Tbrooks1's Weblog

The book I liked the most$$$

tbrooks1 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:09:31 +0000

In the CES 331 we have read a lot of books through the whole semester. Throughout all the books that we read my favorite book was the short story written by Derrick Bell Faces at the Bottom of the Well The Permanence of Racism. I like this reading because it made me sit back what if this story really came true. How fast would the African American community, be sold out by the fair skinned Americans in order to get the country back to a stabilized position. The American country was built on the backs of slave for many of decades. If it was not for the struggles that the African American society went through to gain there equal freedom where would this country be at today. Then for the white society to turn around and make a deal with aliens to save the world financial problems, hunger problem just to name a few I feel that shows how bad racism still affect the America today. Even if they were to trade the blacks to solve all the problems of the world how long would that last. Everyone should know that not everything last forever and when you solve one problem it just bring more problems to the world. What other race would they give away to fix the problems that they have created. Another question that I have is what happens when they are the only race left. It seems that the author could of went s many different ways with the story. The aliens could have been setting up a plan to get all humans into the grasp they could have been tricking the human race. The fact of the matter is that the author Derrick Bell wrote this piece in a way that kept my think about the racism in a different way. It kind of make you realize how ruthless the world can be in its time of need.

What’s good with African American Lit. in the 21st century

tbrooks1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:46:36 +0000

In the 21^st century African American literature is becoming very important to history. The literature that is being passed along to the younger society that is coming up is very helpful. It passes on knowledge that may be lost when the elderly are passing on to a better life. The African American literature gives writers who voices that are not being herd, a chance to reach those who are not aware of the struggles that many minorities have had to endure over the many years of slavery and other hardships that they had to face. Without this literature it would feel that a major part of American history has been looked over and young lives that need to know their history will be lost because people did not feel the this African American literature is not important. Another reason why the literature is important because it shows young minorities that they is a lot more that they can do then just pick up a ball and make a life. They are able to see that people have taken struggles from their life and people can relate to what is going on to them. Sometimes people feel that no one has gone through the same type of hardships trials and tribulations. If it is in a book and it is taken down in record that it has happen then people cannot ignore it. They may not believe it is real, but they cannot say that it is not documented. I feel that we should find away to get African American Literature seen by the public. They should enforce in schools more reading material that are written by African American writers. People can see what they have been missing out on in African American writers because they do not make sure that part of history and writing is seen. I feel in the 21^st century it is very important to keep African American literature aware in as many ways possible.

Slavery and the effects on African American Literature

tbrooks1 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:23:28 +0000

Throughout many of the novels that we have been reading, slavery has been a major part in the making of the African American Literature. When reading the books by most of the African American writers, they used their novels to get there point across about what was going on in the society. Slavery was alive in apart of all their lives. The only way that the voice of the people could be heard and never forgotten was for them to tell the truth, which history classes were leaving out. History is taught but the truth is not told when it is told. They will not let you know that America was built on the hard work of slave to in order for America to prosper. They will not tell you that African American were not the only ones to go through slavery there was many other races that had to go through it, but when it was fair skinned people they were know as indentured servants rather than slaves. Slavery haunts Americans because till this day we are still struggling with the race issue. Becoming equal was the hardest struggle the America has had to face over the past decades. There was Caucasians that felt this change was for the better of the world. There were many that opposed this idea. There were many broken bones, broken sprits, broken hearts and lives lost in the African American society. Through the heartache and pain blacks pressed on to gain what white America did not want them to have. The ultimate goal for African American was to gain the freedom and the respect. They wanted to be treated as equal man and women. Society had no choice but to give the freedom because America would be going still be in a race battle for the equality of the African American race. I was not for the struggle that we went through there would not be in progress and we might still be a country that live together, but a country separate within.

Are we Protected

tbrooks1 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:47:31 +0000

We all know that the police are here to protect and serve us in are time of need. They are here to help us in our time of need and help solve situations when people are not able to solve them on their own. Sometimes do the police over step their boundaries and break rules. They sometimes take matters more personal then the job requires and instead of protecting people they are hurting people in a major way. It is true that not all people are right and they do not deserve to be protected, that when the justice system become a help to all people in the community. There are many situations when the police take advantage of their power and do not give the equal justice to all they misuse there power and everything becomes a burden because people do not feel like they are being protected. Not all cops are corrupted and they do their jobs to the best of their ability. They treat people as equal an do not take their job out of context of the rules and regulation of what they can and can not do. It seems that in smaller towns they have to try to keep people under control to the best of there ability. When it’s big city, there not as much racism with in the police force. Then it seems to be that in a smaller town they have a lot more racism and the minorities protected but there an extent of the law that is uphold by the law. It’s hard to say what police will do an wont do because you do not know what the police will do or will not do. You just have to hope that the society that they were raised showed them that treating everybody with equal opportunity is the best for our community and society to be safe.

