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In the book “Another Kind of Public Education,” Patricia Hill Collins discusses a concept that black men and women’s bodies are commodities. First we need to understand why she coins the term commodity to describe this concept. Commodity, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is, “something that is bought and sold; something or someone that is useful or valued.” Therefore, when Collins uses the term commodity, she was not just writing about them “being bought and sold on a global market”, she was talking about social blackness and how it ties in with capitalism, consumerism, the prison industry, the mass incarceration rate of black men, the “lockdown” of black youth in popular culture, black culture, hypersexualization of African Americans, …show more content…
These products, these commodities, are placed in places where a majority of African American youth would be/see, “the placement of the product in small stores in African American neighborhoods, the ways in which the can of Pimp Juice looks like a can of beer, and the introduction of sports energy drinks in general all reflect the need to expand consumer markets,” (Collins 2009). Another piece of evidence she provides is the prison system. She details on how black men 's commodified bodies are used as “raw materials” for this industry, “It is very simple- no prisoners, no jobs for all the ancillary industries that service this growth industry. Because prisons express little interest in rehabilitating prisoners, they need a steady supply of bodies,” (Collins 2009). She also writes about how black men who have citizenship rights cannot be be coerced into a low pay job, so they have a limited amount of jobs they could do, so most get trapped into the system that was set up to help fail …show more content…
But, what Collins failed to realize is Latinx/Mexican people are put into this massive group/commodity that is “bought and sold on a global market” as well, especially Latina/Mexican women and girls. This book was focused on another type of public education, hence the title. She did not stay specific with African Americans, in fact she went back and forth. Therefore, when she discussed this commodity, I fully expected her to to include Latinx/Mexican people, but she did not. Especially since when you see anything from the Latinx/Mexican culture in our media, you see sexualized men and especially women, for instance, Sofia Vergara in the tv series Modern
In Bettie’s analysis of Mexican-American and white girls, she finds that race, gender and class are extremely crucial in the outcomes and futures of these girls. The unmentioned and hidden effects of class, race, and gender provide the explanation for much of the inequality seen between the white middle-class girls and Mexican-American working-class girls. Much of this inequality is itself perpetuated within the school system, both by the faculty and students.
The Cocaine Kids and Dorm Room Dealers are two very different, but yet similar books. Cocaine Kids are about a group of kids, primarily of Hispanic race, with one kid of the Black race. The kids were raised in the inner city of New York. Dorm Room Dealers are about White, middle to upper-middle class college students, who was selling drugs for their status. The purpose of this paper is to prove that there are racial disparities among drug users. There will be examples from the texts that show the different takes on the drug markets and how race plays a factor. There also will be how these experiences shape the kids drug dealing and using. The paper will conclude how all the kids either remained in the drug career or left the drug career.
I can personally resonate with Anzaldua is trying to convey to her audience. Although I identify as heterosexual Latino male Anzaldua sums it perfectly, in the following quote. "If you're a person of color, those expectations take on more pronounced nuances due to the traumas of racism and colonization"(65
... the future of black business in America. Just from reading this book and seeing the future of business and the commodification of black culture since its first publishing, most of the areas that the book touches upon have given accurate insight to how others have cashed in on black culture and how black business has evolved. An example that is evident is of George Foreman and his promotion of the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. Here is a black heavyweight boxer that is using not only his name and his former athletic prowess to endorse a product, but, one can say, also stereotypical blackness, with his affinity to unhealthy foods such as hamburgers and hot dogs, to promote a promote a product for Salton, Inc., a Jewish-founded company. Foreman, like Jordan, amassed a large fortune from his promotion of the grills but at the price of selling black culture.
“Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.
Collin thinks “race, class and gender represent the three system of oppression that most heavily affects African American women”. She also believes there are other groups than Black Women being affected by this oppression.
“Just Say No!” A statement that takes us deep into yet another decade in the history of the United States which was excited by controversies, social issues, and drug abuse. The topic of this statement is fueled by the growing abuse of cocaine in the mid 1980s. I shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s from a cultural and social stand point because on that decade this country moved to the rhythms and the pace of this uncanny drug. Cocaine took its told on American society by in the 1980s; it ravaged with every social group, race, class, etc. It reigned over the United States without any prejudices. Crack cocaine was the way into urban society, because of its affordability in contrast to the powdered form. In society the minorities were the ones most affected by the growing excess of crime and drug abuse, especially African Americans; so the question was “Why was nearly everybody convicted in California federal court of crack cocaine trafficking black?” (Webb: Day 3). The growing hysteria brought forth many questions which might seem to have concrete answers, but the fact of the matter is they are all but conspiracy in the end, even though it does not take away the ambiguity and doubt. I will take on only a few topics from the vast array of events and effects this period in time had tended to. Where and who this epidemic seemed to affect more notably, and perhaps how the drugs came about such territories and people. What actions this countries authority took to restore moral sanity, and how it affected people gender wise.
