Class Discussions and Social Justice Readings 36-40

LaDon Matthys

When LaDon came to speak, it was a very emotional class. She spoke about the town's segregation that was never actually spoken about.

As I was listening to her story, I remembered probably the only discriminatory situation I've ever experienced.

I grew up in Flower Mound, which as I've said before, is the epitome of white suburbia. I didn't have the best time growing up there, because I never quite fit in. My mom still lives there, so I still visited Flower Mound even when I moved to Lewisville and subsequently Carrollton as soon as I turned 18. After becoming tattooed (and heavily tattooed in an area like Flower Mound), I hated visiting even more. If my mom would ask me to pick something up at the grocery store, I always got stared at. I remember a little girl asking her mom why I looked different and the mother just turning her daughter away from me without saying anything. I was standing in line behind them.... super awkward.

One day when I was visiting my mom with my boyfriend, John, we decided to grab a bite to each before we headed back to our neck of the woods. We decided to stop at "Wings Pizza & Things." We walked in and seated ourselves. No one brought us water. No one brought us a menu. I think we waited about 10 minutes when another group of people came in. They were promptly served water and were given menus. It was apparent that we were not going to be served. As we got up to leave, the host held the door open for us. Wow, I get emotional just thinking about it now. How did our physical appearance make our money not as good as another customers? Luckily we obviously had the ability to spend our money elsewhere, but I know that in the past not every person has had that privilege. (And by the way, what a shitty business model to turn away anyone who is willing to spend money on your services. THEIR LOSS.)

Anyway, I feel like this story may be silly in comparison to other discrimination that has been physical and violent, but it's the only way I can personally relate. And I don't remember thinking about that situation until I started to listen to LaDon.

Culture Boxes

Y'all, I loved your culture boxes. I got really nervous and couldn't tell you what part of Mexico we were in, but it was Playa.

Here are a few songs from the CDs I brought to class that I feel shaped my worldview and also encouraged me to pursue social justice.

Bikini Kill

"Rebel girl you are the queen of my world"

Operation Ivy

"Saw a civilization where grabbing onto wealth

Was the only guarantee of freedom, peace and health

Dollar sign value system upheld as a truth

If you can't find a place, it's gonna find you"

And especially relevant with all of this non-sensical birth control debate
No Doubt

"Cause I'm just a girl, oh little ol' me

Don't let me out of your sight

I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite

So don't let me have any rights"

The culture boxes were an emotional class. A lot of us were talking about things that made us uncomfortable or teary-eyed. I appreciate your honesty, and I loved learning more about a few of you. I am really looking forward to the rest of the boxes.

Social Justice Readings

I thought the Bonds of Sisterhood-Bonds of Oppression article was interesting, but also demeaning and maybe not fully representative. Was this article talking solely about in-home non-white domestic workers? If so, then I retract my previous statement, because I don't know much about that population. However, what about people that like to clean and take care of children? And what about domestic workers that work through companies like Molly-Maid? When my family had a housekeeper for a very brief period of time, my mom made us clean up before she came. My dad would joke, "Yeah kids, clean up since the maid is coming." (Which in hindsight might have been derogatory.) But the point was, the worker was only coming to sweep, mop, and wipe off counter tops. Plus, I'm sure it's much more expensive (and unnecessary) to have someone clean up your entire house (like picking up dirty laundry and other tasks mentioned in the article). I just felt like this article was disempowering and it was hard for me to read without a critical lens. I appreciate the point that was made about women going to work, but then hiring other women to continue to do housework. That's an issue that may be worth addressing in our generation.

The Classified article was also thought provoking for me. "My dad's analysis about investing is, 'that's the way the free market works.' But there's also the idea that you're loaning money to companies that are raping the earth, destroying people's homelands and paying money to special interest lobby groups that destroy democracy even in our own county," (Adams, p. 208).

