The following links are to articles about race and poverty--please, feel free to read and react to them...
Florida apologizes for legacy of slavery:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/us/27florida.html
Education, Poverty, and Enlistment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/opinion/09webb.html?ref=opinion
Remember you need to compose two posts for Monday's class. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I will leave you with the following thought from Paulo Coelho:
"All things are one. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. The extraordinary is always found in the way of the common people."
What do you want? And in the words of one of my hero's John Wooden, "you make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give." What will you give and how much are you willing to give?
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14 comments:
Whitney Pasternack
Kasprzak
English 9-D
A commentary on Death Based on Scene One, Acts One Two
For Troy, giving into oppression in the same thing as dying. He fights oppression, arguing with his boss about fair treatment of workers. He wrestled with death, and says that “as long as I keep up my vigilance… he’s gonna have to fight to get me” (11). There are two forces influencing his fight. The first is the devil, a “white fellow” with “good clothes on and everything” (15), showing wealthy and power. He over charges Troy on interest for furniture and, according to Troy’s story story, tricks him into financial disrepair. The devil comes each week to collect ten dollars. Acting through poverty induced by whites, it is Lyons who approaches Troy for money, not through fault of his own but through the chain of oppression in the slums. Just like ‘the Man’ from Canada’s essay, The Other America, the devil forces black people into poverty by depriving them of good pay and controlling business inside. Troy’s devil is a constant presence, leaching away his paycheck month by month unfairly.
And then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there is Gabrielle, the archangel. He is as much a part of death and oppression as the devil, but is brighter spot that keeps Troy afloat. A man who has lost everything, even, to a large extent, his sanity, Gabrielle holds on to hope without question. His plums are a metaphor for freedom from oppression. “Where are you these plums you walking about” (25), Rose asks, and he replies, “I ain’t got no plums today, Rose. I was just singing that. Have some tomorrow” (25). He doesn’t currently live in equality, but he holds a strong belief that he will. While he cannot have equality, he does keep them afloat in the midst of oppression. Checks from his injuries pay the family’s bills and keep Troy from having to go into deeper debt with white men. While Troy builds a physical fence around his house, reflecting on his believe in hard work and labor as the only protection against oppression, it is Gabrielle’s unfortunate disability that protect the family. It scares Troy to know that if he didn’t collect money on his brother’s injuries, he and his family might not survive. He doesn’t believe in luck or chance or simpleminded hope, calling Rose “foolish” (22) for playing the lottery, but Gabrielle’s fortunate accident crumbles the base of his fighting spirit. All his hard work is less than equivalent to a metal plate in someone’s brain. It is not longer worth the effort to fight when all of Troy’s attempts have amounted to nothing.
I believe it is honorable for politicians in the state of Florida to apologize for slavery. However, it is a little too late and it is only words. Actions are what really count. Florida could educate more people about discrimination, greater respect, and stress the equality for all. Better laws are needed to enforce these. This is a good step to stop discrimination, but there still is a long way to go.
As always, there are always two vantage points to a story. Some slaves did not want to leave their owners when they were liberated. They had shelter, food, and a home. A lot of slaves were treated well. The slaves did not know how to live outside the fields. I am not supporting slavery, but all you hear are the horror stories and true, there were many of them that we can never excuse. However, the economic prosperity of this country is due to slavery. History may have been rewritten if there was no slavery. George Washington (The Father of the Country) had his own slaves. We may not have become independent from England without slavery. They should be recognized and appreciated for the economic success and prosperity of early America.
The reasons for discrimination can be many. Color is only one. Like Nico said, there is also discrimination against homosexuals and foreigners. Today and for a long time now the countries in the Middle East have been fighting a religious war. There is discrimination against people of different economic classes. Underlying all of this we should concentrate on spreading the word, that we are all gods’ children. People should have good intentions and morals, all to respect everyone no matter who they are or how they look. This would solve many of our world’s problems and unify our world.
Whitney...that was brilliant
i fully agree with you on everything there, and think that when you connected the white man demanding the 10 dollars with Lyons, and how the devil is keeping these people down in the 'hell' of American society.
Katie Gill
english 9 E period
3-29-08
Is Troy a good father?
