Hispanic Social Concerns

Last week, we were presented with a number of American Indian social concerns, including terrifyingly high suicide, alcoholism, TB, and Diabetes rates, among others. Now that we are reading Urrea, I took a quick peek into Mexican-American social concerns. In 2009, the median age of Hispanics in the U.S. was 27.4, as compared to 36.8 for the general population ("Hispanic"). This is indicative of shorter life spans among all Americans of Hispanic descent. In addition, the average income for Hispanics in 2008 was $37,913, down from previous years, the poverty rate was 23.2%, and about a third of Hispanics did not have health insurance ("Hispanic"). These numbers have continued to dwindle (and in the case of the poverty rate, skyrocket) due to the recession.

Perhaps one of the biggest social concerns for Hispanic Americans, though, is education and career options. In 2009, a mere 13% of the Hispanic population had a Bachelor's degree or higher; only 12% or full-time college students were Hispanic in 2008 ("Hispanic"). And, although there were about 48.4 million Hispanics in America by July of 2009 and 69% were in the workforce, only 18% worked in management or professional occupations ("Hispanic"). Most work in service occupations, followed by sales, construction, and farming. 1.1 million are veterans from the armed forces ("Hispanic").

"Hispanic Americans By the Numbers." Infoplease.com. U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.

Lamenting Aspects of Loewen

As I was reading today's section of Loewen, one particular passage seemed to jump out at me. In reference to race relations he writes, "Money can be used to buy many things in our society, from higher SAT scores to the ability to swim, and African American, Hispanic, and Native American families lag in their access to all those things. Ultimately, money buys life itself, in the form of better nutrition and health care and freedom from danger and stress." (170) I am not sure if I fully agree with this statement. Doesn't an individual's access to quality education have more to do with overall success in "life itself" than these enumerated issues? He states this matter of opinion as matter-of-factly as if he is citing a primary source. His writings have proven primarily that opinion stated as fact is not to be trusted!

Earlier Loewen notes how whites acted towards blacks during the Reconstruction following the Civil War, "Attacking education was an important element of the white supremacists' program. ... 'mobs of the baser classes at intervals and in all parts of the South occasionally burned school buildings and churches used as schools, flogged teachers or drove them away, and in a number of instances murdered them.'" (160) These white supremacists knew how to effectively stifle the black population and prevent them from achieving any measure of success. The key was education.

N.A. Presentations

For the most part, I found the presentations about different facets of Native American culture last week very interesting. I was reminded of the white ethnocentrism Loewen talks about during several of the presentations. In particular, the fact that something like 60% of 19th century drugs had contributions from traditional Native American remedies is HUGE. Why isn't that in the textbooks? Ethnocentrism explains much.

I was also intrigued by the Native American art even though I had never heard of any of the artists. I especially liked Ernie Pepion's paintings. Much like with the non-white artists of Alexie's "Totem Sonnets," I was made to realize how unintentionally ethnocentric and blind I can be. Most of the books I read, songs I listen to, and artwork I admire are created by white authors and artists. It makes me want to broaden my horizons.

Reading Urrea's Six Kinds of Sky also has me wanting to broaden my perspective. I have never been to Mexico, am rarely in impoverished communities, and don't tend to delve much into other cultures/socioeconomic classes in general. Both Alexie and Urrea are opening my eyes to many modern realities I was previously unaware of while Loewen has opened my eyes to the past. There are many mistakes that have been made such as the concealing of the Native American genocide after the fact and conveniently leaving out Columbus, Helen Keller, and Woodrow Wilson's true identities. I don't want my generation to be like that, and I fear for our future as a nation if we continue in such a manner.

Presentations

I really enjoyed listening and watching the presentations from last Thursday. Nice work to all the groups that went, it will help me plan and organize my presentation for when I have to go. I really enjoyed the first group that went and presented on Native American Medicine. I thought you guys did a great job on explaining the evolvement of both physical and mental health in Native American Medicine. I thought that it was interesting that in the 19^th century 60% of medicine had influences from Native American medicine and also contained the same herbs that Native Americans used. I enjoyed learning about the Medicine Wheel and how it gave guidance for treatments, and also showed a balance of mental and physical health. I enjoyed learning about the possible connection between Alexie’s poems and the Native American Medicine Wheel. I thought the presentation on Native American Medicine lead right into the second presentation Native American Health concerns. It was interesting to learn that the Indian Health Service provides health care and insurance to 565 tribes. I was surprised to learn that some of the illnesses like diabetes, have been caused by Americans. I believe that we need to provide more help to Native American clinics to help repay them for the illnesses that we have brought upon them. I believe that all the presentations were very informational and all the groups provided great entertaining and engaging presentations.

