The task at hand in Freshman Composition for the past week has been to write an essay. Students were told to pick one out of five essay questions to address. My essay question was "Identify common depiction patterns of Blacks, Latinos and/or Native Americans. Do you see parallels between Black, Latino, and Native American stereotypes perpetuated in U.S. culture?" Normally, I would look at this assignment as just another essay for school. I've never actually took the time to focus on planning out my essays before I wrote them. My goal was to just write the essay and get it done. Through the lessons that Dr. Diaz has taught during class, and the homework assignments that she has given I am slowly but surely learning the value of planning. She has given numerous assignments in which we learn new ways of planning and structuring our essays such as the Toulmin strategy. I appreciate all the time and effort that Dr. Diaz has put into teaching us effective planning. The tools and methods that she provided us with are useful and have made the writing process a whole lot smoother. Mapping out all of your thoughts every step of the way helps to make your ideas and points come across clearer  I also think that the essay questions that she provided are interesting. Writing about topics that catch your interest also make the writing process fun. Surprisingly, I am actually excited to write my essay and get Dr. Diaz's feedback.

My Expectations of the Course

Up until this point in my education, my studies of African-Native Americans and Afro-Latinos have been very limited. From what I have witnessed throughout my middle school and high school years, they are not topics that are given a substantial amount of focus or attention. 

Unfortunately, they are two cultures that are overlooked in today's society. My hopes in taking this course are to learn more about the two cultures in depth. I want to develop a better understanding of the African-Native American culture in particular, considering the fact that I am an African-Native American myself. I am interested in learning what parts these two cultures play in today's society. I would like to know more about the origins, the people, the beliefs and the traditions and so much more. What are the common grounds that these cultures share? What are the differences? What sets them apart from all the other cultures? What political struggles have they overcome? Where did the cultures originate? It is my hope that this course enlightens me on every single aspect of the cultures from food to music to politics and religion.  As a Television Production major I am also particularly excited to see if any contributions to todays media have been made by the African-Native Americans and Afro-Latinos. One of my career goals is to help change the way that African Americans are viewed in todays media. By the end of the semester, I am hoping that the knowledge that I have gained in the course helps me to fulfill a newly added career goal of putting a new spotlight on some of the less popular cultures such as the African-Native Americans and the Afro-Latinos.

Reggaeton

Reggaeton is an urban form of music which has its roots in Reggae en Español and other forms of Latin and Caribbean music. The ground base of reggaeton materialized in Panama via Jamaica. The genre was shaped in Puerto Rico where it became known as Reggaeton (Wikipedia). In the reading "Pidieron Cacao: Latinidad and Black Identity in Reggaeton"basically shows how reggaeton artist Don Omar, uses his talented skills to convey messages about black pride and the Afro-Latino culture.

Don Omar is one of the most loved and recognized Reggaeton singers in Puerto
Rico whose his popularity is quickly spreading throughout the current musical
landscape along with the increasing popularity of the genre. Although he is often charged with promoting sex and violence through his lyrics, it is his sensitivity to the emotions behind his reality that sets him apart from other Reggaeton artists.

I never really understood the music of reggaeton but i somehow managed to listen to it regardless because it seemed pretty cool to me. For young music fans in general, reggaetón represents an urban experience narrated through poverty, violence and racism like that of much rap and hip hop, which enjoys extreme popularity among youth of all racial and ethnic groups (Rudolph, 32). Now i definitely understand the connection that reggaeton has with African American and Latino culture. Reggaeton is basically African dialects with a mix of the Spanish language.

Works cited:

http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/omar_don/artist.jhtml#biographyEnd

"Pidieron Cacao: Latinidad and Black Identity in Reggaeton of Don Omar" by Jennifer Domino Rudolph Spring 2011

Ignorance is Bliss!

A regular day at Howard University seemed to have turned bitter in
seconds as I was sitting in my dorm on my laptop web surfing and I came across
a very ignorant and disturbing video. This video happened to be on a social
network website known as Facebook. “What BYU students know about black people!”
happens to be the title of the video and it consisted of a white man disguised
as a black man going around on the campus of Brigham Young University asking
students questions about African Americans and black history month. As a
result, majority of the answers were ignorant and happened to have come from the
ethnicity of Caucasian people. What I found really disturbing was that when the
question “How do you celebrate black history month?” was asked, you heard
answers like “I just eat fried chicken and drink grape juice” or “listen to
Jay-Z for the whole month”. With responses like these, I seem to question
whether stereotypes against any culture such as blacks and/or Latinos actually have
reasons to exist.

