Extra Credit; Public Enemy " Fight The Power"

      Fight the power by Public enemy; it has an old school vibe which makes it connect with young people. This song is telling people to fight the power with a catchy phrase, in other word is evoking people the emotion to unify themselves and fight for what is right. Also has a defiance in it, when it says “Our freedom of speech is freedom of death”, which is a really strong stamen, just by putting the world “death” kinds of evokes a sense of anger.

         I think this phrase of fight the power is similar to “Black Power”, which was introduce by the Black Panthers Party in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I believe that by saying “fight” he want to put action to the social issues happening in the United States. This song also give a sense of how people of different race are struggling, and how they all need equality, in one part of the song it says, “People, People we are the same”, this kind of give me to understand that people have to fight for equality, that we all one, and human. I think that Public Enemy was trying to capture the social conflicts that were happening at that time.

    I think this song relates to the whole theme of this class, because throughout time all this time people always been looking for equality, there works or art were for a social purpose, and to let the word and the public what was really going on using art, music and so forth, just like Langston Hughes with his poems, and Nina Simon with her song, all of them had a thing in common which was make a difference, not just with African Americans, but with Hispanic, and minorities all over the Unites States. Finally, I believe Public Enemy wanted to give something new to persuade young people live in America to make a change and fight for the change they were aiming for.

Public Art

    I know a lot of you seen this ton of times, on television and so forth. The Unisphere is a beautiful, giant steel globe that sits in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York, at about 15 min walk from my house. I see this wonderful globe everyday from the 7 train line, when I’m waiting for the train. The Unisphere as mentioned before is standing in Flushing Meadow, where a variety of recreational center exist, from a zoo to a restaurant. When you stand under the Unisphere, you can see how the steel wire sustain each other, I was amaze how this work was executed, because the wire seem so vulnerable, like they’re about to brake. It’s is very detailed, you can find you country really easily. Under the Unisphere there are lots of benches, where you can sit and appreciate this marvelous work of art, at nigh this globe looks amazing. According to The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation “This 1,255-acre park has historical, recreational and environmental significance. The former dumping ground labelled a "valley of ashes" by F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby" has become Queens' largest park, and one of New York City's flagship parks”. In other word, this is a beautiful work of art give to the Flushing Meadows Park. That makes us create thin about the world we live in, and how we can build on it.
     I would include this amazing work of art in my New York (2010) exhibition, because evokes a sense of what we doing to this world, to made people see how small and vulnerable this world is. I would use it to create awareness, that we only have one world and we have to take care of it. Also I would want people to see what is inside our world, which is nothing and that, and that this world is hanging from a string, that soon will break. I would definitely use this in my exhibition, because we have to be aware of how many world we have, and that we have to take care of it.
     The world we live in is full of contamination, war, political chaos, poverty, in other words all the bad things that we can think of. In by seeing this world we don’t see anything, but steel, which can be translate in how we can mold this world, we can either destroy it, or make something out of it. This work of art can be translate it, in something more ecologist, or it can also be translated in the fact of how this world is manage. Since is in the middle of a park where nature can be appreciated from afar, I would believe that the artist wanted to also let us see was outside the world. I think that this work of art make people who see it to create a sense of awareness, to take care of this world, because we only have one.

Art, music and other forms of cultural expression are often especially useful in changing people's perception about their own lives. In the first chapter of Malcolm X's autobiography, he discusses internalized racism: the way that African Americans have absorbed the ideology of white supremacy. Describe how this issue comes up in Malcolm's early life, how he analyzes these early experiences, and the shift in consciousness you think he wants to create in readers. If you wish, you can also discuss other examples of how oppressed groups have internalized the messages of a dominant society, drawing on other texts and your own knowledge and experiences.

       In the first chapter Malcolm X discusses how African Americans have absorbed the idea of white supremacy. I believe Malcolm X talks about this in a broader way, I believe that he’s talking about how African American in general viewed “White people” as the supreme, as the elite of the society, but in the other hand I don’t believe his father had favoritism for him because of his color, I think his father liked him more, because Malcolm was interested in what he did. In his autobiography he mentioned, “One of the reasons I’ve always felt my father favored I was that to the best of my remembrance, it was only me that sometimes took with him to the Garvey U.N.I.A meeting...”, this was his life for his father, and by showing interest I think he earn his father favoritism. I believe that by his father not beating him, but beating the others more doesn’t prove that Malcolm was his favorite, because in the other hand he received beating from his mother, “I’ve said that my mother was the only one who whipped me…”, and I noticed his father never obstruct the beatings, regardless of if he was present or not. I think if Malcolm was favored by his father, I think his father would of done something when he came back home, I think there’s a lot of holes in the part people say that his father favored Malcolm X because of his color.  

     I’ve seen a lot of case that sure show that internalized racism. My family is of a dark complexion, but there are two or three that are of a lighter color. One of them is my aunt, she is not white but is mixed, and I believed she has internalized racism, because she actually adopted a white child with blue eyes, she having three children on her own. I think people think because a person is white have the lead, but unfortunately society, the media and so forth have put in people’s mind those who have blond hair, blue eyes, and milky complexion is what’s going to take you further in this society.

