“Decrease the Heat!”

The Crown Heights riots took place in August, 1991 in Brooklyn, New York, and lasted for three days. The riots were sparked when a Guyanese boy was accidently struck and killed by a Jewish man driving his car. During the accident, a privately owned ambulance, paid for by the Jewish community, arrived first and rushed the Jewish man to the hospital, leaving the boy to die. This caused anger amongst the black community and was later expressed in the form of riots. To help better understand the underlying factors of the 1991 riots, our professor showed the class a movie titled, Crown Height, directed by Jeremy Kagan, which was a film about healing the community.

The movie centered on two kids, one a Hasidic Jew, and the other an African-American, both from two different cultures with one thing in common, hip-hop. To help heal their community, they put together a hip-hop group and performed at schools and community affairs.  In a particular scene, when the community leaders brought the kids from both sides of the community together for a discussion, I noticed they had lack knowledge for each other’s culture. They questioned each other about their clothing and hair and, at times, made racial comments in between. This scene is important because violence seems to come from not being able to identify with a particular person or group. People feel the need to identify with one another. However, if one cannot, it is safe to say that emotional tension may occur.

Pursuit of Happiness

Many people look past the underlining meaning of certain events and fail to understand the true reasons for their actions. Last week, we discussed excerpts from a literature piece titled Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley, a detective novel that took place during the Watts riots of 1965. The Story takes place in Los Angeles California, in which Easy Rawlins is asked to help solve the murder of an African-American woman by the Los Angeles Police Department. We also watched a film titled Heat Wave, which was also inspired by the Watts riots. The story takes place during the same time and featured a young man, Bobbi, who moved from Alabama to the Watts District of Los Angeles, where he landed a job as a messenger for the L.A. Times. Bobbi seizes an opportunity and becomes responsible for the reporting of the Watts riots. Both the novel and film display several emotions we have discussed in class, including a specific excerpt in which I would like to discuss.

Life is based on emotions and seems to be the reason for people’s actions. This is true in the following excerpt which involves Easy Rawlins, questioning Peter Rhone, about his business with Nola Payne. During his investigation, we discover that Peter was in fact trying to save Nola (Little Scarlet) from the riots. Peter states, “There I was, trying to save her and she saved me instead” (Mosley 131). This statement is important because during the time, it was unusual for a white man wanting to save a black woman or black anything for that matter. It was even more unusual for a woman to save a man. Yet, it is exceptional because it shows both individuals willingness to look past their differences. Many men feel obligated to protect women. Therefore, the idea of being a “hero” is a self-gratifying feeling and creates a sense of pride and happiness. This may explain the motive for both Peter and Nola. However, I also find it interesting how some men who rape and abuse women may very well receive the same feeling.

Manufactured or Natural?

This week, we reviewed a short story titled, In Darkness and Confusion by Ann Petry. It was a story about a man, William Jones, whose son, Sam, has been shot, arrested, and imprisoned for twenty years. The story takes place in Harlem, New York, where William discovers his son’s unfortunate fate while getting a haircut at a barber shop. Sam was a stand up guy who did very well in school and looked forward to college. Unfortunately, during this time, many young men were being drafted because of the ongoing war. William was worried for Sam, not because he was in the army but because he was sent to Georgia, where they did not treat African-Americans fairly indicating discrimination in the defense industry.

Sam was Williams pride and joy and lived his dreams by becoming what he wasn’t, an educated African-American. When Sam was shot by a Military Police Officer over an argument, it was like having Williams dreams shot down too. This became part of an emotional build up the community of Harlem experienced at the time, not to mention food shortages because of the war. Eventually, the buildup ruptured and a riot broke out. What sparked the flame was when the community believed the police shot a young black boy dead, when in reality, was still alive. This just proves people believe what they want to believe. They tend to believe in events that never happened such as fake deaths and phantom rapes, which have been the reason for racial riots throughout America.

