Letter (cover)

Tyeasha Williams
1234 SW 82nd Way
Ft.Lauderdale, FL 33068 (954) 325-1849
November 29, 2009

Howard University
Residence Life
Washington, DC 20059

To Whom It May Concern:

I, Tyeasha Williams have recently been accepted to study at your higher of learning institution; and in a previous letter, I disclosed the fact that at that moment I could not submit the housing application fee by the intended deadline. I did however include the necessary, completed, housing documents.
Since then, I was fortunate enough to accumulate the funds and disclosed is a copy of the original application form that I originally sent, in additional to the fifty dollar money order.
I would like to thank you for your understanding, and I am most appreciative for the opportunity to learn and grow with an institution of such high esteem. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me at (954) 325-1849.


Sincerely,

Tyeasha Williams

my response to "Excuse Me, Your Race is Showing"

Being Black is indeed a Black's master status, and no, we will never be able to escape the "price" that comes along with it, as long as we acknowledge the paradigm of race as legitimate. I understand where the author is coming from when she speaks of white people not being able to overlook the color line, but what about us? If we just stopped trying to justify our "rightful" place in society as a "worthy race", maybe we could diminish the the very thought of race, and focus only on an individuals characteristics as their definition. Bates speaks a lot about racial profiling: getting stopped by police because your black, black elites being ignorantly reduced to bell hops and shoe sales persons just because of the color of their skin. But she also follows up with the Black trying to qualify that not only are they people of prestige and power, but EVEN THOUGH they are BLACK, its commendable they even have such positions, and FOR THAT, they deserve respect. What happened to us just wanting respect off of general principle? Being a hard working human being that will not tolerate being categorized, bump the white man's letter of approval, and pat on the back, give me the same respect you'd give your mother, and not just because she's white, but because as a human being you identify with her with respect and innate recognition. The essay is successful in explaining the misfortunes Blacks undergo on a day to day basis, but that has already been done, for decades; when will we ourselves look over the concept of race and just exist as people and not the stigmatized "black people." What's also a shocker to me, the author writes a book, and in it is a component of how to deal with such situations...are you freaking serious?! I dont need a handbook on how to effectively be a good nigga in a situation where a racist makes me uncomfortable, I need the will to put them in their place and keep trucking! Now I'm not saying forget the black community and its dynamics, I'm saying lets be recognized as an elite culture, not a "good race"

my response to "Black and Latino"

Wow, this essay is funny. Sadly, what Santiago is going through in life are the solid remnants of a structured social system of inequality. At one point if an individual had a drop of African blood, guess what, they were African. But it was more resourceful to turn us against one another and construct separation and lines of petty differences so that we could also be at odds with one another. The cycle is sick, but the deed is already done and changing the mind set of the masses is nearly impossible. Spanish, Latino, whatever, I say they are Black. I'm with the theory that Africans were dropped off at different parts of the world during the slave trade (and of course before the slave trade, they did migrate over the world according to their own will) and in this process, as generations were passed and babies were born, pigmentation acclimated to changes in region and so on and so forth. Either way you see, the Caribbean is full of blacks, Spanish speaking countries and islands have devout African ancestry and that's just that. Despite the color differences, and slight differences in cultures, we are all cut from the same cloth, and as Santiago's Aunt outlined to him; even if the American won't accept you as black, you can always count on the white to treat you as such.

my response to "Black Music in Our Hands"

The title itself is soooo powerful, Black Music in OUR Hands: meaning we control the audiences we want to reach, the message we want to send, the feelings we're trying to convey, the bridges we want to be connected between the meanings of the lyrics, and the unspoken spirit of life that music is supposed to talk to. Black music, the rhythm itself has a life of its own, and the symbols and lyrics only qualify its importance to the soul. In reference to the essay, the author Bernice Reagon recalls being exposed to four types of Black Music, in which she sang and familiarized herself with three. Spirituals, R&B, and Black church gospel were the three types of music that she speaks about, and she mentions jazz at the end, briefly telling her relationship to it. But beyond Mrs. Reagon and her experiences with Black Music, it takes on a whole other context when it comes to the black community at large. For me, Black Music is a healer, its entertainment, its a friend, and sometimes I feel like it was made just for me. It's so easy for me to get lost in the ballads and not want to come back; Black church hymns for example has the absolute power to take you to the gates of heaven and back. It is so refreshing, especially because the black community is a spiritual one, we believe in welcoming the presence of our Savior during worship to give Him praise, and with that objective you can experience everything from self revelation to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it is truly a beautiful thing. And to think, if Our gospel can do that, one can only imagine what our Soul ballads can do for you. In closing, Black Music has had a negative connotation lately, I feel like the critics that come up with that judgemental crap are just ignorant to the meaning of Our music. Simply put, they know not, what they do, because if they took the time out to EXPERIENCE what Black Music could do for them, they'd be making songs about random stuff too, its a celebration of Our Gift, not a decline in Our talent.

"Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?" Analysis

The word nigger and its meaning is and will always be controversial. Personally, i have no problem with the word being used in certain context, just like Naylor's mother hinted towards. I mean, yes I will feel a twinge of resentment towards a non colored person using the word freely, but at the end of the day, a word has no real effect until you impose meaning upon it. That being said, I love the way black folk can take a word that originated to oppress and condemn, to a word that makes us remember a dark time for us, not in bitter contempt, but appreciation for our will and fight. The word nigger to me, in a black folks vocabulary is a heartfelt expression. It has so much meaning that it has outgrown its negative connotation and taken on a mind of its own. I don't use the word often, but i don't mind using it either, in fact, when I use it, I don't even think about it being demeaning to the person I'm talking too, and neither do they. "Nigga please, wateva nigga, that nigga crazy", are all expressions that help emphasize the connectedness of our people while in dialogue, it can make you laugh, mad, cry, whatever, but it still effectively gets your point across and I think that's what Naylor's mother was trying to get across to her in the essay. The context is the aggressor, if anyone feels disrespected by any word, it is definitely the context that the word is used in. For me, "nigga" will always be apart of my vocabulary without any traces of guilt or shame, because i know the power behind the word that i present.

"Slave Resistance"

The cases of slave resistance presented in this essay are shocking, not because resistance existed, but because after so many attempts, it still took 450 years to bring about reform. Slave brutality was cruel and demeaning both in the physical and psychological senses, it is inhumane to think for a second that stealing someone from their native land, coercing them to work under unruly conditions, and beating them into submission is right. And this is what makes the situation sad, the fact that a human being saw fit to viciously undermine and blatantly kill, control, and subdue masses of other human beings. Not to mention justify their actions, and get mad when a slave tried to escape this treacherous persecution. Deeming it "hellish" as if what they were doing was apart of a divine plan. Another thing that caught my attention in this essay was the fear that the whites possessed when the slaves revolted, if the whites were so concerned with their lives, it was dumb for them to keep these people living under their noses. But the greed and sick satisfaction that they received from slavery was the driving force that gave them hope that their slaves wouldn't come up against them. I did read however, that the white slaveholders that ran the southern states were the "Negroes" of developing Europe in the twelfth thru fifteenth centuries. Supposedly, they took the harsh accounts they experienced and the psychological and psychosocial effects were the platform for how they treated their slaves. Which is still not excuse for slavery because 450 years of it, and even now seems to not have given them or their children enough time to get racism out of their systems. In closing, the essay was moving because no matter how many times I hear about slavery and its barbaric structure, I get upset all over again, simply because I couldn't imagine a human being being done the way slaves were treated.

comparison n contrast

In comparison to Ture and Early, both of them talk about the color line amongst Africans ourselves. They both discussed the fact Africans, of all generations are segregated, amongst each other. The difference however, is posed when they talk about how and why these divisions exist; and frankly I agree with Ture's point of view. He believes that there is a long genealogy of these divisions set in place strategically by our European counterparts. He says that these divisions were a way to keep differences up between us so that we'd think so differently about each other and always have this sense of separation or better yet, removal. This is funny because Early's essay qualifies this notion, "never African again", is he serious! Essays and viewpoints like these are what keeps us Blacks from achieving a unity that will make us the noble kings and queens that we once were. No I'm not talking about literally sitting on thrones (in which we could) but I'm talking about reclaiming our dignity and sense of pride about who we really are. It;s real sad that most of our youth are taught that we were an uncivilized race and that our history as the world knows it started with slavery. On the contrary, we were the first human beings to establish civilization, and although there were different tribes at that time, everyone was the same, it was the Africans who came in and created country lines both symbolicly and physically so that we'd never get back to the force that we used to be--Africans period.

Response to "Never African Again" (pg.63)

I love the way Gerald Early conveys the inconspicuous double standard that black people have when it comes to us being black, African-American, just American, just African, etc...
My interpretation of the essay as a whole is that Early was trying to make the reader take notice of an issue that she/he may be battling. The issue of being black in a white oriented society, while trying to prove to other Americans that we are just as American as they are, while at the same time trying to reserve the inner African in us that supposedly is more than the sum of our parts. He goes through the process of African people becoming blacks while trying to get back to the mother land, but when America is so convenient and readily at the forefront, the black then tries to adjust to the New World. Instead of being a counterculture to the white society, the new found "black" disingrates, but at the same time integrates and makes itself a subculture. No more are we fighting to get our lives back, but now our fighting is to improve our living conditions in a new home. Early goes on to outline the "Black's" fight to prove to society (a mere man made social structure) that he is WORTHY of the very soil that his own ancestors died cultivating. Gone is the fight to find out what really happened to us as a people, now it has been replaced with the configuration of out how can we become a better defined replication of the people looking down on us. Only when we feel defeated or oppressed do we try to connect to our African-American roots, as if the order of African life began with American enslavement. I think Early was tyring to get us to see that we do not have to fight to be something that we already are. All of the sum of a colored folk's whole makes them, them! Not because we feel like we went out and drew differences between those lines, but because the lines do not exist and at any given time we could connect to any one status if we take the time out to feel and not fight.

