Tonight's discussion got a bit heated; I feel the videos I tried to discuss with everyone speak better for themselves; we cannot relate to things often due to our own race, biases, where we grew up, or what we were taught. Just always try to think of yourself in someone else's shoes! MLK Jr. would not want people saying race no longer matters; color-blindness is just as powerful as racism. Just because something does not effect you, does not mean it is not still an issue; I also alluded to other groups that are still facing discrimination! We must always care about others; it could always have been or be us in future.
The Application: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRUUFYeOPI Some take voting for granted; imagine having that right taken away.
Bloody Sunday 60 Minutes Spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtIVcOT_o0M
Glory Song Grammys 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgDTvj3W87M
Also, we discussed religious hypocrisy tonight & I hope those things did not offend anyone; however, those issues are still abounding in today's society too. If you research the meaning behind this modern song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYSVMgRr6pw [Take Me to Church], marches for gender (LGBTQ) and women's rights, etc...voices are still needed to fight for civil rights for ALL.
I feel it is my duty as an instructor to share history, push for equality, etc...
In this recently published poem (YESTERDAY on Facebook) by famed African American author Alice Walker (alongside this article about covered up prisoner's assaults- http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/03/21/four-corrections-officers-sentenced-to-prison-for-covering-up-inmate-abuse/_ she makes me see this is ALWAYS something that must go on. We can't forget or quit teaching history. Remember, it is American (or perhaps more importantly- HUMAN) history--no color breaks needed.
"Welcome To The Picnic
2015 by Alice Walker
2015 by Alice Walker
I can never banish the image
Of you, manacled, between two psychopaths
Being marched to a defenseless
Beating
That will leave your brain injured.
Try as I might, your lonely walk,
Blind justice not even stumbling
Behind
Or anywhere in the neighborhood
Will forever haunt me:
As you face two, three, four,
A dozen
Soulless creatures
Who enjoy beating you
To the ground; when your hands are not only tied,
But, demonstrating their true courage,
Fastened behind your back.
Of what are we reminded:
The enslaved men worked to death
In seven years
Their heads bashed in
When they could no longer work
Their bodies, their bones, turning up
White with time; and directly underneath
Where they fell: Where, but Wall Street.
Or the plantations
And hundreds of years of this.
Beatings. Beatings to death.
Beatings to incontinence. Beatings to brain damage.
A friend tells me she never uses the word
Picnic for this very reason: that the mothers
And fathers and brothers and children of the psychopaths
Came to the beating, hanging, quartering
Eviserations or whatever else could be imagined
To entertain at a lynching
And brought baskets of food
To enjoy with the show. The torture of the Picaninny was
The eagerly anticipated attraction.
If they were lucky, these picnicking families, they
Got to take home trophies. Trophies sometimes seared from
The flames. Fingers, ears, toes.
A foot. Remember how DuBois saw those human feet in a
Butcher’s window in downtown Atlanta?
Brother, Sister, Children,
You are not crazy to feel crazy
Here.
Understanding this, may you realize
A greater exterior calm
And an unshakeable inner peace. We have lived within the soul
Of brutality from the beginning of our connections here.
The harshness of knowing our journey
Could easily steal our joy. To learn not to extend
Our disaster!
That is what teachers
Are for.
Of you, manacled, between two psychopaths
Being marched to a defenseless
Beating
That will leave your brain injured.
Try as I might, your lonely walk,
Blind justice not even stumbling
Behind
Or anywhere in the neighborhood
Will forever haunt me:
As you face two, three, four,
A dozen
Soulless creatures
Who enjoy beating you
To the ground; when your hands are not only tied,
But, demonstrating their true courage,
Fastened behind your back.
Of what are we reminded:
The enslaved men worked to death
In seven years
Their heads bashed in
When they could no longer work
Their bodies, their bones, turning up
White with time; and directly underneath
Where they fell: Where, but Wall Street.
Or the plantations
And hundreds of years of this.
Beatings. Beatings to death.
Beatings to incontinence. Beatings to brain damage.
A friend tells me she never uses the word
Picnic for this very reason: that the mothers
And fathers and brothers and children of the psychopaths
Came to the beating, hanging, quartering
Eviserations or whatever else could be imagined
To entertain at a lynching
And brought baskets of food
To enjoy with the show. The torture of the Picaninny was
The eagerly anticipated attraction.
If they were lucky, these picnicking families, they
Got to take home trophies. Trophies sometimes seared from
The flames. Fingers, ears, toes.
A foot. Remember how DuBois saw those human feet in a
Butcher’s window in downtown Atlanta?
Brother, Sister, Children,
You are not crazy to feel crazy
Here.
Understanding this, may you realize
A greater exterior calm
And an unshakeable inner peace. We have lived within the soul
Of brutality from the beginning of our connections here.
The harshness of knowing our journey
Could easily steal our joy. To learn not to extend
Our disaster!
That is what teachers
Are for.
Recommended: It is crucial to have a meditation practice of some sort to deal with our relentless psychic wounding. The Dalai Lama, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chodron, are excellent guides. Google."
NEXT CLASS
The readings (as warned on the course calendar) are very long for some of the plays; there is one Thursday; the poems that go along with it are really short though.
I told some that stayed late that there will not be a blog due this weekend for the readings/ quizzes we finished tonight, to give you all a break, since the readings will be long! I recommend watching or listening to plays on YouTube, to understand them better; sometimes visualizing is better than reading, as plays were meant to be performed.
If you so desire (for BONUS) you may blog about what we discussed in class & I have posted further about tonight, regarding either religion or race. Try to make personal connections and to the texts, if you choose to do so though. You would have to respond specifically about one of the videos shared here as well.
It still has a due date if you choose to do it for bonus (Sunday April 12--11:59 PM).
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