ISU post #6

" I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today."
-Martin Luther King Jr

 This quote is a part of a speech by a famous and well known freedom fighter, Martin Luther King Jr. This speech describes the dream of Martin, it invokes the  Declaration of Independence. By speaking the way Martin did he educated, inspired, and informed people throughout America about racism. His ideas reflected really well through his speech due to his first hand experience of the mistreatment and exploitation of the African Americans. He wanted to make sure that racism was stopped and people are educated about the social issue. His goals were seen within his full speech and he did a great job on acting on the issue of African Americans being oppressed. He received such a great response by several different forms of media and people. Similar to the novel, The Help written by Kathryn Stockett the characters such as Aibileen and Minny were done by being treated poorly. They decided to stop such an unjust issue by expressing their feelings and sharing their stories through a novel. Similar to Martin they had such ambition to go and do something about the situation. They believed that many people should be educated on this and understand that racism needs to be abolished. Though they weren't famous freedom fighters in the novel, they still had great success on letting those who were oblivious to racism be informed about it.

ISU Post #5

The novel The Help written by Kathryn Stockett, tells a story about black maids working in white Southern homes in the 1960s. Aibileen is one of the African American maids in the novel and she shares her experiences as a person of colour. She expresses the way she feels and how she is treated in the novel. The Help also shows the ways that revolve the segregation and mistreatment of the African Americans that live and work in a white peoples town.

In this picture it represents one of the situations that were happening in 1960s, the time in which the story in the novel was written in. The fountains labeled white and colored are similar to the ones in reality at the time. There was separation of the use of things in public or at home at the time between the people of colour and the whites. White people didn't like to share the things they used with the people of color for many reasons. Some believed they carried diseases others thought really low of them and believed they shouldn't be using the same things as them.

This picture relates to the novel because one of the characters named Aibileen, who faces a situation similar to this related to the use of bathrooms. She wasn't allowed to use the same bathroom as the people she worked for. She would have to go outside to a dirty little place similar to present day portable toilets but wooden, more uncomfortable, and appeared extremely damaged. The picture also shows the fountain of the people of colour, more destroyed and cracked. It also refers to the damaged bathroom described in the novel. Furthermore, Aibileen was  accused of carrying diseases just because she was different coloured and an African American.In the end,the picture represents one of the ways white people discriminated the African Americans in The Help.

ISU Post #4

I choose this quote to represent on the social issue of racism in the novel, The Help. In this quote Shirley Chisholm describes that racism is such a common thing seen within the world that it has become invisible. The idea of this quote is seen throughout the novel in several ways. For instance, Aibileen , a African American maid, had been treated poorly for most of her life. When a white woman named Skeeter talked to her casually Aibileen was shocked and believed she would get in trouble for even speaking to Skeeter. Aibileen was often caught up with doing the right things and making sure she pleased the woman she worked for that she didn't realize how poorly she was being treated. Thus making racism become so invisible to her.

Another example of this quote is seen in this novel was in the character Skeeter. In the beginning of the novel Skeeter was also oblivious to the racist acts that people such as Aibileen faced. She'd seen the African American work for her family and had got used to them and didn't pay attention to the discrimination they faced. Eventually, Skeeter  realized what was actually happening to them and how they were being treated. Furthermore, Skeeter was more educated than many other characters and decided to help the African Americans. Even from the beginning Skeeter would made an effort to make conversation with them. Being a white woman Skeeter didn't care about the difference of colour between her and The Help.She helped have their voices be heard discarding opinions of others, even her family. At the end of the novel Skeeter succeeds in helping the voices of many be heard and raise awareness about the issue of racism.    

ISU Post #3

In the documentary , "A Conversation About Growing Up Black" , it describes the issues in which young black men experienced throughout their lives in America. The black men interviewed  talk about many racist situations in which they had come across and the fact that the racist actions were extremely repetitive. They talked about the definition of racism to them and examples of it. For instance, a boy in the video named Shaquille shared his story of a situation. He explained that he once had to cross the street because he didn't want to scare the white lady that was on the street.Though this situation is small it still had strong racial content involved.Others in the documentary mentioned situations involving police officers and how they've been stopped for no apparent reasons while other white people were walking with them. They mention several issues in which they found to be really discriminating and racist that now have become a daily thing for them to come across.

This documentary relates to the novel , The Help because of the major racial issues that the characters in the novel and documentary face. Towards the end of the novel many of the characters such as Aibileen and Minny shared their experiences and everyday lives as The Help .They expressed their feelings towards their race being oppressed by the white people. By having their stories shared Miss Skeeter, a white girl, wrote a book about many situations to raise more awareness about this issue of discrimination.  This is similar to the documentary since the characters featured in the documentary also share their thoughts and experiences to their viewers. Both the characters face similar problems of oppression and want to do something about it and show people that racism exists. They live their lives by being hatred due to their race and find it extremely wrong.

Both the novels expressed strong ways in which certain races are being oppressed. They show how much of an extent of this kind of act they face, their reactions, and how they feel towards it. The documentary shows that racism still exists in present time and in one of the most "powerful" countries in the world. The novel shows the slow change of racist acts and the awareness it reaches towards the end. The question then remains, why do so many black people still experience discrimination today after so much progress in civil rights reform in the last four decades (especially in America) ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/opinion/a-conversation-about-growing-up-black.html?_r=0

Slam ISU post #2

Disregarding humans because of the color of their skin
Heckling people for the religion they believe in
Centuries of advancement as a species but we still keep repeating the same sin
No two people are alike that's the beauty of this place
So why Look at someone and judge them because of their face
Physically different but we are all part of the race
We Look to extend the dream of equality
Yet continue to live in a world filled with frivolity

- Gurleen Sandhu

This poem is written in relation to the social issue in the novel, "The Help".  It talks  about current discrimination  issues that still occur. Furthermore, it mentions the development of the human race and how far it really has come but some how society keeps repeating the same issues. It even shows that the same issue that has been going on from the period in which the novel is written (1960s), is still occurring and hasn't been stopped. It shows how little of an effort the human race makes in order  to stop such injustice actions.