AFAM 200 Racial Justice Project 2015

Felicia Baez

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Our group sat down and brainstormed about the ways that we can actively address our current racial justice problem. Our goal is to educate our community about the history and injustice but also raise awareness and raise the value of black lives. To do this our group thought that it was important to look at different avenues. We came up with four different ways that we will take action: flyers, survey, song, and buttons. With the flyer we wanted to emphasize the parallel between the then and now. We will incorporate information about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Middle Passage, the #BlackLivesMatter movement, police brutality but also have iconic, influential African American activists and contributors that made a positive impact on society. Our group will pass our flyer out in North Plaza by the clock tower and in the Johnson Center to students and faculty walking by. Not only will we be providing information but this is give us the opportunity to engage in stimulating discussions with the Mason community. In class we have made a point that there is more to the story than just the traditional Civil Rights Movement narrative that we all were taught in school. We hope by doing this, people will make connections with what they knew about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and appreciate the long history or resistance and resilience that often is left out of the history books. To accompany the flyer we thought a powerful message on a button that people can display either on their person or on their backpacks was important. We will make buttons with our logo/hashtag #RaisingValue and buttons with a brief statement that embodies our group’s purpose. Ryan, one of our group members, is very artistic and is big on music and poetry. He is going to create a song with powerful lyrics about the black experience back in the day and present day. Music is a persuasive outlet and our group wants to reach as many people as we can. Our final idea was to create a survey monkey of about 10-12 questions that we can share the link and get our friends, classmates, professors, etc. to fill out and share quickly. The survey will have questions that incorporate knowledge about key figures and legislation but also people will be able to tell us about their personal opinions, thoughts, and ideas about issues and events. This will give us some data and insight on the Mason community and the follow up will be open discussions and safe spaces to have conversations and make change, even if it is not major, on our campus. Keshawna, another group member, can up with the great idea of also creating another social media outlet for example, a Facebook page or twitter account to engage in conversations online and continue changing the dialogue. Overall our plan is to engage in different channels where we can reach as many people on campus as we can.

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I chose this spoken word video because it highlighted some of the struggles of being black in America. This young black man had powerful points about recent deaths and negative stereotypes and stigmas that are tacked onto the black identity. I think it is significant because his piece embodied our project. At the end he made a point to talk about the positive and uplifting qualities and characteristics like being educated and having the chance to make a difference. This spoken word is an example of #RaisingValue. 

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I was doing additional research I started to focus on some of the recent deaths of black men and women like Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Lamia Beard, and Tanisha Anderson. We have seen the videos on Twitter and Instagram and watched the outcomes. In an article from the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson says, “African American men are being taught a lesson about how society values, or devalues, our lives.” Wow. Black men are being taught a lesson. This “lesson” is not an accurate depiction of the entire black community. We cannot deny that there has been a recent rise in racial profiling and police brutality against minorities, specifically African Americans. Michael Steele, the first African American to head the Republican National Committee was quoted saying, “Clearly a black man’s life is not worth a ham sandwich when you put these stories together.” While researching I found an article/blog post titled: “7 Things Worth More Than a Black Person’s Life in America.”

While it is important to note these tragedies it is also vital to show how the black community is being uplifted. Our project is about the history but also #RaisingValue. I wanted to highlight the recent Million Man March that was held in Washington, D.C. The 20th Anniversary of the Mason Million Man March was Saturday, October 10th. Students here at Mason, including alumni and members of the Black Student Alliance, a student organization on campus attended. On Instagram they used the hashtag #MasonMillionMan, they wore crewnecks, and they all walked united. This was a peaceful gathering with the young and the old, fathers and sons, and even women. The theme was #JusticeorElse and there were many powerful and inspiring speakers and activists. In a CNN article Representative Danny K Davis, who was present at the march in 1995 and 2015, said the rally was a testament to struggles and progress, past and present. The Mason Million Man March was successful and powerful but yet there was no media coverage. This is a prime example of how the media influences and shapes the negative perception of the black body in America.  Most, if not ALL, news stories are about crimes. If you are only shown one consistent image you will begin to believe that it is true. #RaisingValue starts with redirecting the dialogue and media coverage to black excellence, power, and strength.

http://mic.com/articles/96378/7-things-worth-more-than-a-black-person-s-life-in-america

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/10/us/million-man-march/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/12/mother-deceased-unarmed-black-men_n_6318494.html

http://www.justiceorelse.com/

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The scholarly article that I chose was Michael J. Pfeifer’s “The Northern United States and the Genesis of Racial Lynching: The Lynching of African Americans in the Civil War Era.” In his article Pfeifer talks about lynching being a national issue not just a Southern thing on the Mason-Dixon Line. In my Introduction to African and African American Studies course we discussed the faulty myth that slavery was just a Southern thing. Lynching, like slavery, was something that occurred everywhere. Lynching as we discussed in class was the mutilation, burning, hanging of blacks. Pfeifer talks about how racially motivated violence was not new. He says, “White southerners had collectively murdered African Americans during slavery, engaging in extralegal executions by hanging and burning at least forty-four slaves in the South from 1824-1862.” (Pfeifer, 622).  This article further shows how black bodies were devalued, commodities that were easily disposable.

