{"id":91,"date":"2020-01-29T06:35:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T06:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/?p=91"},"modified":"2020-01-29T06:35:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T06:35:16","slug":"blog-post-1-single-story-reaction-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/blog\/2020\/01\/29\/blog-post-1-single-story-reaction-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog Post #1 – Single Story Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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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 \u201cSilk City\u201d 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 \u201cnothing good comes from Paterson\u201d. 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\u2019t care about what is going on. I don\u2019t 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.\u00a0 Everything I have accomplished in life people assume that I don\u2019t 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, \u201cthe problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete.\u201d 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\u2019re so used to being stereotyped for\u00a0 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, \u201cbut 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.

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Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCity of Paterson, New Jersey.\u201d Paterson Vista Park \/ City of Paterson, New Jersey. Accessed <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tJanuary 29, 2020. https:\/\/www.patersonnj.gov\/department\/division.php?structureid=125<\/a>. 
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\u201cFatal Shooting on East 25th Street in Paterson NJ.\u201d NJ. North Jersey Media Group, January 1, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t1AD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/northjersey.com\/picture-gallery\/news\/passaic\/paterson\/2019\/05\/16\/fatal-shooting-east-25th-street-paterson-nj\/3690664002\/.\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

YouTube. YouTube. Accessed January 29, 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZCULzTDSXcI.\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Works Cited \u201cCity of Paterson, New Jersey.\u201d Paterson Vista Park \/ City of Paterson, New Jersey. Accessed  January 29, 2020. https:\/\/www.patersonnj.gov\/department\/division.php?structureid=125.  \u201cFatal Shooting on East<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/SSI-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}