At first I thought yes, he gives his kids some tough love to prepare them for the world; but then I started thinking about my parents and what I appreciate and respect about them. I realized that it wasn’t the times that they pushed me out into the world that I was grateful for, it was the times they protected and encouraged me. They know that I’ll go out and face the world on my own time someday, and that it can’t be rushed or prevented. So for now they are a fence between me and the outside world when it seems like to much of an unforgiving place to deal with. My parents are there to help remind me that there is still some good out there. Troy doesn’t understand this. He feels that the sooner Cory learns about rejection the better, regardless of the fact that Cory hasn’t developed the maturity or skills to deal with it yet. Troy doesn’t realize that his son can’t be taught rejection; he has to experience it first hand before he can learn to cope with it. I think that Troy is being the best father he can be. He’s only ever experienced setbacks at the hands of poverty and racism, so he feels that the most important thing to teach Cory is how to be tough aganced those things. A good parent tries to the best of their abilities to protect their child. I think that Troy, however, stops protecting Cory and starts to control him. Since Troy has already established that he does not like Cory, the motivation for preventing Cory from playing football must be something else. I think that Troy was so affected by what happened with his baseball career that (in a very Holden like manner) his fear of rejection prevents, not only himself from playing sports, but it extends to Cory as well. Troy is not only denying Cory the opportunity to do something he loves, he is also denying Cory the chance to get out of the ghetto even if it’s only for the duration of time he’s at collage. The time he spends out of the ghetto gives him more of an opportunity to break down racial barriers by getting a good education. Because troy wants equality, I draw the conclusion that his only motivation for keeping Cory from doing what he loves is fear, not caring or responsibility.
In response to the article, “Florida Legislature Apologizes for State’s History of Slavery”, I commend Florida and the other southern states that have apologized, but I still think more needs to be done. The article, in my opinion focused too much on the past and should’ve talked about the impact that this will have on racism in the south and even around the nation. The article takes time to dig up the past when the only thing that needs to be done is to recognize it; we don’t have to re-experience it. It is one thing to have the emotions of sorrow and regret and it’s a more difficult to act upon those emotions.
The author, Damien Cave, almost goes against the cause he is trying to support by saying, “Florida has made other efforts to address the consequences of institutional racism; in 1994, the state allocated $2.1 million to surviving victims of the Rosewood massacre, the 1923 attack on a black town in North Florida.” This creates a form of racism by considering establishing Rosewood as a “black town.” Also, it is not enough to give money to the survivors of the massacre; they need to promise those victims that everything will be done to prevent a similar event to occur in the future.
Overall I think it was a nice gesture, but it’s still a little insensitive because they are waiting for other people to take care of it. They did this to encourage congress to help the cause, while at the same time they are watching the racism continue. It’s like the people that say that the U.S. needs a particular candidate for president but then they don’t vote despite being given the right to vote. It is our responsibility to do something about this or we are continuing the tradition of the hatred and neglect for what’s right. This is making our generation just as bad as the original slave owners.
Diane Hair
English 9-E
3-30-08
Is Troy a good father?
In many cases of good parents versus bad parents, their parental duties are judged by how much they love their children. In Troy’s case, he shouldn’t be judged on how much he shows love for his sons, more for how honorable his intentions for creating a life for them are.
Troy reflects his upbringing onto his own children, because he believes that’s how children should be raised. I believe that Troy is a good father because even though it may seem like he is rude and doesn’t love his sons, because he works so hard to give them a better life then he had, he shows admirable devotion to the life his sons deserve.
I’m not saying that Troy is the kind of father I would choose to have, but if my father were more like Troy, I wouldn’t write him off so fast. Being a father is more than just telling your children you love them everyday. Parenting isn’t spoiling your children, giving them anything and everything they want, it’s raising them to do the right thing, to be acceptable in your society.
Yes, a father should love and care for their children, but just because Troy doesn’t tell his children he loves them, doesn’t mean he doesn’t.
