Between Barack and a Hard Place

   After viewing “Between Barack and a Hard Place”, I couldn’t help but think about some of the things the speaker brought up and its relation to the readings.

    For example, Johnson’s article basically states that those who have white privilege are blinded to the fact that they have white privilege and they may never realize it. It took Tom Wise, the speaker, years after college to look back and realize that for the first 7 or 8 years of his schooling, he was treated differently than his friends and peers of other races.

   He goes on to tell an anecdote of a teacher who treated him differently because of his association with black children. This teacher disliked the two races mixing in terms of friendship and Wise was one of those kids that went against her beliefs. This connects to the Kozol reading and its main idea of the impact of institutions on individuals. The teacher was the older generation who had been teaching for a long time, back when segregation was still prominent in society. The institution of segregation left lasting impacts on society that still existed in 1979, when Wise was in fifth grade. Although segregation was long gone by this point legally, the institution still existed and affected not only children of color, but also those that were their friends. But at the same time, as Wise points out, once his teacher leaves, those institutions still exist, they just might not be as obvious. They still exist today, in which different institutions affect people differently.

    The last reading that I will point out in connection to Wise is Delpit’s ‘Silenced Dialogue’. Wise claims that if you have a white sounding last name on your job application, even if you aren’t white, you have a 50% better chance at getting called back for an interview than someone with a black sounding name, even if the qualifications are the same. As Wise points out, “Being suspected of blackness gives you a leg down while being suspected of whiteness gives you a leg up.” People of color are even quoted higher interest rates, even though their credit history is functionally the same. Larry Elder talks about race and its impact on finances in his article http://www.creators.com/opinion/larry-elder/blacks-banks-and-institutional-racism.html as well as CNN Money http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/09/real_estate/zillow-mortgage-white-black/index.html. This connects to Delpit because people of color are ultimately being silenced to a certain degree because of the color of their skin. The difference in your chance of getting a job interview should be based off of your qualifications, not your skin tone, and yet it happens. The same with interest rates, mortgages, loans etc. Even back when Wise was in school, he talks about how he wasn’t a very smart student, and yet he remained in the upper level classes and never moved down while the kids of other races, who were better students, always remained in the lower level classes and never moved up. The fact that race gets in the way of a person’s education and lively hood isn’t right, and yet it continues to happen because people are slow to change and are slow to realize what is really going on in our society today. Racism is like smoke and mirrors, we can easily be blinded from it and led to believe that it no longer exists. 

Sex Trafficking

     This past Thursday, I attended a seminar on Sex Trafficking and Children, hosted by Carol Simensky. She spoke about sex trafficking on an international level and how its definition is different than what people think it is. By law, it is the recruitment, harboring, transportation and holding of anyone or someone under the age of 18.

    One individual Simensky introduced us to was a woman she called Sara. She was forced to be a servant in a family friend’s household after she was brought to the U.S believing she could have a better life. She was isolated from the outside world and abused for four years before running away. She was 13 when this all began.

    Simensky claims that these types of things occur because people want to get to a better place, often economically better, which leads them to agree to things that they normally wouldn’t agree to. They are told they will be able to send money back home and get their family out of poverty, and any family that says ‘no’ are seen as a bad family for turning the offer down. If accepted, people/children will find themselves in an unknown place, threatened, not knowing where they are or anybody, or even the language. This occurs around the globe and does not have to cross borders.                                                       

           

     Simensky belongs to Ecpat USA, an organization dedicated to helping children, who are 18 and under, who were once victims of sex trafficking. Originally based in Thailand, Ecpat is currently in 75 countries, fighting to protect basic human rights.

     The presentation brought up several points that connect to readings we have discussed over the last few weeks. S.C.W.A.M.P, Johnson and McIntosh can all be grouped together under the 1^st connection. All three articles discuss white privilege, and how a person’s background, race, class etc. affects how they are treated. Sex trafficking you can say, is the lack of white privilege. It does not discriminate against gender, age, ethnicity, income or sexual orientation. Instead those involved, the pimps, look for the most vulnerable kids; abused, foster kids, low income etc. This will increase the chance to convince them to join their ranks in hope of a better life. In an interview a Pimp admits, in reference to a former girl, “she was raped so many times, we might as well pay her for it”. Pimps also focus on recruiting attractive people base on physique, youth and beauty to attract more clients and business. These pimps will play the part that the victims need, whether that is a father figure, first lover, or even just a friend. According to a survivor, they would be given something that they never had before, “like a dream come true”.

     The second connection I see is from Delpit’s article, Silenced Dialogue. In Delpit’s article, people, usually women are silenced because there is not much expected of them. Sex traffic victims, especially the women, are silenced by their pimps and their circumstances. They are cut off from their family and friends, silenced from their old life, and controlled by their pimp. A survivor, Katherine Owens, tells her story and talks about how pimps would treat girls so well that the girls would feel like the pimps were entitled to their services. Once the victims realized they were being used, regardless of the emotional attachment to them, the pimps would do whatever it took to keep the girls under their control. When Owens tried to leave, she not only had to escape her pimp, but also his dog that was set to attack her. The pimps would control their victims so much that they would take away their rights to make their own decisions and to control their own actions. They were even expected to turn all their earnings over to the pimps, taking away any financial freedom they might have had.