Professor William Jelani Cobb

tbrooks1 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:25:00 +0000

Professor William Jelani Cobb was born in and raised in Queens, New York. He gained his education at Jamaica High School, Howard University in Washington, D.C. After going through his college degree he gained his doctorate in American History under the Teachings of Dr. David Levering Lewis at Rutgers University. In his life time he wrote many reviews and essays that have appeared in The Washington post, The Progressive, ONE Magazine, and Emerge. He was a featured commentator on National Public Radio and also some other national broadcast outlets. At the present time Cobb is a Professor of history at the Spelman College. Some of the subjects that he specializes his teaching in are post- Civil War African American history, 20^th Century American politics and the history of the cold War. Professor Cobb is a fiction Writer, author of the books To The break of Dawn: freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic and also The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays the Essential. He was the editor of The Essential Harold Cruse which was a book that was listed, as a 2002 notable book of the year by Black Issues Book Review. When Professor Cobb writes most of his books he relates them to many truths that are untold. He talks a lot about the many problems that are happening in society today. His books The Devil & Dace Chappelle for example he takes the black experience from the past ten years and by using cinema, music, politics, literature and pop culture. He talks about where the black society was and the many that we need to do to get further in life. When I was reading his book The Devil & Dave Chappelle, he use real life stories and applies them to life as a way that shows how slavery is still a part of everyday life. He just breaks down things that have been going on in the world and the meaning behind these stories.

Professor Amos N. Wilson

tbrooks1 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:11:18 +0000

Professor Amos N Wilson was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1914. He was a former social case worker, supervising probation officer, psychological counselor, training administrator in the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice, and assistant Professor of psychology at the City University of New York. Amos N. Wilson got his undergraduate degree at the acclaimed Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Then soon after he that he moved to New York and got his PhD, from Fordham University in New York City. Professor Wilson is a great speaker and helper in the community some of the place he made appearances are First World Alliance, the African Poetry Theatre, African Echoes, House of Our Lord Church, the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, the Slave Theatre, and CEMOTAP. He has written many books that inform and help African American learn about the many inaccuracies in the society. The books he has written are Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children, The Development Psychology of The Black Child, Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century , Afrikan- Centered Consciousness Versus The New World Order: Garveyism in the Age of Globalism , Black-on-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination and also The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness. Professor Amos N. Wilson has help bring knowledge about the lies that have been taught to the American people. He has in every way tried to be real with his readers and followers of his teachings. In a book I read of his he talked about how many people are being told that only certain parts of their history is important and European history is only giving some of the truth. They are destroying the real history and rewriting it so that it only says what they want to be herd. They do this by teaching it in the school system and they only teach European history. Through Amos N. Wilson books these thought are portrayed.

Is history the untold history to much for K-12!!!

tbrooks1 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:36:48 +0000

During this semester we have been talking about history of the United States and the truths that they tell students and truth they hide form students. So when I thought about some of the things that I have learned in past history classes and the things that I learning now. There was only some information that supported some of the thoughts I had about the history that had been instilled in my head. There was sometimes when my friends and I were younger we would wonder why black history was told in only moderation we felt as if the education systems was cheating us of very important knowledge. It truly felt that the truth about what really happen in the past was not something they wanted us to be aware of. I do not know if the teachers thought we were too young or if we were not able to handle the truth about what really happen in the past. The government seems to monitor what children are allowed to learn in the school system. Why do they not want kids to know the truth about America’s untold history? Even though I was young and could go to the library to get info I wanted to learn it in class. If I were to present a question to the teachers in my history class, would they know what I was talking about or would they just by pass my question. Sometimes I wonder if the teachers are equipped with the knowledge about African American history. It seems that they only talk about history that you cannot look past like the Civil Rights movement, not saying that not important but they need to know how we got to that movement. The government seems to only teach the bits and pieces of certain cultures history and teach all of European history. Some of the things that I have learned from some of the books from different historian are that European were the major power behind America and a lot of cultures, races, and lands were not recognized until they discovered them. It was said that you were not anything unless they gave you title or description of who you are. Is this a history a problem for America or is there a way we can get the truth to the youth about the untold history of America.