In Troy’s mind, or even in his society, the need to have a job is crucial. Troy wants the best for Cory, and despite the fact that he denies him his passion for football, it’s because he doesn’t want Cory to live a poverish life when he is no longer living with his parents. Troy wants Cory to have proper job skills in order for him to make it in the real world. Because Troy believes “he’s got to make it his own way” (39), his intentions might come off harsh, but he, in my opinion, is a fine father.
Just as Pat I believe the apologies from states are a step in the right direction, but really are worthless. We are at the hurtle of blending African Americans into society in the racial equality battle. We passed step one of acceptance of blacks as humans after the Civil War. We broke down the barrier of the acceptance of blacks as Americans shortly after the heroic movement of MLK Jr. for equality. That’s where it ends though. Since then we have moved very little in the direction of the ultimate goal of true equality. We now live in a period of fake acceptance which is fueled by people breaching the barrier of race not because it is the right thing to do, but because it’s what we were told to do.
A good example of this is the school application and acceptance process. Over the years colleges have evolved from white men’s schools to schools of much diversity and substance. A study at Princeton University in 2005 found that ignoring race in college admissions would result in the sharp decline in acceptances of African Americans and would not help whites. This shows that we have tried to diversify ourselves and accept African Americans because it is what we are told is right. As it does not affect whites we can see that colleges are still being prejudice, but just in a way that is better than before. For the fight of equality to move forward we have to accept blacks because they are qualified and just as good, if not better than us.
Another backing point of our still racially divided and confused society is on the illegal immigrants front. I question why in the state of California illegal immigrants are treated like citizens with much hospitality towards them. Why should they be able to get jobs and have a peace of mind in this country when African Americans, actual citizens are still being denied this right? We are heading towards making the same mistakes many countries made that fell into a third world country.
Taryn Decker
Kasprzak-English 9-E
Is Troy a good father? No, he’s not. Life is all about balance. Balancing time spent working and playing, balancing between eating fruits and sweets, balancing money spent and money earned. Being a good parent also involves balancing. You have to discipline your children but, you also have to love and appreciate them. Troy knows nothing of this balance. He only recognizes the discipline part of parenting and ignores the love part. By only supporting that part, Troy creates a barrier between himself and his sons. Troy’s barrier pushes his sons away, which is not an action of a good parent. Plus, when he uses only discipline, his sons sometimes interpret it as mistreatment.
Troy is also not a good father because he doesn’t support his son’s hopes or dreams. He disregards Cory’s wish to be a football player and criticizes Lyon’s choice to be a musician. Instead of encouraging he commands them to get jobs and insults them when they don’t. It doesn’t help relationships when the other person is constantly discouraging whatever you achieve. I know it only causes you to give up and stop pursuing, because you are unable to meet the person’s high standards.
When Troy and Rose are discussing Cory’s desire to play football and how he only wants to be like Troy, Troy says “I don’t want [Cory] to be like me” (39) he is being ironic. By stopping Cory from playing football, getting a scholarship, and getting out of the ghetto, Troy is setting Cory up for the same life he has. He is not preparing him for better life by stomping on any opportunities to upgrade his education. Troy’s pessimistic perspective only allows him to see the chance that his son may fail and be disappointed. He wants to prevent this possibility and the only way he knows how to is to stop the dream altogether.
Taryn Decker
Kasprzak-English 9-E
I totally agree with Patrick about Florida’s apology for slavery. It may be better for Florida’s moral, but saying sorry doesn’t solve the damaged that has been inexistence for centuries. However I do think we need to recognize our errors in the past in order to move into the future. But our recovery needs to move at a faster pace. We need action and we need it now. It is honorable that they said sorry but that’s not really what we’re looking for.
America needs to engrave a message in young children’s minds; that we are all equal, no questions about it. The youth of America needs to learn more about racism at a younger age. There should be more required reading about discrimination. More television shows and movies about prejudice that are targeted at younger kids. Young children need to know why Martin Luther King Day is celebrated. If we had a whole generation that was open-minded and liberal they could pass on their beliefs to the next generation and the one after that. Congress should be working on ideas to unite the country, because this nation belongs to the people, not a king. And if the people who own a country don’t get along, the country is in chaos.
