Who Gets What?

Native Americans have been in this country before anyone else.  However, when you look at national statistics, they are seemingly the least populated people in America.  After hundreds of years, Native Americans still seem to be "given the shaft."  They were forced out of their villages, onto reserves, and are given lesser supplies and leftover resources.


Everything amounts to money, in the end.  Native Americans formed the integrity of this country's land and natural resources before any European set foot on American ground.  Because of this, Native Americans deserve to be given the proper recognition.  They should be given better living conditions, proper resources, and better food supply.  After all, they started it for us to finish it, right?

Where The Bond Lies

Native Americans were here before anyone else.  Arguably, so were Latino Americans.  Both groups were in the North American region before the Europeans came and took over.  They are seemingly the oldest two groups in the history of America as a country.  African Americans, however, were brought here by Europeans after the invasion of Native American and Latino tribes.  


Keeping this in mind, it can be concluded that Native and Latino Americans will always have a stronger bond than either group will have with African Americans.  Being here so long, African Americans can be seen as those who came in and took even more of the land that the Native and Latino Americans already lost.  Its a battle of territory, and the African Americans can be seen to have invaded, as they are "higher" than other minorities in today's society. Even so, the art of Latinos and Native Americans is similar, as well as skin tones and music genres.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

African Americans have had many struggles to overcome in history.  In America, African Americans are seen as "the underdog," and rose from the bottom to be in a position enough to "compete" with white America.  On the other hand, African Americans are also perceived as a threat in many situations.  For example, the Trayvon Martin case.  On many occasions, cases such as this have proved African Americans to be nothing more than threats to everyday living.


Latina Americans are still seen as "lower" than the average American.  They are seen as low, and only good enough for hard labor.  Native Americans are also understated.  For such a rich and bountiful people, America oversees them as low-down and needing the help of America.  


African Americans, Latina Americans, and Native Americans have always been at odds.  I believe that banding together against the "greater, white America" could be an alliance no one can ignore, and allow all three groups to be better seen as a whole.

When Color Does Exist

In the subconscious, one sees people and immediately judges them.  We are a judging species, with everything from color of skin to religion to social habits.  Cliques, organizations, clubs: all are formed and the popularity of each is based off the judgement of prospective members.  In history, the color of someone's skin has always been basis of how others will perceive you.  Slavery, invasions, wars: all started by the simple fact of judgement.


In history, the darker the color of the skin, the harder it was to be accepted.  African Americans and Native Americans have been at odds, because each has gone through a racial profiling, and trauma.  African Americans feel as though they have been through hell and high waters, and Native Americans had it "easy."  Native Americans were only pushed against, while African Americans were taken from their continent and forced into hard labor.


Native Americans, on the other hand, feel as though African Americans are lucky.  In contrast, there are many more African Americans living and leading successful lives than there are Native Americans in the entire country as a whole.  Native Americans were always a hard-working, strong-spirited people.  Even so, they were trespassed against and Europeans stole all they had.

The Conflict

The Native Americans have a rough relationship right? Yes. Their relationship has always been this way right? NO.

Native Americans and Africans Americans were once people under the same roof who had very similar cultures and beliefs. The "bad blood" between them is only a recent issue. The Native Americans were promised money by the government for their tribes. The money is to be shared among all the members of the tribe evenly. Learning of this, the Native Americans decided to exclude African Americans from the tribe in order to only have the money distributed among Native Americans of pure blood. The Native Americans feel that the Africans were not truly part of the tribe because they did not go through all the same trials and tribulations. Although, some of them did. Sociologically speaking, the Africans and Natives had very similar cultures. They both had very deep ties with nature and respect for the gods which governed each part of the earth. They were very easy to get along with. When the Africans escaped slavery, many of them ended up settling on Native reservations where they found safety and companionship. The Native American chiefs are being greedy and forgetting the connections of the past in the face of money that they and the African Americans deserve.

Mix Breed, New Culture

According to an article in Latina “The frustrating ironies of being Afro-Latina hit Yuly Marshall with stunning regularity: At work at a Miami hospital, Hispanic patients of the Cuban-born radiology technician usually assume she’s African American, asking her, ‘Where did you learn to speak Spanish like that?’ and expressing shock—even skepticism—that she’s really Latina. Other times, fellow Latinos will disparage African Americans in front of her with phrases like, ‘What can you expect from Negros?’ and then turn around and tell her, as if paying her a compliment, ‘But you’re not like that. You’re one of us.’” Ms. Marshall’s own friends would completely disregard her Black heritage while speaking to her as if she were only Latino. It’s not right for someone else to determine your culture when you are clearly one of both. The fact that they assumed calling her different and “one of us” was a compliment is disrespectful to her African American side and therefore disrespectful to her. On top of that when she speaks Spanish she is looked at by some as a strange entity. This is because, in the minds of some people, someone who looks black like her shouldn’t be speaking Spanish so fluently. Perhaps is this society learned to accept and learn about Afro-Latinos as a race of their own, these types of discrimination wouldn’t happen. This type of ignorance happens even with celebrities. The video bellow is an interview of Afro-Latino celebrities who went through the same misunderstanding with people who wouldn't accept them as both Black and Latino

The Country of Hip-Hop/Rap

Where did Rap come from? Of course one would say the ghettos of America. However, a better question is, where has rap gone? The answer is everywhere. In class this week we read about Reggaeton and how it came out of the inner city ghetto of Latin America. The art styles known as Hip-Hop and Rap have spread to many different countries. This week we discussed how Don Omar made his rise to stardom and we discussed the connection with the Reggaeton style and traditional black Rap.

