Organic Racial Elitism?

            One conversation that we continue to have as a class regards issues of morality and “moral regenerations.” The legacies of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow loom large in contemporary society, particularly in the South, and Americans continue to grapple with questions regarding race. As we have seen in our reading throughout the semester, politicians and American citizens have a long history of justifying institutions that we now agree are immoral and unjust. Now, Politicians, like Representative Steven King and various members of the far right, as well as ordinary citizens stereotype minorities in less-than-flattering ways. For instance, popular culture is filled with caricatures of minorities in film and in popular music. These messages are spread throughout the world and consumed; and the image of a minority becomes synonymous with those hyperbolic representations witnessed in films and popular music. While this isn’t the root cause of all stereotyping within the United States, it serves as an example where racial predispositions influence representations of different races in the United States.

            I want to make our conversation larger, and make an argument regarding our nature as human beings. Racial elitism and stereotyping may not simply be a symptom of moral decay: perhaps it is a symptom of human nature. For all of recorded history, humans have always viewed themselves as superior to members of other races—the history of the Mongols and their interactions with Europeans is a fantastic example. One can see how stereotypical representations of particular races would gain popularity: people want representations of other races that are easy for them to understand and confirm their own sense of racial superiority. My point is this: the United States is not the only country to suffer intense racism and unfair racial stereotyping, and the modern era (16^th century until present) isn’t the only time to witness racial prejudice. I would argue that it is human nature for one group of people with the same skin color to view another group of people with a different skin color as inferior. While I am not condoning racial elitism, it is possible to see how fear of the unknown can drive a group of people to stereotype and develop a racial prejudice against another group of people. 

            Let’s take a step back from making claims that there is a moral decay—morality is secondary to our nature as humans. While the United States, and other countries, certainly need to have a serious discussion regarding the representation of races in popular culture, we also need to understand our history as humanity and learn from past generations. Racial elitism has always existed, and will probably continue to exist for all perpetuity—not because there is a moral decay, but because it is in our nature. While I don’t have answers to these questions, I do feel it important to have a discussion whether feelings of racial superiority are in our nature (rightly or wrongly). All humans are equal, but perhaps it is in our nature to think ourselves better than particular groups. Perhaps it takes morality to keep us from experiencing such feelings; and perhaps a moral decay only returns us to a more natural state. Just as religion and government brought humanity out of the stone-age in to a more civilized world (one where human's didn't simply indulge their basest needs whenever they wanted), perhaps morality shields us from the inherent notion of racial superiority within our nature.

The Civil Rights Movement in St. Louis

St. Louis has so much to offer culturally, historically, and entertainment wise.  There is a great deal of French culture, considering the city was named after Louis IX of France in 1764.  Lewis and Clark left on their excursion to explore the vast land westward in 1804.  St. Louis is well known for the Arch, which gives St. Louis the identification of being the Gateway to the West.   St. Louis also hosted the 1904 World Fair.  The downtown area possesses the St. Louis Art Museum, the Zoo, the History Museum, and Forest Park.  There are three professional sports teams with stadiums located within a ten-minute drive of each other: the Cardinals, the Blues, and the Rams.  There is no shortage of entertainment and activities in the downtown area of St. Louis.  Geographically, St. Louis is located on the western banks of the Mississippi river, bordering Illinois. 

Despite all the great things the city of St. Louis has to offer, there are many dangerous perceptions of the city.  According to US News, St. Louis was ranked the number one most dangerous place to live.  In 2009, the crime rate was five times the national average (Kurtzleben).    Like Memphis, the general demographics of the city are very segregated.  The actual city of St. Louis is mostly comprised of African Americans.  According to the census, the population composition of downtown is 45.9% white and 28.5% black (STL County Quick Facts).  Due to the large crime rates, people tend to associate the downtown area as very dangerous, which projects a negative connotation of the city and the residents. 

I live in a suburb about 20 minutes west of downtown St. Louis.  Typically, I only go downtown for sports games and concerts; I never find myself just going downtown to hang out or drive around.  However, this Thanksgiving, my family decided to bring some prepared Thanksgiving meals downtown and deliver them to any homeless people we noticed along the streets.  I figured we would see some, but I figured most people would have found shelters to find meals, especially considering it was Thanksgiving.  Immediately upon entering the heart of the city, we pulled over and saw at least ten homeless men and women on benches, street corners, and under trees.  I was shocked.  They were all extremely appreciative of the meals, except for one man sat under a tree with very tattered clothes, who consistently denied any food. 

After my experience downtown, I was really thinking about the current state of poverty in St. Louis, which lead me to wonder about the basis of segregation in the city.   I have always associated St. Louis city as a predominantly black area, but I had no background information as to why.  St. Louis is not often immediately associated to the civil rights movement, however the city has contributed significantly more to the movement than most are aware of. 

