Contemporary Connections

              I think everyone can think of one major racial issue that’s going on in America at the moment. One thing that came to mind when reading the directions for this blog, was the Black Lives Matter movement. It started a couple of years ago in regards to the violence that African Americans were facing in the public, including with law enforcement. It’s gotten stronger and in many cases, out of hand recently with the election of Donald Trump. So one article that I found and will talk about is “Bleak days for black America.”

                This article discusses how in the past few years, shootings of African Americans has been on the rise. Particularly shootings involving police officers. Some even feel like the violence has gotten worse and will only continue with the presidency of Donald Trump, a “white supremacist,” (1). With the all the shootings and horrors of society, black parents are warning their children “never, ever run in the presence of a police officer; say ‘yes, sir’ or ‘yes, ma’am,’” (1). They’re doing everything they can to make sure their children come home safely each night. The article states “A century and a half after slavery, and 50 years since the end of legal segregation, ‘They Can’t Kill Us All’ impressively brings us up to date with America’s fraught history of racial injustice,” (1).

            This relates with the books that we read because this movement was created to get awareness out there that black lives matter just as much as white lives or any other lives for the matter, which is what Beecher-Stowe was trying to portray in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It’s 2017 and black lives are in need of help to make sure that people see them as equal members of society, something that was done, like the article states, a century and a half ago. This can also relate back to our books because black parents are telling their children to say “yes ma’am” and “yes sir” to police officers and nothing else, which is what they did as slaves how many years ago? They weren’t able to talk, just obey by saying “yes sir.” It’s reducing their worth as human beings.

            The second article that I found was “A reflection on the Black Lives Matter movement and Its Impact on My Scholarship,” by Wil Gafney, an instructor at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth Texas. The very first thing that is written in this article is a quote from none other than Toni Morrison from the book “Beloved,” saying “… they do not love your flesh.” It then has the words, “Black Lives Matter,” (1). This article is about an African American who claims this movement affected her teaching greatly. She is working to take the “whiteness” out of things. She claims that what made her first realize “the degree to which black folk are not regarded as fully- if even at all- human,” was the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. This, along with all the other recent shootings has paved the way for her work.

            This obviously can relate to both books but “Beloved” especially because the very first thing in this article is a quote directly from the book. How cool that I just happened to click on an article that had a quote from the book we just read? It’s true though, this article on Black Lives Matter can relate back to our book on slavery because today, like during the time of slavery and shortly after, people did not accept the color of blacks’ skin. If they had a different color skin than white people, they were not accepted. Just like Gafney suggests, it’s as if African Americans are not being seen as human beings by some people to this day. Whenever a black person is seen on the streets in some areas, it’s automatically assumed that they did something wrong. This can also relate to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” because like I said with the previous article, black people are not given the same rights as white people are, just like in the time period of the books.

            I think that after reading both of these books on slavery and how African Americans were treated back then and then also reading all the poems and short stories on lynchings and all of that, I have become more aware of what is going on. After reading these articles on today’s racial issues, as well as seeing and hearing about all the riots, I realized that there is a problem. There’s no reason some of these problems are still occurring in 2017, hundreds of years since the end of slavery and about 50 since the end of segregation. 
Source One:
   Biswas, K. “Bleak Days for Black America.” New Statesman, vol. 146, no. 5352, 03 Feb. 2017,            pp. 44-45.. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.uwc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?              direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ipcpid&custid=s5805083&db=a9h&AN=121117984&site=ehost-        live&scope=site
Source Two: 

    Gafney, Wil. “A Reflection on the Black Lives Matter Movement and Its Impact on My

Scholarship.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 136, no. 1, Mar. 2017, pp. 204-207.

EBSCOhost