Davis stated that racism draws strength from the ability to encourage sexual coercion. Black women, who were rape victims, receive little sympathy from law enforcement and judges. Not only because of racism that has grown over time against black men, but black women as well. Since black men were categorized as rapist, black women were suggested to be loose and promiscuous. Since black women were suggested to be whores and sexual immoral, their cries of rape went unheard because they lack legitimacy in a society that believed men were provoked to acted in a natural way. Davis believes that the creation of the black rapist was used as a scapegoat in order to veil the true problem of black women being sexually assaulted by white men. A historical feature of racism is that white men, especially those with money and authority, possess an indisputable right to access a Black woman’s body. Davis also stated that the institution of lynching complimented by the rape of Black women became and essential ingredient of postwar strategy of racism. Lynching and the labeling of black men being rapist and raping black women for being promiscuous, both black men and women were able to be kept in check. By following the mainstream population, people fell into the trap of blaming the victim. Unfortunately a consequence was that blacks has to endure the punishment of lynching and black women were blamed for being victims of sexual
Cofer states that “It is a one-dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated “sizzling” and “smoldering” as the adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America”(110.) This helps explain that part of the blame for the reason why people associate certain things with Latinas is the media. You will often find that the hispanic roles in movies or television shows portray a stereotypical character of a Latina for the entertainment of their audience. “Another facet of the myth of the Latin woman in the United States is the menial, the domestic-Maria the housemaid or counter girl...the funny maid, mispronouncing words and cooking up a spicy storm in a shiny California kitchen-has been perpetuated by the media”(Cofer 112.) This is also creating the misinterpretation that all Latinas are uneducated. Most Latinas, like myself are attempting to get a higher education and by society assuming they aren't trying to get a higher education is belittling all of their efforts. “Since I do not wear my diplomas around my neck for all to see, I have on occasion been sent to that “kitchen” where some think I obviously belong”(Cofer 112.) Cofer also helps explaing that if Latinas do not prove that they are educated everyone will automatically assume that they are not. To have this type of mentality is very ignorant, because a race
In the United States black Americans are disproportionately affected by the perils of poverty, such as frequent acts of violence, drugs, failing school districts, and numerous other crimes against person and property. Consequently, in order to address poverty, and the dangers associated, one has to understand the root of poverty. Mos Def examines the way American business intentionally denigrates the working class to demonstrate the exploitation and social control that continuously decimates the working poor’s hope.
Cofer uses the rhetoric appeal of ethos to establish her authority to make the argument that Latina stereotypes are just myths. Growing ...
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, an essay written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, discusses the racial stereotypes Cofer struggles with as a Latin woman who travels across America. Throughout her life, Cofer discusses her interactions with people who falsely misjudge her as a Latin woman. Additionally, Cofer mentions other Hispanic women she has met in her life, who also suffer with racial assumptions. Although several people would disagree with Cofer and claim that she is taking racial remarks too seriously, racial stereotyping is a significant issue that should not be overlooked in our society. People should not base someone’s worth by their outward appearance or their ethnic background.
Cohen supports this argument when he writes that “At the root of the drug-prohibition movement in the United States is race, the driving force behind the first laws criminalizing drug use” (p 56). Cohen explains how Southern Progressives’ used image and narration to target African Americans as criminal public menaces. White employers in 1880’s New Orleans provided cocaine as a stimulant to African American dock laborers in order to help them endure the extreme exertion and long hours of loading and unloading ships (p. 70). Cocaine spread through the South to the agricultural working class, and the use of the drug grew steadily as African Americans discovered that they could work longer hours and make more money (Cohen, p. 70). Ultimately, African Americans began using cocaine recreationally, which fueled Reformers and white supremacists’ manufacture of “pornographic nightmares of black men raping white women …medical journals reported on the ‘Negro cocaine menace’…newspapers ran exposés on the use of cocaine ‘by the lowest, most criminal and depraved portion of any city’s population’”…medical doctor Edward Huntington Williams’ warned that cocaine “renders the user immune to shock”…policemen stated, “the cocaine nigger is sure hard to kill,” to perpetuate “the myth that the primary function of the system is to keep our streets safe and our homes secure by rooting out dangerous criminals and punishing them” (Cohen, pp. 72-3;
Placing it in a historical and racial framework, both terms serve of major importance in the larger subject. For instance, self-definition, involves challenging the political knowledge-validation process that resulted in the construct and portrayal of stereotypical images of Afro-American womanhood. Whereas self-valuation stresses the content of Black women’s self-definitions, successfully replacing externally-derived images with authentic Black female images (Collins 2000). By presenting both definitions Collins provides an inclusive presentation of both affecting terms. To further explore some of the marginalized subjugation that Black women struggle with, Collins includes a passage from an interview conducted by Ms. White which aims to bring to light an image of a white woman as the white man’s dog and the black woman as the white man’s mule. Serving as a powerful image, the example portrays the stereotypes that women in general face in particular the class division within white and black women face under the white male dominant structures. In tying back the terms of self-valuation and self-definition, Collins explores the dynamics that are involved the themes in Black feminist thought, adding the interlocking nature of oppression, and the importance of redefining culture. Compiled together these themes are what Collins utilizes to question and critique the engagement of Black academics within the realm of sociology. In particular Collins explores “…how the combination of sociology’s paradigms and Black women’s outsider within status as sociologists” led to the questioning and research in various subjects (2000). This is a similarity that Du Bois and Collins shared in that the structure they were a part of—the study of sociology—allocated them and their research as less than, because it did
Constitution, there are more slaves than at any time in human history -- 27 million”. The African American Community is still “enslaved” to an idea that some of their lives can be bought and worth so very little. “Today’s slavery focuses on big profits and cheap lives. It is not about owning people like before, but about using them as completely disposable tools for making money” (McNally). Along with exploitation through the workforce and big business, this population continues on with day to day struggles such as profiling and misjudgment of their character based on their physical appearance and stature in certain areas of the country. Our criminal justice system exploits the minority by jailing their generations. Government systems fund for “fundamental testing” to the younger crowd of African Americans as well as the poorer minorities and neighborhoods for future projections of increased incarceration to come. Juvenile justice systems serve as a barrier between teen and adult criminality but make it possible for a widespread of ages in the black community to be held captive. Children and teens are impressionable in both negative and positive ways. More often than not, kids and teens alike stay in the system after being exposed to the condemning life of “crime” and soar through the system even in the days of adulthood after early exposure to the unequal way things work in the criminal justice