            St. Louis actually played a crucial role in the movement, as two hugely influential cases were based in the city.  Activist worked tirelessly through the 40’s and 50’s.  In result of their endless efforts, by the 60’s, many downtown restaurants were serving blacks and several blacks won political positions (A Strong Seed Planted).  St. Louis also pushed extremely hard for equality within the work and labor areas.   For example, the 1964 Jefferson Bank protests fought to ensure equality in the hiring process and to push for the bank to hire blacks for jobs other than custodial work (Mannies).  The consistent protests and efforts to ensure equality proved to be successful.  Furthermore, the St. Louis section in the March on Washington Movement is accredited for being the most active in the nation. 

            Clarence Lang, a professor at the University of Illinois, is working hard to bring attention to the positive impact St. Louis has had on the Civil Rights movement.  He wrote a book, “The Grassroots at the Gateway” that describes the efforts in St. Louis from 1936 to 1975.  Lang notes that an aspect of St. Louis that has brought so much success in the movement is that it is an “in-between city”.  He continues to describe that St. Louis possess Mid-western qualities such as industry and geography, all while maintaining a strong sense of southern quality (Mannies).  The article can be found: https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/19507/new_book_explores_how_st._louis_black_working_class_forged_civil_rights_movement

            The role of St. Louis in the Civil Rights movement is largely underappreciated.  In the master narrative I have learned throughout my education there was never a mention about St. Louis.  I was finally introduced to the role of St. Louis in the movement by our African American history course.  Even after reading more, I am continually surprised about the large impact the city has made.  I am shocked, as well as disappointed, that I was not informed of this in elementary and middle school.  I attended public school until eighth grade, then private school until graduation; never was St. Louis mentioned in the (short) civil rights movement section of our history courses. 

There is still a huge, negative stigma that is attached to the city of St. Louis by west-county citizens.  The ignorance and lack of knowledge is probably the largest factor contributing to the stigma, as well as prejudices and stereotypes about downtown St. Louis.  Because there is a huge amount of crime, and the racial demographic breakdown shows predominantly black residency, people construct illegitimate and incorrect assumptions.  Rather than focusing on the crime or poverty in the city, the entire Greater St. Louis area needs to become aware of the great contribution our city has had to the Civil Rights movement.  Without spreading that awareness and knowledge, it will be very difficult for our city to move past its current state of attitudes. 

Sources:

"A Strong Seed Planted The Civil Rights Movement In St. Louis, 1954-1968." OAH Magazine of

History 4.3 (1989): 26-35. Print.

Kurtzleben, Danielle. "The 11 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities." US News.

U.S.News & World Report, 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.

Mannies, Joe. "New Book Explores How St. Louis' Black Working Class Forged Civil Rights

Movement." A Better St. Louis. Powered by Journalism. St. Louis Beacon, 20 Feb. 2010.

Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

"St. Louis County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." St. Louis County QuickFacts from

the US Census Bureau. US Department of Commerce, 27 June 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

Mark Anthony Neal Lecture

I attended the Mark Anthony Neal lecture on Social Media and Social Justice in the Age of Hip Hop. The lecture focused on the question of whether social media had been around during the civil rights movement, and how that could have changed the dynamics of it. Professor Neal started out his lecture by talking about the concept of “fictive kin,” which is a concept that African Americans acknowledge each other in public settings even if they do not know each other or not. This is a type of community building that has been around since the time of slavery. After this he moved into the history of Hip Hop. He started by comparing the slave songs that they sung in the fields to hip hop and how it was a form of social media. These songs would often be codes that an uprising was occurring or they were meeting somewhere to speak about their rights and how they could escape the bondage of slavery. After this he moved in the Civil Rights movement and brought up one of the more interesting topics of the lecture. He compared Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they could have acted if they had mobile technology. What would a texting conversation look like between the two men? Professor Neal then continued to talk through the civil rights movement and pointed out times where “social media” was used through word of mouth and leaflets to help the cause. He finished the lecture by talking about hip-hop and how it was truly a form of social media.

            I was incredibly impressed by Professor Neal’s lecture. He talked about poignant times in African American history by relating them to a modern phenomenon. The end of lecture resonated with me, because he talked about how social media can used so effortlessly to get out a message and to start a movement. It does not take a “March on Washington,” to start a movement. The only necessary steps are to upload a video or a link and post it online. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have revolutionized how people see the world because we have grown up in a generation where having all this technology is the norm. We use computers and cell phones on a regular basis without even thinking of the power that they hold. People 50 years ago would be amazed at how far media has come, and we take for granted how much influence we can have on a global level. If you want to make a change, then you can put something on the Internet that allows other people to see it and can join. We live in a World where accessibility and groups can easily be put together to help a cause. 

