Fatherhood in Our Society # 7

Barack Obama inspired many of the African American communities to believe in positive changes. Since he became president, I believe that he gave us hope and showed us that we should try to prove more how capable everyone can make our country better. While explaining the role of Fatherhood, he truly expressed the real meaning of the transition between being a boy and a man in every family. This article spoke to me the most because like any other father he has concerns, he needs help and he also cares about making a better tomorrow for his girls. Not only his girls but all the future generations in this country.
The Black Family has overcome different obstacles throughout the years but in my opinion, Obama's background and current status is an example of how families should be raised. Obama's family is an example of what the Black Families need to rely on if they want a better tomorrow for themselves. Part of the attitude Obama took once he grew up and became a father reminded me of the Nguzo Saba principles that African Americans were raised with. Reading his personal experience and point of view shared with his audience showed a lot of self-determination (Kujichagulia) to not let his stepping stones change the commitment with himself to be better in life.
The unity (umoja) and peace that his family portrays in their events also says about his commitment to them even after he became the President of the U.S. Keeping his household and staying in Chicago for the safety, convenience of his daughters says a lot about a man with more rigorous responsibilities than others.
Matrimony is a sacred value that Black Families need to implement more to have balance in their communities. Racial matrimonies are also beautiful but the culture is starting to lose relevance as years go by. I am glad that the Black community takes time to find programs to help Black couples in keeping their love strong even though their children normally cause time commitment in them is important to keep love, community and their love alive between each other. Common goals are always good to have but having people connect and keep their promise to each other alive is the best thing you can leave your children with so that they know what to look for once they are ready to settle in life.

Counseling from who? Assignmetn #6

I understand the counseling article about Black American not dealing with white counselors because in their minds a different perspective was created. 200 years of slavery plus their right to vote just doesn't fit on this society. Is very hard to forget and to let go but also no one deserves to feel like they are not being understood 100%. I know counselors and even social workers are trained to interact, support and find the best ways to help people.
But I honestly feel like even training is not enough to live with that mentality every day. I am not saying that white counselors do not do their job right or are not looking deeper for solutions in self-care and surviving. I just find it difficult to easily open up when even today the media, campaigns and news just show minorities and especially African Americans are seen as.
I find it frustrating, unfair and so evil out of humanity to judge who's life is more worth to keep. Deciding who is the enemy is though but holding those feelings in without healthier ways to move on is never easy to find. Black Americans generally know what that feels like and as a counselor they can cope with those strong emotions and to use that energy in a positive note to go do something better and good for you and your future family. Black counselors can help their community get there and I'm sure they give more security, trust and theycan be a bridge to get to that comfortable level.

Love, Marriage and Race? Assignment #5

       While our country keeps changing and adapting to try to treat everyone equal, there are still some scars that slow the process of finding balance and opportunity in this country. African American men have the most contact with the judicial system, low education background while black women just give up on the idea to have a black partner.  It disappoints me that the past is still somehow affecting black children, teenagers and adults in way that it has ben untold and unfair for the last twenty years.

            Bethea does not mention how environment surrounds the black community. A combination of pride, anger, resentment and hate is still hidden in the memories of the ones that once look down on the black people. These emotions ignore values that black people were raised by. They transfer negative vibes generation through generation. Instead of becoming a unit the black community holds the negative thoughts and isolate themselves from society. 

The way Bethea mentions how black females and males experience vulnerability in relationships is connected to the drive to protect themselves from rejection is just crazy. Not loving yourself as an individual is hard enough already with these social media descriptions of what a women and a male should look like. Now using race and employment as a factor to be together with someone is a sad reality. This world is becoming more and more materialistic. Sometimes is just incredible.

Reading what momma couldn’t tell us reflects some of the behaviors that we see in some African American families and just by picturing ir taking their place for a second I can understand why there is so much insecurity in their relationships now. Learning since a very young age that love is temporary is such a traumatic experience. Community and safe spaces should increase in our society because what the white people did in the past was never right. 

