Author: zahirstevenson

People should care about racism and discrimination on college campuses because millions of lives are affected. Everyday there are students that walk on campus, attend classes and clubs but they do so in fear. Fear that they will be judged by their peers because of how they look or the way they dress. Fear that they will be judged by their college or universities faculty and staff because of how they speak and write, how they dress or the stereotypes and misconceptions that are associated with their ethnicity and hometown. Everyday these students live with this fear and it is not healthy. Racism and discrimination can lead to many health risks and it starts with mental health. When people are face racism or discrimination it affects their psyche. It makes them start to wonder what is so wrong with them that causes a person to look at or treat them with contempt or disgust. Initially we try to ignore these thoughts and feelings because as children we are taught to always love and have respect for ourselves. But when you are of a certain race and live in a specific hometown where either your race is common or your own personal views and beliefs are common and or does not bother anyone, then naturally you begin to have the “Is something wrong with me?” thoughts when you face people who look at you and treat you differently because you are different from what they are used to. Now, this works both ways because as they look at you differently, the same thing is being done on your side as well. Some people respond to this by wanting to make physical changes to themselves. It usually starts off as something small like a haircut or change in clothing style. But others make bigger steps that affect them physically and mentally, such as claiming a sexuality they do not identify with. This causes further mental pain and physical struggles because they begin to force things on themselves so they can fit in but doing this causes the mind to feel pain because they are not being true to themselves. But not everyone feels this as there are people in the world who have made careers out of fairness in the educational system. Groups and organizations such as the NAACP and the Board of Education. Even campus or local protesters are out fighting for proper respect and fairness on college campuses. The people are tired of this occurring and are doing what they can to help. Websites have been created, workshops have been held, laws have been made and investigations have been held as a way to combat this. The message that they want to be taken from  that is to be fair in our judgement and allow equal opportunity for education. But those were views of the past in my opinion because times have changed. Today worldly views go beyond just being fair and providing an equal opportunity. Those are important things in the world of course but the world needs to accept people as they are. Acceptance is key so If we cannot accept then we can hope to fully be fair and treat each other as equals.  

Why equality and fairness matters - Cube Group

Racism and discrimination on college campuses has become a known issue in the world. There is not a campus today that can claim that they have never encountered an issue that involved some kind of racism or discrimination. Incidents are taking forms in many ways and are being expressed in a multitude of ways. Whether it be expressed through posters, hate crimes, images, or even notes left on dorm room doors, it is still happening. Addressing Racial Trauma and Hate Crimes on College Campuses, is an article that address how racism and discrimination has been on the rise over the years. The article states, “The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense which is motivated, in whole or in part, by an offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Between 2011 and 2016, the NCES documented a 40 percent increase in campus hate crimes. (see Figure 1) In 2016, more than 1,000 hate crimes were committed on college campuses across the country. For years, racial bias has been the most common motivation for committing such crimes.”

The article goes on to talk about how colleges are becoming unsafe for students due to campus bias. The article states, “Therefore, hate crimes statistics cannot fully capture the pervasiveness of this dangerous ideology on college campuses. Campus bias incidents—which can include any “conduct that discriminates, stereotypes, excludes, harasses or harms anyone in [the university] community based on their identity”—are also on the rise. Between 2016 and 2018, the Anti-Defamation League documented at least 346 incidents of white supremacist propaganda on college campuses. Since 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center has documented 434 incidents of white supremacist flyering on college campuses. Perhaps as a result, students of color are far less likely than white students to describe their campus as inclusive, and Black students in particular are more than twice as likely as white students to say the racial climate on their campus is poor.” Along with the rise of this issue, according to the article students are not able to report the issue without remaining anonymous.  The article states, “But 1 in 5 state flagship universities do not have an online bias reporting mechanism.* In other words, at least 216,000 students are currently denied the option to report these potentially traumatic experiences online with a guarantee of anonymity.” The article goes far enough to point out that while campuses are doing their best, the limited resources that they have and can provide are proving to be not enough. Campuses are unable to properly help their students because of a number of factors. The article states, “While university counseling centers are serving more students each year, many students do not utilize these resources for a variety of reasons, including long wait times, additional fees for service, and insufficient staff diversity. Universities with larger student-to-mental-health-provider ratios can often have longer waiting periods for access to non emergency mental health care. Longer waiting periods can be a significant barrier to care, especially for students of color, who are less likely to seek care in the first place. According to a new CAP analysis, the average student-to-counselor ratio among state flagship universities is approximately 1,300 to 1. The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) reported an average student-to-counselor ratio of 1 to 1,411 from July 2017 to June 2018. While center utilization rates and counselor bandwidth may vary from institution to institution, many would benefit from additional resources and support to ensure that wait times are not a barrier to care for any student.” 

