The work that I decided to review today is the movie, Just Mercy. This movie is a drama that was released in 2019 and based on the bestselling book by Bryan Stevenson. This is a powerful and moving story of a young lawyer defending those wrongly imprisoned in Alabama. The case he takes on is the case of Walter McMillen, a man who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit. The movie follows Bryan Stevenson speaking up and seeking justice for this man trapped in a system that is doing everything it can to ignore the facts. We see the racism and injustice that takes place and occurs to people of color in this country. Police encounters and the legal system have deep systemic racism roots that need to be addressed. This movie touches on many different subjects regarding the racism so many black men and women experience in their lifetimes. Many truly believe that they are condemned since the moment they are born and it is a reality that white people don’t see, are ignorant to, or have never been exposed to before in the media. The legal system is flawed and this movie was able to bring attention to this topic. Throughout our course, we looked at various works that touched on the equality of this country due to race, for example, “Recitatif” by Tony Morrison and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These works focus on the systemic issue that many refuse to recognize. This movie accomplished the goal of adapting the book and raising awareness for this issue. It was an eye-opening movie that sparked conversation and confrontation to the problem that has been ignored for too long. It is a true story that demonstrated the flaws of the system but the hope in battling them to create a better future.
Hi, welcome back to “Yo, is This Racist” podcast where we talk about different topics and issues that are relevant in the social climate today and it’s important to bring up these conversations and I think people need to hear about them. It is a space for discussion where I’ll be talking about my own experiences, those of other people of color, and the importance of these topics
I will be your host my name is Angela Tlahuel Flore, I am a proud Latina and I guess one of the biggest things that I will be discussing is discrimination and overall feelings that we see towards people of color from the school system in the US. I guess I will be speaking on some of my personal experiences and thoughts and the effects that this injustice causes in many minorities
It is important to recognize that there is a real issue in the school system of this country that is not really being addressed and needs to change. There is still a long way to go and not many people are not having the conversations necessary to fix the situation. Especially with the Black Lives Matter movement, we can see how there is a raised awareness of the injustice in the systems in our society and the racism embedded within them. I think that it is important to speak out on this issue and recognize that there is a real problem that needs to be solved in order for us to move forward in general but with all members of society. There is some deep-rooted racism in our system that has negative effects for our education and just the people that have to experience that. I mean education is super important and it is at the base of our development as humans in this society. We have to have the right development and an equal system where we are all able to get to these levels that are distributed so unfairly right now. I guess we have to think about what we need to advocate and truly be willing to open our eyes and see how there are issues that we don’t even recognize. I mean I can speak on myself and the experiences that I’ve had. I went to Catholic high school where it was predominantly white and I was one of just a handful of Latinos overall. But it was definitely something different and I can see, just because I also attended public school up until I hit high school so I grew up with diversity, and seeing just the differences within two schools, it really opened my eyes and made me realize that other people, other students didn’t recognize the issues, didn’t see it, not only because they didn’t grow up with it I guess but they just did not know how different people were being treated. It is interesting to talk about, you know, what we can do and I’ve definitely shocked some of my friends about just these issues that they even think about before.
I think It is important to advocate for equal funding for example. Just seeing how predominantly white school districts make $23 billion, billion, more than the predominantly non-white school districts. I mean that’s crazy just to think about how much that money can do for the school predominantly non-white students. I know that with the right funding and the right resources they would just be different, they would just be, the students would get a different experience and so many don’t get to see that. It’s discouraging, just sad, learning about some of the things and the lack of resources that many students of color experience in this country. it is discouraging to them. It is something that truly affects them. Not only could it be bad for, like, their physical well-being but also kind of like the mental well-being, just not having like a counselor, someone to go to or maybe teachers. I’ve heard about this, how some schools have teachers that, the retention rate is just so low. They, you know, don’t get to stick around with the same teacher, they don’t get to build those connections, I guess or get the right encouragement because that’s what it is, being able to, you know, get the encouragement the right, the only education but knowledge from your teachers. Knowing that someone will have your back or is pushing for something better. It could also be hazardous, I guess, in many cases, we can see just how some of the buildings could be outdated and they just don’t have the resources in order to fix it. I know that my schools definitely received A lot of funding not so much from the government just because it was private but he did receive funding where I had a different experience. I knew my counselor on a first name basis where We were comfortable with each other and I definitely received support and knowledge needed in order to pursue higher education It is something that many did not recognize or really saw just because they didn’t get to really see, I guess, the other side of, maybe like public high schools and what they faced, what that was like but it is important to talk about this it’s important to raise awareness and create a conversation about this because so many experience it. There are so many that just go through so much because of the system and it is unfair it is an injustice that we need to address. I guess another one is advocating for less policing and surveillance for students. It is just crazy thinking about how much surveillance is put in place for schools or high schools. And I understand it comes from the gun violence, the different cases where it has definitely been an issue and it has been horrible horrible but, you know, the intention may be good but it has been creating huge problems with so many students feeling unsafe and I don’t believe It’s a solution has been proven but it is definitely not the best way to treat gun violence, it’s just saddening. I hear about the students of color that have police outside their buildings or maybe the metal detectors and they don’t have enough counselors, they don’t have enough nurses so just definitely getting to hear about that is something that we all need to be aware of maybe register differently and see that there is a true issue behind us and I never had to do that in my school we never did any of that but it was always, I mean I guess the closest thing is talking about how my school, I wanna say advertised, but never actually “advertised”. They always made it clear that there was a police station, like 2 minutes away from the building and they always said it because we were in a rougher neighborhood and again down the street, they still had surveillance. It is crazy because it just seems so unfair and it is definitely something that I had not recognized before but it is something that we need to address. It is affecting so many students. I can speak on my experience and just how I felt like an outsider, I felt I did not belong, I felt like everything was against me, might be a little bit of an exaggeration but I definitely did not feel like I fit in. I did not feel like I belonged or was being accepted by my peers and it is not just the students that were not exposed to more diversity but it was also the teachers. The system itself that made it seem like my schooling from the public system, you know, was not the same as theirs or was not good enough. I was always being doubted and I was discouraged to some extent from pursuing my dreams because they seemed far-fetched to them.
