Mike Sklar Blog

English 2367 Maraj

[mikesklar-blog]

Creative Writing Project

Open your eyes What do you see? A #culture where anyone can be #free? That’s not what it seems to me. #color drives the vision of America A country formed from #wethepeople Shifted into a nation where no one is #equal Neighborhood or shooting range? A country with hopes of #change

Where is the #hope and #positivity ? Lost in the #negativity we find the truth of our home... Open your eyes Who can you be? #bethechange you wish to see #makeadifference #breakthemold #hope and #positivity will lead you to the solution There is only one resolution

[coltonshidaker-deactivated20170]

“I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it”

-Beyonce “Formation”

[valgal17-blog1]

I love this verse because it motivates everyone (but particularly black people) to work hard to achieve their dreams and goals.

[laurenschef-blog]

I like this line because Beyonce is emphasizing the importance of persistence. When everyone else is against you trying to stop you from reaching your goals, you just have to work that much harder and want it that much more. 

[mikesklar-blog]

In support of Lauren’s comment^ i think that this line pushing for persistence is so important in society today. Who better than Beyonce to set the example too

[mikesklar-blog]

J. Cole on Letterman

This video shows a brief J. Cole performance shortly after his album of “2014 Forrest Hills Drive” 

It relates to our class’ topic really well and is also just an awesome, awesome performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzpCmRtCL0

[oceanwells-blog]

“Low Standards for Whites. That’s What’s killing us.”

“Nothing has kept us safe. Why? Because these problems are not caused by OUR choices. The murderous conditions under which we live are not of our own making; they white-authored. Whites insisted that the practices supporting whiteness would not just support whiteness but also do everything imaginable to rob everyone else of life chances.”

-Koritha Mitchell

[mclrke-blog]

This is a very interesting claim by Mitchell. It’s hard not to agree to her point mainly because there is a lot of truth to it. Minorities make up a very small percentage of the Senate. As policy makers, minorities have far less ability to affect change that would allow progress with the goal of equality in mind.

[trevore206-blog]

The mayor cannot say there had never been a sense of racial tension here because that sentence has not been true anywhere on this earth.

John Oliver (via trevore206)

I like this quote because it is simply so obvious and its silly that the mayor ever tried to make the claim in the first place

(via whitaker211)

This is so true. Anywhere you go there will be this “us vs. them” mentality that divides people. It may not be as apparent today as it was 100 years ago, but as the video demonstrated; It still exists. As a governmental figure he should recognize this

(via coltonshidaker)

This was one of the greatest quotes I’ve heard in a while, it was very funny in the way he said it but really came as an eye opener. Unfortunately this statement is true though, and the real question is what are we going to do about it?

(via gasparilla22)

[mikesklar-blog]

Koritha Mitchell

“There’s no right way to protest your own dehumanization and your community’s destruction, especially when your country insists that there’s nothing violent, uncivilized, and un-American about how it routinely dehumanizes and destroys certain populations.”

I found this point to hit home hard for me. This paragraph is so strong, she says that constantly, people of color are criticized on the way in which they protest. As if there is a “right” and “acceptable” way. I can say that if i were in this position, it would be so defeating. There is not “right” way, and due to the injustice that these racial groups face, they should be able to protest however they want...without anyone saying anything.

[mikesklar-blog]

Bonilla and Rosa #Ferguson

“On #Ferguson, you could watch six simultaneous live streams. You could read what protestors were tweeting, what journalists were reporting, what the police was announcing, and how observers and analysts interpreted the unfolding events.”

I thought this point was interesting because in today’s world, you can become a part of a movement without uttering one single word out loud. I think this is cool because you can gain huge amounts of people in support of a movement 

[mikesklar-blog]

Ferguson MO

“F*ck you gentoo penguins, flapping over here, stealing all our fish; not you chin strap penguins, you’re cool...you guys are good at math.”

While this has absolutely nothing to do with Ferguson MO, notice that he said the chinstrap penguin was “Good at Math”. The chinstrap penguin has slimmer eyes, was this a racial reference to Asian people? Interesting point here and not cool on Oliver’s part

[mikesklar-blog]

“American Oxygen’ -Rihanna

At the end of a seemingly mixed messaged song, we are presented with positivity. The final lyric reads “this is the new America, we are the new America”. It shows whites and blacks uniting together

[mikesklar-blog]

“She wanted her son to go there as well, but because of affirmative action or minority something--she is not sure what they are calling it these days and weren’t they supposed to get rid of it?--her son wasn’t accepted”. -Rankine

[mikesklar-blog]

“flimsy white fork to snap in half. dispose of me.”

- Franny Choi 

[mikesklar-blog]

“You think 50 Cent reads, Allen Iverson?”  “Four women, six kids. Three of whom are name after luxury cars.” - Gay

This talked pretty heavily on a stereotype of Black Masculinity. The woman in the “poem” is shitting on who she think that the Black Man is. In reality, what does this girl really know about Black Masculinity? Besides these generalizations. What does this poem say about stereotypical bitchy white girls?

[mikesklar-blog]

“Even if you in a Benz, you still a N***** in a coupe”

Black people will never be looked at as successful, no matter what they have done --Kanye “All Falls Down”

[mikesklar-blog]

“If we are becoming a more enlightened society, Zachari challenged, why do Black bodies remain sacrifices at the altar of the American Dream?” -Faithful

[davis4600-blog]

“No group can claim to have a better interpretation of the “truth” than another.“

Hill Collins, “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination” (via davis4600)

[mikesklar-blog]

“... and I want you to lead it, not one of those militant Malcolm X types.”

Selma (2014)

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This was in the scene where MLK met with President LBJ. Now I know this is a movie and there is really no proof whether or not LBJ actually said this. Still, who is he to judge the actions of Malcolm X. “militant types” Really? How about when the United States was spraying high pressure water hydrants at innocent Black civilians in the streets...think that was too much?

[raaandyjo]

[mikesklar-blog]

Also you can see a correlation between the sunken houses and the sunken Police car. Almost as if the Cop Car (America) has failed its people (Houses)