Monday, March 29, 2010
History
Choose a current story related to African American Studies and history from the list of online sources in the handout and on the introduction page. Try to choose a news outlet that you don’t read regularly so that you can use this assignment to become more familiar with it. To find a relevant story, you should scan the headlines on the home page of whatever magazines or journals you may choose, but also be prepared to do a search of recent published stories. The names of the specific fields may be too broad as search terms; depending on the numbers of links that come up in your initial search, you will have to refine those terms by focusing on a specific issue. Those search terms can come from the list of glossary terms that your group compiled and defined.
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Identifying: In your wiki post, clearly identify the title of the story, the author of the story, and the date the story was published. Briefly explain why you chose the story, what you found interesting about the story, and summarize the main point of the story. As you examine the details of the story, you should select three ideas or pieces of information presented in the news story that surprised you, upset you, confused you or made you think differently about the issue, and explain why you responded the way that you did. Finally, state why you think your classmates will find the story useful, and attach a link to the story.
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing: Use all of these questions to develop and organize your analysis:
ReplyDeleteHow does this story frame public discussion of an issue (by repeating various story elements, using common metaphors, quoting similar people, etc.)?
Who are the main spokespeople on this particular topic, and how are they being quoted? Are they mainly advocates, policymakers, academic experts, etc.?
How often are these various spokespeople quoted and in what context?
What topics are being covered, and what topics are being ignored?
Is this story not covering or ignoring an issue or organization that they should be covering?
Is there a time of year when this issue (or organization) is more likely to be covered than others?
Is this topic or organization a front-page story, and if not, where in the magazine or webpage is that topic or organization covered?
Which reporters are writing on this issue/organization?
What messages are being used?
I chose this story because it shows the importance of keeping schools open in low-income areas. The article “Education plan fails our kids: Closing schools in a slipshod way offers problems, not solutions” is found on the Daily News website. This article states that the decision to close 19 schools in the low- income part of New York was made by Mayor Bloomberg and the Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. The decision to close the schools was done without the opinions of the people that it would affect and without knowing where these children would be placed. This is one of the many reasons why the NAACP decided to become involved and decided to sue for the right to keep the schools open. I was surprised that these two people would think that by closing the schools in these areas would actually be beneficial. By closing these schools they are closing off some of the only education that children in these areas are exposed to. It is brought up in the article that when similar situations happened in other cities that the city was more responsive then they have been about this issue. This also surprises me, because you would think that one of the most important issues would involve the children. After reading this article I realized more than I had before that it is essential to keep these types of schools open to give the many children who live in low-income families the opportunity to rise above their expectancies and make something of themselves. I think that the class will find this story useful because it shows what types of issues that the NAACP will get involved in and show them that the issues of civil rights still exist just as much today as it did 100 years ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/02/10/2010-02-10_education_plan_fails_our_kids.html
Who originally posted this? Identify yourself in a comment below, please! Thanks.
The article i read was entitled "Obama signs landmark healthcare bill' and was published by the Associated Press. However, it was found within the Chicago Defender on March 24, 2010. The central idea was as the title states the landmark signing of a bill that is the largest socially charged legislation in the past five decades. The idea that presented itself through my reading of the article was that in some way the Democratic party has once again "championed" the cause of the American people and this time they have done it with absolutely zero support of the Republican party that have done everything politically possible to obstruct the passing of this bill. Furthermore, the African American community which as tyhe article states has 1 of 5 people uninsurd and spends far more of their income on health care is breathing a sigh of relief as the first Black President of the United states has represented their interests at the most fundamental of human rights( the right to have quality healthcare). Bottomline, in American politics the morally correct thing to do does not always win you the election or the financial support of the powerful interest groups ,but in the long run the Republican party and the 34 Democrats who failed to vote Yea on this all too important issue will mis their opportunity to take part in this dynamic turn in American history that has been championed by an african American President.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chicagodefender.com/article-7407-obama-signs-landmark-health-care-reform-bill.html
Identify yourself in an added comment too, please. Great work so far, everybody!
Ali Rehwaldt posted the "Education Plan fails our kids..."
ReplyDeleteTalia Hubbard-Williams
ReplyDeleteIdentifying a Media Watch
Professor Winand
Authorities in southern New Jersey arrested a 16-year-old boy for activating a public-address system at a local Wal-Mart store. If convicted, he could face up tp a year in juvenile. He was accompanied by a friend and the friends mother. The statement that he made was “All black people, leave the store now.” Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has a history of discrimination and labor complaints involving minorities and women, though in recent years it has redoubled its efforts to promote diversity at its stores. Last year, the company agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused it of discriminating against blacks applying for jobs.
I chose this story because it shows that no matter what time era we are in some people still think the same way about African Americans as they did in the 1960’s. I found it interesting because this could have been a prank or the mother of the boy’s friend could have put him up to doing this because she grew up in a home that was taught to not like African Americans. Some of the things that surprised me were that they didn’t release his race. In my opinion, if the situation was turned around then the boy’s name and race would have been released. Also students were bragging about what happened on facebook, myspace, and you tube. This isn’t the most extreme story about racism but it just goes to show how people still think in a mean-spirited way in this day and age.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/nyregion/21walmart.html?scp=4&sq=african%20american%20history%20happening%20now&st=cse
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03/darien-cops-seek-bmw-that-may-be-linked-to-murders.html
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS MY STORY. IT TALKS ABOUT A MAN WHO IS CHARGED WITH MURDER. I AM A CRIMINAL JSUTICE MAJOR AND THE PEOPLE THAT HE IS ACCUSED OF KILLING ARE AFRICAN AMERICANS
In These Times
ReplyDeleteElvin J. Phillips
March 1, 2010
This story frame discussion of an issue by giving voices to a complex of people still struggling to be heard, the topic was about the election of Barack Obama. This discussion was on February 10, 2010, by Salim Muwakkil. The main spokes people are advocates who are quoted on their opinions and remarks. They are quoted on Saturday night and their context is crucial to understanding this politically community of listeners and callers. The topic that was being covered was, Black America; struggles and the division between blacks because of Obama’s election. What are being ignored are the good qualities of Obama and how his election gave Blacks hope. This story is ignoring the real issue at hand. This story will probably be covered again during Black History Month, because it made History. Story of this sort gets cover on air with Black America by Illinois politician reporters. The messages that are being used are Africa-Americans are divided sharply on Obama’s performance. I think the audience is mainly blacks and closed minded white people. My link is http://www.inthesetimes.com/
Here is a more direct link to the story that Jean found on In These Times: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5443/on_air_with_black_america/
ReplyDeleteJessica, where is the racial conflict in your story?
ReplyDeleteTalia,
ReplyDeleteI find your story intresting because it shows we still lack progress in regards to racial understanding and analysing the situtation at hand.
Whether or not it was a prank, racial dicrimation is still serious enough not to be taken lightly.
Anthony Covarrubias
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing Talia Hubbard-Williams article
The article covers the racism that is being held at Wal-Mart. The story shows this by repeating various story elements. For example it in the article it demonstrates Wal-Mart being suede for not hiring an individual because of his race. This is also shown when a Wal-Mart told all the African Americans to leave Wal-Mart. As for the spokes people that are being illustrated in the article, I feel it was mostly policy makers given that most the article talk about legal action be done to Wal-Mart for their negative actions.