Research for my topic is going well. I decided to take a different approach to the project and find information about the topic and put that together before completing the website tab. I want to do this to gather all my information first, place it on a separate doc and then transfer it later. I feel it would help me be better organized with my data. I did also decide to revise my schedule because I have added something new to it. I decided to create the history timeline to show long this has been issue but then I want to focus on racism and discrimination events on college campuses from the last 10 years. But as far as research goes, it’s going well. So far I have found an article on CNN from 2019 about 5 hate crimes being reported on college campuses the week of November 23, 2019. The college campuses that the incidents were reported on were the University of Georgia, Iowa State, Syracuse, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Auburn University. Each of these universities that were reported has a variety of incidents. For example, at the University of Georgia, there was an incident with a jewish student. The article There have been at least 5 hate incidents reported on college campuses this week states, “At the University of Georgia, student Ariana Dinberg said someone tore off her historically Jewish sorority’s letters from her residence hall door twice in September. At the time, she wasn’t sure it was someone targeting Jews. Later, someone wrote on the white board on her door, “All Heil” with a swastika underneath it. ‘They knew I was Jewish and then chose to attack me for it. It’s definitely shocking to me,’ she said. The University of Georgia confirmed Thursday that someone drew swastikas on placards and message boards at two campus residence halls. It’s unclear who the second victim was.” Or at Syracuse where protests have begun because of a lack of university leadership response because of the racism and discrimination. The article aforementioned above also states, “A spate of racist and anti-Semitic incidents, and what students describe as the university leadership’s slow response to it, have sparked protests on campus. Several cases of prejudiced graffiti have been found on or next to Syracuse’s campus to date. They include racist graffiti that uses language derogatory to African-Americans, a post-it note with anti-Native American language and graffiti with language derogatory to Asians, according to police. In addition, four students have been suspended for participating in a verbal assault directed at an African-American student last week, Chancellor Kent Syverud announced Wednesday.” So far there have not been too many technological challenges. I made a prezi account and have been playing around with the templates. I am thinking of using the prezi to display a number of reported incidents of racism and discrimination within the last 10 years. I want to provide a variety of instances instead of just focusing on a particular kind of repeated incident. 

 

Karimi, Faith. “There Have Been at Least 5 Hate Incidents Reported on College Campuses This Week.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Nov. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/11/22/us/college-campuses-racist-incidents/index.html.

