These initial themes ask us to address the following questions:
Instructions Develop a 150 word original post by Friday and respond to another student by Sunday of each week. Your original post should include a brief overview of what you read, an analysis of the two major themes from each reading that directly address the questions above and a conclusion that asks critical thinking questions (open ended questions about the subject matter). These questions will be the prompt to other students to respond to you. Expanding your awareness: Black Political Perspectives
24 Comments
Jessica Jaime
1/9/2015 07:12:26 am
The two reading that I thought had similar themes were Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study written by Allan M. Brandt and “Understanding Patriarchy” written by Bell Hooks. The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study which was executed by country doctors, county and state health department, draft boards, and the U.S. Public Health Service studied untreated African American men with syphilis. These men were never told they were a part of a “scientific” experiment which went on for a total of forty years from 1932-1972. They were deliberately withheld from medication and seeing a physician who could have helped them. Only when the accounts of the study were first published in the national press did the Department of Health, Education and Welfare stop the experiment. Social Darwinists analyzed that the African American race was doomed because it was prone to crime, disease, imperfections and education could not help them. This “scientific” experiment was nothing less than racism, unethical, unjust and shows the differences between other marginalized groups. For example after reading “Understanding Patriarchy” it shows that the political-social system is run by the inherently dominating male who is superior and above all others especially women. Ruling over the weak and it is acceptable to use forms of psychological terrorism and violence. A system that is unseen by the trained eye because it is taught and learned growing up at a young age that we are given certain roles in society. Learning the core of these groups’ dynamics it will be easier to understand racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination within each one. Was it coincidence that African American men were targeted for the unjust “scientific” experiment or was it because of the stereotypes and the roles that were given to them by others in society made them less human? Is this system a way where it makes it okay legally discriminate against minority races in the United States?
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Makamae (Davina) Heinz
1/11/2015 08:33:03 am
Was it coincidence that African American men were targeted for the unjust “scientific” experiment or was it because of the stereotypes and the roles that were given to them by others in society made them less human? Is this system a way where it makes it okay legally discriminate against minority races in the United States?
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Jordan Leopold
1/11/2015 01:46:22 pm
Jessica, the American system, consisting of multiple components, without a doubt allow for systematic and institutional racism. We have to look at who founded this country. When our American forefathers wrote "all men are created equal" they excluded everything that wasn't a white man. So if you look at it that way, yes the system is without a doubt built to discriminate. It's been successfully, even to this day.
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Andre Mouton
1/9/2015 07:53:58 am
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GABRIELA HERNANDEZ
1/9/2015 12:30:25 pm
from reading letter from Mecca it talks about the sincere hospitality and brotherhood it says how hes been with all different type of people with blue eyed blondes to dark skinned Africans. He then approaches the Muslim world and talks about eating, sleeping and drinking together. One interesting thing that caught my attention was where he says "we are truly are all the same brothers because their belief in one god had removed their white from there minds, the white from their behavior and the white from their attitude." Taking that and applying it to the the Tuskegee syphilis experiment makes me see things in a whole different perspective because this article talks about not treating African American men with syphilis and how these men were seen as an experiment and they were also denied access to medication. Reading these two different articles shows a drastic comparison because in the second article the men were treated poorly and didn't receive no treatment and their lives didn't matter since they were just seen as a scientific treatment by the government as opposed to the other one where different races weren't seen any different and where religion comes to play.
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Jordan S. Leopold
1/9/2015 02:48:00 pm
In the “Letter from Mecca,” Malcolm X details his spiritually enlightening experience after he visited the holy city of Mecca. Astonished after seeing thousands of pilgrims of all “colors” from all corners of the world visit the holy city for one common cause – to honor and pray for the same religion, his thinking of “white” and the power of his religion was reframed. He never experienced the level of hospitality and love given by white American the way he did with a white Muslim in Mecca. America as a country is undoubtedly racist in its relationship towards black people. The “defaults” of the country cannot accept the existence of black men and women from any religious background. But Malcolm understands that if the “white” can acknowledge the “oneness” – the true being of God, then they can acknowledge the oneness of all humans on this earth. And this acceptance of one another is a form of resistance as it attempts to restore the humanity of the oppressors by bringing them and blacks, the oppressed, together in “oneness.”
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1/9/2015 03:59:54 pm
In the reading of "Tuskegee Syphilis Study" that was conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service was a study where 600 innocent black men and women were taken advantage of. They were never at any time ever told any truth. They were lied and taken advantage of time after time. It was prepared by the State thinking they would conclude with results, unfortunately nothing was necessarily gained. Doctors that had made incorrect assumptions about innocent people. In conclusion it explained how Black Americans are wrongfully treated.
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Marcos Guzman
1/11/2015 10:47:40 am
Response to Jessica Jaime:
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Marcos Guzman
1/9/2015 03:20:47 pm
Letter from Mecca:
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Kimberly Turner
1/11/2015 03:55:44 pm
Yes Marco, I believe there should be restitution given to the families. It's funny you mention that because I was wondering the same thing. Actually, I was wondering if that had already been done. I identify this as a domestic terrorist act, although, it will never be considered as such. I was deeply disturbed by the analysis of black people by the doctors. In all honesty, I feel as though people still feel that way about black people. It's unfortunate because people choose to believe negatives about particular groups. I have not researched further about what happened with this experiment but I hope that the families who suffered were compensated for their embarrassment, humiliation, and distress.
