Media Device #4 (Revised)

This is a video I found on youtube, made by a young Filipino man. In this video there are clips of the Ku Klux Klan, clips of white men beating black men, Neuse’s, burnings, and other forms of violent hate crimes. A lot of the clips have people mimicking Hitler and showing hate towards Indians, Asians, along with African Americans. This video contains older footage along with more recent videos to show that crimes like this are still going on in America, the land of the "free". The creator chose the song Jesus Walks by Kanye West to go with the video. This song is about a young black man who has the option to do something wrong but chooses to walk away. He claims Jesus is walking with him, and "the devil can't break him down". Overall this video was well done, and I think will make people recognize the hate that is still among some white people in the United States.
Zinn titled, “Slavery without submission, Emancipation without freedom”, relates this particular piece of video to the article. This article talks about how slaves were not treated like humans even after the government was passing laws to abolish slavery. Once laws were pass, not very many people enforced them. The slaves were still subjected to hate crimes, and violence against them. This is where the video and the article are tied together.
Why in the video were there more scenes of blacks getting hurt than the other races? This is probably due to the availability of video clips. If you look on the history channel or just search for video clips of racial discrimination or hate crimes, most of them are geared towards African Americans. However in this video the creator did manage to find some clips of Native Americans, and a protest against Asians.
I found this video to be depressing. Most people have seen videos in history classes, and other high school/college courses about things like this, but it still gets me every time. Every video I watch has something more brutal or shocking in it than the last. The thing that gets me every time is when you watch videos like this and you look at the person’s face who is conducting the violence, they show no signs or remorse or guilt. These people truly are cold-hearted people who would rather kill the people they don't get along with than just deal with it. They are so Egocentric that they don't care, about the people they are hurting. It's very sad how thing like this still continue today, and now there are even more groups of people that are being hated, even people of the same race.

Media Device #3

This is a video clip that was played on the history channel about the KKK. The KKK, which stands for the Ku Klux Klan, was founded in Pulaski Tennessee by a group of Confederate veterans. Historically the KKK was a group of white supremacists "These organizations have often used terrorism, violence, and acts of intimidation, such as cross burning and lynching, to oppress African Americans and other social or ethnic groups." (Wikipedia) As the KKK grew to more of a public group, they tried to reverse the federal governments Reconstruction Era activities in the South. Most of these activities were focused on giving more rights to African Americans. In 1871 President Ulysses S. Grant destroyed the group, and established the Civil Rights Act of 1871, this was also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The group was formed again in 1915, and focused on the same violent acts.
This video can be related to the book we read Kindred. In that novel written by Octavia Butler, they expressed the violence the slaves had to endure while being slaves. Blacks still have had to endure violence acts from whites that feel they still have superiority over people of color. Historically white people have been mistreating anyone different from them, whether it is physically, verbally, or violently to the point of death. Back during slavery they would beat, whip, and kill a slave who disobeyed the "master". In modern times, if a black messed with anything a white man owned, he could be beat, tortured, or even hung.
Why do they allow these violent hate groups such as the KKK stay alive? According to the history channel the group is so large in numbers, that it would be nearly impossible to eliminate them completely. Because this is a free county, people are allowed to speak their mind, and protest, and march in rallies. However they draw the line at violent acts. When someone Else's' life is in danger the government jumps in and stops it.
I was glad I had found this video online, NOT because I agree with anything they do, but because I have never seen the "real KKK" and exactly how they act. I was completely shocked with the language they used and they extreme hate and violence for people who were not exactly like them, yet they had the freedom to publicly bash and humiliate people of a different race simply because they don't like them. People who are members of the KKK or just think like the KKK baffle me, I just want to look them in the eye and say, welcome to the 21st century.

Media Device #2

This is a Sony ad for the new Sony PlayStation portable. There is a black colored one, and now a new white colored one. In this photo there is a black women and a white women, the white women looks like she is the dominant person in the picture. This picture reminds me of a modern "slavery" picture. It has the look of an apprehensive slave with the more dominant white owner.
Is this a form of discrimination? Some person would say yes, because of the position and the appearance of the white woman. Some people may just think its a form of media expressing the new white PlayStation portable. It is hard to say what the creators were thinking, but it is clear that they had the image of black vs. white in the heads.
This particular photo makes you think about how different people of different races actually are. In the video Race: The Power of Illusion, they talk about how genetically people of different races are more similar to those of the same race. So why is there still the constant feuding, or competition between races, specifically blacks vs. whites? Could it be the constant hate against them in the early 20th century, or could it be an underlying hatred and in order to "get back at whites" for the hurt they caused. There could be many explanations for this question. But why post it publicly as a positive thing, such as an ad for a video game? This makes you think about the view some people have on this issue.
I think it is funny and interesting how the media can get away with even thinking up ideas like this. Whether an ad gets published or not the idea that someone thought of having a white person appearing to treat a black person like that is baffling to me. This to me is a form of discrimination; people would look at this ad and find it offending.