Social Science is an information heavy topic to talk about. It’s an information heavy topic because to talk about any social issue without knowledge can make you sound foolish or all over the place due to how big the history can be for certain subjects. That is why good sources and databases are a must when researching a social issue. Which can be hard because there are many databases that have been deemed worthy enough for usage, you just have to be able to tell if information is accurate because at times the information can prove to be false. Take Wikipedia for example. Wikipedia is a go to for many people in the world but people sometimes fail to realize that the information on Wikipedia can be edited by anyone in the world. This is why I have learned to use the databases that are provided by Ramapo College. How to Access Course Reserves - George T. Potter Library || Ramapo ...The library at Ramapo offers many databases to use, such as, JSTOR, ProQuest, and Academic Search Premier and those are just a few databases. That’s not mentioning the other sources provided by the professor such as the Jane Addams Digital Edition, which holds newspapers and historical information for a variety of topics. But I usually just stick to using Ramapo College databases because they have everything I need. They have full text pdf, scholarly journals and sources, and they have the source already cited. I don’t ever have to worry about the credibility of the source I want to use because I know it’s credible. But questions I plan to ask my data are, how long has racism and discrimination been an issue on college campuses, how does racism and discrimination affect that colleges attendance rate and what is being done to combat this issue on campus. Finding data for some of these questions will not be easy at all. Proper wording of the question or the correct keys used will be important when finding data. I believe the most difficult question to find data for is how would racism and discrimination affect college attendance rates. This would be most difficult in my opinion because that kind of data is hard to attain. For that data to have any kind of statistical truth, people would have to confess to that being a reason why they make the choice to not attend a college. Not too many people would do that because not a lot of people like admitting that they are scared. So I believe a little cleaning would be needed for that question and data to be used.Data Visualization: What it is and why matters | SAS The process of analyzing and visualizing data can be difficult if you have no idea what you are doing. If you do not have the correct information to answer the question then the data you have would mean nothing. But the questions I plan to ask will cover a range of fields for me. I plan to ask questions that will give the history of the issue, that will tell me how the people feel about the issue, and will inform me of what is done to stop the issue.

Frederick H. Deknatel, born September 26, 1864 in Paris, France and died April 15, 1949, lived most of his life as the president of a small hardware manufacturing firm. After the death of his wife, he moved to Hull House and became the head of the Boys’ Club, and later auditor and trustee. Deknatel most likely met Jane Addams after moving into Hull House and he worked as a secretary for Addams during his stay. He helped plan her events and correspond with those who wanted her to give speeches.

  Image result for frederick h. deknatel

This relationship explains why Deknatel came to the defense of Addams when people began attacking Addams for supporting lynching of African Americans. Deknatel wrote a letter to the Editor of the New York Tribune, explaining how Addams felt about them writing about how Addams is in favor of lynching and coming to her defense against that being true. The letter states, “Sir: Miss Addams’s attention has been called to an article in your paper in which, among other misrepresentations, she is quoted as being in favor of the lynching of negroes. It is difficult to understand how sentiments so completely at variance with her opinions could be ascribed to her, in view of the fact that she has not only often spoken and written against lynching, but is a non-resistant in principle, and does not believe in the death penalty or the use of force in any form.” Deknatel wrote the letter January 6, 1902 in Chicago, and when looking at history reports lynching was a big thing in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. African Americans were being lynched for anything as long as a white person deemed it reason enough. The ABA article, A History of Tolerance for Violence Has Laid the Groundwork for Injustice Today states, “Between 1868 and 1871, a wave of terror swept across the South, resulting in the deaths of thousands of African Americans—some killed merely for failing to obey a white person.” Lynchings were also a way white people to establish dominance over minorities as the article also states, “Lynching soon emerged as a primary tool to enforce racial hierarchy and oppression while terrorizing black people into accepting abusive mistreatment and subordination.” And with both Deknatel and Addams being white people, for there to be an article in the world stating how Addams supported lynchings is not good for her brand and what she wants to help accomplish. It turns her followers against her and makes her look like a fraud, when in reality is fighting to help make society better. Wikipedia states, “Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 28, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker,[1][2] sociologist,[3] public administrator[4][5] and author. She was a notable figure in the history of social work and women’s suffrage in the United States and an advocate for world peace.”Image result for jane addams and hull house

So the letter was written to defend Jane Addams and protect her brand and image in the community. The letter was also written by a friend and associate. 

 

“Jane Addams.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams.

“A History of Tolerance for Violence Has Laid the Groundwork for Injustice Today.” American Bar Association, www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/black-to-the-future/tolerance-for-violence/.

“Frederick H. Deknatel to the Editor of the New York Tribune, January 6, 1902.” Jane Addams Digital Edition, digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/15812.