Getting a point across!

tbrooks1 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:46:38 +0000

In the many novels that we have read throughout this semester there are a lot of topics that you see within the novels. There are topics such as migration, dealing with death, gender, racial, pain and also the impact of racism. These are only a couple of topics that are talk about in the books. But my question is why are some of these topics found in a lot of black literature. I think that because of the time period, that these authors were living in they could only talk about topics that surrounded their every day life. It has been shown in a lot of the different novels that we have read. What I see most in them is the impact that racism has in a lot of people. I feel that the writes tied this in to the novels or short stories because they were trying to reach the majority of public with the truth that was not to be told. The author that wrote a about such topics like the one I mentioned above, could not get lot of recognition. Critics would say that they have to get away from the ideas of writing about racial issues because that not what the majority of the public wanted to talk about. They couldn’t get away from these many topics because in the time period people were being brought down in a major way. The only way for the author to express what they were going through was to tell was happening through novel and stories. In the some of the novels or stories death was happen at least one time. I felt because people were died so much every one had to find a way to deal with the death. People were being killed so much for the tiniest things. They were getting killed for talking in the wrong tone, or giving a dirty look. The authors of this book I feel wrote some of these topics in their books because they really wanted to get a point across.

Having a Choice

tbrooks1 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:23:24 +0000

In today society, I feel that music has a bigger influence on people then books do. Why do people teach kids the latest rap, song rather than expanding the vocabulary of their children at a young age? Sometimes it seems the TV raises children more than the parents do. There are a lot of things that make me wonder why some people do not want to do better for them self. They stay in a mind set of only following one goal and in life and expanding their mind to see that is more in the world then just that one thing they search for. If their goal it has not been reached then they just conform to whatever surrounds them at the time and work a job to make money not a job to enjoy. I feel that in some of urban areas kids are not given the option to make it to college without some type of sport pushing them. These areas in the world today glamorize people of wealth and they only see the flashy side of what they want to be is happening in society.

A way to solve the problem of student getting the lack of knowledge is to set up more outreach programs that will give the kids, who want to learn and know business aspect of being a rapper, producers, or sports star. They should also have the opportunity to know about other profession as well because there is many way to make money then just those stated above. There are many other jobs in the world that do not get the recognition, for what they do because the jobs are not in the lime light. Yes it is true that not all people think in one mind set and think there only one way to achieve riches but a lot only think there is only so many ways. I feel that in order for people to know what is actually out in the world it takes a community no matter how poverty stricken they are to know all the opportunity that are possible an help kids see those chances they have. In order for that to become a factor in the life of all kids the people and the government have to take a stand together to bring better chances for kids. They have to know at a young age how to excel in a society that was built to only give chances to those that work hard for what they want. I just feel that bring opportunity and knowledge to people now is the only way to make communities stronger.

The Suffering or Violence operating in African American Literature

tbrooks1 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:33:52 +0000

In the first to Novel Quick Sand and Going to Meet the Man there were many topics that African American literature captured. Both novels covered the topics of suffering or violence through the eyes of a black writer. In the books it gave you a inside look, of the time periods that the stories took place and all the different nationality were being treated unfairly. It was not only certain races that had to overcome boundaries that held them back from reaching a peaceful state of mind. It was all races that suffered from being equal among each other’s company. In both the novels there were many seen of unhappiness because of the suffering that people were going through. Most of the suffering was happing because people of different skin tone were treating each other in a negative ways. There was time in the novel were you read about people not being able to be in stay in rooms because of their skin tone or even talk to somebody outside their ethnicity. People were suffering because they were living lives that were unsatisfactory. The conditions that they were living in made them unable to be happy and like their surroundings. In novel Going to Meet the Man violence or the killing was seen in some stories. There was many graphic depiction of people being tortured or abuse in a way that you would of thought, no person in their right mind would commit a heinous crime against another human being. It just cannot imagine why people would do these horrible acts of crime toward another human. Then you have to remember that in that time in era and life the justice systems was not a major factor unless the person that did the crime, was caught red handed. In some case the law was involved in the crime that was taking place. Most of the violence or suffering was affecting the African American community. The African American races were seen as the lowest race in the world and they were step on by the Caucasian community because of the strong hatred the runs through their blood. The suffering and violence in these novels were real aspects of life that could not be escaped because the country was in a terrible mindset that could almost be considered as plague that happened in America.