Hillary Clinton

Recently Hillary Clinton was speaking at a private fundraiser and it was interrupted by 23 year old, Ashley Williams.

Ashley is a Black Lives Matter activist who was confronting Hillary Clinton about her involvement with mass incarceration and demanded an apology from her. She is holding a sign which quotes Hillary:

"We have to bring them to heel." 

This quote isn't talking about animals in case you got confused. It's actually referring to black youths. This was in reference to the amount of violent crimes that were happening in the early 1990's. The crime bill that was passed during this time was what sparked mass incarceration. 

“Fully 60 percent of all young black men who drop out of high school will go to jail. This should disgrace the country. But it does not,” 
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

The way in which the crime bill was written targeted black communities. Clinton has spoken to law enforcement using this rhetoric. The affect of using language has been a large contributor to the amount of police brutality directed toward black Americans. 

“The question is not whether Lincoln truly meant “government of the people” but what our country has, throughout its history, taken the political term “people” to actually mean.” 
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.” 
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

Part of the reason I write about this is to point out that until this past month I was a huge fan of Hillary Clinton. I had read all of her books and I have looked up to her. I found myself reflecting on how I could have missed something so huge that she had taken part of. I didn't understand until I finally realized I didn't know about this because I didn't have to. I didn't know about her role in mass incarceration because I didn't directed suffer from the consequences of her words or decisions. 

A couple days after Ashley demanded answers from Hillary Clinton Clinton spoke with The Washington Post.

"In that speech, I was talking about the impact violent crime and vicious drug cartels were having on communities across the country and the particular danger they posed to children and families.  Looking back, I shouldn’t have used those words, and I wouldn’t use them today.

My life’s work has been about lifting up children and young people who’ve been let down by the system or by society.  Kids who never got the chance they deserved.  And unfortunately today, there are way too many of those kids, especially in African-American communities.  We haven’t done right by them.  We need to.  We need to end the school to prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-to-college pipeline.

As an advocate, as First Lady, as Senator, I was a champion for children.  And my campaign for president is about breaking down the barriers that stand in the way of all kids, so every one of them can live up to their God-given potential."

Do you think Hillary is owning her mistakes enough or is she just benefiting from her position of privilege?

Walking on a Dream

This week was really intense as far as readings as well as films. We had a lot of interesting conversations about race. Let's start with the Beyonce super bowl performance and Kendrick's performance at the Grammy's. Both were very controversial, but what I want to know is why Beyonce is getting completely ripped apart for it and Kendrick's criticism only lasted a day. Is it because she is a woman and he's a man so society has given him that privilege to criticize?

I am not completely sure how I felt about his performance. I understood it, but I feel like he almost exploited African tribes to get his point across. He had tribal dancers on stage with him and at the end put "Compton" over the continent of Africa. I felt like this was exploiting because there are many different languages, tribes, clothing, etc depending on the location. Did he trace his roots back to a specific area or did he just have these women dancing in "tribal" pieces for aesthetic? This also could have been a criticism as in they have all been lumped together and it does not matter where they are from, and that's why he had "Compton" over the continent.

We talked about Coates and the quote that really resonated with me was being woken up from a dream. It was also interesting to me to read about the talks that he has to have with his son about how to act around authority. Other classmates agreed and said that they have had these talks as well, as have I. That really resonated with me because I did not feel alone. However, it also saddened me because we have to experience these conversations in the first place.

I do not have it as bad as others. I am completely aware of that fact. However, each person's trials and tribulations is important and should not be necessarily compared. When we watched the Ferguson film, there were so many things that happened that made me extremely angry and upset. It also opened my eyes to the systemic racism and oppression that is still very prevalent today. When I hear about people being in jail and not able to get out, etc, I have always just assumed that it was for something extremely legitimate. Now I see that these people are getting $200 jaywalking tickets?! That is absolutely insane. It completely seems like they are the targets of the authorities and they're trying to make money off of them. I now see how it is nearly impossible for them to live happily and how it is almost impossible to escape from that reality. I was definitely woken up from this "dream" and my eyes were opened up to current systemic racism and oppression.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-owens/4-problematic-statements-white-people-make-about-race_b_9212864.html

This is a link to an article of appropriation done by Kylie Jenner at New York Fashion Week that I thought was extremely relevant to this week. She is completely allowed to do this, but when actual black girls do it, they are criticized and deemed "ghetto."
http://www.teenvogue.com/story/kylie-jenner-yaki-ponytail-cultural-appropriation

UA: Home of the crimson and WHITE

This week we went on a race cognizant tour of campus. This was my third time to be on this tour. The sites and stops are the same. Although I have seen them before and heard the history, the feelings I get when I hear and see what these places represent never change or go away. When I told my friend that I was going on the race cognizant tour, she was curious and started asking me questions. "Where do y'all stop?" I told her we went to the slave quarters on the President's lawn, Nott Hall (I also explained why this was a stop), and the slave graves by the biology building. Sadly, I was not shocked when she had no idea that any of these places existed on campus. Regrettably, this is the case for most UA students. They unknowingly walk by these places everyday with gleeful ignorance of their history.

