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Text Review: The Hate U Give

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The Hate U Give is a novel that was published in 2017. It is about a teenage African American girl named Starr who goes to predominantly white school, away from the neighborhood where she grew up. One night she goes to a party back in her neighborhood with all her friends that she grew up with. As the night goes on things get tense and the party disperses after gunshots go off near the house. A childhood friend of hers offers to take her home, but while in the car the two are stopped by a white police officer. The officer ends up fatally shooting her friend, Khalil, when he opens the car door to check on Starr. She is very shaken up by the whole night and she has a hard time processing what happened. To make matters worse the police decide not to prosecute the officer who shot and killed Khalil. When Starr goes to the police station to testify on Khalil’s behalf, she is drilled with questions about Khalil’s behavior, instead of the shooting itself. Starr soon begins to lose hope that justice will truly be served, so she sets out to honor Khalil her way. The novel depicts injustices that are still ever prevalent in our country, and in the lives of African Americans in particular. Incidents like this happen all too often in the United States; some grab the national spotlight and others are not very well known. Unfortunately, the outcome is often the killer getting to walk with no real consequences for taking a life. This novel is a very accurate, and creative way to tackle two different social issues that challenge African Americans to this day. The first is the struggle that African Americans who attend PWIs face, in terms of finding their identity, and fitting. It also tackles a more serious and urgent topic, the police killing of young African American people. I would recommend this novel to anyone who needs to be educated on the system in place that does not benefit all of its citizens, as well as everyone who can directly relate to it for one reason or anything.

Week 12 context presentation

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Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies

Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of 9 stories. They were written by an American author with Indian descent named Jhumpa Lahiri. She is a very accomplished author, and this is widely considered some of her best work. As a person of Indian descent, Jhumpa herself faced issues having to do with identity and her place in the world around her. She was born in London, but was raised in Rhode Island. Similarly, her stories take place in India, and in America, specifically New England, where the author was raised. The story was written in 1999 and takes place in the present day, but the stories are centered around longing, and loneliness. The stories deal with Indian Americans who are stuck between their roots and their new lives in the “New World”. Immigrants from all over the world deal with these issues today, and in novels we’ve already read, as well as this one we see their individual struggles highlighted.

