Public work of art

In this mural is a very important person from the past, Malcolm X. This murals home is between a nail salon and a residential building, in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn on Malcolm X Blvd. Every time I go to work I pass this mural on the Bus. Within the neighborhood there are schools, deli’s, tattoo parlors, and a residential community. I can tell that this is a really old mura, because of the paint on it is chipping away. The words “By any means necessary” are a part of the mural as well. These words come from this quote from  Malcolm, "We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary." -Malcolm X. This quote is basically saying that as black people we have the right to be treated like every other human being, and with that comes respect and by any means necessary we should attain this, whether it’s  through violence or not.

 When I look at the mural it seems like he is talking to anyone that is looking him because of the direct eye contact. It’s seems like he is staring into your soul. This mural isn’t on any shutter of a store or anything like that so it’s visibly all the time, no matter what time of day it is. I feel its better this way because of the fact that it’s always visibly for people to see. Whenever I pass it, it keeps me focus on my goals because “by any means necessary” I will attain my goals, and I believe if I feel this way I know there is other people out there that is probably thinking the same way. When I look at this mural it also makes me look back at how far black people have come from the civil right movement, and it opens my mind and my heart even more to appreciate the life that I have now, because I don’t know what I would do if I grew up in that era.

I would include this mural in an exhibit because everyone could look at this mural a probably get their own mean from it. Any painting, portrait, etc.. of Malcolm X I would say it reminds people that this is a person that fought for what we have today “by any means necessary” and I adore him because of that. In my opinion Malcolm X was one of the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement and for this any portrait or mural of him should be in any exhibit.

Post 6

www.metrolyrics.com/the-saints-are-coming-lyrics-green-day.html
The link above is for the lyrics to U2 and green days song the saints are coming. I thought this would be helpful because in order for me to to write about the song i do need to know what the lyrics are about.


http://www.atu2.com/band/bono/  and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bono
I believe these links would be helpful because it gives a biography about Bono's life (member of the groupU2) and his activism, and it will help me understand why he would be apart of a song like this

I also found other important information like where the song came from, it was originally by this group called  the skids a Scottish punk rock group, but I wont go into to much detail about that. However I am still, wondering  where i should take my topic, and if i should change it that's why i only have 3 links up.

Post 5

In Malcolm X autobiography he talked about internalized racism, because of his race. Malcolm X's grandfather which is his mothers father was a white man, which she was shameful about, because he raped her mother. When Malcolm was born he was born the a lightest complexion compared to his other brothers and sisters. He said that some people thought that being lighter in complexion was actually a benefit rather and a curse because  it closer to to being the white. Malcolm didn't look at his lighter skin being a blessing, but more as a curse because he " hated every drop of that white rapist blood" that was inside of him (Malcolm x 3). He disliked being that complexion because he had "white blood" inside of him, blood from a group of people who didn't care if he was alive or dead.

Malcolm internalized that hate for his skin complexion because he disliked white people, and to have "white blood" inside of him he didn't like at all. What made him hate white people even more was hearing and seeing   things they did to his family when he was younger, like the ku klux  klan coming to his house looking for his father and when they found out he wasn't their they broke all the windows in the house.Another reason is because of the amount of times they had to move because of them. But one of the big reason i believe he hated white people was because of the fact they killed his father, and after that their whole house hold started to collapse. The family  was suffering and their mother couldn't handle it, and eventually their family split up with the kids going into foster homes and his mother going" crazy" and she was admitted into a mental hospital. So with all of this i believe that's why he internalize so much hate for his skin color.

MY TOPIC

I have decide to choose a song to write about .The song i chose was U2 " The Saints are coming". I chose this song because of its message about the U.S government, towards its own people. This song had a political message about the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina. The song took on new meaning in 2005 after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and thousands of people were left homeless. The song and video portrayed the feelings of disbelief and dismay at the way the U.S. government had responded to the Katrina tragedy. I find it's very strange how the U.S government is quick to run to the aide of other countries aide but not be quick to help their own people out. I am not saying that we shouldn’t help other countries but when our own countries is in need of help why is it taken us so long, even up to this day for things to be dealt with when it happened five years ago.

