In Martin Luther King Jr’s writing, “A Letter From Birmingham”, he discusses many ideas around racism and the horrible ways he was treated as a person of color. After reading this piece, I wanted to focus in on the idea of how Martin Luther King Jr and other African American people stood their ground to combat racism. In this writing, he discusses the various ways of segregation between white and black people. Not only were African American people unfairly treated and segregated on the streets, but they were also mistreated in court. People of color constantly felt and still feel misunderstood and ignored. 

 It is important that as a country we listen to them and understand that we are all equal. It is also important that we look at the historical steps and achievements made by African American people. In 1954, “the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its verdict in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment’s mandate of equal protection of the laws of the U.S. Constitution to any person within its jurisdiction.” (Histoy.com, page #1) Another huge moment in black history was went sports began to no longer be segregated. Blacks at the Net is a source that singles in on tennis. “The black players and coaches of the 1940s and 1950s transformed professional tennis by opening doors for players of later generations. They challenged the racism in both the game and society in order to participate in an exclusive sport.” (Sundiata page #27) Protests, sit-ins, and march ins also caused huge changes in black history. For example, Recent U.S. protests have tackled various societal, economic, and political issues, evidence of the continuation of movements against patriarchy, racism, economic discrimination, and social injustice. Movement and protests in history all the way to modern day have sparked change in our system. Although we are not where we need to be with equal rights, each day is a step closer. It is important that we all come together to fight for equality and realize that we are all in this together.  

Djata, Sundiata. Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis, Volume One. United Kingdom, Syracuse University Press, 2006. 

History.com Editors. (2009, October 14). Black History Milestones: Timeline. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-milestones 

Danielle K. Kilgo, S. (n.d.). Protests, Media Coverage, and a Hierarchy of Social Struggle – Danielle K. Kilgo, Summer Harlow, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1940161219853517 

While reading, letter to Birmingham jail it was a movement for a nonviolent against segregation for a concern public statement. While reading something stuck to me stating, ” In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine either injustice are alive, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (Martin).  With these steps, he knew that this was the path on how to fully achieve a difficult situation within Birmingham since it was considered the most segregated city and this could dissolve segregation and bring a united community/ society. Within another article it states, “If we had started guerilla warfare in America’s cities, if we had given into terrorism in America, we could not have won but America could not have survived,” said Young”(non-violence). This shows us that if it weren’t for non-violence, it would have been a style of feeding the fire to which both sides wouldn’t have won but would have started back at square one and become broke.

While reading he brought up a point about, “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outsight justice”(King).  As well for, “…that few members of race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate that deep groans and passionate yearning of those that have been oppressed, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined actions”(King). Through this, it shows the reader and society that we can not fully achieve the whole viewpoint for as united if we do not understand both sides or multiple viewpoints of the situation/ purpose. Through non-violent actions, there is the capability to hear and react more effective than feeding the fire and creating an enormous mess of the situation and throughout history, we have known of non-violent actions and how they have changed our social society.

Sources:

King – https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/

Non-violence – https://www.voanews.com/usa/non-violence-was-key-civil-rights-movement

One of the readings for this week is “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. states “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King,1). He goes on to say that “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King,1). Birmingham, Alabama was wrecked with injustice more than anywhere else, making it the greatest threat to justice. A huge factor contributing to the segregation in Birmingham is the effect of zoning and city planning starting in 1920. In the early twentieth century zoning was used to protect valuable property by separating land. Zoning was strongly used in the organization of Birmingham and by the 1950’s this system of zoning turned into racial-zoning. For example, the interstate highways were used to help create racial boundaries and were even built through neighborhoods to create population loss. By the 1960’s this system made drastic segregation possible in Birmingham. This created a foundation for further injustice, allowing it to escalate more compared to other cities. 

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to his fellow clergy and all Americans while he was at Birmingham Jail even though he didn’t write letters to the public during the other times he was jailed. This is because while he was in Birmingham Jail he read a statement in the newspaper that was written by eight of the local white clergymen who described themselves as “moderates”. These clergymen described King as an “extremist”. They rejected his demonstrations and protests by claiming that they cause violence. This gave rise to King writing this letter because he wanted to refute this claim. He wanted to share the nature of his movement and its moral and philosophical basis. He wanted to reach as many people as he could with his views on freedom.

                                                           Works Cited 

“Civil Rights and City Planning.” The Most Segregated City in America”: City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920–1980, by Charles E. Connerly, University of Virginia Press, 2005, pp. 167–216. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wrnnn.12. Accessed 30 Jan. 2021.