Does stereotyping have any reasons to exist? In this defense, stereotypes have their reasons as to why they exist because they are an oversimplification of the truth and many exist because of misconceptions, misunderstandings, and unfounded assumptions. They happen to spread because of propaganda, that being anything from movies, advertisements, commercials, etc… This depiction has brought many stereotypes amongst the culture because
most people believe what they see and hear whether it’s a rumor or not; rumors
hold weight believe it or not. Another reason stereotyping exist is because “categorization” saves time and makes it easier to predict the social world in general. According to Wikipedia, sociologists say that even though stereotyping is inexact, it is an efficient way to mentally organize large blocks of information. Psychologists say that categorization is an essential human capability because it helps us simplify, predict, and organize our world.

"Nigger-Reecan Blues!"

Willie Perdomo is a Nuyorican poet and childrens book author who seemed to express his feelings about his Afro-Latino race through his work. Perdomo decided to take things onto the next level when he composed a poem called "Nigger-Reecan Blues". This poem really made me understand how people view Afro-Latinos especially being that it was of personal experience.

Perdomo starts the poem off by saying:
"Hey, Willie. What are you,man?
I am.
Boricua? Moreno? Que?
No, silly. You know what i mean: What are you?
I am you. You are me. We the same. Can't you see our veins drinking the same blood?"

As you can see this unidentfied voice happens to be challenging the ethnicity of Willie as a Puerto-Rican. But, Willie happened to turn an uncomfortable situation into one that isnt of ignorance. Perdomo replying with the "I am you. You .... the same blood?" goes to show how he wanted the person to realize that throughtout all the labeling and ignorance of society, Afro-Latinos are just the same as anyone else. It shouldnt have to be the color of skin to determine where your actually from but it should be way beyond that.

Many people are actually thankful for a poem like this because they faced something like this in life and the fact that this issue is starting to become noticed because of this poem is refreshing. Just the name alone shows that this is something that cant really be seen as happy especially with the word "blues".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7An4hEmRHTk Here is the actual video for visual insight.

Afro-Latinos? Since When!!!?

"Afro-Latinos are imposters!", "Afro-Latinos do not exist!", these are the type of comments that are said when Afro-Latinos are mentioned in such things. What I failed to realize is, why are people not accepting the fact that this race is real and is out there all over but are just never noticed? I personally think its just upsetting that society is responsible for corrupting the minds of most people and filling them with complete ignorance.

" Afro-Latinos: La Historia Que Nunca Nos Contaron" (Afro-Latinos The "Untaught" Story is a documentary television series that helps celebrate and show the culture of people in Latin America of African descent. Statistically, there are 2oo million Afro-Americans in Latin America who do not have political or economic power. The major issue with this is that Afro-Latinos are not accepted and are considered invisible because of the color of there skin. If this isnt ignorance then I don't know what is! This series is an interesting and helpful way of understanding because they really show how African dialects are mixed with Spanish language. Many similarities between both races are shown in such a profound way.

I think that if people were just willing on getting to know someone and/or get a little insight from their background instead of being so quick to judge right off the back, then things wouldnt be so hard to accept between these two races. Being that this situation receives little too no attention publicly shows that this problem has yet surfaced many minds of people.


Works cited:
http://www.afrolatinos.tv/

Interdisciplinary Research

In Gloria Anzaldua's excerpt Borderlands/La Frontera, she comes across an issue with Mexicans and the U.S Mexican border. Mexicans and others are considered inhabitants because of this imaginary borderland. This line is known to separate the "safe and unsafe" places. Gloria stated in this excerpt that "the only "legitimate" inhabitants are those in power, the whites and those who align themselves with the whites". Because of this, Mexicans and others considered the whites to be "normal" therefore most of these Mexicans immigrated to the United States just to get a feeling of what its like to be considered an American, normal and to have "power". The fact that these people would do anything to fit into this type of norm even if it meant leaving there own country goes to show how being labeled can either make you or break you. In the book, Border People: Life and Society in the U.S-Mexico Borderlands by Oscar Martinez, borderlanders live in a unique human environment shaped by physical distance from central areas and constant exposure to transnational processes. Borderlanders are singular in their history, outlook, behavior and their lifestyles deviates from the norms of central Mexico and the interior United States.

Works Cited:

Martínez, Oscar J. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Tucson: University of Arizona, 1994. Print.