There are so many things that I learned in this unit that were interesting, but the topic that impacted me the most was the idea of internalized racism. Before taking this course, I was unaware of the term internalized racism. After reading the introduction of
Black Looks Race and Representation by Bell Hooks, it opened my eyes to a lot of things in the black community. Often times in the black community we put our own people down, which only makes things worse. We tend to enjoy the negative portrayal of ourselves. If we don't respect and accept our own race then how do we expect others to respect us. African-Americans are generally stereotyped and judged because of assumptions. As blacks we tend to laugh at our own downfalls instead of uplifting each other. We tell young girls that they should look a certain way and not accept their kinky and curly hair. We don't give back to our own communities but instead we make it out the 'hood' and never come back, which shows that we don't love our own people. It is important that we share our stories and not be ashamed of where we come from but instead focus on how to make a change and be better. Also today's portrayal of African-American in the media and television is horrible. With the police brutality going on and the representation of blacks on reality TV, the display of African-Americans is negative and incorrect. It is very important that we come together and show the positivity of African-Americans. There once were shows like
A Different World,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and
Martin that showed blacks in a positive light. Nowadays we watch shows like
Love and Hip-Hip that depict black women fighting and black men having "baby momma" drama. As a community we sit and watch these shows and enjoy the negative depiction of blacks. It is crucial that we get back to the times when black people were depicted on television as having families and being college educated. It is up to us to create our own role models and encourage our youth to make a change. We can't give up on our communities instead we have to fight for our communities. We can't teach our children to hate their own communities and tell them to leave the first chance they get, we have to rebuild our communities and be willing to get out of our comfort zone and fight for our story. It is up to us to make a difference and not let others create their own ideas of us. Overall, Unit I was very insightful and it made me more eager to make a change in my community.
Below is a link to a clip from the Ted Talk Our Neighborhoods: Elijah Miles at TEDxBaltimore 2014. In the clip Elijah Miles talks about changing our neighborhoods and making a difference for our youth.