We have definitely improved racial equality a lot, but we are far from completing our dream of an equal America. The question right now is when. When will we complete this dream? Everyone keeps talking about fixing the economy, but when will any major changes be accomplished? When can we say that Martin Luther King’s dream is finally fulfilled? These are problems our generation is going to have to fix. Of course our nation will never be completely perfect, but why not make it close. We’ve done enough waiting. We’ve done enough talking. It’s time to repair what’s broken.
*didn't know where to put this*
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TROY AND HIS SONS
As I was reading Fences I could not help but notice the harsh and degrading manner in which Troy treats his sons.
Troy does not seem to believe that Lyons will do anything right. At first I thought, when Lyons arrives Troy could just say hi, he may know why Lyons is really there but he does not need to come right out and say it. As I started to analyze the situation I realized that Troy is really just trying to help. It is his own way of parenting. Troy grew up knowing that the only way he was going to live a partly good life was to get a job and support himself. He also knows a world where only whites can get ahead in some jobs. He does not think that Lyons has a chance of getting anywhere with his music so she puts the music down. Maybe part of Troy thinks that it would be better for Lyons to hear the put downs from him rather than from the whites. Also, at one point, Troy mentions that Rose is one of the best things that ever happened to him. He probably wishes that for Lyons with Bonnie. He wants to convince Lyons that if he wants to keep her he has to be able to support her.
I think that Troy sees himself in Cory and wants to do whatever he can to stop Cory from becoming him. He is upset that he can not always give his family everything and does not want Cory to follow the same path. Troy remembers the pain that came from being unable to play baseball, his passion. He does not want Cory to go through the same pains with football. It goes back to Lyons with his music, Troy thinks that he will never make it so he puts him down, hoping he can avoid some pain. On the other hand though, it seems that he is trying to toughen him up so that when he does have to face problems he will know what to do. On page 38 when Cory asks Troy if he “likes” him, Troy says no. It is hard to believe, though it may be possible, that Troy does not like his own son at all, he would have to be heartless. Troy just knows that it is a tough world out there, and that a lot of people will not like Cory. He wants Cory to get used to hearing that people don’t like him so that when it happens outside of the home, it won’t be as big of a deal. Though I am not sure, it seems to me that he calls Bono and his sons the n-word for the same reason; he wants them to hear it in a context not as bad as they would hear on the street so that the slap of the word is not as painful.
Whitney Pasternack
March 31, 2008
English 9-D
I must disagree with George Balzano on the subject of slavery being just, even occasionally. He argues that some slaves “did not want to leave their owners when they were liberated” because they had “food, shelter, and a home,” and uses this as proof that slaves were treated fairly. This is not a measure of the fair treatment, and only proves that white slave owners did not want to kill off their property. The fact that slaves did not leave their plantations had more to do with the fact that, while slavery was abolished, fair treatment and safety were not guaranteed outside the plantation any more than inside. The fact that they were trapped in the same places were they had been sold, beaten, raped, and forced into hard labor is a horror story on its own.
Balzano goes on to say that “history may have been rewritten if there was no slavery.” Yes, it might have, but we have no way of knowing whether for better or for worse. Further, he thanks slavery for improving the economy. Today, immigrants in the south take jobs that would otherwise go to native workers for lower pay. In some ways, this is similar to slavery, albeit a voluntary kind, and it has been blamed for the wilting economy. American workers refuse to accept pay as low as the immigrant workers, and go without jobs. Shipping jobs off shore is another way that business owners acquire cheep labor and it is highly resented, stripping Americans of their jobs every day. Slavery succeeded in making rich plantation owners even richer, but I doubt it supported the middle class who lived without many slaves or the lower class who couldn’t work the sorts of jobs that, while repugnant, may have held up their families. Perhaps the economic peak of our country was reached in the 50’s, when modifications taken during WWII had left America one of the top producers in the world economy, and there were no slaves during this time. I fail to see how slavery is responsible for America’s economy.
By apologizing for slavery, Florida has recognized that slavery had a negative net affect on America. The gesture itself is a nice one, but the promise it holds is even better. The government has shown that it is aware of the suffering of black people in the community, and that it is working on brining equality. Hopefully, coming legislature will be geared towards helping poverty and digging out the slums.