There is of course a huge connection because the art itself wouldn't be around if it hadn't been for blacks in America. The question is not that are they connected but to what extent. I understand it as the Reggeaton style is a remix to the traditional style. Using a different language and talked about different issues. The Reggeaton styles of Don Omar are no more different than the styles of Lupe Fiasco or Mos Def other than their place of origin.

However the world of Hip-Hop is literally all around the world. The style and skill doesn't stop in the western Hemisphere. Very few people know this but there are even rappers in other countries such as Drunken Tiger, an artist from Korea. He is well known for his song "Monster" He's been around for a while and has been using the style of Hip-Hop to fund his career. He even has many fans among the Korean-American group. The number of artists in other countries is endless.

The world is full of rappers and Hip-Hop artists from many different backgrounds. The art of Hip-Hop is a black-originated but worldly-participated action. Check out some of these other rappers from different countries

Drunken Tiger - Monster

Zock-On - Teriyaki Boyz ft. Pharrell & Busta Rhymes

Don Omar - Taboo

Lady Sovereign - Love Me or Hate Me

These Colors Don't Run The World

Shame of you America and your ancestors. You have pillaged and ravished many countries, and worst of all, you pushed your own language and religion as the "proper" way of life. This week in class we discussed the way that colonials who came to American would force the Native Americans to learn English and practice Christianity. This was wrong because if they didn't and choose to stick with their original life style, as they should have, they were not allowed to participate in society.

This reminds me of my own high school experience where if I was not acting a certain way people did not what me participating in their events. I attended a mostly white and Asian school. If I was ever "acting too black" it was an issue with some students. I had to make sure not to act too much like myself at first because people would see me as an outcast. Fortunately I found friends to accept me, but what about the Native Americans? They didn't have friends to help them. Neither did the Africans who were stolen from their home and taught a totally new way of life. So for this I say Shame to you America. The only way to repent is to reteach the knowledge you've stolen.

Banned!

An entire ethnicity of people is under attack. It seems that the government itself is at war with Mexican-Americans. Banning the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona was wrong and unjust. The border issues between Mexico and America have always been a talked about issue, however recently legislature was passed in Tucson, Arizona removing the Mexican American studies program from a school. Many Mexican-Americans are angry, but this is not the first bit of legislation that has angered the Hispanic community. About a year ago there was a law passed In Arizona allowing police officers to stop anyone who “looked” like the might be an illegal immigrant. Basically it authorized racial profiling. After that and now this banned program, many Hispanics feel like they are being outlawed, in both society and the classroom. When the program was dropped a book was banned along with it called Rethinking Columbus. This book has never been banned anywhere else and when news got out, there was internet outrage. People all over have blogged and written articles about it.

Bill Bigelow is one of the authors and Editors of Rethinking Columbus and upon finding out that his book was banned, for the first time, he has this to say on his blog “the last time a book of mine was outlawed was during the state of emergency in apartheid South Africa in 1986, when the regime there banned the curriculum I’d written, Strangers in Their Own Country, likely because it included excerpts from a speech by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela. . . the white minority government feared for its life . . . It’s worth asking what the school authorities in Arizona fear today” (Rethinking Columbus Banned In Tucson) Bigelow posed a good question. Why, now all of a sudden is the government of Arizona scared of the Mexican American studies? Could it be that the white upper class is scared. If Mexican-American Children grow up to favor their Mexican heritage over their American roots they are likely to take opposing views on immigration than those of the people in Arizona, and we all know how Arizona feels about Immigration. Now the blame does not fall on ALL of Arizona, however the way that the legislature is acting is hurting people.

“My cultural heritage has been outlawed” writes James E. Garcia after gaining information of the banned studies program. I understand the issues that our government has with illegal immigration. Every year it seems that more and more immigrants get into the country. According to the Pew Hispanic Center In October 2008, the illegal immigrant population stood at 11.9 million. Since then the number has risen. I agree that the illegal immigration of any race is an issue to of the country’s safety, however to strip knowledge from the Hispanics here of their heritage is wrong. As a black student in America I already feel that there isn’t enough of an equal look at all ethnicities in most schools. Would you want someone to take away your ability to learn about your roots? Our heritage is what makes us who we are, we shouldn’t be robbed of that right to learn.

- http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/Illegal_Immigration_Facts_&_Statistics/index.shtml

- http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/01/15/20120115ethnic-studies-wont-end-idea.html
- http://howard.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FdisplayLearningUnit%3Fcourse_id%3D_1002217_1%26content_id%3D_1236922_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue

Borders

This week in class we discussed the theme of borders. To begin our theme we read a passage from Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera. In this passage Anzaldua speaks on the border between The Unites States and Mexico. She goes in to depth about the inhabitants of the area speaking on how those who live on the border neither belong to one culture or the other. They are a mix, a hybrid that is perceived as not "normal" by those further from the border on either side. We went on in class to discuss the fact that there are more borders than just the one's draw on maps between countries, states and cities. There are also borders between different social classes, different genders, different ethnicity, different sexual orientations and many more. One of the borders I though about was the border between different types of religion. Personally as a Muslim I have known that many people in the U.S. do not like the Islamic religion. Research shows that "More than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims" Another part of borders is that they cause a psychological affect among people. When a border is established it causes people on either side of them to look at and feel towards each other differently simply because, "I am HERE and they're THERE"
Think about it, borders do more than just determine where one country end and another begins.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/125312/religious-prejudice-stronger-against-muslims.aspx