2nd blog post "Mississippi Goddam"

-the song i chose was "Mississippi Goddam". when i read the lyrics to this song it felt like it was talking about slavery. the african americans are so fed up with the crualty and the lies that they get everyday. they want there freedom but the white americans refuse to give it to them because they are scared that if they give them some freedom they will abuse it and want more and more and it will end bad for them. for example in the song she says " picket lines/school boycotts/they try to say its a communist plot/all i want is equality/ for my sister my brother and me." during that time african americans were trying to fight for there rights by doing boycotts and picket lines and if they refused to stop they would be abused and beaten and even arrested, the government and the white americans were all afraid that the african americans would try to take over and have power but she says that not what we want we just want to have equal rights just like you.
-"How can you and i be looked upon as men, with black women being beaten, and nothing being done about it?...and nothing can be done about it except we sit around singing "we shall overcome"'
this quote was taken from malcom x speech at the freedom democratic national convention.
i felt like the relationship between mississippi and harlem is that when the whites were in the "white" poll they sent the blacks to swim in the mississppi river and that was the only place they felt free even though they were still segregated, and the same with harlem when african americans started relocating to the northern part of the united states harlem was the only place where they felt like they had some freedom.....to be continued

Once you've set up your blog, write your first post. In it, talk a little about your own relationship to "art, politics, and protest." Some questions you might think about: What kinds of expression - music, writing, art, sports - mean the most to you and why? Have you ever been part of a social movement, protested for or against something, or created a political work of art? Have you had your view of the world changed by a song, poem, movie or some other creative work? What would you like to learn about in this class?


When i first registered for this class i really thought it was more of a regular art class, but once i started class i relized that it was more than that , it was about how art was used for protest, and to send a message. to be honest i haven't listened to music in a while but i know that sometimes new artists use things that are happening now in the world and incorporate it in their music and for us it just sounds good or it makes sence with the song but back in the civil rights years many blacks would just incorporate the way they feel, how they are being treated etc.. i've never been part of a protest or a social movement but i think that if i was one of the people in that time i would probably be part of the protest. i learned alot in my history class last semester about the civil rights movement but it would be intresting to study how songs, arts, and protest was incorporated during the time.

prewriting-brainstorming -Honduras

Why are you interested in this country and its relationship to the U.S.?
-im intrested in researching this country because i've been to honduras befrore as a missionary with my church...and while i was there i saw alot of very very poor people and little kids taking on parently roles. every thing i saw made me really sad. i might actually go back there again...so before i do i want to learn more about their ecomony.


What has struck you about this history and relationship to the United States from our readings, and from other knwoledge and experiance you may have?
-it has struck me that the united states has so much power over other countries. i didnt think that it would have been that bad...that they would basically take over


What dont you know that you want tot find out?
-in what ways has the U.S not helped honduras when they needed to be helped?
-why is it one of the top three poorest contries in the world?
-how much drug n violebce problems do they face everyday?
-what does NAFTA associate with them?
-does the u.s have any military bases?

Video of Naomi Klein on the Colbert Report

-"whole societies also go into a state of shock when their is a crises. when there is a terrorist attack or a huge natural disaster, or a huge economic crisis. something happens where people don't know whats going on and they'll do what people in authority tell them to do"- Naomi Klein

when she said this all could think about was the katrina disaster and how all these people where waiting outside the dome for the government to come help them because that was they were told the government was going to do......the government came late these people here with out food with out water.... how did the government expect these people to survive in such conditions....i bet if it was president bush who was in that circumstance they wouldve gotten him out of there within less than an hour of the cirisis happening. many older people who needed oxygen and medications died because there werent gettin what they needed. what wouldve happend if the government aid never showed? this is some really serious situatons. TBC...

Personal responses...

When i chose this class i though that it was going to be about things that are going on today in the world. That it would be about recent events.

I like the fact that all our classes link together because in a way it helps me understand it more. even though sometime i get confused with the sotries and which class its for =] but i feel that its alot better. Also I feel that having the same classes with the same people is nice because you really get to know them and interact with them. The shyness goes away and its easier to work with the people.

LIFE AND DEBT

-I honestly really didn't enjoy this film as much as the first one that we saw on Farmingville probably because some of the dialogue wasn't very understandable because of the accents..... but i did find it interesting. I liked how they switched from scene to scene about how the tourist are in a nice hotel having fun enjoying "Jamaica". and then they show the real Jamaica and the things that the people who actually live there and have to deal with. my favorite part was when a small group of tourist took a ride around the real Jamaica and they saw how "relaxed the people in Jamaica were" and how free they were to do as they felt....but they were ignorant to see that it wasn't that they were "layed back and relaxed" it was they had nothing else to do! their poor, have no jobs...all they could really do is take care of their families and the place that they live in.

-In my eyes I believe that America had control/power over Jamaica. Something interesting that I learned from this movie that I didn't know before was how Jamaica was owed by the British and when they got their Independence they became financially unstable and thats when America decied to "help" them. But in helping them in a way ended up affecting them real bad.......TO BE CONTINUED

FARMINGVILLE

i have to start off by sayin that i enjoyed watching the video about the immigration reform in farmingville. Not beacue it was nice, but beacue i was amazed and shocked at the hatered and violence that went on in farmingville. i feel the residents were so ignorant, they acted like they were the victims. when reality was they were the ones attacking the mexican workers. At one point the leader of the shadam organization was sayin how the mans daughter couldnt get a job because "she didnt speak spanish"'!. thats horrible, does she know how many immigrants cant find jobs beacue of the color of there skin, because they didnt speak english, because they were hated in the community!. No she wouldnt because she was focused on kicking them out because they were disterbing their community. she was focused on keeping things the way they were, in keeping her family safe. But she didnt realize that by trying to kick the mexicans out and showing them that they didnt be long the only people that were causing chaos was not the mexicans but it was the people from farmingville.