Connerly, Charles E. “From Racial Zoning to Community Empowerment: The Interstate Highway System and the African American Community in Birmingham, Alabama – Charles E. Connerly, 2002.” SAGE Journals, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739456X02238441.

KING, JR MARTIN LUTHER. LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL. PENGUIN Books, 2018.

Rieder, Jonathan. Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation. Bloomsbury Press, 2013.`

In August of 1955, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was murdered while spending the summer with family in Money, Mississippi. Till was beaten and thrown in the Tallahatchie River by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for reportedly whistling as Bryant’s wife, Carolyn. When his body was recovered, it was so disfigured that the boy could only be identified by his ring (Emmett Till is Murdered).
After being identified, Till’s body was sent back to his mother, Mamie Till, in Chicago. Mamie made the courageous decision to have an open-casket funeral for her son. The funeral was attended by 50,000 people, but the image of Emmett’s face was seen by many more after its publication on the cover of JET magazine (“Emmett Till’s Funeral”).
Two weeks after the funeral, Bryant and Milam went on trial for the murder of Emmett Till and were judged by an all-white jury in a segregated courthouse. Unsurprisingly, the two men were found not guilty, though they later admitted their guilt in a story for Look magazine, for which they were paid (“Emmett Till Murderers”).
Though this lynching took place five to ten years prior to what we widely acknowledge as the Civil Rights Movement, its impact was incredibly significant in shaping the movement.
Emmett Till was born on July 25, 1941 (“Emmett Till”). John Lewis was born on February 21, 1940 (“John Lewis”). Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) was born June 29, 1941 (“Stokely Carmichael”). Diane Nash was born May 15, 1938 (“Diane Nash”). See the pattern? All of these leading figures in the Civil Rights Movement, particularly those involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which formed following the sit-ins of 1960, were approximately the same age as Emmett Till. The Emmett Till Generation saw the horror of his murder through the eyes of a peer. Shortly before his death, John Lewis even recounted, “Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor,” speaking to the importance of the strategy in shaping and inspiring his activism (Pilkington).
The murder of Emmett Till was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring many of the leaders we revere today who witnessed this atrocity as young people and who spent their youths sparking a movement to improve race relations in this country. The work they began is not done, but we must not forget Emmett Till’s story in this ongoing narrative.

In 2017, on her deathbed, Carolyn Bryant confessed that Emmett never harassed her.

Sources:
“Diane Nash.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 9 July 2020, www.biography.com/activist/diane-nash.
“Emmett Till.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 7 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/crime-figure/emmett-till.
“Emmett Till Is Murdered.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till.
“Emmett Till Murderers Make Magazine Confession.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/emmett-till-murderers-make-magazine-confession.
“Emmett Till’s Funeral.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/emmett-tills-funeral/.
“John Lewis.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 12 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/political-figure/john-lewis.
“Stokely Carmichael.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 20 Aug. 2020, www.biography.com/activist/stokely-carmichael.
Pilkington, Ed. “’Emmett Till Was My George Floyd’: John Lewis Makes Final Rousing Call for Progress in Essay.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 30 July 2020, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/30/john-lewis-essay-final-rousing-call-for-action-progress.

For my Context Research Presentation I wanted to talk about what the Three Worlds Theory actually is because it was not discussed in detail, even though it was mentioned throughout Aijaz Ahmad’s section of reading. The Three World model is a way of classifying areas of the world, first made in the 1970’s during the Cold War. The First World were the capitalist nations, the Second being the communist, and the Third World being those that were either neutral or could not be put into either category. These Third World countries were mostly those that were previously colonized by either of the First or Second Worlds. While the first three categories were defined by political and economic status, the Third World seemed to be purely defined as those that were previously controlled by other nations. While there is an easy transition for either of the First or Second worlds to become the other by changing their politico-economic stance, there is no clear path for a ‘Third World’ country to become one of the others, which keeps itself defined as previously oppressed. This causes the country to be in large part ignored for its economic or cultural traits unlike the other two. While the original purpose of the Three World model was to define the two blocs that made up the Cold War, it in turn left out all of the other nations that did not have a large international presence at the time and in turn has caused them to be forgotten in a sense. Even after the Cold War has ended, the model is still taught to this day to define countries that either still do not have a large international presence or those that have been forgotten in our Euro-centric history classes. Ahmad suggests in his reading that we think of individual experiences instead of looking at “World” a story comes from to form a collective to form an idea of the human experience, and I would have to agree wholeheartedly.

