Overview: We worked through the writing process together, and it is time to submit a “draft” of your essay. I use the word draft, because writing is never truly finished. This is the most publishable piece you can provide at this time. We will be returning to this essay in the future, but for now, I would like to use these pieces as means of launching an informed discussion about the literature we have read thus far.
Directions:
1) Complete your essay and submit a copy on Turnitin.com
2) In this blog space, please post your introductory paragraph and thesis as a means of sharing your finalized concepts with the class. Of course, you are free to tweak and refine it as an abstract, as it will need to stand alone as a thesis. We will have a discussion and seminar on Wednesday.
We draw from what we are taught when we judge and allow ourselves to be influenced by society instead of learning for ourselves. There is no truth to stereotypes as far as I'm concerned, they simply play off of what is easy to see and glaze over a person's humanity. We see this a lot in literature, like reading something like 'To Kill a Mockingbird'; today we see the problems with how race and the idea of the other is portrayed in the novel, but that's only because we have learned to question what we are shown.
ReplyDeleteHome is where the heart is. Everyone has heard this saying, but what does it really mean? The idea of home is more complex than just the location where people live. It is a place that they are trying to hold on to, move past, change, and preserve all at once. Within America, there are many different ideas of home. The country itself is a homeland while each individual calls a specific spot inside of the land home. These homes are both divided and united. Often times, even if people share a home, they do not share the same thinking or experiences, eclipsing their similarities and preventing understanding between one another.
ReplyDeleteI like how you ask a question in the beginning of the essay. It really provokes the readers to think about what your topic may be or what home really means to them. I also really like how you go on to define what home is. Your thesis is really strong and you can work with that a lot. There is much to say about home and how it can relate to what we read so I would guess that your essay came out really good.
DeleteI like how you start the paragraph questioning the common phrase "home is where the heart is." I think this was an effective first line to introduce the ideas in which your essay explores. The idea of people or homes being divided, preventing understanding between one another I believe ties in with how racism is still present in society, as we still even today, struggle to come to a universal understanding of it.
DeleteAmerica is centered around white people; “racism is as American as cherry pie”(I Am Not Your Negro). As James Baldwin eloquently states, “it is entirely up to the American people whether or not they’re going to face and deal with and embrace this stranger whom they relied on so long” (I Am Not Your Negro) Alongside Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King Jr., Baldwin impugns the established social hierarchy of the time, portraying the ugly truth of racism in America in a dramatically blunt and honest way. Challenging centuries-old social hierarchies and blatant, systemic injustices, Baldwin pressures the white, American public to reconsider their perspective of African Americans. As an individual, he confronts the conflict of racism in America, using writing as a means to protest against the white majority of the time.
ReplyDeleteI thought your use of the quote in your opening line worked very well for your piece. Thinking about the idea of what is American and what is patriotic is a nice place for readers to begin before you take them through your thinking. I like how you framed Baldwin as pressuring white America; it gives a strong idea of what he was aiming for in his works. I also liked how you focused not only on America as a whole but also Baldwin as an individual. In a way I did this in my own piece, although my topic was very different.
DeleteSusan Matteucci
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, the hardest part of a story is to make the society the characters live in. A good fictional society holds the main characters to a set of standards. Plot forms when a character tries to conform to their society; when they rise to their home’s standards and find peace with them, or when a character rebels from their society and marks their own path. When this is applied to racism in America, many have to choose whether to play the part their country has given them, or set a new course despite hardships or dangers.
I think your introduction does a great job of keeping the reader's attention by making it brief, to the point, and effective (your introduction is able to say more in less words). The last sentence really makes the reader involved in your essay. Now they might think about their actions and stances, and if they have conformed to these roles in America themselves. Because I'm familiar with the assignment, I kept guessing what sources you used to support your argument. Did you end up using an outside source as well?
DeleteJames Baldwin, during his time on Earth, was able to truly experience racism. He grew up into it, became surrounded by it, and went on to study it. His life became about trying to come up with a solution to the problem which still stumps people to this day. “How do we conquer racism?” How does one answer a question without a definitive answer? Sure, many ideologies exist on what can be done, but Baldwin came close to connecting the missing piece. After viewing the documentary, the words of James Baldwin’s unfinished book opened my eyes to a new angle to look at this question from. The section which I took the most out of was Baldwin’s escape from the streets of New York into France. For once, Baldwin felt he had the safety to walk down the street, without the fear of death looking back at him. “The years I lived in Paris did one thing for me: they released me from that particular social terror, which was not the paranoia of my own mind, but a real social danger visible in the face of every cop, every boss, everybody.” Those years writing in Paris, Baldwin had the awakening that America needed racism and segregation, as a way for the country to continue to function. There are many works of literature and film which come to this same conclusion, that racism exists because it is acknowledged. That people are taken for how they are seen, and that only a few brief seconds of interactions can create a false image of that person’s life and being.