Prospects of Marriage among African Americans: Assignment 4

Living in Austin, Texas has provided me with different cultural backgrounds and different points of view when it comes to marriage. My dad personally advise me to try to live with a partner before considering marrying him just because is not the same dating than living with the person. The union between a man and a woman is not easy, it takes commitment, common interests and patience.  Throughout this week, I learned different things that I was not aware of in the African American community. A national black marriage day/event for example, was the most shocking action that the community is trying to do mainly because we live in a  society that does not practice the same values that we used to before. Some people decide to just live together, it does not matter if they are African American, Latino or Asian. I did not  expect that African American saw it as a big dilemma nowadays and decided to take action with their churches and other community organizations. I understand the strong value that families portray in their life but sometimes there are just people with different mindsets that do not connect with the right person. That person might even be from another race and I do not see anything wrong with that.
I love the idea that more African American women are getting educated and living independently. Usually, the negative stereotype that I heard about this women is that they only have a lot of children and live out of the government. Again I blame the ignorance that the border towns in Texas have over diverse cultures. However, sixty percent of them living well with a complete education, ambition and independence to me that is what the American Dream is about. Knowing that only twenty-nine percent of this women actually decide to marry while the rest stay single is not a really bad thing in my opinion. They can use that freedom to be members of change and to inform the communities how to raise the standards of black males. It also depresses me how we are expanding our concept of women empowerment but we are forgetting the male and how easy is for them to fall into negative influences. This is how both genders lose interest one over the other. Lack of self-esteem, support and desire to live a good life affect the way they interact in the real world. Sometimes is just frustrating to see people spread away from their roots, their origins, their dreams because of the lack of communication and support that they did not  received in their house or the school they attended.

Everything is Possible..Assessment 3

While reading about The Nguzo Saba and its seven principles, I can see how motivated and well guided were the African American community throughout those hard times. It was a hard period to claim for rights or to be considered equal with white people. The values and foundations of this principles show, strength and persistence in staying connected as a unit. Giving meaning to the fight and the situation they faced throughout those years help them see that alone individually they will only be victims. The stories found on the timeline connect with their values and also show the resistance that they created within one another it created a chain of reaction that mark history in the U.S believe is the right thing to do. As the years go by and I get older I can see how the voices and the thoughts of the black community become present in everyday's issues.Sometimes, even they show the inequality that people clearly show through their actions and gestures.  I don't consider fair for people to claim power over others based on physical appearance. Today I feel the different minorities have acquired purpose to expose the real differences that this country has given to them. I like to believe that people today do not let their rights be taken away. Now the black community shows a power that is making changes in our society. Their voices are visible to the rest of us. Now they can show the justice that they need, the strengths that they face and their intentions of stopping this negative trend. The seven principles are an ideology that I wish other communities should take the time to analyze to improve their organization and values.

Ujima one of the seven principles shows the importance of being responsible but to also learn to divide work equally. Family is a strong group that affects all types of families when it comes to development and self-growth. In the Harvey and Hill article I can see how there are different types of plans of interventions for small or big communities. Family interventions deal with outside factors that could make the situation complicated. But Imani the faith principle can help to control those aspects in a constructive way. Imani needs to be a big contributor to how the life of an African America youth can change. Evaluations are what assist people to realize what area needs improvement. Imani is by helping this support groups and interventions to expand their positive energy to others in different ways. One is by reminding them that a better tomorrow comes from the hard work that they put into today. For students not interested in getting educated they need to understand that Imani is part of the idea to take education like a open door that gives you the power to defend yourself from outside people that do not know what they want.

