Lecture #2: Jena 6 open discussion

Later last week I attended an open forum organized for those who wanted to speak or be informed about Jena 6. At the forum I was able to hear from the perspective of those being oppressed, rather then from people who had never felt racism. Generally when people not afflicted by racism talk about how to resolve the issue of racism, they believe that everyone should stop focusing on color, essentially be "color blind," and that people should instead focus on being united as Americans, or as a human race, or seen as individuals. Even though these things are all ideal, they are completely unrealistic. From what I learned from the forum, it is impossible to solve racism within those terms. After the Civil Rights movement, affirmative action was put into place to help create an equal balance between minorities and whites. But affirmative action only creates the illusion that everything is equal - it's become an excuse for those who believe that racism does not exist - if it's been enacted, then everyone is on a level playing field, right? Not quite.
Racism still exists because a white invisible power still exists. It is hard to alleviate racism when the dominating group creating it is unaware of doing so. It's frustrating to see that everytime an incident like the Jena 6 occurs, African American's have to rally together to reevaluate thier satus in the world. But the answer to their problems comes from the source that's keeping them down.
At the forum one student made a great point. He informed everyone of the statistic that African American's applying for jobs that have "black" names, like Tamika or Darnell, automatically have a lesser chance of getting that job over a white person. And when he presented this information to a white person, they suggested, why not just change your name? It reminded me a lot of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd6LYiJYvG0, (please copy and paste, seeing that I still cannot figure out how to post a video clip...)
When white people suggest everyone just act "American" or as an "equal", they are suggesting for people to be more like them, to loose their style, their history, and everything they associate with. Knowing that Whiteness is a fairly new thing, I can only hope that eventually it will become something everyone will be aware of - and perhaps then we can start to really break down the issues within our society.

On Campus Lecture #1 : Jena 6

This past Thursday, September 20th, VCU's NAACP held a rally for the Jena 6 in Shafer Court. First off, I was surprised that it was not a very publicized event - I had no knowledge of the rally, I was just fortunate to hear the speakers as I was leaving class. Also, there weren't very many people at the rally - most of the people watching were just passing by, curious of the small crowd and camera crew.
The rally started off with the head of VCU's NAACP stating the facts of the Jena 6 situation, then some encouraging words from professor Shawn Utsey from the African American Studies Department. After that, the floor was open to questions and comments. The most important question asked was, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO AFTER TODAY? Everytime an incredibly racist situation occurs, people rally in anger and support of the oppressed, but nothing is ever done afterwards to further the fight. Racism still exists, and will continue to exist, unless serious actions are made to try and make people aware of the issue at hand.
The rally was quite an eye-opener. It was the first time I had been in a situation where I could hear African Americans openly speak about their concerns about racism. I felt very honored to be an "ally" in the fight against racism, but also very saddened and frustrated by the endless struggle that people have to endure in order to be equal. I wanted to voice my concerns, but I was unable to do so without feeling completely overwhelmed with emotion and grief.