ReplyDeleteIt is the idea of segregation that has prompted contrasting voices from the Black and White communities of America. For hundreds of years now, Black Americans have endured the hardships of White American oppression. Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man,” Morrison’s “Recitatif,” and I Am Not Your Negro, vividly demonstrate the realness of this injustice and explore heavy examples of segregation that divided America so wrongly. While these works do reveal the explicit differences between Black and White voices, they also dive into a deeper truth of this separation. Both authors indistinctly center their pieces around oblivion— a subtle, yet recurring, concept that contributes as a major driving force behind racism. Oblivion evolves to become increasingly prominent throughout these narratives, and leaves us with distaste in our mouths when we recognize this uncontrollable principle that is part of our reality. Recitatif introduces oblivion as an instinctual quality, and Going to Meet the Man powerfully emphasizes how dangerous it can influence one’s worldview; specifically in regards to racism. I Am Not Your Negro, calls us to reflect on America’s history and presents us with a bold truth— which makes it clear that the voices of Black and White America actually speak from the same foundation, and happen to be lost in the battle that appears to be fought at opposite ends. Through literature, Baldwin and Morrison lead us to question the validity of our racial justifications and force us to wonder whether or not it is only the unknown that keeps the civilizations of America apart.
ReplyDeleteI really like your introduction and how you talked about oblivion and introduced the idea that both authors used that in their work. It is very clear to me reading your introduction that you had a clear idea while you were writing with strong backing up points.
DeleteI am interested by your idea of oblivion. I like how in this paragraph you introduced the reader to all three works, highlighting the prominence of oblivion in each. I also like your last sentence and how you used it to question the readers. You impugn the validity of our racial justifications, whether or not the unknown is the root cause.
DeleteThe first step to overcoming a problem is to diagnose its cause. A solution can only be revealed by starting from the roots and working upwards. This holds true for difficulties of any sort, financial, technical, interpersonal, even social ills such as racism and discrimination. Since the founding of this country, race relations have been a major political and social matter. Even today, despite the country being progressive and modernized in so many regards, there still remain loud voices of bigotry and hate. Unfortunately, it can be tough to pinpoint exactly where racism comes from, especially since there are surely multiple sources. However, one of the most important considerations we must make is how racist ideas can enter the lives of children. With their vulnerable developing minds, kids regretfully can make excellent hosts for parasitic ideas when exposed to them. As James Baldwin in “Going to Meet the Man” and Toni Morrison in “Recitatif” suggest, racism does not emerge naturally or biologically in children, but rather is inherited by from external sources, especially the family.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how we actually talked about the same ideas in our essays. My last body paragraph focuses on the importance of recognition and how it is necessary to move forward to take the right steps. America must identify the root of this injustice— as Baldwin mentions in I Am Not Your Negro— and ask each other/ourselves why this came to be. The problem is the silence that follows this question, and in my essay I describe more in depth about how this oblivion actually reveals a deeper truth to us; it catches us by surprise and forces us to come to terms with the unjustified racism that White America has committed against the Black community for hundreds of years.
DeleteSusan Matteucci
DeleteI like the nurture vs nature concept. I think this is a very good topic to focus on
There is something about Paris that never leaves someone, and in the documentary "I Am Not Your Negro", James Baldwin presents readers with Paris France as a means of dealing with racism in America. Through the definition of home, being abroad, and the feeling of being accepted in another country than one's own home country, Baldwin demonstrates the necessity for human beings to know where home is. However, this becomes more complicated because of racism with minorities in America. Therefore, Baldwin uses his experiences from Paris to make his point that in order to tackle racism in America, one must look to other nations' relationship to racial minorities to see how they regard them.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how you decided to focus on Baldwin's decision to move and live in Paris for a period of time. This topic of comparing racism in America with that of other countries is unique and would provide yet another perspective on how to handle this issue. This paragraph set ups up your topic effectively and engages the reader from the start.
DeleteAs we get older and gain more knowledge of our surroundings, our views on the world around us tend to change. When we become more independent and see different perspectives, we are able to create our own ideals and evolve into individuals as opposed to extensions of our parents. When we are isolated from these opportunities, we are not able to gain an extensive knowledge of communities and cultures we were not previously exposed to. Growing up, our parents teach us everything we know about our environment and we believe they can do no harm. The foundation of racism is based on what we hear or know from the people who surround us in our lives. As time has progressed, racial tendencies have appeared to decrease as an overall population, and we seem to be more inclusive than ever before. How did we get here and how many advancements have we actually made? In their works, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison created characters that experienced alienation, blinding their views and ability to clearly form their own opinions. Seeing these experiences helps highlight the ideals of the white population’s assumptions of black people in a time where racism was at an all time high. Through their stories, Baldwin and Morrison were able to reveal the moral values of the people of the past and show the beginning of the progression of race in America.