The Debt Trap is incredibly relevant to our generation. I receive seemingly a million credit card applications a week, and the last thing I need is more credit. When my mom helped me open up a bank account, the banker told me to just put a tank of gas on it and pay it off to build my credit. Well, with good intentions that's not what happened when I actually got a credit card. I had a good job, would put everything on the credit card, and then pay it down when I got paid. Then I left that job to pursue school full time, but I was still used to having the credit card. I ran it up to it's limit, and I still work monthly to pay off purchases I made months or maybe even years ago. (Luckily the limit isn't outrageous, so it's manageable. However, this article says that the average households debt is $8,565 and up, which does not seem manageable to me.)

My boyfriend has never had a credit card, and that's also worrisome to me. Are we going to be able to buy a house if all he has is rental history? I'm not positive, but I don't think that goes very far. You need good credit to buy assets, but they sell you credit without teaching you proper ways to handle it, inevitably damaging your credit. It seems like a vicious cycle that in no way works in the consumers' favor. Why can't we get credit for properly managing a debit card, properly managing money we actually have?

Before you go:

I thought this song related to the Zinn readings well and also The Debt Trap. When reading, I couldn't help but to think of this song by NoFX "The Irrationality of Rationality." It discusses shareholders, mortgages, and how you're screwed once you lose your job. One lyric is, "the guilty don't feel guilty, they learn not to."

Don't listen to this if don't prefer crass language.

Well, I look forward to reading your blog posts, and I hope you're having a great weekend!

P.S. Does anyone know where to find the Kivel article?

P.P.S. Check out my personal blog!

Marable and Blackmon Articles

Globalization and Racialisation Article/ Zinn


This article was a great supplement to the continual Zinn reading and our class discussions. 


I want to start out with a quote from the article.


"From the vantagepoint of the most oppressed U.S. populations, the New Racial Domain rests on an unholy trinity, or deadly triad, of structural barriers to a decent life. These oppressive structures are mass unemployment, mass incarceration, and mass disfranchisement. Each factor directly feeds and accelerates the others, creating an ever-widening circle of social disadvantage, poverty, and civil death, touching the lives of tens of millions of U.S. people," (Marable, p. 4).


I did an interview with someone from the Housing Authority yesterday, and part of our conversation was around how felons can't live in government subsidized housing. She told me that when people are released from jail and they put one of their (government) housing units as their address (because their family lives there), the whole family will be displaced. How do we expect people to excel in life if we don't allow them any public assistance? (Especially if we aren't rehabilitating them when they are in prison.) We send them out with no place to live and no job.


I also had another conversation yesterday that relates to this. My boyfriend was taking me out to dinner, and when we pulled up we saw lines around both sides of a Foot Locker. We wondered what kind of shoe they were releasing. When we had been sitting down in the restaurant for a few minutes he said, "Those must be a rerelease that people want, because most of the people outside had on old Adidas." (This is his subculture interest.) He then explained to me two things: one was why they only let one person in the store at a time, and the other is why the hell people would wait outside in the rain for a pair of sneakers. Apparently in the past when a shoe has been released, people rush a store, grab what they can, and run out. Additionally, people want to buy as many pairs of that shoe as they can, because they can sell them for way more money on the internet. He told me about a shoe release in New York where the police had to intervene. When they cleared the area they found brass knuckles and baseball bats. 


I obviously inquired what the big deal was. He said something along the lines of, "if you didn't have anything, wouldn't you want to take someone's sneakers that you could sell for a thousand dollars?"


If I had been living with nothing for an extended period of time, I assume I would. And back to the cycle of being unemployed and being re-incarcerated. (Please don't mistake me for saying that all ex-felons are violent thieves. I'm just saying that this is something that actually happens in our society. Is it just that someone will pay a thousand dollars for some shoes when we have a chronic problem of homelessness and hunger?)




"Mass unemployment inevitably feeds mass incarceration. About one-third of all prisoners were unemployed at the time of their arrests, and others averaged less than $20,000 annual incomes in the year prior to their incarceration," (Marable, p. 6).



Assistance to ex-felons has been taken away, and without help many are doomed to reoffend to make ends meet.



With all of our reading, I am understanding violent rebellions. (Because in school these were taught in a negative light, and without proper explanation of the plight, for example, of blacks, unemployed people, or underpaid people). 