I think that Florida and the other states have made a step in the right direction. It’s all nice and good to hear the words, but really anybody can say them. Now I’m not saying that it means nothing or is worthless because I don’t believe that. However, we will not know how sorry these starts REALLY are until we see action taking place. Hopefully their speeches won’t be the end of this journey in the right direction and they’ll take action. I believe the saying “actions speak louder than words” is very applicable in this case. These three words are hopefully just the beginning of a long reconciliation. I also think its good that we are learning from the past.
It is nice to hear the apology for what happened so long ago. However, we can’t live in the past and we have to focus on the racist problems presently. Hopefully America will begin to publicly realize that the poverty level and racism is out of control and needs help immediately. The next president and his cabinet will have to be very strong in their opions on this topic. America needs stability in our beliefs. I believe that in the process of decades, we have lost a lot of what we believe as a whole. I think that everybody should be able to believe what they’d like, but our country needs to have some values too. George Brown, our FCD teacher told us an analogy about baking brownies. This was about drugs and alcohol. However, I’m going to use it in this scenario. If there are 100 people in a room, and one person is a racist and maybe two other people have doubts about equality, they’re going to bring the positive vibe from the other 97 people down. If you put in all the right ingredients when you bake, but don’t put the cake or brownies in the oven, they’re not going to taste very good. Without complete agreement, it is hard to bake the brownies because one or two spots won’t bake correctly and they’ll make it so the people that have those pieces will have disgusting, raw brownies. Individually we need to examine ourselves, and ask ourselves as Mr. Kasprzak says “some hard questions”. Are we the uncooked pieces, not ready to accept and act for equality? It’s easy to say that you want to be baked, but when the time comes for it to happen, you’re not so sure anymore. After we know where we honestly stand as individuals, then we can look at ourselves as a town, a school, a state, and then the country.
Poverty, many people are born into it. It is not a disease that you can take medicine to get it cleared. Unfortunately many Americans do not make enough money to seaport there families for the basic needs for life. I feel that our government is not doing a good job, at all, off helping these people that can not seaport their families. They only give money to people that have a lower income of $17,062. What if you only make a couple of dollars more? That money isn’t going to be enough to keep food on the table or a roof over there children’s heads. I feel that we should do a better job as a whole to make poverty better. The richer people should put some shops in where poverty is. That will give more people jobs and lead to more money in that area. We should also put better teachers that care about these kids in there schools. With a better education they can go on and get a college degree. What they have to rely is that they can not just put this behind us or try to hide this. If we just for get about them then it will just get even more badly then it is right now. With the price of every thing going up I do believe we need to raise the minimum wage. If we also do that it will help some of the people that are affected by poverty. The government needs to step up there game with this and find a way to fix it before it gets to out of hand. If it gets out of hand I feel that it is going to very hard to get us back to where we were.
Response to Diane’s “is troy a good father”
(wrote this a while ago but forgot to post it so it does not use the whole book)
Part of being a good parent is showing your kids that you love them. Showing that they’re loved doesn’t spoil kids. It’s not like giving them sweets all the time or giving in to their demands because they throw a temper tantrum. You can show them that they’re loved without giving them material things.
You say that troy wants a better life for his kids. Wouldn’t a better life start outside the ghetto? Wouldn’t a better life start with a good education? Cory is GAURENTTED 4 years outside because he’s already been accepted at a collage. All Troy has to do is sign a paper and his son is given the basic necessities he needs plus an opportunity to do what he loves on a scholarship. Cory already has the chance to do what he loves and a good parent would let their child follow their dreams, especially in this circumstance because Cory can’t get part of what he needs in the ghetto
You also said that try is not the kind of father you’d chose to have. I’m a bit confused because I thought you thought that troy was a good father. Wouldn’t you want to have a good father? That seems a little contradictory.
You also said that “he shouldn’t be judged on how much he shows love for his sons, more for how honorable his intentions for creating a life for them are” Some parents hit their children to try and make them behave. Just because they have good intentions doesn’t make them good parents. I think there are things he occasionally does right because, your right, his intentions are sometimes good. Just because you want something doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get it. In Troy’s case his good intentions do not translate into good parenting and I still think that he is over all a bad parent.
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