My thoughts on "Their Eyes Were Watching God"...

Having read the book previously in high school, it dawned on me how enthused I may have been at thew time not notice the story for it was. Maybe I seen it as just another book in a college preparatory class, I may have even spark noted it to pass my exam! Who knows, what I do know now is that the story is off the charts. The beginning is the most significant for me because it set the tone for the entire book. Kind of like a "little black girl lost" type of vibe. The fact that she grew up without a mother and father and had to live with just enough with granny immediately clicked the switches in my head about books I'd read with similar plots, but that was thing that got me, tis was only the exposition, not EVEN the rising action, I was intrigued. Anyhow the use of symbolism is ever so present with Janie's talk about spring, the bees, flowers, and most importantly, the pear tree. So to start from the top, and these are MY interpretations of the symbols posed; Spring time, in literary symbolism, the spring is a sign of birth and/or new beginning. The fact that Janie was starting to find her sexuality, and becoming of age solidified for me that she was either going to "become a woman" or break free from granny and start a whole new life fresh and anew. However, her constant referral to the color yellow (bees, flowers, the sun) made me second guess that her new life was going to be sugar. In fact, yellow symbolizes maturity, heat, violence, old age(Mr. Killicks' OLD SELF) and even decay(Janie's feelings that her life is slipping away before her once she gets with Killicks). To close this out the infamous pear tree, this symbolizes mourning and/or fleeting nature of life. So as I read on and Janie's grandmother revealed her strife and MOURNING for her daughter's life and her grand daughter's future. BUT, trying to sign poor Janie's life off to some old, rich, MAN, at sixteen was Janie's childhood decayed, her life was slipping away from her because she was unhappy and definitely not in love.

What do I think about diversity?

Diversity, as it relates to America, carries the weight of an immense double standard on it's back. It's glorified in a sense that has the opportunity to experience any culture, at any time at their local festival or movie theatre; but on the other side of the coin, it can also be constantly taken for granted when an employer or event coordinator for such events refuse to hire too many minorities. Instead they opt for the latter and hire just enough to keep the government from breathing down their necks. So even as America has enhanced by people from all cultures, walks, and ethnicities, she refuses to accept the fact that she was built on the blood, sweat, and strength of multicultural ancestry. No matter how much her European born "founders" try to westernize the values and belief systems into the man-made watch dog we know as society, the rich and everlasting dynamics of as people from far and near have marked her territory and embedded their own contribution in her very soil. The voices of the past and their reflection on today's norms permeate the atmosphere every time a group of African-American, Chinese-American, and Native-American kids can patronize a prestigious private school, and stand to learn the importance of team work; not only is America diversified, but the majority of her inhabitants enjoy every moment of it, whether they like it or not.

is america a post racial society??

America won't allow itself to see past color. Racism as a whole was a learned behavior and with being said, anything learned or taken in can be purged; so why are there still hate crimes against minorities? Simple. The white race has surpassed racial oppression and cultural imperialism, and have took it there with ethnocentrism. The old adage "if it's white, it's right" is the standard America still stands on because that's what it's society was built on. After decades of the same behavior, it does not take someone in social or political power to crack the whip of oppression and/or racism, it could be a few managers at a second rate clothing store inside of a city mall; as is the case for my situation. I was employed at Levi's & Dockers By Most in the Sawgrass Mills Mall of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and I witnessed blatant disrespect of my people on a daily basis. Not only were blacks watched as SOON as they entered the store, but one could also say they experienced retail harassment. They were followed around, and myself and another black co worker (we were the only two there, bearing the burden of everyone task imaginable throughout the whole store) were the delegates to carry out the mission. Day by day people from all walks of life, ethnicities, cultures, social classes or what have you patronized this establishment, but only the blacks had to receive the viciousness of judgement upon appearance of color. SMH. Anyhow one day, an assistant manager whom I'd grown to like, AGAIN came to me asking that I watch a group of Jamaican guys once they walked in the store, only this time she said: "watch those black bastards, I don't trust them." Yes, she did, as if she had gotten so comfortable with me that she could come out of her mouth with CONSPICUOUS disrespect to a fellow HUMAN BEING. No circumlocution to eventually get around to the fact that she WOULDN'T trust a black face; but total disrespect. So you ask, is America a post racial society? No it isn't.