Sources:

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/ziliao_665539/3602_665543/3604_665547/t18008.shtml

https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-1a/red-dawn.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-world_model

In the writing, Judith Ortiz Cofer tell her story of being a young Puerto Rican girl who’s family has just moved to the United States during the mid 1960s. She talks about how difficult things were for her as she struggled with American animosity towards immigrants. She cites an instance where a man says “you PR kids put your dirty hands on stuff. You always look dirty…” (Ortiz Cofer). Unfortunately, instances such as this would have been all to common in 1960s America. The 60s were a time of change in the United States. As millions of African Americans battled for civil rights, there was also a strong push for immigration reform. With pressure from the civil rights movement as well as some politicians, the Immigration Act of 1965 was passed. “the bill marked a dramatic break with past immigration policy… In place of the national-origins quota system, the act provided for preferences to be made according to categories, such as relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents”(History.com). The act changed the lives of not just immigrants around the world but also many Americans. People believed “in debating an overhaul of immigration policy in the 1960s, many in Congress had argued that little would change” (Ludden). However, those who believed they would see very little change were very wrong. The act allowed millions of South American and Latino immigrants access to the U.S. This influx of citizens created a more competitive job market which in turn lead to a growing animosity towards immigrants of Latin American decent. Ortiz Cofer experienced first hand what this animosity looked like.

After 60 years some immigrants still have to deal with American prejudices and opposition on a daily basis. However, today’s views of immigrants may not be as straight forward as they may of been in the 60s. For example, the U.S. border with Mexico has been a hot bed for political debate as Americans try to deal with illegal immigration. Most of these views towards immigrants come from racial biases stemming from the 1960s. In todays America, “50.7 percent of immigrant heads of household owned their own homes, compared with 65.2 percent of U.S.-born heads of household” (Nicholson). This highlights how those who are determined to better their lives will ultimately succeed in achieving their American Dream. Unfortunately, the freedoms many immigrants enjoy today were at the expense of previous generations such as Judith Ortiz Cofer and her family. Overall, understanding the social and political movements that coincide with the story allow for a much more comprehensive view.

Works Cited

the CAP Immigration Team and Michael D. Nicholson. “The Facts on Immigration Today: 2017 Edition.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2017/04/20/430736/facts-immigration-today-2017-edition/.

History.com Editors. “U.S. Immigration Since 1965.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 5 Mar. 2010, www.history.com/topics/immigration/us-immigration-since-1965

Ludden, Jennifer. “1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America.” NPR, NPR, 9 May 2006, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395.

Ortiz Cofer, Judith. “The Story of My Body.” True Women and Real Men.

In her writing, Judith Ortiz Cofer describes how we see our bodies “through the lens of social values and beliefs” (Ortiz Cofer 433). This statement is still very true today, especially among men and women of color in the United States. As Ortiz Cofer describes, in different social interactions the perception of beauty changes. This is demonstrated in her writing throughout the section in which she discusses how her looks and people’s opinions of them affected her life. She describes her experience in a public high school in New Jersey where the “hierarchy for popularity was as follows: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Puerto Rican girl, pretty black girl” (Ortiz Cofer 439). This standard was much different than what she experienced as a little girl, in public with her mother. 

In recent years, researchers have found that the standards of beauty have not changed from what Ortiz Cofer described. In many parts of the world, including the U.S., the standard of beauty comes from the features of white women, such as lighter skin and hair type (Harper and Choma 735). This ideal may be an unconscious thought for many people because of how long the media has illustrated white women as the standard of beauty. The author of the article “Normative White Femininity: Race, Gender and the Politics of Beauty” describes her discussion with her mixed daughter where she expresses her desire for blonde hair like the girls on TV. Kathy Deliovsky said “Given that the images on TV are predominantly of Europeans, I realized ‘blonde’ to my nine-year-old daughter signified not just the color of hair but a white aesthetic represented by straight hair” (Deliovsky 49). Women of color are under a lot of pressure from societal norms to conform to what has historically represented the standard of beauty. Social media can be a positive place where people support each other, but it can also have negative consequences. Author Virgie Tovar writes that one’s body is their own business and nobody else can tell you who you are (Tovar). This positivity coaching has been very influential in women’s mental health and body perception.

Works Cited

Black, Elaine Baran. “TOVAR, Virgie. The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color.” School Library Journal, no. 5, 2020, p. 78. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgbe&AN=edsgcl.622369414&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Deliovsky, Kathy. “Normative White Femininity: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Beauty.” Atlantis, vol. 33, no. 1, 2008 2008, pp. 48–58. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=apn&AN=ALTP758014&site=ehost-live.

