All Black Everything

Earlier this year, while I was searching for a blog for a to comment on, I came across a blog from Carolyn Arden (a student in my class).This blog focused on how music was used in Vietnam protests as an anti-war tool.(For more on this blog click here.) My comment was based on how few artists today actually focus on something that has to do with social or political protests. Valerie Caeser (another student in my class) gave examples of some bands that do focus on controversial topics, yet none of those bands were especially mainstream. Although still popular, I was focusing on artists that would be on the top of the itunes charts, or played on mainstream radio. Today I came across a song that will be released in a new Lupe Fiasco album, Lasers, called "All Black Everything". Looking at lyrics to this song proved how wrong I am. The song is about a dream Lupe Fiasco had in which there was no racism. One verse goes:

"Uh, and we ain’t get exploited
White man ain’t feared so he did not destroy it
We ain’t work for free, see they had to employ it
Built it up together so we equally appointed
First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Constitution written by the W.E.B. Du Bois
Were no reconstructions, Civil War got avoided
Little black Sambo grows up to be a lawyer
Extra extra on the news stands
Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan
Malcolm Little dies as a old man
Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him
Followed by Bill O’Reilly who read from the Quran
President Bush sends condolences from Iran
Where FOX News reports live
That Ahmadinejad wins Mandela peace prize"

I found it fascinating that there was mainstream rap that involved politics, and history. I know that other rap, of course, has commentary on racism, but I was surprised to see a song that didn't have just a verse on racism, but dedicated the whole song to the history of racism. Lupe raps of reconstructions, which was the period of time after the civil war that led to segregation among blacks and whites among other things. I believed historical references such as this one were non-existent in mainstream music. A few lines I found particularly interesting:

"I know it’s just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can’t it be?
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have"


To me this was particularly interesting because instead of talking about what was, he addresses what could be. He also is acknowledging that now, even in our progressive society with a black president, racism is still everywhere. By rapping that we can make change in our "future" suggests to me that we still have much to work on. What I noticed from Carolyn A.'s blog post was that the songs were obviously referring to a problem with Vietnam War, and with music now that talks about racism, artists like Lupe are making it clear that racism is still a very important issue, although sometimes forgotten by the public.

Could New Trier High School Hold Us Back?

While on the New Trier website to get my homework assignment from Blackboard, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a picture of Rahm Emanuel under the "news section" in my Google search, so I decided to take a quick peak at the link. The article, from the "NBC Chicago" column "Ward Room", describes how Gery Chico, a Chicago mayoral candidate, has been criticizing Emanuel for not being in touch with the people of Chicago because he is a graduate of New Trier H.S. If you want more on the short article Click Here. It seems strange that a political candidate could be disregarded not for his qualifications and credentials, but for his privileged upbringing. New Trier is often criticized for being a school full of out-of-touch spoiled brats. When I make new friends from other schools they are often surprised at how "normal" I am, as if attending New Trier would completely disconnect a person from mainstream society. Although I believe Chico is wrong by suggesting that Rahm Emanuel is not qualified to govern Chicago because of his high school, and not his policies and experience, he does have a point. Going to New Trier actually does separate one from real society at times. Since I have gone to New Trier I have heard a lot about a "bubble" that separates us from real world problems. Although all of us at New Trier know about poverty, it is unlikely that many of us have actually experienced it. New Trier students clearly do have many other problems, but most of us are not exposed to the issues faced by our peers in other socio-economic groups. In Rahm Emanuel's case, he is being discredited for his accomplishments in politics, because he graduated New Trier years ago. If he did not leave the "bubble" while in high school, he surely has now.

This article brought me to thinking that throughout our lives, the fact that we attended New Trier might actually hold us back. For instance, although many New Trier students have participated in Teach for America, the sister of a good friend, who graduated from New Trier and went on to a prestigious university, was turned down for the Teach for America program despite her qualifications, because this competitive program only wanted to hire graduates who "had faced struggles". Although many New Trier students live cushy lifestyles, many have serious problems in their lives, and it does not mean they cannot understand struggles that are not their own.

Also, going to a school like New Trier makes getting into colleges more difficult. Our GPA and ACT scores are compared to fellow New Trier students. New Trier undeniably has many hard-working, dedicated students, and a decile ranking at New Trier represents a different level of competition from many other high schools.

Undeniably, New Trier has many benefits. Great facilities and great teachers are just two of the examples of privilege at New Trier. I am not saying it is wrong for colleges to compare applicants to other students within the same high school, or that we have not been exposed to the struggles of many of our peers. I do though, find it fascinating that New Trier, which on the surface can be described as a "fantasy school", also has some drawbacks.

Colorblind

I just got my first college guidebook, "The Princeton Review Best 373 Colleges", and while reading a variety of statistics, on a variety of schools, I came across something that caught my attention. Each school lists the percent of each race and ethnicity that attends the school. Out of all the things to document, I found listing the students' race and ethnicity out of place. Other stats and information were certainly relevant, such as: selectivity percentages, financial facts, deadlines, academic ratings, and some descriptions of the school. To go through the process of documenting ethnicity seems strange. What could be the purpose of documenting the ethnicity of students? These statistics are probably closely scrutinized by colleges and universities. I have heard that minorities have a better chance to get into schools, because schools want to diversify. To me, this seems very regressive. By determining the selection of students for a college based on their race, are colleges actually being racist, even if their intentions are good? In the "document" we saw in class of parents requesting to ban "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", the parents claimed that in the progressive times that we are in, literature like "Huck Finn" is offensive and should not be taught. Although the world has progressed in terms of accepting all ethnicities, there is still a focus and attention drawn to race and ethnicity. Will our world, can our world, ever be completely colorblind?