“Yo, is this….” podcast transcript

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Today we’ll be talking about current news and systemic injustices, and looking at them from different points of views and why they are issues. So for our first systemic injustice we have HBCU budget cuts. “HBCU” stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and you can find them pretty much around the country, especially on the east coast. They are pretty popular even to this day. At first they were the only means of education for African American students after high school, but now we are obviously allowed to go to PWIs as well, but HBCUs still remain popular to this day. More background on this situation; Normally HBCUs receive about $45 billion in funding from the government, and this goes towards books, classrooms, dorms, the normal things that colleges would spend their money on. However, with the new bill signed by our president they are only set to receive about $5 billion in funding. This is really devastating because these institutions are already starting behind as it compares to PWIs. Unfortunately because historically, and even still today, these schools do not have the same funding as other schools, so it becomes a vicious cycle in the sense that when they have a lack of funding they cannot attract new students, new athletes and even professors to come teach at their school. So then they cannot generate enough revenue and popularity to invite more, and they become deeper and deeper into this economic hole. I see this as a systemic injustice, because like I said these schools are not known to be top funded in the country, and definitely not the most wealthy, so it is doing a lot of kids a disservice because at the end of the these schools are ingrained in African American history, United States history, and also an opportunity for some kids to get a more affordable, higher education, so you’re doing those kids, and i believe the whole country a disservice because you’re taking away their history, and also a means of education for a whole group of students. At the end of the day education is the key to knowledge,and knowledge is the key to power and elevation in terms of self and in terms of a whole country. Whether young African Americns students, or students in general in the country have legacy at these schools, they are close to home, they’re the best fit, or they are the most affordable option; these schools play integral roles in a higher education for a large demographic of students. That is why I see this as a big problem, not only are they cutting the budget for these schools, but this can also in turn lead to students being discouraged for seeking a higher education as a whole, because they schools play such a big role in their application process, their recruitment process, whatever the case may be. Shifting our focus to the other side, we can explore options for why this budget cut may make sense in the end. The first reason that I feel like it might make sense is because of the issues we’re dealing with facing COVID 19. Obviously this is an all hands on deck situation, even though it might be calming down to a certain extent now, we need all the hands and basic funding we can get for research and for hospitals for taking care of people and to make sure nothing like this happens again. Another reason why this could make sense is because of the fact that these colleges are receiving a lot of money. It kind of helped jump start them and get back on their feet, so once they were able to get back on their feet they were able to market and brand themselves so they could gain more popularity to have students, athletes, coaches, and professors come and basically revamp and revitalize these schools and programs that they are coming to. Notable celebrities, like Deion Sanders who is the new head football coach at HBCU, Jackson State has helped put his school back on the map with TV deals, new uniforms, new gear, and this also led to brand new facilities, and practice fields, which leads to more revenue coming in, with fans coming to games, which then can be put back into newer classrooms and equipment which can also be put back into academics as well. Other famous alumni have done the same for their alma maters as well. There are also other pressing issues in the world, such as immigration, and that brings us into our next topic as well. Our next topic has to do with immigration, specifically in Mexico, and other parts of Central and even South America. Recently, around 2000 immigrants, mostly from Central America, marched out of a Mexican city where they were said to be essentially trapped. They were stopped by police, but the large crowd was able to push past and keep advancing. Most of these people have said to have filed for asylum or visas, but their papers keep getting delayed. A lot of them have not even heard back at all. Obviously immigration is a tricky subject to say the least, but I feel it is a shame that these people are being left in limbo and being addressed with riot gear when they speak up. Here in America, we are in a very blessed, powerful position. While I am not saying that we need to open up our borders, I do find it beneficial to help those who are fleeing messed up and dangerous situations. Turning the other cheek and leaving it up to the National Guard will not lead to anything positive, or anything productive. A possible solution I have come up with is to partner with other nearby countries and provide a safe place for them to stay, while they go through the immigration process in the United States, or another place for them to permanently reside. As humans I don’t feel that it is right to leave all of these people who are in most cases in dire situations in literally no man’s land with their lives hanging in the balance. I see this as a systemic injustice because at the end of the day these are citizens who are not being protected by their own, and most cases native countries. If they are not being protected in their own countries, I feel that we as human beings in the United States and neighboring countries and governments should be able to step in and help protect these people. I also see this as an injustice because in the United States we have processes that are set in place and like I said before most people have filed for asylum and visas, so if we’re going to have these processes set up then we need to hold up our end, which we aren’t doing, because in a lot of cases we are not reaching back out to these people to tell them what is taking so long, we’re just letting them do it the honest way and then never getting back to them, which I see as a problem and an injustice. There are however a few reasons why this might be the current situation that we are in. The first being, just like for the first injustice; COVID 19. At the end of the day, letting all these people come in who have no record or knowledge of where they have been, who they have been in contact with and even things like vaccination is a very dangerous game. Like I said earlier, we are just getting the pandemic under control, and this would set us back a whole lot if a lot of these people have contracted something on the way out of their countries, or on their way into the US. The second reason is the plan that I came up with, having us and neighboring countries having them shelter somewhere would take a lot of time and organization, and we would not get that done in time before we could get their visas, and help them file for asylum. We could let them in, or they could get somewhere else in the same amount of time it would take to have them shelter until we get back to them. My last reason why this may be the situation we’re in is at the same time, America and other neighboring countries have their domestic issues that they have to deal with. Sometimes taking care of another country and government’s problems cannot always be top of mind or top priority, even though I think it should be one of our priorities, it cannot be our top priority at the end of the day. 

Diary of Systemic Injustices – HBCU budget cuts

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This systemic injustice is a fairly new and developing story. It has to do with Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs). These are colleges located throughout the United States, primarily the east coast. For decades and in some cases centuries, young African American students have attended HBCUs to continue their higher education. These schools are not just colleges, but they are also a part of African American, and American history. Unfortunately, these schools often times lack the resources and funds to attract more students and athletes to come there. With this being the case, they can’t generate enough money to break this vicious cycle. Recently it has been announced that in the president’s spending plan, HBCUs will be taking a major hit. They were expecting a fund upwards towards $45 billion, but now they are only expected to receive a share that will be less than $5 billion. $40 billion is a devastating for these institutions to take, because they are already starting from behind as it compares to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). These schools began as the ONLY options of higher education for African Americans in the United States, now they play a slightly different role, being in some cases the most affordable option, the dream option, or the place that makes that student feel the safest. I see this as a systemic injustice because these are not known to be the top funded institutions, or the most wealthy, so it is doing hundreds of thousands of African American students a disservice by cutting the funding by $40 billion. To me, this case reminds me of Persepolis, and Marji’s story. Although there is no sudden change in power in our country right now, there is still a system in place that does not benefit every citizen in our country right now. In Persepolis, the government got to the youth by way of education in order to get everyone to buy into their ideals. By controlling what is taught, the government in Iran is able to “keep them in check” and avoid revolt against their regime. Similarly, in America, African Americans are often seen protesting for the way they are treated by the police, in the jail, and the school systems. Despite African Americans being in this constant battle with the people in charge, little seems to ever change. The real way to initiate change starts with the youth, and education. HBCUs tend to be a place of comfort for African Americans across the country. By cutting the funds to these schools they are taking young black students out of their comfort zone, and in some cases discouraging them from a higher and more affordable education. Below is a picture of a brand “Support Black Colleges” which calls attention to issues such as these by way of clothing. Also pictured is our Vice President Kamala Harris with representatives from numerous HBCUs across the country.

citations:

https://www.arklatexhomepage.com/news/education/president-bidens-hbcu-funding-proposal-falls-from-45-billion-to-2-billion/