“Deknatel, Frederick H. (1864-1949).” Jane Addams Digital Edition, digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/253.

Racism and discrimination is a social topic that spans across the entire nation. There is not a culture or person, who does not face discrimination. Racism and discrimination is a form of conflict theory. Conflict theory is said to be, “human behavior particularly in a social context is influenced by or results from conflicts between competing groups.” Conflict theory originated from Karl Marx in the 1800’s and he believed, “that conflicts arose between two main classes or groups of people…” Racism and discrimination is a form of conflict theory because these situations happen either between different ethnic groups or people with differing ideas. An example of this are the conflicts that occur between black people and white people. Many of the conflicts stem from the days when black people were enslaved by their white counterparts. The days when a white person could openly say and feel that they are better than a black person. How does this relate, is what someone might and the answer that can be given is this relates because that feeling that a white person is better than a black person is still continued in this day. Black people feel the need to compete with their white counterparts because they feel held back due to their skin color. They feel the chance they can have to be a success is being denied because they are a few shades darker than what society has deemed is the normal color that an individual should be. And it’s not only color that plays a role in this conflict. Differences in how the cultures speak, dress, or even forms of entertainment causes racism and discrimination. 

Image result for black people vs white people

Which leads to how symbol interactionism can be a form of racism and discrimination. Symbolic interactionism is said to be, “a way to explain social behavior in terms of how people interact with each other through symbols.” As aforementioned above, the way a black person speaks compared to a white person can be used as a symbol of intelligence levels. A white person is believed to speak “proper” English, while a black person is believed to speak in “broken” or improper English. They are believed to know all the latest slang terms and most are looked at as having a reading capability of less than the 12th grade. Which causes them to be looked down upon as not being educated. But racism and discrimination happens within the community as easy as it does outside the community. The black community discriminates against their own culture if they feel a black person is too intelligent. For some reason the black community associates intelligence and manners as a “white” thing, so anyone in the black community who has both are discriminated against and considered to be proper and not black. Which makes no sense because intelligence and manners are for everyone but in certain communities are not teaching their children those values so they associate them as being characteristics of another race and culture. This association leads to racism and discriminination within their own community and outside their community.

Image result for black people vs white people

“Is There a Difference between Black and White Funerals?” Jacaranda FM, www.jacarandafm.com/shows/breakfast-martin-bester-and-tumi-morake/there-difference-between-black-and-white-funerals/.

Haas. “”@BasketballPics: Handshakes with White People vs Handshakes with Black People (@NBAMemes) Pic.twitter.com/kL5oB8sP3S’ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.” Twitter, Twitter, 17 Nov. 2013, twitter.com/haasspitta/status/402170795956649984.

Visiting the tenement museum was a great experience to have last Wednesday. Never before had I heard of tenements but after seeing them I was amazed. They were just regular apartments that were occupied by immigrants but I never knew that immigrants used them to operate sweatshops. This amazed me because it showed me how relentless and determined people can be when they want to provide for their family. Operating a workshop from your home is dangerous. Anything can occur out of the blue moon such as equipment issues or a child issue and those are just a couple examples. The article Sweatshop Subjectivity and The Politics of Definition and Exhibition states, “Inspectors relied on their sensory responses. Citing odors as evidence, inspectors united fears of poverty, pestilence, and promiscuity in their definition of the sweatshop. Clothing produced in filthy shops by diseased workers could infect consumers and male and female immigrants working in close quarters were becoming an enfeebled, immoral race.”
While that can be said for sweatshops in the 1800s, things are different in the world today. Sweatshops are different today than they were back then because sweatshops to people in the 1800s was just being in a small room surrounded by lots of equipment with other people occupying the room. The article states, “ The work is done under the eyes of task-masters, who rent a small room or two in the rear part of an upper floor of a high building, put in a few sewing machines, a stove suitable for heating irons, and then hire a number of men and women to work for them.” Even in those times that was considered to be a form of slavery because of the work conditions people were subjected to, yet no one did anything about it. Which led to people continuing on with the process. That was until 1994, where the United States General Accounting Office gave a definition for a sweatshop. Sweatshops were defined as, “‘a workplace’”that violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers compensation, or industry regulation.”Image result for sweatshops ny
Lots of these workers were immigrants who did not have the opportunity or resources for anything better. They came from another country clueless to the environment and the struggles that were ahead of them because they were foreigners. This connects all immigrants because they are subjects to the same conditions. Working in the sweatshop conditions is illegal if they face conditions that are below the human standard, such as not being paid minimum wage. Yet, they are clueless to this fact because they do not possess the resources to learn this information when they first arrive in this country. So they instead break their backs and teach their children the value of having an education or pursuing anything greater than working some factory for someone who underappreciated them. Immigrants from the 1800s-2000s face the same conditions, which I believe connects us. But I believe there is a chance for sweatshops to be good. All a sweatshop needs to be good in my opinion is for someone that is someone in charge that actually cares about their workers. When you have an employer who cares about you, they take care of you, so you can help take care of them and their business.