Voter restrictions were also discussed in this article. I don't understand the rationale of taking away someone's right to vote, or voter ID laws (also taking away rights to vote). I've attached a funny Colbert clip on voter ID laws, and also an NPR report on private prisons in Texas to wrap up this section of my blog.


Colbert Report Clip on Voter ID Laws


NPR: Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns in Trouble


Blackmon Reading


This makes me crazy! A U.S. Steel executive said, "Is it fair in fact to punish people are living today, who have certain assets they might have inherited from others, or corporate assets that have been passed on? You can get to a situation where there is such a passage of time that it simply doesn't make sense and is not fair," (p. 390).


Of course trust fund babies and corporate moguls don't want their fortunes taken away. Of course there is not someone to "properly punish," because they are all dead. But on the flip side, I think decedents of slaves could say the same thing, "You can get to a situation where is such a passage of time that it simply doesn't make sense and is not fair." 150 years later and there is still a huge wealth gap between blacks and (majority white male) CEOs. Is it fair that this population has yet to receive justice after the fruits of their labor produced the wealth these white men still hold? 


It seems Wachovia made some strides after simply acknowledging grave injustices, but I still don't know if that is what Americans should settle with. 


Well, these were the two articles I wanted to touch on this week. I look forward to your posts! Have a great weekend. Visit my personal blog!

Week of February 12, 2012- Focus on Race and Ethnicity

The two research articles assigned for Monday encouraged me to look up a few things, and also inspired me to reread some previous articles from past semesters.

I'll start with an embarrassing and shameful story for me. Last semester in our research class, we were asked to create a questionnaire. The first questions I wanted to ask were about age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Age, simple. Gender, a little more complicated, but still easy. And then race and ethnicity. I had no idea, so I just went to the U.S. Census website and copied what they had. I finished the next 16 questions, printed out 5 copies, and brought them to class.

We exchanged surveys with 3 or 4 other people, and then our professor asked us to comment on what we liked about each others surveys, and what could be changed.

A peer of ours pointed out something that was wrong with my race and ethnicities questions. Instead of really listening (I wasn't, because I can't remember what the problem was... :-/) I got defensive and said something along the lines of, "Well, it's from the US Census, so it must be right." Right after class, I thought about what a jerk I was for not listening, and how I really could of learned something from her if I would have heard her out (and not gotten defensive... how immature).

Then I started reading these articles, and I still didn't know the difference between race and ethnicity. (Was I never taught this? Am I the only 22 year old that doesn't know this?) So I did a quick Google search of "What's the difference between race and ethnicity?" Scrolling down past the Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers, I found this PBS link. So race is biology, and ethnicity is culture. You are born with your race, but your ethnicity is based upon how you grew up. 

I think maybe I didn't know because my family doesn't have a rich culture (that I'm aware of). Anytime I answer those generic questions it's "white." Both of my mom's parents died before she was 12, and my dad's mom died when he was young as well. I don't have a close relationship with any of my extended family, partly because location barriers, and partly because of my parents' choice.

Not that I want that to be an excuse for my ignorance, but... yeah, I guess it is an excuse.

Then I found this video on the American Anthropological Association's website, mentioned in Coleman's article, (p. 101). (This video ties into many aspects of our readings: Zinn, Social Justice readings 8-13, and even the marriage article.) [I would address the marriage article further, but it didn't really surprise me that interracial couples are more common today than they were 50 years ago. In fact, one of the statistics Taylor et el presents is, "among adults ages 18-32, 93% approve (of interracial marriage)," (p. 5)].

Because race and ethnicity have not dissolved in society, I know I need to be more mindful of how people identify, and LISTEN to them. I'd be curious if any of you would like to share how you identify, so I can get a realistic grasp on these concepts.

The Coleman article also mentions very briefly the adaptive benefits skin color has had during human evolution, (102). I took an Evolutionary Biology course that was very informative, so I wanted to share one research article with you, and also a 3-part documentary that addresses these topics.

Skin Deep discusses skin pigmentation changes and their benefits. I also wanted to link this great NOVA documentary called Becoming Human. It is lengthy, but maybe if you have some down time over the weekend you could see if it interests you at all. This three hour series summarizes a lot of what I learned in my Biology class about human evolution.