I think it is important to have these conversations and really reflect on what it is that is causing them, maybe, again people don’t recognize it, don’t even think about this but it is important to just speak out on it and maybe open other people’s eyes to some of these issues that affect millions of student today and overall it is just something to think about, just throwing it out there I guess. Just check it out, think about it on your own time, maybe analyze your own high school experience or middle school or educational system and how that has affected you or how it hasn’t affected you and how that has affected people of color. Maybe get some thoughts about it, have those conversations, it may be surprising. I’ve definitely had my share of friends that were shocked not only from hearing my experience of what happened but just seeing how much injustice there is. Thank you for listening, my name is Angela Tlahuel Flores and I was having to have this conversation with you guys today. Have a nice day.
The example that I would like to showcase is an important matter that many overlook but definitely needs a bit more attention. I would like to take a closer look at the educational system in the United States. It is time to bring awareness to this topic and for us to examine what goes on around us. One example of systemic injustice that I was able to identify from my day-to-day life came to me as I was driving past my old high school. I thought about where it was located and how, not far from there, was another high school that was considered incomparable and “bad”. I attended St. Francis DeSales High School, a private high school, located in a “rough” neighborhood where they practically advertised the fact that the police station was only a block away. It is a predominantly white institution that was considered prestigious but had no faculty member of color. My parents sent me there because they believed it was the only place that could give me a great education in our neighborhood. As I grew up, I realized that this was incredibly wrong. The public high school I was assigned to attend was Northland High School, but my parents did not let me attend because it was a “bad” school where fights broke out and there were not enough resources to help me get into a good college. I kept thinking that what made it “bad” was the lack of academic opportunities. This was the perspective that ultimately decided my path. After speaking with some of the students that did attend Northland, I realized that our academics were not so different. It did not take long for me to realize that I had made a mistake. I felt like the Other surrounded by all these people that did not try to get to know me or understand my culture. I had to adapt to a different environment that did not include the diversity I was used to and hoped to see. My perspective changed as the reality settled in and I was able to recognize that the problem laid embedded in a deeper issue. I had to acknowledge that the bad reputation the public schools in my area had was based on the predominantly black population. There was nothing actually bad about their academics, resources, or opportunities. Some students graduated from Northland and attended prestigious colleges. The difference that made the public school “bad” and the private school “good” was based on the people that attended those schools. The majority of those in public institutions were of color, and I now refuse to believe that I would not have academically succeeded at my public institution.
I have included more information on this topic through an article and a video diving deeper into examples and statistics.
After reading the great work of Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, I found that there were great contextual details that we should look at in order to fully appreciate and understand his work. Things Fall Apart was published in 1959 as a response novel that addressed various works that portrayed Africa as cultureless and primitive to Europe. Many white men wrote about their accounts in Africa, literally writing the narrative and stating how languageless it was. This was clearly not the case but, up to this point, there was nothing else depicting the reality. Achebe took it upon himself because he was tired of the falsehood and wanted to demonstrate how complex, advanced and artistic the people really were, breaking away from the stereotypes that the Europeans created.
Things Fall Apart portrayed the culture of the indigenous Igbo people in the 1890s. We see their traditions and how it becomes threatened by the white colonial government. Achebe carefully crafted this novel in order to capture the African perspective as well as the European. Achebe made sure to address race, religion, colonial expansion, and the difference in cultures. Achebe was born in a large village in Nigeria and was raised in a multicultural environment that practiced many of the Igbo traditions. His father was a protestant missionary and he received an early education in English although he always felt a deeper connection to his indigenous roots. Being able to have two perspectives enabled him to give a voice to a misunderstood and underrepresented culture.
Achebe became known as the father of modern African literature. He was able to change the narrative and give the world a better look at the reality in Africa. I believe it is important to not only recognize his achievement but understand the sentiment behind that achievement. This novel was what made many people open their eyes and understand that what they had seen or read in the past was wrong. It is interesting to think about how our own perspectives have been shaped and how ignorant we can be. This novel truly makes you think and reflect on what we do not know.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Chinua Achebe”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Dec. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chinua-Achebe. Accessed 13 February 2021.