Bender, Daniel. “Sweatshop Subjectivity and the Politics of Definition and Exhibition.” International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 61 (2002): 13-23. Accessed February 19, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/27672769.

Gannon, Devin. “Tenement Museum Will Stay Open Late on Thursday Nights for Special Tours and Programs.” 6sqft, 24 Sept. 2018, www.6sqft.com/tenement-museum-will-stay-open-late-on-thursday-nights-for-special-tours-and-programs/.

Intern. “American Sweatshops.” Boston Review, 1 Mar. 2019, bostonreview.net/gordon-american-sweatshops.

Three social issues that interest me is the issues with abortion, bullying, and racism/discrimination. Racism and discrimination is the social issue that is most important to me because as an African American male, I face the possibility of being discriminated every time I leave the house. The history of racism and discrimination in the African American community dates back before the 1800s and it continues to happen to this day. According to the article, The Black Lives Matter Movement, Crime and Police Brutality: Comparative study of New York Post and New York Daily New states, “Even though the era of Jim Crow is gone, once an African American is branded a felon, it becomes difficult to get a job because of having a criminal record. The sheer numbers of African Americans now languishing in prison across the country are a clear sign that not much has changed.” Racism and discrimination is not just an African American issue as it spans across the world. Every ethnic group faces a form of discriminations. The Hispanic group face citizenship discrimination, the Muslim group faces terroristic discrimination, and those are just a few examples to name. Citizenship education and the challenge of racism, discrimination and disadvantage is an article that states, “The idea behind citizenship education is that it will help both to integrate the demands of justice, equality and community and to prevent the increasing apathy towards politics and government, which may damage the health and stability of a modern liberal democracy.” Which is a valid point because instead of being united the way the United States is preached to be, we focus on our own individual ethnic group while we treat others as being beneath us.

Abortion makes the top two of social issues that are important to me because the way the situation is being handled.  Being pro-life or pro-choice should not be a one or the other issue. Women should have the right to choose what they want to do. What I feel like makes this an issue is the reason  women have when they go to get an abortion. Some women seek out abortions because of a one night stand or because they accidently got pregnant because they were not safe and protected when they have sex. Other women seek abortions because they were raped and do not feel comfortable raising after an incident like that. This may seem like a breach of women rights because it is their body that is at risk. WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND SOCIAL EQUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, is an article that talks about how women reproductive rights are being analyzed. The article states, “Current literature offers two types of models in terms of the impact of human development and social equality on women’s reproductive rights. The first model proposes that social and political equality guaranteed to women regardless of the levels of development is positively related to the levels of reproductive fights (Dixon-Mueller, 1993; Correa, 1994). The second model suggests that reproductive fights are likely to emerge at high levels of socioeconomic development (Li, 1993).” Solutions to abortions seem no where in sight which makes it an important topic to me because the issue has a versatile approach.