Presentations

I learned so much from the presentations on Thursday that they left my mind spinning with tidbits of fascinating information as I walked out of class. However there were some pieces that really stuck out at me and I continued to think back on them long after class was over.
For example, I was intrigued by the idea that Alexie might be using the idea of the medicine wheel in his book of poems. If he is then it would mean even more then just a message to the people of America, inviting the readers to share the story he has to tell and challenging them to do something about it. If Alexie is using the medicine wheel you could infer that he is trying to bring balance back to America, heal her and make her whole and balanced again. (Or at least point out the need for this healing and at the end a challenge to do it.)
However, Alexie might also be using the medicine wheel unconsciously. What I mean is that he may be simply writing but the things upon which he is focusing could reveal somethings about Alexie that he never meant to be known. Of course a reader would have to understand how to use the medicine wheel in order to understand what it says about Alexie but that doesn't mean that it is not possible. For is it not obvious based on his writing that he needs more balance in his life (understandably because of the things that he has lived through and learned about his heritage.)
Anyway, I really enjoyed this presentation because of all of these ideas that it brought up for me.

Black Power Movement Lecture

Ph.D. candidate Marc Robinson gave us the pleasure of listening to his lecture entitled “The Black Power Movement on Campus: Student Activism and Black Studies”. In this lecture, Mr. Robinson gave an overview of the Black Power movement as it swept through American communities, including college campuses. While many assume that this movement was yet another that originated in the 1960s, Mr. Robinson claimed that roots for the movement could be found in as early as the 1950s with the beginning of Malcolm X’s career and the rise of other prominent Black Power leaders. Most prominent among the effects of the Black Power movement to college campuses was the formation of the Black Student Union, a group of students that still exists in high schools and colleges today. Students, both black and white, found ways to secure a more ethnically diverse faculty and the expansion of cultural studies to African American history (then called Black Studies). University presidents were sometimes locked into their offices with Black Student Union representatives until they signed documents that would help in reaching these goals. Violence was not unheard of within the movement, but Mr. Robinson wished to destroy the stereotype that African American students started the fights. Escalation of fear and threats led to the formation of gun clubs and many students carried weapons for fear of being killed. Sadly, these violence-oriented aspects of the Black Power movement become magnified in traditional history texts and they are often all that today’s students can remember about the movement.

The emphasis placed on the violence caused supposedly by black students is the exact same bias Loewen is trying to eradicate from textbooks. Blatant racism against African-Americans has taken one of the greatest movements in their history and twisted it into something seen as an atrocity or a tragedy. “The superstructure of racism has long outlived the social structure of slavery that generated it” (Loewen 144). Mr. Robinson said that the Black Power movement was once called the “evil turn” of the Civil Rights movement. Standing up for rights that are supposedly for all people is never evil. It is the perception that skin color dictates action that is evil. Textbooks and history courses hide the Black Power movement as if it is something that America is justifiably embarrassed about. What a contradiction! The supposed ideals of American society include equality, freedom, and something called inalienable rights, all of which were present in the pursuits of the Black Student Unions of the 1960s. This uprising can be seen as a triumph over evil rather than evil itself if only white society can admit to the Black Power movement as being an advocate for true justice. In the poem “Inside Dachau”, Sherman Alexie tells the story of a German friend admitting shame over Dachau and then questioning the existence of death camps in the US, death camps that are hidden rather than learned from. Alexie replies, “Yes, Mikael and Veronika, you ask simple / questions which are ignored, season after season” (Alexie 33-34). In the case of the Black Power movement, Americans mistake a symbol of liberty for a tragedy and hide what should be proudly shown. The simple question to be asked here is why can we not accept that liberty is an ongoing battle and acknowledge the champions who are fighting it?

Presentation Evaluations

The group who presented Native American social concerns last week did an excellently thorough job in addressing issues central to both past and present groups of Indians. They highlighted the increased suicide rates on reservations, the increased likelihood of a young person growing up on a reservation to abuse of alcohol, high levels of poverty among Native Americans, and low health service availability. I almost wish that we would have viewed this presentation before reading all of Alexie's poetry because knowing the severity of these social issues within the Native American culture allows me to read his text more sympathetically.

When Alexie writes a poem such as "Diabetes" which outlines the disparity of the Native American population in their struggle with health problems and a lack of adequate health care options, he uses his personal story as an illustration of a larger social evil. He concludes this poem with the lines, "what/the bread conatins is/what contains me"(44). A literal reading of such a poem would suggest that Alexie is concerned with the glucose levels in carbohydrates such as bread and sugar; however, he is reaching for a concept which is more symbolic than that as well. Food stamps do not typically provide a diabetic with an excellent choice of appropriate dietary options. His disease and race therefore define his quality of life. He did not choose either one.