This Blog is more like a private diary.
Someone recently said that they weren't surprised. Allot of people want to talk shit, he said, but no one wants to do shit.
It reminds me of how last semester after a noose was hung up in the quad.
A rally was thrown against the noose. And about 60 yards away from the rally allot of Black kids hung out at the same tree they always hung out at. Allot of other Kids of all races were upset because there was no way to get those kids by the tree to come over. Essentially no African American Kids showed up at the panel discussion that night either. The endless games of pointing fingers started of coarse; and of coarse now that we STARTED THIS BLOG BOTH THOSE AT THE PROTEST AND THOSE WHO COULD HAVE CARED LESS HAVE BOTH NOT CONTRIBUTED.
The decision we have now is giving up and being self righteous in our criticalness or letting ourselves be inspired and supportive regardless of the reception the blog has received. In my opinion There is something freeing about a blog that may never be received. No one owes us their contribution. And we can't force anyone to care or take part and we cant force anyone to contribute their brilliance and talent.
We can only control ourselves and work hard here on this blog because we care about it.But without you we are missing your voice. We are missing your compliments and criticisms that are so valuable to our campus community and to our potential.
Allot of the inspiration for the blog is how the school daily newspaper The Daily Titan has shown such a uncomfortable vibe when it comes to issues regarding African Americans and other communities such as Gay and Lesbian, women, Muslim and South Americans. I have been at this school two years and for two years I have been part of disgust at the Daily Titan. It seems to me that if it is Black it either has to be happy or seen as fringe opinions. With the Daily Titan being the only publication in town allot of students talked about how over looked we felt.
So we started a blog where the students could write there own experiences or comment on others writings.
And now I write wondering if we ever get this blog looked at.
Over the summer I read Parting The Waters by Taylor Branch. It is an amazing Pulitzer prize winning history of the Civil rights movement from 1953 until 1960. I'm glad I read it. Because if it taught me anything it is that the civil rights movement was not what we think it is.
It was as much a struggle in the Black community as it was in the white community. The NAACP did not like or really support Martin Luther King JR. Martin Luther king became the leader of the SCLC because he was the youngest and therefore least hated preacher within the Baptist rivalries, he also was really young and maybe people felt he would be easily pushed around...Very few even marched with him...some of the people we today idolize in our civil rights pictures were not supporters at all just African Americans that got attacked by police.
For example the picture below shook the country into More support for Dr King...but the guy being bit wasn't there to protest and he responded that what he learned was to not hang out with trouble makers..meaning the controversial Dr King. At the very moment of this protest many Black business men were angry that the protests were even happening.
The point is that we think everyone should support us. When they don't we give up and point the fingers we could have used to write something at our Brothers and sisters.
If Dr King accomplished so much with so little early success then its possible that we can accomplish a little by putting our mind into it...and staying positive. Hopefully with this blog we can be a positive aspect of the African American dept and more importantly to our fellow students. But even if we never get noticed I hope we don't give up. I hope we speak honestly and boldly about the issues that the Daily Titan and our classes seem to shy away from.
No comments:
Post a Comment