Media Device #1

JAY-Z LYRICS

"99 Problems"

If your having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one

[Verse One]
I got the rap patrol on the gat patrol
Foes that wanna make sure my casket's closed
Rap critics that say he's "Money Cash Hoes"
I'm from the hood stupid what type of facts are those
If you grew up with holes in your zapitos
You'd celebrate the minute you was having doe
I'm like fuck critics you can kiss my whole asshole
If you don't like my lyrics you can press fast forward
Got beef with radio if I don't play they show
They don't play my hits well I don't give a shit SO
Rap mags try and use my black ass
So advertisers can give em more cash for ads...fuckers
I don't know what you take me as
or understand the intelligence that Jay-Z has
I'm from rags to ritches nigga I ain't dumb
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one
Hit me

[Chorus]
99 Problems but a bitch ain't one
If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one
Hit me

[Verse Two]
The year is '94 and in my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the mother fucking law
I got two choices yall pull over the car or
bounce on the double put the pedal to the floor
Now I ain't trying to see no highway chase with jake
Plus I got a few dollars I can fight the case
So I...pull over to the side of the road
And I heard "Son do you know why I'm stopping you for?"
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hats real low
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?
"Well you was doing fifty five in a fifty four"
"License and registration and step out of the car"
"Are you carrying a weapon on you I know alot of you are"
I ain't stepping out of shit all my papers legit
"Do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?"
Well my glove compartment is locked so is the trunk and the back
And I know my rights so you gon' need a warrent for that
"Aren't you sharp as a tack are some type of lawyer or something?"
"Or somebody important or something?"
Nah I ain't pass the bar but I know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally search my shit
"Well see how smart you are when the K-9's come"
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one
Hit me

[Chorus X2]

[Verse Three]
Now once upon a time not too long ago
A nigga like myself had to strong arm a hoe
This is not a hoe in the sense of having a pussy
But a pussy having no God Damn sense, try and push me
I tried to ignore him and talk to the Lord
Pray for him, cause some fools just love to perform
You know the type loud as a motor bike
But wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight
The only thing that's gonna happen is i'mma get to clapping
He and his boys gon' be yapping to the captain
And there I go trapped in the kit kat again
Back through the system with the riff raff again
Fiends on the floor scratching again
Paparazzi's with they cameras snapping them
D.A. tred to give the nigga the shaft again
Half-a-mil for bail cause I'm African
All because this fool was horrasin them
Trying to play the boy like hes saccarin
But ain't nothing sweet 'bout how I hold my gun
I got 99 problems but being a bitch ain't one
Hit me

[Chorus X3]

You're crazy for this one Rick
It's your boy


[Thanks to MrFisk731@webtv.net for these lyrics]
[Thanks to raiders_playa@hotmail.com, one_lpfreak22@yahoo.combwaldorf@constancebillard.com, one_lpfreak22@yahoo.com, codyjones1212@hotmail.com for correcting these lyrics]

[ www.azlyrics.com ]


For my first media device I chose the lyrics to Jay-Z's song 99 problems. The song is about a young male who gets pulled over, everything seems to be going wrong except for with the ladies. The one line states that he’s being pulled over because he's young and black, and all young black males have drugs on them. He alludes to being educated and that he knows his rights, but the cop comes back and says that the k-9 is coming.
This could be related to the constant stereotypes of African Americans in the United States. The pictures we looked at that talked about the stereotype of the Cleveland Indians and how other people make stereotypes against other cultures. I think some of the general stereotypes consist of, being violent, drug users, and overall "gangsters". Whether right or wrong, people out there believe that all people of African American race are like this, and common sense tells you that there are always exceptions; this song portrays the life and hardships of a young African American teen, in a society dominated by white men in the higher authoritarian positions. I think that this is a perfect example of a common stereotype that young African American kids deal with probably more frequently than they should. Just like those pictures of the different faces the Indian portrayed.
Are the lyrics in this song accurate to some of today's authority personnel? Some would argue yes, however without actually experiencing it most people have no say. Most of the people defending the higher authority would claim that more times than not the authority figures are correct, statistics have shown that minorities have a higher crime rate than whites. However we cannot prove that that's why they are accused of crime more often than not. I think some people have a bad experience with someone of a different race or culturally different and they set those stereotypes that ALL people of that race are like that. However, most people know that this is not the case, whether they acknowledge this reality or not, we as a society cannot change. Its like the rule we all learned as a kid, one person can ruin it for everyone. Even though this may not be fair, or true, subconsciously that person will always remember that bad experience and correlate that to EVERYONE. The only possible way to reverse this effect is to educate people on different cultures.