Tyler Perry's both have positive and negative contributions to the African American culture that not everyone is proud to hear about. In a way I can see the Kujichangulia principle which is the self-determination value. Perry shows comedy, real life situations, and feelings of confusion and doubt when it comes to doing the right thing. In a way, he was determine to show others how people struggle, what types of decision they unfortunately face. Probably is not the best to do a movie about economic or family issues for other cultures to see. Not everyone understands the type of art that he try to expose but I do not think that is a regression situation on Black Americans. If anything  the only bad thing is that this movies show exaggerated stories that not every Black American necessarily faces. But it gives a sense of construction to stop this lifestyle and to encourage society to change this pattern to future generations. When Perry made seem in a  movie how "Black women cannot find a man: they are married to their careers" in a way this is power to woman that depend on men that they do not have to be in that position. Women have the skills to do whatever they want to and about losing a man that's an exaggeration that not only applies to black woman. I feel that it applies to everyone.

Assignment #2

Race is a topic that affects different communities across the nation. Not everybody believes that white privilege exists and caused some issues in our society. There are people that evade the past. They close their eyes, forgot how slavery, segregation and humiliation affected African Americans and other races established in this country.

 Race made everyone's life complicated on different situations. Is hard to believe that people that have power to rule our country do not see how much impact race has on its citizens. Is easier for white people to be in a stable job than African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other cultures due to lack of support. Not everyone notices this because people get busy with life events, policy changes or economic issues. In a way, they are giving more power to the system to affect our development. Using slavery as a way to organize working class people was a mistake that was fixed many years ago. Everyone is equal now and race should not be a factor that defines work quality.

Sometimes is just impossible to understand how something so useless like skin color could lead to segregation at some point in time. Learning that in America slavery happen without the need of a war makes the situation very uncomfortable in our society. Joseph Loguidice explains on the story of the white man covered in dust how injustice uses race to be unequal to others. Nowadays, is very common to compare skin color with abilities, physical possession and personalities in our society.

The first step to fix this acts of  discrimination against different races and communities is to recognize racism, and work ways to stop it from spreading in our communities. Our government needs to make authority figures value and respect every race. Letting cops assume that young African American men that drive fancy cars are drug dealers while white men in the same car seen as spoiled brats is just killing respect for our society. Tim Wise mentioned how cops intentionally stop more hispanics and African Americans because they assume they possess drug than white people.

We Together, CAN make a Difference......

Throughout Bob Herbert's article, I realize many things that the Black community is known for consist of very negative and depressing facts. My first thought was that is unfortunate that even though this was approximately written 10 years ago, I can still hear people mentioning the same issues today. I was raised in a border town city where diversity was not present, so I was not exposed with any African Americans until I came to Austin. Also, since I was raised in Mexico it was very hard to understand the negative offensive comments online because I did not understand what they were referred to. However, now I feel like there is more to do than before to address this issue. When Herbert mentioned that  Black American is" self-inflicted" I personally agreed with him when I read it for the first time. However, the more I read about it and about how the film "Ethnic Notions" described the African American community I felt aggravated and disagree with his statement.
As an African American, to me he sounded ashamed, aggravated and disappointed of how his community is developing in this country and how this facts have impact in  our society. Confessing all this to a white majority population kind of sounded like, "this are our issues, we are bad, someone has to do something". He was not telling them specifically he just threw up the idea of getting help. However, I disagree with blaming the community itself because at the end of the day the issues are something that the community can not fix on its own. There is ignorance because not everyone grew up in a good school district or a place with resources. There are no resources because of lack of communication to ask for help. We need support from the rest of the populations to stop degrading people because of their race, religion or color. In Martin Luther King's speech, I heard honesty, passion, desire and hope for a better tomorrow where African American and the rest of the U.S citizens can relate to each other in peace. This can happen if people learn to accept their mistakes and ask for help to people outside of their community. His speech sounded to me more as a" both sides have to agree in forgiving, forgetting and moving on" kinda goal. Everyone plays a role in this country and change has to come from all parties not just one mainly. I think Herbert sounded more of like "one person can fix this" instead of King who sounded more of a "together we can make a better tomorrow". Unity is key to support and just like he stated "their destiny is tied with our destiny".