Gentrification? A Good or Bad program

Segregation in major cities is not only a Memphis problem. I live in Washington D.C. which has a large African American population. However, the city is divided much like Memphis into large pockets of similar races. The city is divided into four quadrants: Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest (although this is now Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia). Much of the white population lives in Northwest and in the surrounding suburbs, while most of the black population of the city lives in Southeast, and Northeast. Because of the separation of races, the socioeconomic levels of those areas are very different. I live in Northwest, which is a primarily white neighborhood. During the early 21st century, the district relocated many African American families to build the Washington Nationals stadium. This attempt at gentrification caused a large uproar in the city. These families were removed from the homes that they had lived in their whole life to make room for a stadium that mostly white people go to. This process of gentrification is not unique to DC. Cities all over the country try to improve their cities like the HOPE IV project in Memphis by housing projects are either destroyed or relocated.

Although this project has many clear negatives, proponents of this can point to the vicious cycle of the current socioeconomic structure of many inner city neighborhoods. By removing some of these families and attempting to improve the neighborhoods, the cycle can be broken. Families can be given a second chance to send their children to better schools that are more diverse and give a better opportunity for success. By staying put in a neighborhood without much hope, families are reluctant to change, but in some instances a fresh start will allow for more growth and a better chance for their children to flourish.

In reality though, moving a family to gentrify a neighborhood is a delicate matter. Most of these people have grown accustomed to living somewhere, and to just immediately remove them, and put them in a new place can have startling consequences. Much of the population that are being removed from their homes are in the lower class of society and do not have the means to live in neighborhoods that have a higher level of living. This causes problems socially and economically. People cannot survive in surrounding that they are not comfortable in. Many of these relocations are moving people to another poor neighborhood with the same issues they had before in an effort to improve the former slum. This is another vicious cycle that does not seem to have an end in sight, and gentrification is an attempt to move people around, but it seems as it the results are negligible at best.

Racism back home

In Lunenburg Massachusetts near where I leave there was a racial incident involving an unidentified group of people or person against an African American football player. It involved graffiti on one of the Lunenburg’s player’s lawn stating, “Knights don’t need niggers”. Following the discovery of this on their house the parent’s contacted police, which in turn contacted the school. This incident made Lunenburg cancel the rest of their football season.

The player who was attacked was only ¼ Black with his mother being white and father half African American. I find this quiet interesting as the North especially the rural towns of Massachusetts never really experience racism as almost all the inhabitants are white. For example Lunenburg that is over two times the size of my town has a demographic of 97.01% White and 0.69% Black so when I mean almost all white I mean that. It hard for racism to emerge in a place where there really hasn’t been any African culture or interactions between the populations, which makes this instance very intriguing.

Another topic about this is how the school reacted by cancelling the season. By doing something this drastic do you put this kid in an even worse situation? The town is overwhelmingly white and more then likely the same can be said about his school. So does that make the kid more likely to be harmed in the process by angered players and or parents who feel wronged?

The New England football league released "This brazen attack on the home of a high school football player warrants everyone's condemnation. This case is indicative of how school bullying can quickly escalate to a hate crime and civil rights violations, making it a community wide concern," said regional director Robert Trestan in the statement. "We applaud the Lunenburg police for making this case a top priority, and are confident that the offenders will be quickly apprehended."

Do you feel the school over reacted? Do you feel that this kid is in now a dangerous situation? 

The Knockout Game and Race

The Knockout Game and Race

         The new game called “Knockout” is when a teen randomly punches a stranger in the attempt to knock them out (make them unconscious). Some reports say that it is becoming widespread while other groups say that it does not exist. From what I have seen and read about, all the knockouts involve African American teens hitting mostly white people. But I have also seen in videos African Americans hit, so this cant be race related. As of yet there has not been a case where a white group of teens has targeted and African American in the fashion of the knockout game. There have been cases in New York, Chicago, and various other places.

          My main point on this is that if this game consisted of White kids assaulting people primarily African Americans it would be all over the News as a race crime. People in this country are quick to jump to race but I am sure that African Americans are not always the victims. In the history of our country crimes against Blacks have been primarily from white people but I don’t see why every crime a white man is involved in between an African American is immediately race related. In a statistic by the Bureau of Justice 93% of African Americans that where murder in the country are from other Black people while 85% of White murders are from other Whites.

          I feel that race related issues have become overlay sensitive in this country. Its seems that anything involving Whites and Blacks is race related. I have to commend Rev. Al Sharpton on the subject as he stated “We would not be silent if it was the other way around. We cannot be silent or in any way reluctant to confront it when it is coming from our own community," he said  “Kids are randomly knocking out people [from] another race—some specifically going at Jewish people."

Copy URL to see video of the Knockout Game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y08AIrCdkwY