Afro Blog #2

            Within the four articles, Growing Inequality in the Twenty-first Century, The Scorch at the Bottom of the Melting Pot, The Lockdown, The Rebirth of  Caste, and Activism and Service-Learning: Reframing Volunteerism As Acts of Dissent, I find this common notion of people refusing change. Throughout all of the articles the main situation is that ideas and thoughts have been formed and implemented throughout generations and are now solid and unwilling to change.

            In the Activism and Service-Learning: Reframing Volunteerism as Acts of Dissent article, it discusses a project assigned by a teacher and the students unwillingness to ultimately do the right thing. The students are sent to do community service in their communities. When one student is questioned regarding activism opposed to community service she stated “it would go against my beliefs” (Bickford, Reynolds). How ironic is it that to commit time to “service standing for everything from service learning to community service, volunteerism, field education, or internship” (Bickford, Reynolds) is against someone’s beliefs. This idea is preposterous. This Article goes on to discuss the possible reasons for this happening. It discusses the challenges such as “white, middle-class, college aged students, in particular, need lessons in reading the world.” (Bickford, Reynolds). From this I understand that we are ignorant to each other because we are ignorant about each other.

            Furthermore, In the reading of The Rebirth of Caste the discussion was based off of this idea that “racial caste” doesn’t necessarily seize to exist, it, more so, morphs into a different form. From Slavery to the Jim Crow Laws and from there to “mass incarceration”, where we are now. This idea sounds faint, but is all in all true. Some argue that because of people like President Barak Obama and Oprah Winfrey this idea cant be true. As the article states, “The fact that some African Americans have experienced great success recent years does not mean that something akin to a racial caste system no longer exists. No caste system in the United States has ever governed a black people; there have always been “free blacks” and black success stories even during slavery and Jim Crow.” (The Rebirth of Caste). This section says a lot about our understanding as people and how wrong it is. We believe that two success stories make up for thousands of people in jail.

            Moreover, in the article The Scorch at the Bottom of the Melting Pot it too discusses our strength as people but our inability to amount to much of anything. The author states “when calculating the achievement of the “American Dream,” are we still at the bottom of every good list and at the top of the bad lists?” This article says a lot about our way of thinking, as well.

            Throughout reading these articles, I felt less and less hope. I admit that I did get a source of drive from them. I hate to sit up and read these kinds of things and it apply to me. Regardless if those aren’t my actions, those are the ways of my people. So those are the ways of me.