so tight and forgot that he too was human.
As he screamed that he could not breathe, but those screams were mistaken.
As my Tv Screen plastered that because he had a history, he was a monster already.
As I watched a black man on the floor with a pale man’s knee on his neck
As they painted the unarmed man as a criminal killing him in front of his girlfriend and kids.
Maybe the black man who was jogging in a white man’s area, and was painted as the thief who later was shot and killed.
You are raised watching your race label you as a monster and you start to believe that maybe you are what they preach.
As I protest black lives do indeed matter but are only faced with a protest to my protest.
I am just an 18-year-old girl with dreams and goals, and raised with manners, and dignity
But on fox news they protest that I am a thug, and am lazy
I am left wondering maybe if I am what I See on TV Screens.
They label my mom as a welfare lady, My brother as a criminal, my sister as ghetto, and me as loud
As I watch these stereotypes of me and my family, I see that I am nowhere connected to the stereotypes around me
The media has convinced people to hate, and fear people like me, and in the end every day I start to believe that maybe they won because change has always seemed to be farther away then they preach.
They say before you die your life flashes before your eyes
The nightmares, the fears, the dreams, and the defeat faces you all at once, as your soul leaves your body
As your heart throbs at a fast pace before slowly becoming faint, and you realize
It was All, For Nothing at All
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Writing this poem giving a standpoint on black lives, and my life all together I have come to the conclusion that white individuals look into are lives without understanding are lives if that makes sense. People learn things either they watch the news or they hear it from family or friends, social medias, and things like that. As a result of that depending on what they are watching or who they are getting their information from people are getting these standpoints that black people are someone in which people need to protect themselves from. This interest me because every day I have been seeing movies in which they portray black individual as thief, killers, and all of the negative things above and as a result of that it has affected my life and many other especially since my name is not ” white ” enough to be hired. The aspect of my poem is to try and have the audience feel what many innocent black individuals felt as they have been gun downed over reasons in which did not make sense. I want people who have a higher authority when it comes down to the media to be aware that what they say is how another person can lose their life. What they are preaching is another way in which people end up fearing us. I want people to understand that I am a black woman with goals and dreams, and I should not be put in a group in which in my eyes does not exist because I cannot relate to it. I want them to stop making me fear for my brothers, and cousins lives just because certain medias preach that people should which causes them to act irrational when they are put in a situation where they are near a person who share the same color as me. Honestly working on this project is interesting because there has been plenty of times, I did not know what to say because I did not understand what I should say but because I did not know how to word it properly or in a professional matter. In this topic honestly, I learned how dangerous the media is. I learned how oblivious people can be to the issue of black lives, and how much little power, and say that black individuals have. There have been countless times where I felt as if I wasn’t good enough due to how the media has portrayed of me and my family.
The end of the semester is on the corner, and students are preparing for their finals, but it’s also important to look back at what this semester started and how I did in the past versus now. The end of the semester is an excellent opportunity for us to reflect on ourselves and review how much we’ve improved. Professor Hall really helped me a lot, guided me through my papers, and most importantly to proofread my papers many times. If I talk about myself, I think I’ve made significant progress in my writing because at the beginning of the semester we started writing like analysis or sometimes responses and after finishing writing, I didn’t really proofread my writings and just submitted what I’ve written which created alot of spelling and grammar errors. If I’ll be honest, Professor Hall’s comments were effective for me because that way I always got the second chance to fix my paper and make my grades better than before. At the beginning of the semester, I used to write everything that comes up to my mind without thinking whether it would make sense or not. But now I somewhat succeeded. As I was reviewing my unit 1 and unit 2, I noticed I made so many grammar mistakes and run-on sentences and that was the main reason my paper needs proofreading. This English class helped me improve many skills like providing evidence, analyzing it, and putting my ideas too. My most favorite Unit was unit 2 because this unit built up my writing skills. I did a big amount of research and then analyzed the topic in my own words. This unit allowed me to write about what I like and the history and historical events are really my favorite and I went all out. Professor Hall no doubt helped me through this because her suggestions, comments, and opinions worked out for me and I think I’ve done well in this unit. But there are some errors that I want to talk about for example how in my draft I didn’t put my analysis but all the facts and I got a B but as usual I asked for professor’s Hall and how she guided me that how can I put my analysis and make it more interesting for the audience to read. it. I just describe my most favorite, now I will talk about my least and not so favorite unit which is yes you guessed it right Unit 1. Because in this unit we had to talk about an event that developed our writing in some way. I think I didn’t do such a good job because when I was reading my education narration, I noticed I was all over the place and didn’t stick with one point. I needed organization for this unit which I lack. One more I noticed was my spelling errors and they were alot but with the help of our dearrest Professor, I fixed them Thank you, professor. But one thing I would like to credit myself for this unit that I put a significant amount of details of the scenario. Overall This semester taught me how to start writing essays or as a paper in general because before I just used to start writing whatever comes up regarding that topic without even giving a piece of interesting information or as an attention grabber. I will try to continue to improve my writing skills because I still have so much to learn. My writing can be so much better if I take the time to practice and get help from teachers. These skills no doubt will help me not just in this class but in other classes hopefully become a good writer someday. In the end, I want to say that I have learned many things like drafting, editing and proofreading especially because indeed this bad. Not going to lie but this semester taught me to be punctual about assignments and I try my best to submit my work before the actual due date. I enjoyed the short responses assignment and unit 2 especially. This was a very enjoyable course because of what I’ve learned so far and I am very grateful for it.
Recent Comments