Response to “Mug shot”, For You, and the Ted talk “Can art Amend History”
I understand that there is inequality in this world and I am constantly being reminded of it more than I should. Out of 4 of these past reading/writing assignments, 3 of them talk about how African Americans are marginalized in the news, art, and of course history. In addition, my communications professor dedicates 30 minutes why he doesn’t like President Trump and why he is a “racist prick”. Funny enough, these is not the only instances where I am reminded that the world is unfair towards race and gender.
I am currently a volunteer at Clearview Park Golf course so that I can have full access to the course’s resources. What 19 year old volunteers at a golf course? Not too many. The other volunteers that I work with happen to be older gentlemen that want to play golf on a consistent basis, but for a cheaper price. Anyway, while our generation is being educated on how racist Americans are, who is telling my co workers? Rather than being racist towards African Americans, they are racist towards Koreans, as that happens to be majority racial group of Customers. I hear things such as, “Koreans are cheap”, “they act like they don’t speak English and act like we are stupid”. Just as I am being educated on why I shouldn’t be racist, I’m constantly being surrounded by racism. I have no intention of talking about how racist my family is.
When I attended the University at Albany, I was exposed to diversity when I was both a Freshman, and even when I was a Resident Assistant. Just to give you an idea of what A Resident Assistant does, their job is to create an inclusive welcoming environment for their residents and to promote diversity through creating events. I understand how important diversity is within a community because so many cultures can provide different ways of thinking, living, and just looking at the world.
Here is my problem, the problem has already been identified, but people think that bringing awareness to a problem is the solution. While it may be an effective one, it shouldn’t be the main solution.
Kaphar’s message in his Ted Talk was beautiful in the sense that Art History misses the context of African Americans that are a part of the painting, because that is just as important as everything else in the painting . He suggests that instead of erasing history certain parts of history because they were dark, we should unfold it so we can truly see the full picture. His solution to this problem was to present this idea to as many people as he could. One of Eula Bliss’ arguments in “Is this Kansas was that people don’t realize that they are more racist than they like to believe. Coates’s argument was the “X-Men First Class” was an inaccurate representation of the African Americans heroes who fought for their rights in the 1960s. THEY ALL ADDRESS GREAT PROBLEMS, BUT CREATING AWARENESS CLEARLY ISN’T ENOUGH TO SOLVE THESE ISSUES.
I think the “Mug Shot”, painting is a very symbolic painting in a variety of ways. Even when you think of the words, Mug Shot, you associate it will prison, jail, or any other correctional facility. To a good portion of people, when one see a black man in a mug shot, most people would associate that person as a “bad man”. I would recommend looking up Jeremy Meeks Mugshot. Rather than focusing on the fact that he was a convict, a former member of the crips, they focused on his beauty instead. Surprise, Surprise, he does not have dark skin. When I look at this painting, he African American boy looks happy, and it looks as though his eyes are attentive and even welcoming. Maybe this painting was suppose to represent that it is a societal standard for African Americans to go to jail, because the man looks at peace. Maybe this photo and the person in it is enough for an individual to stay, “oh he looks bad, I wouldn’t trust him”. And then I think of things like how a White male convict is more likely to get a job than a black male who was never a convict.
Look I personally don’t understand why the majority of our texts were about the oppression of only African Americans. I know nothing about the oppression of the elderly, I know nothing about the oppression of different sexualities other than heterosexual.