Last but not least, bullying is the third on my list of top social issues. Bullying is third on my list because bullying prevention has gotten nowhere in our society. Bullying has led to so many issues in our world today and the biggest one is suicides. Lots of teens has chosen suicide as a solution to being bullied because they feel like they have no one to turn to when being bullied. They feel alone and isolated when facing bullying and bullying comes in many forms, cyber-bullying, verbal bullying, and physical bullying. Bullying and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis, is an article that identifies how bullying has transcended over the years and provides an analysis of bullying to suicide rates. The article states, “We searched multiple online databases and reviewed reference sections of articles derived from searches to identify cross-sectional studies published through July 2013. Using search terms associated with bullying, suicide, and youth, 47 studies (38.3% from the United States, 61.7% in non-US samples) met inclusion criteria. Seven observers independently coded studies and met in pairs to reach consensus.” That article does not include reasons for people being bullied. People are constantly bullied because they are different from what society deems to be normal and this causes rejection among the population, which is why bullying makes my top three list of social issues.

Chama, Brian. 2019. “The Black Lives Matter Movement, Crime and Police Brutality:

Comparative Study of New York Post and New York Daily News.” European Journal of 

    American Culture 38 (3): 201–16. doi:10.1386/ejac_00002_1.

 

Holt, Melissa K., Alana M. Vivolo-Kantor, Joshua R. Polanin, Kristin M. Holland, Sarah DeGue, Jennifer L. Matjasko, Misty Wolfe, and Gerald Reid. 2015. “Bullying and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis.” Pediatrics 135 (2): e496–509. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-1864.

 

Singh, Basil R. 2001. “Citizenship Education and the Challenge of Racism, Discrimination and Disadvantage.” Contemporary Politics 7 (4): 299–318. doi:10.1080/13569770120106444.

 

Pillai, Vijayan K., and Guang-zhen Wang. 1999. “Women’s Reproductive Rights and Social Equality in Developing Countries.” Social Science Journal 36 (3): 459. doi:10.1016/S0362-3319(99)00017-8.

 

 

The process of using surveys has always been simple. People could walk in a booth and express their opinion on a topic and walk out with no questions asked. But as time progressed surveys began taking a new direction with the way they were being given to the people. Surveys began to be used as a way to get a percentage from a target group of people, such as African Americans or Hispanic people. But one thing that has been learned throughout the years is that not everyone expresses the same opinion. People tend to have different views on things because of the fact that they feel differently on a particular subject. Ethnicity and race are not the only factors that contribute to an opinion. Gender, religion, and culture also are defining factors in what makes a person think the way they do and feel the way they do. Opinions vary due to many factors and that fact alone is something that everyone ignores. Feelings about abortion can be used as an example. Issues with abortion has become one of the biggest social issue in this generation. So when being surveyed about abortion, the main question is always, are you pro-life or pro-choice? 

Plenty of surveys have been conducted asking people how they feel about this social issue and there is never a clear cut number of people who feel such a way about the topic. Looking at the chart above, you can see how the opinions vary and that’s without looking at them from a boy/girl perspective. Other studies have been conducted about abortion and a survey was taken from social work students. Social work students were chosen because it is in the job description of a social worker to advise their clients about abortion. They provide the information and resources that can help a person make a life changing decision. The article; Religiosity and Personal Beliefs Regarding Abortion: Results from a Survey of Social Work Students in the United States, states, “Survey data were collected from 504 social work students, who were asked about their practice and education experiences and their personally held beliefs about abortion. Linear regressions showed that higher religiosity was significantly associated with greater endorsement of anti-abortion attitudes.” In religion, it is against the customs to partake in certain activities and abortion is one of them. So even religion begins to play a part in the direction a survey can take and abortion is just an example of how a survey can draw out different opinions. But in the end that’s what a survey is searching for. So believe me when I tell you that no one has the same opinions on a topic. We can agree with another person or share similar views but our opinions on a topic will most likely never be the same. For example, the way I see abortion is that I have no issue with a woman going to get one. If that is what she feels she needs to do then by all means, do what you must. But I would feel differently if a woman wanted to have an abortion with my child. I know I would not be okay with that. So it can be said that I am pro-choice in general but pro-life when I am involved. That is something I am sure that not too many people share the same opinion as me but would agree with me. So with that being said, I do expect that people will not share the same opinions as me but factors such as gender, race, and social class will impact the world and will be reflected in surveys. 