Harper, Kathryn, and Becky L. Choma. “Internalised White Ideal, Skin Tone Surveillance, and Hair Surveillance Predict Skin and Hair Dissatisfaction and Skin Bleaching among African American and Indian Women.” Sex Roles, vol. 80, no. 11/12, June 2019, pp. 735–744. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11199-018-0966-9.

Ortiz Cofer, Judith. “The Story of My Body.” True Women and Real Men.

Over time women have gained more rights and power in America. This can be seen from the 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote, the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits pay discrimination between men and women, and now the first female Vice President of the United States will take office (History.com Editors). The equalization of women and men is a real-life example of what Simone de Beauvoir wrote in “The Second Sex,” in that the men and women are beginning to “realize the reciprocity of their relations” (Simone de Beauvoir). The example of a reciprocal relationship that Simone de Beauvoir used in her writing is a native person being seen as a “stranger” to other native people from different lands. Over time both of these natives and their people realize, or understand, their relationship through “wars, festivals, trading, treaties, and contests among tribes, nations,  and classes” (Simone de Beauvoir). The relationship that women have been striving for is one of equality, and this is the relationship that men have to learn, respect, and understand. 

Although men and women have been successfully realizing their relationship of equality in the United States over time, there is still inequality between them, which can be seen in the wage gap. Typically, the wage gap has attempted to be explained by discrimination against women or the career choices of women (Madison Sosa, Page 5). In the study by Madison Sosa, the conclusion is drawn that it is most likely a mixture of both discrimination and career choice that have led to the gap in wage between men and women (Madison Sosa, Page 28). This study is important to keep in mind because it shows that men and women have not completely realized their relationship as equals. Although there have been significant steps towards equality, men remain “the one” and women remain “the others” (Simone de Beauvoir). 

Works Cited 

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex / Simone De Beauvoir. Vintage Books, 1974.  

History.com Editors. “Women’s History Milestones: A Timeline.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 26 Feb. 2019, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/womens-history-us-timeline.  

Sosa, Madison. “Gender Pay Gap Analysis.” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. University of  Toledo, 2018. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 15 Jan 2021. 

Many of us have a desire for something in our life. According to Merriam Webster dictionary desire is defined as; to long for something, or to hope for (Mariam Webster). People would like to be able to say that their desires are not out of selfish nature. When you look at humans, they are constantly creating a rivalry to be able to compare and do better. It is stated in our reading that “otherness is a fundamental category of human thought” (Simone de Beauvoir,1). That statement popped right of the page and made me realize that there is never just good enough for one thing, there is always a desire to top it. There are several subcategories such as human versus animal desire.

The article by Cantin, “The Drive, the Untreatable Quest of Desire” it mentioned that much of human desire comes from the conscious side, which means that we as people can control them, but chose not to. These are the “evil” desires that get humans in trouble. Desires are dangerous because they “inhibit people and push them to act” (Cantin, 2) and seek out that which they might envy, not necessarily need. Another article takes the position that it is the human sinful desire that caused the “fall” in the Bible (Smith, 215). In the middle of this article it is said that in Genesis the man and the woman desired to be better than God and ate the fruit, even thought they did not know what that meant, but just wanting to be better and wanting to be something they were not that caused sin and made man and woman have evil desires (Smith 216).

Human and animal desire are different. Animal desire is fulfilling the real needs. Like the unconscious desire, but human desire is focused a lot on wants and selfishness. As it is stated in the article by Hegel and by Schroeder, “humans desire useless things” (Schroeder, 2.4). While animals desire to fulfill the needs and focus on other members. Very often humans focus on their own desires with out thinking about anyone else. Animal desire is focused on the acting on somatic needs (Schroeder, 2.1), such as being parched. In conclusion, everyone has desires, it is knowing how one can control their actions towards them and can recognize if they need to be met at all costs.

Source Bibliography/ Citations

Beauvoir, Simone de, et al. The Second Sex. Vintage Books, 2011.

Cantin, Lucie. “The Drive, the Untreatable Quest of Desire.” Differences (Bloomington, Ind.), vol. 28, no. 2, 09/01/2017, pp. 24-45,

“Desire.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desire.

Kojève Alexandre, et al. Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Cornell University Press, 2012.

Schroeder, Tim. “Desire.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 9 Apr. 2015, plato.stanford.edu/entries/desire/.

Smith, Mark S. “Before Human Sin and Evil: Desire and Fear in the Garden of God.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 215–230. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/cbq.2018.0048.