Pfeifer discusses in his article the hanging of Marshall Clarke, and African American in Milwaukee. Clarke and a friend, James Shelton were walking and two white men by the names of Darby Carney and John Brady, saw Clarke and Shelton interacting with White women. An argument ensued ending with Shelton stabbing Carney. On September 6, 1861 50-75 Irishmen swarmed the jail, grabbed Clarke beating him along the way, and hung him.  Pfeifer argues that lynching was supported nationally. In Clarke’s hanging, bells were rung from the fire department to summon the community to watch. These lynchings/racial violence are powerful reminders that black lives of men, women, and children, have been repeatedly abused, tortured, and dehumanized. Pfeifer only writes about 2 lynchings in detail. How many lynchings actually took place from slavery to now in 2015? Too many lives were taken because of white supremacy and the idea that our brown skin makes us less than. We have value.

http://search.proquest.com/pqrl/docview/840968524/fulltextPDF/CD5EA20E9CBD449BPQ/6?accountid=14541

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With the recent controversy over black bodies, what better topic than the New York Times newspaper article that focuses on Ahmed Mohamed. Ahmed Mohamed was the 14 year-old student who brought his clock invention to school. According to the article Ahmed created the clock with a circuit board, wires, and a metal box. Ahmed had the intentions of showing his teacher his invention but instead was arrested, accused of making a bomb, and was portrayed as a threat to his school.

How degrading and humiliating of an experience to a young black male who had dreams and aspirations to then be shut down and repressed and to feel like you are a threat to society. Although his experience was negative, the article talks about the praise that Ahmed “won” from President Barack Obama. Ahmed was invited to the White House where he was told from the President himself, “We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what America great.”

This incident is a perfect example of how black lives in America are devalued. If a 14 year-old white student built a clock and brought it to his school he would be praised and recognized as a genius. A Black Muslim boy is scrutinized for his intelligence. Black bodies are seen a threat. Here you can see the intersectionality of race and religion. A black male in America has to deal with the image of a thug and gang member and being a Muslim means that you automatically are a terrorist. President Obama’s response showed that this young scholar should not be punished but motivated to continue to do great things and there is a need for young black males to achieve especially in the STEM fields. Our bodies and our lives have meaning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html?_r=0

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#RaisingValue #WhatHappenedtoSandraBland

The NY Times article discusses the video release footage of Sandra Bland during her initial encounter in the police station when she is taken to her holding cell, explained her bond, and given her initial phone call. Officials in Waller County, Texas commented that they released the video solely to end rumors that Bland was murdered before her mug shot was taken and to dispel any speculation that police officials had any connections in Bland’s death. This video release was one of the initial ways of covering Bland’s death and removing attention away from police officials in hopes of ruling Bland’s death a suicide in her holding cell. Only through another video release by the sheriff, have we learned that Bland’s true cause of death was Asphyxiation after being forced onto the jail floor, tazed multiple times, strapped into a chair, and covered with a bag over her head. We now know that Sandra Bland did not commit suicide, but was murdered by police officials. This specific account gives rise to our idea of the devaluation of black lives. If it had not been for the police footage released by the sheriff, we would not have been given justice for Sandra Bland’s death and her death would have been falsely ruled a suicide. We must therefore continue to stress the importance and value of black lives in America to ensure that we are given justice and bring an end to our systematic target as the cause of America’s problems. We must continue to fight in #RaisingValue to ensure that black lives matter and are given justice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/jail-video-of-sandra-bland-aims-to-dispel-rumors-about-her-death.html 

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Statement of Purpose:

We chose the hashtag #RaisingValue because we wanted to bring awareness to the injustices brought upon black bodies which have diminished the value of black lives. It is important that our group address the idea that the black body is a commodity, stemming from the Trans Saharan and transatlantic slave trade, which has come full circle with the counterargument #AllLivesMatter. We will begin #RaisingValue of black lives on a micro-level at George Mason University by educating our community (students AND faculty). It is important that our peers have knowledge and the history of the black experience first and then engage in discussion about these issues of racial profiling, discrimination, the overwhelming numbers of black deaths, etc. We hope that by engaging in these discussions we will change the negative perceptions and stigmas around black lives. Our group believes that if we change the dialogue we can raise value and bring meaning and significance to the black body and experience.

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Hashtag Raising Value

The hashtag that we chose for our racial justice project is #RaisingValue. We chose this hashtag because we wanted to raise awareness about the injustices against black lives while making it a point to show the significance of black lives and how black people have positively contributed to society. There is a negative connotation and stigma of the black body in the United States and this hashtag will give a different perspective. Our perspective is that black lives are valued, important, and meaningful. Everyone has an opinion and some may interpret the hashtag differently; some may believe that we do not need to raise value, black lives already have a value, and there is no problem. It is our group’s goal that we address these perspectives. The representation of black lives recently has shown black lives as less than. By #RaisingValue our group hopes that black lives will be acknowledged across the board in the media, in every day interactions, and hopefully in the future in a positive way

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#AFAM200 #why

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Our racial justice project is about raising the value of black lives, specifically in the United States. With the recent movement of #BlackLivesMatter our group wanted to address the counter argument of #AllLivesMatter which discounts the black experience. This issue, the devaluation of black lives, is on-going. In class we talked about the beginnings of black lives being treated as commodities during the Trans Saharan and transatlantic slave trade. This continued throughout time with the Reconstruction Era, Civil Rights Movement, to today with police brutality and racial profiling of black women and men. It is also more than just the names we can name like Emmett Till, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, and Eric Garner. Our group wanted to acknowledge all black lives even those who don’t get media coverage. It is important to raise awareness but more importantly change the negative attitudes, perceptions, and viewpoints of the black body to raising value, significance, and meaning. #AFAM200 #why