 

Bird, Melissa, Stephanie Begun, and Kimberly McKay. “Religiosity and Personal Beliefs 

Regarding Abortion: Results from a Survey of Social Work Students in the United States.” Women’s Reproductive Health 5, no. 2 (April 2018): 117–31. doi:10.1080/23293691.2018.1463742.

 

Frazee, Gretchen. “New Abortion Laws Are Too Extreme for Most Americans, Poll Shows.” 

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 7 June 2019, 

www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-abortion-laws-are-too-extreme-for-most-americans-poll-shows.

Image result for paterson nj
Being an African American male in Paterson is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because Paterson has a rich history of being a contributor to the United States. Being one of the most densely populated cities in New Jersey and being known as the “Silk City” due to its large contribution of silk during the 19th Century. Paterson is a home to many cultures and races and is continuing to grow. However, the curse of living in Paterson is the image the world has of Paterson. Paterson is constantly stereotyped as being a bad place to live as people feel “nothing good comes from Paterson”. Education is mediocre, streets are dirty, and the crime rate is high. Overall Paterson is one of the lowest places to live in New Jersey. When people learn that I am from Paterson, they stereotype me as being uneducated and low class. When people lay eyes on me, they think I am intimidating and uninterested. They think this because when you look at my face, my facial expression shows a person who doesn’t care about what is going on. I don’t smile or converse and I stay to myself. That there bring the labels disrespectful and ignorant to my image and once that gets placed on you, there is no escaping that. But none of that is true about me.
As a person, I am really just introverted on initial meetings. When I am around new people, I am quiet and reserved as I try to get a feel of my surroundings and the people in it. But the biggest thing that people always get wrong about me is that I am ignorant and disrespectful. Adults who know me as a person, know that I am anything but disrespectful.  Everything I have accomplished in life people assume that I don’t try because of my laid back personality. But I work for everything I earned. I was my high school graduating class valedictorian, that there should speak about my work ethic. Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states in her TED talk, “the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete.” This is so true because people in Jersey associate Paterson with crime and ignorance. Yes, Paterson has this but Paterson holds many opportunities for us to take advantage of. But because we’re so used to being stereotyped for  not receiving high quality education or proper care and concern about our safety from adult figures, we look down on ourselves and just give up before we can even begin. To paraphrase what Adichie states, “but to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience and to overlook the many stories that form me,” and that’s what people in Paterson do. Which is sad to say because I know a lot of people with the potential to do great things. But that’s the community I live in and I acknowledge that. So in return I take it upon myself to achieve their dreams for them. To show people in the world that the Paterson community can produce someone worthy enough to be seen as something more. But most importantly, I feel it’s my job to show people in Paterson that with the right opportunities and proper motivation,we can be something in life. Anyone living in the harsh conditions of Paterson has a chance in this world. Being born and raised as a African American male, that is what I feel is my place in the Paterson community.

Image result for streets of paterson nj

Image result for streets of paterson nj

Works Cited

“City of Paterson, New Jersey.” Paterson Vista Park / City of Paterson, New Jersey. Accessed 

January 29, 2020. https://www.patersonnj.gov/department/division.php?structureid=125

“Fatal Shooting on East 25th Street in Paterson NJ.” NJ. North Jersey Media Group, January 1, 

1AD. 

https://northjersey.com/picture-gallery/news/passaic/paterson/2019/05/16/fatal-shooting-east-25th-street-paterson-nj/3690664002/.

YouTube. YouTube. Accessed January 29, 2020. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCULzTDSXcI.
css.php