By Nature

In class we covered various topics such as Jack Thorne’s Hanoverand a film titled The Day of the Locus directed by John Schlesinger. We analyzed Jack Thorne's Hanover, a story about white southerners who forcefully placed themselves into political power by over taking the town of Wilmington and killing African-Americans to discourage them from voting. We dig further to understand how white southerners frame their actions in terms of their own victimization. I have learned and came to the conclusion that the main reason for their barbaric actions revolved around sex issues. White men were intimidated because black men had larger penises. This explains why they frequently accused black men of raping white women in hopes to deter both from engaging in inter racial sex. I found this amazing how all the bloodshed that occurred happened over a woman’s vagina. We also see a clip from a film titled The Day of the Locust, which takes place in Hollywood Los Angeles, CA.

The scene starts off very chaotic and loud with a massive crowd gathering in front of a big movie premier. We find Homer Simpson walking down the street in a zombie like fashion waiting to snap at any moment. By watching this scene, I can feel the emotional build up from the crowd and happy and angry emotions constantly going on and off. It was a very unstable environment to be in. Once Homer snapped and the crowd found out, all hell broke loss causing the crowd to snap as well and become blind of their violent actions which took place following Homer’s assault on the young girl who essentially started it all.

Draft Riots of 1863

What I found most appealing during our first day of class for ENN195 is the Draft Riots of 1863. The Draft Riots took place in New York City on July 13 – 16, 1863, due to a new law passed by Congress which drafted men (mostly from the working class) into the civil war. The rioters consisted mostly of Irish men who were angry towards the government. They were upset with the government because they felt the draft was unfairly targeting them and sparing the rich who could afford the $300 bail-out which at that time amounted to a year’s salary for a working class individual.

The draft officially began in New York on July 12, 1863 and caused a mob of drunk angry Irish men to take to the streets which grew larger as time prevailed. They would commit arson and take matters into their own hands. Many would go after who they felt was responsible, such as, the rich and government officials. They would destroy their homes and beat some to death. For many Irish men, it did not matter the consequence; For most, they had nothing to lose.

I believe this was caused by anger built up over time and eventually turning into violence which we discussed in class. We also discussed how violence is a mixture of fear and emotion and how it affects the working class. We spoke about racial, status and economic disparities that was taking place throughout the country and the impact it had on New York City, mainly between the Rich (Dutch), Irish, and African Americans. Finally, we discussed the burning of buildings and the logic of Arson which is a creative destruction and a leveling instinct we as humans have. In my opinion, the topics discussed in class seem very similar to the Occupy Wall Street movement with the connection to fear and emotion. I have a feeling we are about to experience history repeat itself.

Lynching in America

In class, we discussed why people become racist and what lead to Lynching in America. We examined literature, pictures, and a silent film from the time of occurrence to help better understand the situation. Many African Americans faced suppression from white supremacist after the emancipation proclamation, until 1968, during the civil rights movement. Around this time, Lynching became popular and widely accepted throughout the south amongst white supremacist. Lynching was executions carried out by mobs (white supremacist) and used as the primary method to suppress the“Negro.” The idea was to “keep them in their place”, by inflicting fear through violence, when in fact; the white man lived in fear.

Some reasons why racism existed are the following: a particular group might own the latest technology than another. Many also identified themselves through religion instead of a geographic area and human beings were looked at as property by another human being for desire of cheap labor. Because of this, systemic violence was created, which inflicted pain on their human property and was looked at as an economic system that depended on fear, dominance, control and torture to keep things going (labor). We analyzed a few pictures of Lynching and witnessed men, women, and children of all ages smiling in a modern/urban setting, wearing modern clothing, despite the barbarism that was occurring which seemed ironic. These were just some of the ideologies of the white man during the time.

We analyzed a silent film titled Within Our Gates, which was created by the first African American film director. It took place during a time Lynching was still occurring and how African Americans were executed due to exaggeration, a misunderstanding, or propaganda (news papers). After reviewing the facts and details of this era, I gained a better understanding as to where and why racism evolved and why did it last so long after the abolishment of slavery.