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Sep. 2nd, 2016 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI like the night time and the early morning, it's quiet. There is a soft murmur of voices echoing through the walls, and in the distance the sound of a jet or at least I think it's a jet. The day has been filled with people, largely strangers, muttering and gibbering in five thousand different languages. I weave around them running errands, due to an early quit. We got out two hours early for the labor day weekend. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.
Today, I listened to Lando tell his story of getting into college with a mixture of horror and admiration. He found the school in the newspaper, wrote down the address, and applied. This was after his school guidance counselor attempted to convince him to enlist in the military, because she didn't think he was "college material" for no other reason than he just happened to be black. Although I'd say his skin is more the color of milk chocolate than black. Another student, also "black" and even brighter than he, but without supportive parents and a woman, was told not to go to college as well. Now, years later, she has five kids and is on welfare. And he wonders what would have happened if she'd been encouraged to pursue a college education? This was the 1970s. Not the 50s or the 60s. The 70s. When the Jackson 5 was topping the charts. I'm horrified and feel an overwhelming urge to jump in a time machine, hunt down his guidance counselor and wring her scrawny neck. See how much power guidance counselors can wield? But more importantly, how insidious and destructive racism truly is? I am reminded daily of this fact. Think of how much better our lives, our world would be, if we were all color blind and race didn't matter? If we could see the person, and not the racial features?
At the end of this story, he tells me that Affirmative Action is necessary - because without it, people of color would never get ahead. I respond that I agree, my issue is not with Affirmative Action but with the implementation which unfortunately has become increasingly bureaucratic over time and a bit of a racket for the politicians.
All day long, I hear stories of people's battles. With each other. With clients. With the system.
And when the time comes to break free, I weave quickly through the busy Manhattan streets homeward.
Reaching Brooklyn, my home burg, I jump off the subway and in and out of various stores buying provisions for the long weekend. Looking forward to the peace, the quiet, the stillness of my own digs. And perhaps a few moments set aside to plug away on my novels. Plural. Although I appear to be only plugging away on the one.
Tonight I watched the Spike Lee Documentary on Michael Jackson entitled Michael Jackson's Journey - From Motown to Off the Wall, which I found to be disappointing, albeit informative in spots. Amongst the repetitive and at times monotonous love-fest, Lee showed how Jackson's brilliance as a musician was often cramped by the racist industry in which he performed. He came up through the 1960s and 70s, and the music he performed, R&B and Disco, was considered black music and not of worth - until he broke out of Motown Records and into the Mainstream with Off the Wall which lead to Thriller, and that changed everything. Jackson in an old interview states that he hopes for a time when all people will see is the music and won't care if the performer/creator is black or white. He spent his life fighting for that vision.
Today, I listened to Lando tell his story of getting into college with a mixture of horror and admiration. He found the school in the newspaper, wrote down the address, and applied. This was after his school guidance counselor attempted to convince him to enlist in the military, because she didn't think he was "college material" for no other reason than he just happened to be black. Although I'd say his skin is more the color of milk chocolate than black. Another student, also "black" and even brighter than he, but without supportive parents and a woman, was told not to go to college as well. Now, years later, she has five kids and is on welfare. And he wonders what would have happened if she'd been encouraged to pursue a college education? This was the 1970s. Not the 50s or the 60s. The 70s. When the Jackson 5 was topping the charts. I'm horrified and feel an overwhelming urge to jump in a time machine, hunt down his guidance counselor and wring her scrawny neck. See how much power guidance counselors can wield? But more importantly, how insidious and destructive racism truly is? I am reminded daily of this fact. Think of how much better our lives, our world would be, if we were all color blind and race didn't matter? If we could see the person, and not the racial features?
At the end of this story, he tells me that Affirmative Action is necessary - because without it, people of color would never get ahead. I respond that I agree, my issue is not with Affirmative Action but with the implementation which unfortunately has become increasingly bureaucratic over time and a bit of a racket for the politicians.
All day long, I hear stories of people's battles. With each other. With clients. With the system.
And when the time comes to break free, I weave quickly through the busy Manhattan streets homeward.
Reaching Brooklyn, my home burg, I jump off the subway and in and out of various stores buying provisions for the long weekend. Looking forward to the peace, the quiet, the stillness of my own digs. And perhaps a few moments set aside to plug away on my novels. Plural. Although I appear to be only plugging away on the one.
Tonight I watched the Spike Lee Documentary on Michael Jackson entitled Michael Jackson's Journey - From Motown to Off the Wall, which I found to be disappointing, albeit informative in spots. Amongst the repetitive and at times monotonous love-fest, Lee showed how Jackson's brilliance as a musician was often cramped by the racist industry in which he performed. He came up through the 1960s and 70s, and the music he performed, R&B and Disco, was considered black music and not of worth - until he broke out of Motown Records and into the Mainstream with Off the Wall which lead to Thriller, and that changed everything. Jackson in an old interview states that he hopes for a time when all people will see is the music and won't care if the performer/creator is black or white. He spent his life fighting for that vision.
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Date: 2016-09-03 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-04 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 08:50 pm (UTC)My privilege made me say (to myself), "Just who do you think you're talking to, Lady?" While a bunch of other, more compliant, kids figured she must know what she was talking about. I always keep "question authority" in the back of my mind, even when I AM the authority. But lots of people don't. Given how violently authority can react when questioned, this kind of thinking is dangerous for some people, so I can't blame them.
I like to think that things have changed, because I've dealt with some amazing, dedicated college counselors and know how important high schools take the college launch around here, especially in schools whose populations are struggling. But San Francisco is not exactly Everywheresville, so I'm positive there are still lots of kids slipping through the cracks of hostility and indifference. Grrrrr.
P.S. My school failed to send my transcripts to UC until I went to the office and did it myself, which could have lost me my spot. There's all kinds of ways to get screwed if you're not on top of things. Sometimes it's not even ill intentions, just standard incompetence.