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Marcos Guzman
1/9/2015 03:22:56 pm
Letter from Mecca:
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Andre Mouton
1/11/2015 04:31:42 am
Marcos,
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Marcos Guzman
1/9/2015 03:24:46 pm
Conclusion: Got cut off on Original post
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1/10/2015 05:57:55 pm
Letters from Mecca
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Corissa R.
1/11/2015 02:51:39 pm
I think that the underlining problem as it pertains to the relationship between African Americans and law enforcement is fear. Darren Wilson (the former Ferguson police officer) said that Mike Brown looked like a demon just before he shot him. Officer Manney wrote in his memo regarding the shooting and killing for Dondre Hamilton “he was just that big, that muscular … I would say he would be impossible to control if you were one-man.” Hamilton was 5’7 and 180 pounds which was overweight and below average height. Both Hamilton and Brown were black and Wilson and Manney are white. It has been shown that police encounter with black men are likely to end up fatal, and it is because of conscious or unconscious prejudices that people have about African American males. The problem is that law enforcement is not designed to protect us, it designed to protect them. We have too many scared police officers on the street that are acting on assumed threat, rather than an actual treat. There definitely has to be a change in the way in which police are trained starting way before they are in patrol cars and are given weapons to use. There needs to be a societal change in the way people view African American males, and that starts with the images that are filter through the media. If you only see images of African American males committing acts of crime than people only assume the worst, and those are how the biases were formed. We can rise above injustice by doing exactly what people are doing, marching, boycotts, and protesting. Those are ways in which we have and exercise our power.
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Makamae (Davina) Heinz
1/11/2015 08:18:07 am
(Excuse my post being late due to me being sick)
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Jessica Jaime
1/11/2015 12:38:49 pm
Makamae, I really enjoyed your response to the readings and I agree with your point of view if we came together and accepted each other for who we really were things would be less divided. A person shouldn't be judge for the color of their skin but for the character and strengths we all have in ourselves. I do believe and always believed that religion can break all walls and bring all of us together to become united.
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Gabriela Hernandez
1/11/2015 03:22:41 pm
Makamae,
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Marcos Guzman
1/11/2015 10:46:19 am
Response to Jessica Jaime:
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Corissa R.
1/11/2015 02:01:27 pm
In Malcolm X letter to Mecca he addresses issues regarding race and unity. During the time of his pilgrimage to mecca, African Americans were not received well in the United States. They were fighting against racism and everyone was at odds with each other. There wasn’t even unity in the African American community. Yes, they were fighting one common goal which was equal rights for everyone, but yet because at the time there were two prominent leaders in the African American community (MLK and Malcolm X), there was partiality amongst the movement. It is almost as if people in the media and government purposely forces people to choose a side, because there are strength in numbers so by pinning the two major leaders of the movement against each other it aids as a distraction from the real issue. That is why, in my opinion Malcolm X was so taken with the oneness that he saw and experienced in Mecca, because you were embraced no matter what. Race didn’t matter only fairness did which is what he was ultimately fighting for.
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amal pujol
1/12/2015 01:26:28 am
Response to Corisaa.
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amal pujol
1/11/2015 03:53:50 pm
The Tuskegee Syphilis study was an experiment based on racist view of black people in America in the early 20th Century. The background for the study really demonstrated the dynamics of the relationship between Black Americans and the Government. In the late nineteenth-and early twentieth century many White scientist, medical professionals, anthropologists looked at Black Americans as the lesser humans in comparison to White Americans. This was largely based on the view of Social Darwinism that labeled Black Americans as dumb, week, prone to disease, and highly sexualized with no self-control. Some White Medical professionals felt that black males had a perversion for white women and that this perversion coupled with a highly excitable sex drive threatened the existence of the white society. They also believed Blacks were doomed to succumb to syphilis based on them blacks being too dumb to seek medical treatment or being unwilling to follow through with it. Some physicians was even estimated that 50% of all blacks that were over 25 had syphilis. They therefor claimed that it would be impossible to convince black people to receive treatment and that Syphilis would eventually wipe out the entire Black race.
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marie brown
1/16/2015 04:39:42 pm
Africa’s history has been sign cant for researchers in the interest of African way of life because of the lack of written sources in parts of the continent. Academic techniques such as the recording of oral history, archaeology and genetics have been crucial. But the discoveries by archeologist state the human race was the birthplace in Africa. Date back almost as far as thousands of years Africa is the oldest in the world. When we observe history we can see the absence of color consciousness. In the beginning white was the unusual whiteness of their skin. In the Bible Noah cursed his son Ham indirectly by cursing his son Canaan. (10: 6) Some once believed that the verse justified the slavery of African people, who, it was allegedly, was descended from Canaan, but the Canaanites were white. But as it is noted all the people of the world since the flood have descended from the three-son s of Noah.
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kate
12/2/2016 09:54:27 pm
i recently ended natural treatment from traditional healer, i got rid of syphilis out of my body with natural treatment. it so amazing i am not an syphilis patient anymore. everyone suffering from this sickness, should also be cure. contact the traditional herbalist dr galiga. through his email drgaligaherbalcenter@gmail.com or website http://drgaligaherbalcent.wixcom/naturalcure
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