      I believe that media is the one that have made this internalized racism so common, because they still showing the white female, now you can see the media is integrating more colored people, and different complexion out there, but still the most dominant figure out there is the “white” female. Another example of internalized racism I think it was Michael Jackson case, which actually bleached his face, and relaxed his hair to look white. Another case is baseball player Sammy Sosa who bleached his face.

     Finally, I believe that in the Malcolm X autobiography there was not internalized racism, but in society itself there is a lot, and there still out here, we can still see it in ads, in movies , everywhere. Is how people can change this that matter, because beauty come in many forms and shapes, and the perception of the white people supremacy should end, because is not the color the make a person to reach their goals, but a person’s work, and determination, anything is possible.

Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam"

The purpose of this song according to Wikipedia the initial purpose for “Mississippi Goddam" by Nina Simone was because of the murder of murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of this song also is to state that by the Civil Rights movement doing things slow would not get any results, that things have to be done fast . The audience of this song I believe were the public in general, whites, African Americans, the government and the country, Simone wanted to let them see that it wasn’t just their problem it was everybody problem, and by doing it slow nothing was going to be done in the country. "Mississippi Goddam" produce the arguments of how things are moving, what result have they had during all that time fighting, and it creates emotions of anger, fury, rage, and ire.
I think this song was likely successful because it was something new, fresh and something with a purpose, even though it was banned from radios, still made a big impact when it was heard, I believe it was pretty successful in the part of the Civil Rights movement. "Mississippi Goddam" has a strong argument, and a very thoughtful purpose, maybe this wasn’t the only things that were happening at that certain time, but Simone show this two cases as an example of how thing were at that specific time in Alabama and Mississippi time.
Finally “Mississippi Goddam" is a clear example of fresh and new music, with political and awareness purpose to the United Sates, that showed the reality of the US at that time. Simone had the initiative to showcase these issues out there to the public in a creative and artistic way. In addition “Mississippi Goddam" is a very ground-breaking way to express a political issue like this that was happening in Mississippi and Alabama.

"Reed's argument about why music was so important to the Civil Rights movement?"

 What is Reed's argument about why music was so important to the Civil Rights movement? What are some of the specific roles it played in the movement? How does this relate or compare to your own experiences of the role of music in everyday life, or the relation of music to politics?

    Reed’s argument about why music is so important to the Civil Rights movement is that it was according to Reed is “The form of culture...” Some specific role that music played in the Civil Right movements is that brought unity to the Civil Rights movement; it also showed their roots and culture. Music was used in the antislavery movement and labor movement, therefore they also used it in the Civil Rights Movement, I believe music is a legacy for them, is their way to protest, was their icon in other words, music united them, and gave the Civil Right movement strength.

    Personally music is everything, it expresses what I cannot say, and sometimes give me the inspiration to do things sometimes I think I can’t do. Music let me escape to a dream world, in which everything is my way, a way of relaxation, and makes my thought fly away. I believe the Civil Rights movement wanted to do the same, wanted to find their own way to show the world what they wanted, what they were going through, they gave the world a new way to express thoughts, and feelings, they wanted to show the world what was going on in a creative kind of way, since nobody was paying attention to their them. When those with the Civil Rights movement started to sing, a person could feel every single word they said, because they sang with their soul, they wanted to show the world the pain, the shame and the harm these people were causing to the African Americans.

   Finally Reed’s overall statement was that the Civil Rights movement had music as harbor, The Civil Rights movement made music a very creative weapon, and they used it to let the world see the injustices that were happening in the United States.

“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" Langston Hughes

 

      In his essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" Langston Hughes discusses the challenges faced by the black artist in the 1920’s during the renaissance period. “During the mass migration of African Americans from the rural agricultural South to the urban industrial North (1914–18), many who came to New York settled in Harlem, as did a good number of black New Yorkers moved from other areas of the city. Meanwhile, Southern black musicians brought jazz with them to the North and to Harlem. The area soon became a sophisticated literary and artistic center (CredoReference.com).In other words, during the Harlem renaissance period a lot of singers and artists emerged, Langston Hughes, as well as other artists emphasizes this, and how embraced by the community are.

      In the essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" by Langston Hughes argues how black artists restrict themselves from being artistic. As the essay starts the first thing that Hughes states is how the African Americans reject their own roots, and culture because in order to succeed in art black artist has to be as white as they could be. In the first part of the essay it also show how  African American family has convinced themselves that their culture is not good enough, when African Americans tell their children not to act like “negroes”, implying that the way they act is wrong, and they should act more like white people.

      In this essay Hughes also talks about how scared African Americans were of white people, they rather paint a sunset and not a black person, because for them "black" wasn't “pretty”. black people were degraded so much that they started to believe what was said to them.

      In addition, many poets, and artist collaborate to express what was going on during the 1920’s and black artists and how it was impair by “white” people. In the Harlem Renaissance poets such as; Claude MacKay and James Weldon Johnson showed in their how the African American art was treated, how it was besmirched by the white community, and how each of them defendant their art and they wanted artists to do the same thing. The connection between Hughes and these poets is that they went after the same goals, they wanted black artist not to be ashamed of whom they were, and these artist wanted black artist to stay true to themselves and embrace their roots, and culture. This artist wanted black artist to portrait their beauty.