Another week of intense reading... can't wait to read what all of you have to say! Hope you have a great weekend.

Follow my personal blog.

Week of February 6, 2012- Multiple Readings

Dr. Aguilar


When Dr. Aguilar came to speak with us briefly on January 30, he helped put into perspective a lot of Social Justice issues we have been discussing. 


For instance, he brought up the point that it is nonsensical to believe that equality is possible, because we are not biologically the same. (Examples such as: men can't bare children, so we allow them to adopt, or for those who cannot walk, we provide alternate access such as ramps.) He made a strong point of finding ways to help others adapt to our environment so that they have the ability to participate equally.


Another point I enjoyed was his view on empowerment. He stressed that people are taught that they don't have the ability to do certain things in life. (Where he grew up, they were taught that they didn't have the ability to pursue college, and that instead of trying, they should just go to trade school.) As Social Workers, we have the ability to tell someone, "This may seem hard, but I'm going to help you through it." I think having that support is necessary. If I didn't personally have my family backing me up to pursue my dreams (or in Dr. Aguilar's case, his entire community), I would hope that I could find that support through a Social Worker.


The last point he touched on was Lynde's question of, "Why can some people make it out of poverty and others can't? If some people can, why can't everyone?" He answered by telling us of the sort of purgatory he lives in: not fitting in with his family because he pursued higher education, but not fitting in with higher education because his family doesn't have a history of it. 


This really hit home with me. My mother and father grew up in Dalton, Georgia, where basically you went to work in the carpet factory with the rest of your family. My dad worked his way up from the mill, and now he is a Regional Vice President (of the northwest) in Mohawk Industries, an extremely large carpet company. He made his way up through promotions, not through higher education. But in the position he holds now, his colleagues all have prestigious college backgrounds. When he goes to meetings or dinners, and the small talk revolves around college, he doesn't have anything to say.


This encouraged him to push my sister and me towards college. I resisted because high school was the worst time of my life. The last thing I wanted to do was attend college. So I tried hair school (beauty school drop out), I tried bar tending (terrible hours), and then I tried a full time job. That was nice for awhile, but then you realize without an education it is hard to get promoted. (Times are not the same as when my dad was growing up.) Now, college is the best thing I've ever experienced, and I'll stay as long as my family is willing to help. 


Even more exciting, my dad is now pursuing a degree. He met with a few universities, and St. Mary's is allowing him to pursue an honorary MBA (because he has so much experience in business, he does not have to complete an undergrad program first).


The point is, a lot of us struggle in this purgatory of not fitting in when your family doesn't have a rich background of higher education. As Dr. Aguilar put it, we shouldn't have to struggle through this purgatory. Education and success should be accessible to everyone. We shouldn't have to defy this system to have a good life.


Howard Zinn


This book is hard for me to put down. 


The stories of class struggle... we are going through the exact same problems now. Mary Ellen Lease from the Populist party spoke to a crowd in 1890, "Wall Street owns the country. This is no longer a government of the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street," (p. 288).


America has a rich history of protesting greed and capitalism, but people with money and power have the ability to easily overthrow these attempts with police and military power.


The New York Independent Labor Party in 1880s made a list of demands for fair treatment, one of which included "that the police not interfere with peaceful meetings," (p. 272).

Police Pepper Spray Peaceful Protesters at UC Davis

Police Use Flash Bangs and Tear Gas on Protesters

Police pepper spray an 84 year old woman

Another part of the reading I found interesting was who created and controls schools. "Conwell was a founder of Temple University. Rockefeller was a donor to colleges all over the country and helped found the University of Chicago. Huntington, of the Central Pacific gave money to two Negro colleges, Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute. Carnegie gave money to colleges and to libraries. John Hopkins was founded by a millionaire merchant, and millionaires Cornelius Vanderbilt, Ezra Cornell, James Duke, and Leland Stanford created universities in their own names... and were known as philanthropists. ...It was important that these people learn obedience to authority" (p. 262-263). 

