Would You Have Your Wedding on a Plantation?

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          I was reading one of the articles for homework from BBC that had some interesting quotes I think could be elaborated on. I searched up plantations in Charlotte and Google described it as "historic lush gardens with zoos". Very interesting


         "Kameelah Martin, Director of African American Studies at the College of Charleston echoes Eaves when she says: "We would never go to, say, the 9/11 Memorial and host a big party or have a wedding.""

      
        --- I agree. When we see 9/11 you can consider it a symbol of amazing bravery and the lives of those who were killed, but at the end of the day the dead are dead. And celebrating *your* life is not some act of kindness or honor. 


           "When asked why, 400 years on, we should still talk about slavery, Martin says: "Maybe your ancestors didn't participate, maybe you have no connection to it directly. [But] in 2019 we are still dealing with the implications and the impact and the racial disparities that are a result of that way of thinking, of that way of life."


        ---- I rarely know how to answer this question but I think I'll use this from now on. We interact with the effects of slavery everyday, so why not talk about it?

"They wouldn't go to Auschwitz or Dachau and expect to hear a happy narrative and walk away cheerful, because they have an understanding that this was a place of death and exploitation and forced labour. A slave plantation was just that, even though, yes, this was someone's home."

---- Mr. Gaines brought up the idea that plantations are conventionally pretty as opposed to camps. This is interesting. In my opinion, you can find other pretty places. This country is huge. If you want the scenery a plantation is not necessary. And this isn't HGTV. The slaves didn't just think of cute ideas to cultivate a garden. It's forced labor.

"This is a place of labour and great suffering, but this was also a place of family," Neale says. "Not only for the Middletons but for the enslaved. I think as long as we respect the history, we can also use it as a place for someone to create their own memory out here.”

---- Yeah like I said before, that family aspect of slavery usually came from forced breeding. Not to invalidate anybody's existence, but I'm pretty sure the babies and families that were created - and destroyed - by slavery would consider this a place to create happy memories. I don't think marriages will remove the hundreds of years of negativity. It can't outweigh them.

I think this is a nuanced discussion. What I see often is the argument that this can honor the dead. But in my opinion, both sides need to remember that the dead are dead. We can say what they may or may not have wanted, but unfortunately we'll never know. I think ultimately out of respect for slave descendents and those who suffered in general, these plantations should remain strictly for historical purposes. When we try to take positive aspects of it, we become desensitized to the brutality they represent. Slavery can't just be swept aside.

Kid Who Was Punished for Wearing Dreads at School, Invited to Oscars

By: Rafeeat Bishi

         Lots of good things happened at the Oscars this past Sunday (albeit it was a bit boring at times). While the nominees were mostly white (again), Bong Joon Ho won Best Picture and three other awards with his team from Parasite, a Korean film about class, wealth, and society. It's the first foreign film to win Best Picture and the first film not in English to win. Taika Waititi also became the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar.

         Something more subtle happened though. DeAndre Arnold, a Black teen from Texas was told that he would be banned from walking during his high school graduation if he wore dreadlocks. He was given in-school suspension and would continue unless his dreads were cut shorter to meet the dress code.

         He was invited as a guest with Matthew A. Cherry, former football player who won Best Animated Short for the movie "Hair Love", which embraces Black hair and all its attributes.

         I thought it was perfect for Cherry to invite DeAndre considering the message of his film. I wonder what his school is saying now.

         I find that he is given the opportunity to be on such a big stage, with his dreads and all, is a good thing not only for Arnold but for those who think that Black hair and culture itself is "unprofessional" or "informal".

         People like Cherry who are promoting positive representations of Black hair and its features can help younger generations internalize it. Pertaining to the question asked in class, I think that this is what makes me optimistic for the future. People recognizing the implicit bias we all have and using creative ways, such as film, to tackle it.

Being White and "Hood" - Blindspotting

By: Rafeeat Bishi

         I watched a movie a while ago called Blindspotting that I thought related to our conversations about  non-black people being in hip-hop, saying the n-word, or people in general being apart of lifestyles that aren't necessarily theirs.

         In this movie, two best friends, Collin and Miles  are forced to confront the racial dynamics of their friendship after one witnesses the shooting death of a black man by a white cop.

         Miles is white and wears grills, listens to rap, has a black girlfriend and speaks in AAVE. He's a native of Oakland. The movie also talks about how Oakland is becoming gentrified, and he is one of the biggest critics of this change.

        Throughout the movie, his girlfriend and Collin refer to him as n*gga. It's not talked about. Often times, Miles feels as if he needs to prove his "hardness" because he is white. He even complained about it being his biggest struggle (-_-). (I find that funny since many black people want to avoid fitting a stereotype. Collin just got out of jail, and is trying to stay out of trouble.

        In the climax of the movie, Collin confronts Miles because he beat up a black dude at a party after a black dude assumed he was a poser. They get in a heated argument and Miles judges Collin for not acting hard enough (he may even say Black), and being a somewhat coward. Collin was attempting to explain how the racial tensions of society make it hard for him to fit that stereotype, and how one slip up means jail for ever. It was a very disturbing encounter, and in the heat of the moment Collin called Miles n*gga again and asked him to repeat it. 

        Mind you, not once in the entire movie had Miles used the n-word. Ever. He was all slang, and the grills and the music but he never said it. He always used "breh/bruh".

        It was interesting because when Collin asked Miles why he didn't say it, Miles couldn't explain why he didn't (or shouldn't) use the n-word. And Collin asked him if there was something wrong with that.

       I didn't really know what to take from it, but I think it prompts a good discussion. It also made me wonder if it was Collin's way of proving to Miles that despite their environment, they're not the same. Collin says that Miles is the epitome of a black stereotype, and that he is more of a "n*gga" than Collin himself. This guy had been all about "the culture" but never once thought to use the n-word. Is it on a case-by-case basis? Why can't other non-black people seem to do the same? He wasn't a poser, it was the life he knew and he wasn't putting on a front. Yet he showed restraint

          Here's a link to the scene for more context. This was a very good movie to watch especially on the topic that we discussed in class, I'm pretty sure it's on Starz (or if you want a link lmk). The scene can be found on youtube (it's blocked on chromebooks) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-5uS8fYMH0