Author: BRIAN LAZO BAUTISTA

After reading “White English/ Black English: The Politics of Translation,” by June Jordan, Jordan mentions the quote, “one of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in defense of another,”I believe this quote demonstrates how June clearly exposes the remarks by Nixon as using the words unknowingly and using them without meaning. Nixon uses it very ignorant yk and does this to justify his actions in Vietnam. In my opinion, I believe that white English is the language of the powerful and black English is the language of the powerless. The reason I believe that is because in “white” America it seems that the only thing that matters is the amount of money you have. You only have a voice or true power if you are wealthy and white in the United States of America 

Furthermore, as I analyzed  “White English/ Black English: The Politics of Translation,” by June Jordan, one quote that stood out to me was “The problem is that we are saying language, but really dealing with power” sticks out. Personally , to me the bigger picture of this is that language has more power and meaning than you believe . It truly matters and depends  on the person who says it in society. In theUnited States, the sad reality is that “white English” is the standard common and is classified in society as being articulate and intellect. As an hispanic college student I’ve realized how Jordan mentions that we should have a way of learning black English. I totally agree with her because She believes standard English is essentially a threat against the identity of many minorities like myself (Hispanic student ) and others in the United States. Lastly, Jordan directly addressed how white English erases your culture and use of you other language that identifies and conforms with you. 

 

 

 

Good evening Class, 

My name is Brian Lazo Bautista and I have been a Woodside/Sunnyside, Queens resident for 18 years now. Personally, I feel like Queens New York is my home and I know everything about the neighborhood and aspects of it. Being from Woodside/ Sunnyside Queens, I have seen many changes and renovations to my community. The effects of Neo-Liberalism and gentrification in Queens are unreal. Personally, I experienced gentrification with the new renovations of public spaces and small business workplaces transformed into private institutions and private buildings for capital gain. The sad reality of this is we see throughout history that lower-income individuals get neglected and taken advantage of due to their financial status. The reality is Gentrification mainly prioritizes the needs of wealthy individuals in the United States. In The Making of Space Race and Place”, Maggie Dickinson states “ Maybe if this art was not from a ghetto, there would be a different approach to art from our society. If it wasn’t just a bunch of kids who weren’t expected to make anything with their lives anyway.” This quote demonstrates how Dickinson wanted to clearly inform the reader that race and identity play a huge role in the war on graffiti, targeted towards low-income families the majority being Latino and black people. The War on Graffiti shows that the main agenda of Politicians is to attract private owned businesses to create a prosperous and more wealthy city that only benefits them. Lastly, the meme in the Blog post to me means that uniqueness or something not normal to society is bad unless the rich people or people in power can benefit from it and exploit it. In the context of the article, the meme correlates with the article by demonstrating how the politicians main agenda is to push and remove low-income families, majority Black and Latino, out of neighborhoods so that private owned businesses can come in and take control for capital gain. The war on graffiti is shutting down the voices and self expression of graffiti of low income minorities through criminalization .

Greetings everyone,

My name is Brian Lazo Bautista and I am currently a freshman at Baruch College. I am from Queens, New York and this is my second semester at Baruch College.  My graduation year is 2025 and my major is still undecided due to me not specifically knowing yet what career I want to pursue in the future and exploring my options by networking at Baruch College. Furthermore, I am extremely excited for this Spring semester and more specifically my learning experience in the course ENG 2150. The picture I chose is a musical masterpiece by the artist Lil Baby. The name of the song is “The Bigger Picture” and it’s a protest song addressing police brutality and systemic racism in America in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. This track was released just days after Baby went out and protested on the streets of Atlanta on June 8, 2020. At the protest, Baby was a leading force, leading the crowd on his bicycle (as depicted on the single’s cover art) as well as handing out protestors supplies, money and speaking in front of the crowd when peacefully protesting  at the Georgia’s State Capitol Building about Justice for George Floyd . This piece of artwork resonates with me because it explained and made me acknowledge the powerful message of JUSTICE and the ongoing battle of the racial injustices in this country till this day.  The need to put an end to repeated senseless acts of police brutality towards Black people, specifically the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. To me, The Bigger Picture is a way to bring awareness to Black Lives Matter , Police Brutality and uniting all races together through the power of music.