The campus we walk on everyday, stained with history, is whitewashed. When the students cheer for the Crimson Tide, they scream for the crimson and white not knowing, not understanding, not realizing the incongruity of their actions. These white students will readily cheer for Black football players, as long as they are winning. As long as they are producing the results these white students want to see. As long as they are putting their bodies on the line for the entertainment of these white students. When we look around our university, how much can we say things have changed? Has the system of slavery actually been demolished or merely transformed on our campus? Does the university not still "own" the black bodies of the football players? These players still have to answer to the university, albeit in a different way than the slaves who were rented out by UA.

In our readings this week we focused on whiteness. The power of whiteness is ever present on this campus. In some ways, UA is a microcosm of the U.S. Yes, we, like the U.S., have an African American president, but what does that actually say about how far we have come in our racial politics on campus? I'm sure you can talk to any minority student on campus, and they would say we haven't progressed as much as we would like to think.

This post is simply a chain of consciousness. As I was writing these thoughts just popped into my head, and I wanted to put them out there for you guys to respond to. What are your thoughts? Am I totally off target by saying these things?

Regrets in Retrospect

This week we discussed the power of whiteness in the US south. We also went on a campus tour where we visited buildings that had a significant impact on diversifying the UA campus. My eyes were definitely opened by the reading as well as the tour. Racism is not something I have been unfamiliar with. I am a mixed race woman from California, so I feel my privilege has protected me from far wors e than what could have been experienced. California experiences a lot of racism with different ethnic groups besides what is experienced here in the US south. For me, I have experienced discrimination due to being of Mexican descent. Looking at me, you would never think that I was anything other than white. When I moved to Alabama, I was warned to keep it that way.

I was nervous to come to Alabama. I did not think my life was in jeopardy nor do I believe that it is jeopardy because of my race today. However, I had been warned by several friends that were southern and aware of my racial background to "stay as white as possible." In history courses, we learned about racial tensions in the south from pre Civil War to Jim Crow. When you're not involved in it or around it, it seems like an issue of the past. It seemed like a completely antiquated way of thinking. When I was told to stay as "white" as possible, I took that with a grain of salt. Surely, there aren't still racial tensions between black and white like the past. There's absolutely NO way that it still exists. I'll be fine. The first night I arrived in Alabama, my randomly assigned roommate announces that her "grandaddy is the head wizard of the KKK in Shelby County." and they "have his cloak and hood in a framed shadow box in their living room." WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?! I scream this thought internally as I awkwardly try to change the subject. It wasn't until this statement and many more that I would unfortunately discover that there is definitely a lot of racial tension here in Alabama.

The power of whiteness in the US south is not an antiquated way of thinking, but still incredibly alive and well. Throughout my years here in Alabama, I would hear a lot of racial comments and stabs at minorities while I was in the room. These comments were made completely unaware that I am definitely a minority. "Well you don't ACT like a Mexican." "You're one of the GOOD ones." "Well I'm sure your family is extremely hard working and family oriented. Bless them for that." I would hear these phrases more in my three years here at the university.


The walk through of campus really opened my eyes to the backpedalling done here at the university. What really resonated with me was the fact that we still have Nott Hall when the history behind that is barbaric. However, they have done a very good job brushing that under the rug. I've been here for three years and never knew the history behind that building. I am sure there are many others that have absolutely no idea. When we looked at the slave quarters behind the President's Mansion, my stomach turned. I felt extremely uncomfortable looking at it. If I'm feeling uncomfortable looking at it when this is probably the up kept, remodeled version I could not imagine what it would have been like beforehand. I understand it's historical, but why is it being glamorized? That was my biggest question that probably will never be answered. It's 2016. Why is UA STILL glamorizing racism as history and sweeping their regrettable decisions under the rug?

This week in class we watched a film titled Ethnic Notions, which was about the representation of black people in popular culture. The documentary talked about the Mammie, Sambo and how white men would dress in black face to characterize themselves as black Americans. The film also highlighted the repercussions this had and more often than not the black people were represented in a negative manner, which created animosity between white and black people. However this was a very popular practice from the ante-bellum era through out the mid twentieth century.

Nevertheless this kind of portrayal of black culture still exists today and some may even argue that people today are obsessed with black culture. For example celebrities like Miley Cyrus have been seen appropriating black American culture by doing things like “twerking” and rapping. Or more recently Kylie Jenner has come under fire for doing things like cornrowing her hair, a hairstyle that is more typically worn by Black Americans.

Kylie Jenner wore her hair in this braided style and posted a picture of herself on instagram, with a caption promoting her new wig line. Amandla Stenberg a 16 year old Black American actress best known for her role as Rue in the hunger games commented on the post saying,

 “When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter,”

The Huffington Post wrote an article about the exchange and I think Amandla makes a good point. Kylie may just think she is wearing her hair a certain way but her actions have consequences. She is appropriating a culture. A Black Person today cannot just pick and choose which parts of being black they want to embody so why should Kylie Jenner have that option?

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