Author: poudel.17

Text Review: This is America

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Childish Gambino, more commonly known as Donald Glover, released his Grammy record of the year winning single This Is America in 2018 to highlight the racism and injustices African Americans face on a daily basis in America. This song takes a dive into society and the struggles faced from the perspective of an African American male. Childish Gambino not only highlights the struggles African Americans face from institutions such as police, but he also speaks about problems within the African American community. At the beginning of the song Gambino says “We just want to party, party just for you”. This line highlights how African American dances are often portrayed in the entertainment industry, and this is the primary reason they are in the entertainment industry. In the next verse Gambino says “This is America, don’t catch you slipping, police be tripping”. Gambino uses this line to speak about  how African Americans always have to be on their best behavior so the police do not catch them “slipping”. This line also speaks about injustices in the policing system and how African Americans receive disproportionately worse treatment compared to their white counterparts. 

Gambino also speaks about real life events that occurred. In one line of the song, he says “This a celly, that’s a tool”. This line has a double meaning. In 2018 a black man named Stephon Clark was shot and killed by the police at his own house for having his cellphone in his hand(a celly) but the police reported that it looked like a gun(a tool). The other meaning of this line is how Americans use cellphones as a tool to record police so the police do not have a chance to push a false narrative. 

The overarching theme present in this song is “Otherness”. Childish Gambino addresses how society has viewed African Americans as “the other”. Gambino speaks about how African Americans are at a disadvantage and always have to be on their best behavior regardless of the situation. He speaks on the division we have as a country and how often times African Americans are only accepted when it comes to the entertainment industry. Gambino wants to know why white America is infatuated with things such as hip hop, sports, fashion, and are willing to accept African Americans when they are associated with major entertainment industries, yet fail to accept them on a daily basis. 

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase: Education Disparity in White Communities Vs. Minority Communities

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After researching a variety of systemic injustices, I realized that these injustices are much more common than I thought. A lot of people simply do not want to acknowledge these injustices because they are not affected, but they are common. The injustice that struck me the most was the disparity in education and access to various resources between minority communities and predominantly white communities. On the surface, it seems like a problem, but the more you divulge into the issue, the more you realize how big of a problem it truly is. It is common knowledge that minority communities make significantly less than their white counterparts, which directly leads to the massive education disparity in America. This is because public schools are directly funded by income tax, and due to the fact that minority communities make significantly less than white communities, they lack in various resources. This leads to lower subsidized test scores, worse colleges and eventually lower paying jobs. 

 

According to NPR, predominantly white schools receive $23 billion more in funding than minority schools. They also state that predominantly white schools receive around $2226 more per student than predominantly minority schools. This is detrimental for minority communities. To break this down, this means that minority communities have access to worse technology, less learning resources, and worse teachers and counselors. They also lack access to standardized testing resources which leads to lower scores on these tests and subsequently entry into worse colleges. Entry into worse or no college means that the kids in these communities will have lower paying jobs. This feeds into the never ending cycle because in the end public schools are funded by income tax, and people who make less money will not be able to contribute as much money. This is truly unfair, as no child’s fate and life should be contingent upon the amount of money their family and community makes. I think a good solution to this would be making communal tax pools and distributing the money evenly among school districts so all kids get equal resources. 

 

A concept that I think relates to the disparity in education in our country is Spivak’s concept of the Subaltern. When Spivak talks about the Subaltern, she is speaking of individuals or groups that are marginalized and can’t make their voices and complaints heard. I think that due to the lack of funding in minority communities, they don’t necessarily have the resources to make their voices heard making them the Subaltern in this sense. On top of this, I believe Spivak portrays the Subaltern as someone who can’t tell their side of the story, which is exactly what is happening to these underfunded minority communities. It is not that we as a society do not know that this problem is prevalent, we choose to brush it off because it does not have that much exposure. This is something we as a nation should actively work to fix, as education is the backbone to our society. 

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/696794821/why-white-school-districts-have-so-much-more-money

 

Lombardo, Clare. “Why White School Districts Have So Much More Money.” NPR, NPR, 26 Feb. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/02/26/696794821/why-white-school-districts-have-so-much-more-money. 

 

Difference between schools in underfunded communities and rich communities

Context presentation: Spivak, “Can The Subaltern Speak” and Morrison, “Recitatif”

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Morrison and Spivak write about similar things, yet in very different manners. The common theme I see in both texts refer to how people are racist, classist and severely shaped by  the class based hierarchy that society has created. In Morrison’s text, the character Twyla has been impacted by the social system from a young age. She was put in Saint Bronny’s orphanage by her mother, and she quickly became friends with a girl(whose mother was sick) by the name of Roberta. Although at a young age both of their voices were “suppressed” this changed in the future. Twyla and Roberta were pushed apart even further by the class system. Twyla was a working class individual, while Roberta lived a lavish life. As the story progressed, their characters’ ideologies furthered from each other as well. The two do not seem to see eye to eye on social and racial issues, and seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Their lives become segregated from one another in a sense. Spivak speaks on the class system throughout this passage. One example of this is on page 26 when she speaks about the “elite”. 

 

One present day example of the classism and segregation shown in both Morrison’s and Spivak’s text would be the caste system in southeast asian countries. The most well known example of the caste system would be India’s, although many other countries(like Nepal) have an almost identical system. On paper, these systems have been abolished, but many families and ethnic groups are still affected by these systems. Women especially are still disproportionately impacted by the antique beliefs most of southeast asia has. Spivak stated “ of the intellectuals. It is well known that the notion of the feminine (rather than the subaltern of imperialism) has been used in a similar way within deconstructive criticism and within certain varieties of feminist criticism. In the former case, a figure of ‘woman’ is at issue, one whose minimal predication as indeterminate is already available to the phallocentric tradition(Pg 28)”. Women to this day in these countries do not have many basic rights that their male counterparts have. When researching the caste system, I learned that often kids can grow up together, but their adult lives are extremely different due to their last names. “There she was. In a silvery evening gown and dark fur coat. A man and another woman were with her, the man fumbling for change to put in the cigarette machine. The woman was humming and tapping on the counter with her fingernails. They all looked a little bit drunk(Pg 16)”. This part of the text illustrates how even though children can grow up together their lives can turn out completely opposite. 

 

“What Is India’s Caste System?” BBC News, BBC, 19 June 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616.