ReplyDeleteI like how you introduced this idea of parent's influencing innocent children. In my own essay, I also briefly discussed this idea, explaining that Jesse was too innocent to hate. Your question in the middle of the paragraph leads the reader to think about their society and how much racism still exists. Although you talk about much improvements, it's important that you discuss what African Americans still face today. I feel like you were effective in introducing your topic while also forcing the reader to consider much more than literature.
DeleteJames Baldwin left his home regularly, and found his intensity, fury, and spark in writing, speaking, and activism as he navigated the haunting truths of a divided country. Out of these experiences came “Sonny’s Blues” and pieces included in the documentary “I Am Not Your Negro”, which revealed a deeper layer to what home can be, what home can influence, and how the horrendous treatments of “homes” affected black America in the mid 20th century. Home is not necessarily a birthplace, a childhood, where one is loved or hated. Home is a temporary place, a feeling, or passion that a person is drawn to or dragged back to, because something is missing; a story incomplete. The personable qualities of our homes is what makes ours lives unique, but these differences confused and frightened white America, causing certain individuals to act out in violence and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI love the topic that you chose to write upon. I think the idea of the importance of home is very interesting because it applies to everyone. Everyone has a home, physically or emotionally. When one's home is under threat, I think this can really affect that person and cause them to react violently. Home is always worth protecting, and it is very interesting for you to analyze how people are affected when their homes are threatened.
DeleteIt is certainly important that you emphasized how a person's "home" might be a place other than the house they grew up in. I know there are certainly many people who would not identify the place they grew up as a comfortable and suitable environment. Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to have that privilege but they can certainly find a home elsewhere.
DeleteIt is certainly true that African-Americans are not treated with the same equality as white people. Even though slavery was abolished many years ago, black people are still suffering from “figurative slavery”, in which they are slaves to society’s prejudice and racism as a social structure. There are numerous issues in police brutality and incarceration rates, and many things need reform. That change is needed, however, is the only thing agreed upon. How this change is to come about leaves Civil Rights activists divided. While some see violence as the only option, others see it as ineffective and if anything, detrimental to the cause. American novelist and social critic, James Baldwin, understood the different implications with violent and non-violent action, and was unsure of which would be most effective. Activists such as Malcolm X. not only agree with violence but support it, while others such as Martin Luther King Jr. actively combat it. Baldwin, through his documentary and his literary works, examined leaders who came before him and found that a neither violence or non-violence alone will end society’s racism and prejudice. Individually, violence and non-violence both have their own drawbacks and implications, and both must be used for an effective reformation.
ReplyDeleteI thought you framed your argument very clearly for your essay, starting with stating the issue and then elaborating on the specific idea of non-violence and violence both being needed to create the strongest movement. I think this idea is one that can be well explained used the pieces we have covered in class. Other classmates also touch on the idea on violence versus non-violence, and it is nice to see everyone's different viewpoints. I also thought your introduction of the idea of "figurative slavery" was very effective and powerful. It gave relevancy for this piece today and provided a nice starting point for the essay to build off of.
DeleteAn individual can be defined by who they surround themselves with and the environment in which they encompass. With this in mind, how can one’s surroundings not influence the values and morals in which a character embodies? From very early on, one is taught the principles and ethics in which they will carry through their life from their parents. Furthermore, the environment and society around someone has just as great of an impact to their character. James Baldwin eloquently illustrates this through his works, demonstrating just how racism is passed down to individuals. He highlights the way racism is carried through generations in his short story ‘Going To Meet The Man,’ while also calling attention to the struggles we still face in today's society with his documentary, ‘I Am Not Your Negro.’ By exemplifying the way racism is instilled in his characters, Baldwin exposes just how influential the environment and people one surrounds themselves with shapes their morals and values. In doing this, Baldwin is able to convey the unequal world that still exists today, as racism has never truly ended.
ReplyDeleteRace relations have been a pressing issue for centuries in our country, and are still unresolved today. In James Baldwin’s Going to see the Man, he attempts to pry apart the issue of racism, and deconstruct the reason behind it, suggesting that white supremacy is instilled in children at a vulnerable age by what they see around them. While a valid point, this cannot be the complete story, for it doesn’t explain where the society’s racism came from. Rather than calling racism a product of whimsical societal construct, we should aknowledge racism as a product of humans’ deep animalistic desire to push other people down. This desire is a vestige of the days we humans have called the widerness our home. It was because of natural selection for the powerful that we have evolved the need to create power structures that place ourselves at the top. This instinct is present in every one of us, but throughout the history of whites and blacks, it have been the whites who have had the power to act on that impulse. Ultimately the issue of race relations is not because blacks and whites are any different from each other, but because exclusive categories have been carved out by the more powerful group (who happened to be whites) to push down the less powerful group (who happened to be blacks), not because they consciously wanted to be mean to other groups, but because humanity’s original home had shaped humans to feel good about pushing other groups down.