     The third connection I see between the readings and sex trafficking is through Kozol’s article and the impact of institutions on individuals. Until recently, most states allowed children as young as 10 to be arrested for prostitution. It is universally derived for these children to be considered bad and there is confusion if the child is entitled to protection or to keep them criminalized. By criminalizing them, it just confirms what the pimp said about them, (‘you’re a bad kid, no one else cares about you but me etc.). Sara, who I mentioned earlier, was warned to stay away from the police because they wouldn’t care about her and would send her back home, which led to her avoiding them when she ran away. A judge claimed there is no effective way to respond to these situations in a five-minute hearing, so it’s easy to send them to a detention center. Although it gets them off the streets for a while, it is only an illusion of a solution. The institution of law enforcement has either terrified victims or made it so they are treated no better than how the pimps treat them. Only 19 states has, as of recently, passed state laws to help trafficking victims.

      If you would need to report any knowledge of sex trafficking, call 888-3737-88. If you want to learn more about the issue or learn how to help, visit www.ecpatusa.com, www.witness.org, or www.ngocstip.com. 

In Service of What?

 

 

   In the Service of What?, readers learn about service-learning, schools and their relationship to one another. This link gives more background on Service Learning and how one can impact their community http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/svclearn.pdf. When reading, three quotes stood out to me. The first quote is from Mr. Johnson, a teacher who gave his 12^th graders a service-learning project. He claimed, “By finding and engaging in community service activities…students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of learning while using community as a classroom”. I believe very strongly in this quote because I think the best means of education is firsthand experience. Sure you can donate money or items that those who are less fortunate need, but you won’t understand what they are going through unless you see it for yourself. By physically going out into the world and actually working with others, you can see the world through their eyes. This I feel makes your emotions towards them more real, more understanding, which can compel you to continue helping others.

       The second quote that stood out to me was, “much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change”. This quote really makes me think about how students are going about helping others. There is absolutely nothing wrong with volunteering, I encourage it and enjoy doing it myself. But is volunteering the best way to help others? Would it have more impact on others if we came up with actual plans and followed through with said plans to help others? For example, Habitat for Humanity is known for helping those in our community that are homeless and one method to help is by building homes for them. They not only have volunteers to help but they also have plans on how to help them. In this article, one classroom comes up with the planning process to help others but they don’t do any physical work towards helping. I think planning is only part of it, the same with physically volunteering. If you keep volunteering with no plan, where are you going with this volunteer work? What’s the goal of said volunteering?

       The last quote that piqued my interest was that “educators may miss important opportunities if they disconnect the act of service from a critical examination of the setting in which it occurs”. I like this quote because if one focuses so much on the setting, one can lose focus on why they are examining the setting. Examinations of the setting will help with the cause because you can understand the situation more. But if that’s all you focus on, you can forget why you are helping in the first place. You start thinking more with your head and not as much with your heart. Service Learning appeals to a person’s emotions and its not the same if you are emotionally disconnected from it.

     If you are interested in learning more about Habitat for Humanity, I highly encourage you to visit their website! http://www.habitat.org/

Disney: A Stereotypical Message

   

 

    Christensen talks about how books and elements of our childhood helped mold how we view society. She mentions Prince Charming as an example and how the fairytale stories set her up to believe that she needs Prince Charming to rescue her and will sweep her off her feet. Such stories have hidden messages to them that can warp children’s view on life and create stereotypes in their minds.

        I can personally say that I am in full agreement with Christensen’s theory. I’m 20 years old and I’m not afraid to say that I still love watching Disney movies. They remind me of the innocence of my childhood, when the biggest decision I had to make was what toy to play with, and they gave me the chance to dream. Regardless, it has shaded the reality of the situation; I’m not going to go flying on a magic carpet with the love of my life, fall in love and save a Prince from a curse, or turn into a human just to be with him. That’s not realistic. Love is complicated, sometimes messy, and always full of twists and turns. Disney however portrays it as simply black and white, you either love them or you don’t.

        Disney also portrays woman in specific ways, especially the classic films such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. And I don’t just mean in the physical sense. All three films portray the protagonists as delicate females (tiny waist, tiny hands and feet, graceful etc). They must also however, be rescued by a man to get out of a difficult situation (servitude, sleeping curse or poisoned apple) with the result of riding (or dancing) into the sunset. And look at Ariel, when she gave up her voice, she had to rely on her beauty to entrance him. One of my piano students has never seen a Disney film because of this very reason. Her parents want her to know that she doesn’t need a man to make it in the world. She can be a strong, independent woman with her own goals in life besides getting married and having children.

        In terms of race, Disney has only started incorporating that aspect only within the last few years, starting with Tiana. My favorite version of Cinderella is in fact not a cartoon but a live action film from 1997. It is based off of the Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and I enjoy it so much, not because of the music or the phenomenal cast, but rather the color of the cast. Cinderella is played by Brandy, a black woman, Whitney Houston played the fairy godmother, Whoopie Goldberg played the Prince’s mother and the Prince is of Asian descent! The film is not only crossing racial barriers but also ethnic barriers to create a wonderful musical.

         I love Disney films, or reading a romance novel, but they aren’t reality and they have actually clouded my view on love. Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to watch Disney movies but I can’t let them take charge of my views of the world. I want all the romance and roses that come with love (what girl doesn’t?) but I also realize that won’t always be the case. Disney, not to mention countless other forms of literature, stereotype women, gender and love, which ultimately can affect how a child views the world. These following links look into several Disney movies (including the ones I have mentioned) and how they portray women, race and culture.

http://newint.org/easier-english/Disney/diswomen.html

http://blogs.longwood.edu/genderrolesbroughttoyoubydisney/disneys-direct-effect-on-girls/

http://filmandmedia12.wikispaces.com/Gender+Roles+and+Stereotypes+Found+in+Disney+Films

https://bendergending.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/gender-stereotypes-in-disney-let-it-go-man/

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/01/disney-princes-princesses-slaves-stereotypes/

My question for you is this: Should all parents keep kids from watching such movies as Disney’s because of the stereotypes associated with them? Or can they be beneficial for children as well?