Mississppi GODDAM post 3

Mississppi GODDAM

Reading this song gives you alot to think about. In the beginning it was kind of hard for me to figure out who exactly this song is directed to but when started to read the second page then it became clear to me. I knew it was about segregation and blacks wanting equality and it was direct towards white Americans but who exactly. Reading the second page made it clear to me who was being talked about, and that was the segregated states and the white Americans who agreed with its laws.

The audience was everyone I believe. It was to show everyone how tired African American were of living this way, and the things being promised to the blacks but nothing ever come through, like the federal government imposing new laws about segregation and the states not following those laws.

The song does make a powerful argument because they were trying to say that there are too many wrong things going on in this country for to long and there is no progress. Everything is been done at a snails pace, and the “simplest” thing like equality for all mankind is taking years to achieve. There were to many unjust things happening “ school children sitting in jail”, “ hound dogs on my trail” and for what reason. At that time of age what did children do that was so bad for them to be in jail, I know what and that was being black. Hound dogs chasing you when you did nothing wrong.

The emotion I am getting from this song is one of frustration. Tired of the way things in the society is being handled. With Black Americans feeling this way they started to do something about it and the civil right movement was started, and it became very successful because look where we are today, yea there could be a lot more changes but at the same time we came a long way.

Myths

1) In "Singing Civil Rights: The Freedom Song Tradition," Reed identifies a number of 'myths' that he believes are popular misconceptions about the movement. Select at least two of these myths to write about: have you been taught or exposed to the view that Reed sees as 'a myth'? How does Reed's view change your understanding of the movement and why do you think it might be important to challenge that myth?


The two myths that I found interesting was the one that said Martin Luther King Jr. started and led the civil rights movement and that the Civil Rights movement emerged out of no where. I picked these two myths because if they kind of go hand and hand because the myths made it seem like the movement emerged out of no where and was just started by Martin Luther King Jr.

In school I have been taught that Martin Luther King Jr. was the starter and leader of the civil right movement. In school they always made it seem like he was the one who woke up one morning and was like today am going to start a movement for equality for blacks. Not only Reed's view changed my mind but other authors as well as I learned more about the Civil Rights movement later on. It will be important to challenge the myth because there is still that misconception that Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader and the starter of the civil rights movement, and they are still teaching little kids in school this same misconception. I understand he was the face of the Civil Rights movements but at the same time the truth should be told about it.

In school I was never taught that the Civil Rights Movement emerged out of no where, I was taught that after slavery Blacks started to stand up for themselves more, and after years and years of doing this the movement began. There was no need for Reed to change my mind because I knew already that wasn't the truth. Some people probably do think that the movement emerged out of nowhere and I believe those people are very ignorant because if you heard and learned about slavery then their is no way this movement could come out of nowhere. There is a need to challenge this myth that way people learn and gain knowledge that the movement didn’t come out of no where.

Eyes on the Prize

The Civil Rights movement was one of the biggest movements in United States. The Civil Rights movement was a political movement for equality in America.. Their were many factors that lead up too the Civil rights movement. We watched a documentary in class about some of the factors that led up to this courageous movement. One of those factors was the Emmett Till murder. In the documentary there was a boy by the name Emmett Till who was African American from the north that was murdered in the south because he said "bye baby" to a white lady. After his death they had a trial but the men that murdered him were set free. The NAACP (who worked against white supremacy) stepped in but the decision was still made for the men to be freed.
Another factor that led up to the Civil Rights Movement was when Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat to a white man, when the bus driver asked her to. She was later arrested and fined for her actions.
What I have learned about the civil rights movement was that it was a movement that basically abolished segregation. Segregation which separated whites and blacks from living among each other as one, black and whites used the different facilities like restrooms restaurants, schools and etc . The civil rights movement had a lot of rebellion from the blacks in America. In the end the Civil Rights movement led to the improvement of legal rights that were previously discouraged. What I would like to learn more about the Civil Rights movement is about the smaller protest/ rebellion that also help blacks get their rights. Everyone knows a lot about Rosa Parks and Emmet Till But what about the not so famous people like Claudette Colvin