ReplyDeleteI found it astounding how you paired racism with instinctual human behavior. I never thought about it from this point of view; it makes perfect sense to think about how traces of racism naturally occur from our competitive nature. I do have to point out that though America's racism could be based off of this phenomenon, it isn't necessarily a valid excuse. All of us are born with instinctual self-defense, but at as we grow up, we learn to trust and treat others with kindness — we recognize other ways besides violence to deal with little injustices throughout our lives. That being said, I am curious to understand why White Americans just couldn't work out their disagreements and instead had to create a living hell for Negroes.
DeleteI completely agree with your point that it isn't a valid excuse, and my essay is in no way intended as a defense of racism. However, the point I wanted to make in my essay is that racism is not just a white people problem, but rather a human nature problem. I wanted to point out that racism is not an independent problem in and of itself, but rather stems from the same root as sexism, religious persecution of minority religions, and even class distinctions. People can't seem to function without some kind of hierarchy (in fact, in World Civilizations we learned how historically every society, anywhere in the world, which failed to create some kind of government ended up in a state of feudalism), and in this essay I wanted to explore whether that instinctual drive to organize ourselves into a hierarchy could explain racism.
Delete“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” ― James Baldwin. Since the beginning of slavery, to the end of the end of slavery and the beginning of a long fight for equal rights right to the present, 2018, where equality for all races is still being fought for every single day.Today in America there are many different races represented and people going through everyday battles. You never know someone's story just by looking at them and there are so many outside factors that can impact an individual as they are growing up. Baldwin and Morrison give the reader the opportunity to read from the multiple perspectives looking at racism and how each individual characters life was affected by the racism in America during the time. They were able to encapture how cultural, and geological factors impact a black child's life from the very minute they can’t walk into the same restaurant or go to the same school as the white child who is the same age as them. They different forget to include the implied idea that racism is taught and that no one is born racist.
ReplyDeleteI think, by reading you introduction, that your essay is going to be really interesting. There is something really personal when you relate the essay to the present day because it involves the current society that we are living in. Involving other factors apart from just racial issues towards black people involves a larger population, and therefore, a larger audience. Being able to discuss these issues is a difficult task, because it is such a broad concept. I like how your thesis narrows down into a more narrow focus because it directs the topic you are addressing and clears things up.
DeleteI liked how you connected the stories written by Baldwin and Morrison to the idea of the single story. The authors were able to avoid using the single story and give multiple perspectives to racism in the past. I also talked about a similar idea of the implication that racism is learned behavior in my essay as well. I liked how you also were able to talk about the struggles that people face today and that the fight for equality is still being fought to this day.
DeleteWhen it comes to particular issues, it is hard to be set and stone on one specific viewpoint. This happens often when it comes to difficult problems such as the discrimination of others. On one hand, the people who are being discriminated against likely believe that it is very wrong. However, the discriminators are accustomed to a lifestyle in which prejudice is prevalent, therefore believing that they are not doing anything wrong. Classifying human beings has been the epitome of the United States since the dawn of its establishment. From the very beginning, a country that spoke of equality and opportunity for all struggled with issues constantly revolving on imposing the freedom of specified groups. Specifically, black people have not been able to enjoy many of the constitutional freedoms through an unjust level of discrimination that is still felt to this day. Although America has made improvements on the issues of prejudice, it is very challenging to heal old wounds, especially within the black community. Jesse, a white, southern sheriff contributed to the racial tension in the short story Going to Meet the Man. Despite his cruel decisions, the way in which he was raised and the environment that he was influenced by sparks concern on his true intentions. James Baldwin explores this concept in the documentary I Am Not Your Negro, explaining that no one is born evil. In his short story, Jesse is an essential character because of his moral ambiguity, showing how his true intentions transformed as he aged.
ReplyDeleteI like how you discuss different viewpoints of racism and how that leads back to the values America was based upon. I think your essay is very distinct and the way you incorporate the short stories and documentary strongly ties into the main point of your essay. I think its interesting to think of the different view points people had in regards to racism and I liked how you approached this concept.
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ReplyDelete“ ...You can a raise a child house full of love, but can’t keep them safe in a world full of hate...” - Oddisee. Hatred a learned emotion that can be used to instill long standing bias,into the hearts of many. It can come in all forms, including racism. Throughout the story “Going to meet the man” by James Baldwin, it is shown quite clearly, how a hatred when presented at a young age in a society filled with hate , can shift the morality of a child to when they become an adult. It also shapes the society that follows suit.
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