For myself, I definitely learned to be obedient and listen to authority. I remember crying when I forgot lined paper in my 3rd grade class. I cried when I had to sign the book in 4th grade after I forgot a project at home that I had completed. I'm afraid of getting fired from my job, or even being asked to leave from places I volunteer. I do things my teachers ask without question for fear of not succeeding or fear of not being liked by them. Really I'm afraid of anyone not liking me, and I think that makes me submissive. I never was taught to talk back of speak up for myself, so I don't. And in the larger picture, that's exactly what capitalists/the government want. It worked on me.

Arab and African Protest Rappers


This short article on the political influence of Arab and African protest rappers made me think of a now famous political, eccentric rapper named M.I.A. M.I.A. is the daughter of a political Tamil activist. Her father worked against systematic discrimination against Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

War war war
Talking bout you is such a bore
I'd rather talk about moi

Like do you know that cost of A.K.'s
Up in Africa
20 dollars ain't shit to you
But that's how much they are
So they gonna use the shit just to get far

Is girls, diamonds
Helping you?
Don't you like my bandanna?
My stains hang low
On my shirts like ay yai ay
Monkey brains and banana
I'll hit you with my antenna
I put soap in my eye
Make it red so I look raa

Ra ra
So I woke up with my holy quran and found out I like Cadillac
So we shooting till the song is up
Little boys are acting up
Baby mothers are going crazy
And the leaders all round cracking up
We goat rich we fry
Price of living in a shanty town just seem very high
We still like T.I.
We still look fly
Dancing as we shooting up
And lootin just to get by.

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head'll collapse when there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
"Where is my mind?"

War war war
Who made me like this
Was it me and god in co-production
My devil's on speed dial
Everytime I take the wrong direction

All I want is one thing and that is what you got
Sometimes I go lose my mind then I feel numb

There's 24 hours in a day
I used to spilt it 8, 8, 8
8 work
8 sleep
8 for play
Now I give it all it takes

People on the Internet
A new life for the intellect
People judge me so hard
'cause I don't floss my titty set
I was born out of dirt like I'm porn in a skirt
I was a little girl who made good with all that I blurt
I put people on the map that never seen a map
I show 'em something they ain't never seen
And hope they make it back

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head'll collapse when there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
"Where is my mind?"

Critical Race Theory/ Lum Chapter 1


I read the Critical Race Theory article first, so I felt critical of the Lum chapter. Even in Lum's book, criticisms are pointed out. Notably to me, Contradiction 1 on page 14, "knowing about cultures reminds us that we should practice an inductive learning approach (learning from the client) rather than a deductive assumption stance (knowing about the client)," (Lum). I understand these criticisms are broken down, but this particular point has similarities with Critical Race Theory. I found myself drawn towards the criticisms in Chapter 1 instead of towards the responses.


First of all, cultural competence tends to deem all oppression as equal, but racism is more pervasive, (Abrams, Moio, p. 249). Also relevant to our class discussions is this quote found on page 248 "it is that the cultural competence model may not move students from these more primary defensive responses to a more refined critique of privilege and then to collective social action,” (Abrams, Moio). Many of the white students in our class, including myself, immediately got defensive when we started talking about white privilege. Admittedly, it was probably the first time the majority of us had been confronted with white privilege (it was for me). 


Dean is quoted in Lum's chapter, "I would propose a model in which maintaining an awareness of one's lack of competence is the goal rather than competence. ...The client is the 'expert' and the clinician is in the position of seeking knowledge and trying to understand what life is like for the client," (p. 17). In fact, I think that's a good model for life in general. The more I learn, the more I learn I know very little.


Last semester, my professor Dr. Cubbin, gave us an article on Cultural Competence. It discussed how different cultures experience different symptoms for different ailments due to their culture. For example, Asian cultures tend to experience depression through physical symptoms of pain instead of emotional symptoms like in America. It is important for us to be aware of these differences so that we seek out a relevant intervention.


(I didn't have time to read Chapter 2 before noon today, but will update this as soon as I finish it today).


Before You Go


Please consider volunteering with Social Work Council at Inside Books Project next Sunday, February 12.

(You can follow my personal blog at www.katywaters.blogspot.com)