Research Update Blog 5

When I began my investigation of the four lynching cases in DeKalb County, I could have never imaged how tedious this project would be. I started my search using major internet servers like Proquest, Google, and Galileo. I found that most of the archives of newspapers that announced lynching cases were buried deeper in the web. I was not able to get any specific information on the DeKalb lynching from these sites. However, I did gain knowledge of the racial climate that existed during the nineteenth century and the use of propaganda that supported the mob mentality. From my reading of race riots, I concluded that most of the mob executions of black people were not recorded and most of the victims were not issued death certificates. The murder victims of race riots were largely underestimated and therefore much of the information surrounding these cases was much more difficult to find.  I had decided to surf the dark web in order to unearth web links that were not supported by big internet servers.

After using the resources on the dark web, I found information about the two named lynching victims in DeKalb County. Philip had been a taxi driver who was accused of taking white women as fair. Rubert had a wife and children and was accused of raping a woman who people called “Miss Madeline”. I had also unearthed newsreels from the Decatur library and found primary sources of these events. However, I did not use any of the information about the cases in my research paper. Instead, I turned to memoirs, journals and books written by the authors of the Civil Rights era. I hadn’t even remembered how to search for books in the library. I had been staring at one book shelf for about twenty minutes when the librarian came over and gave me a much needed lesson on how to interpret the book code correctly. Admittedly, it was slightly embarrassing, but after that my library search went much faster. I narrowed down my research topic and gathered most of information from only two race psychology books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV1MWVwrkE0

Get Out

 

I had gone to see Jordan Peele’s movie, Get Out in the theatre during the weekend of its release.

The experience of seeing a box office film from inside the cinema is much more engaging than viewing the film on a monitor in class. The last film I saw before Get Out was Sausage Party, starring Seth Rogen, and although I am not a frequent cinema patron, that film was not worth the trip to the theater. I actually had a particular interest in the film before its release and reviews. I was already a fan of the show Key & Peele, where Jordon Peele and Keegan-Michael Key used witty satire to address real social constructs. The script for Get Out was innovative, and spoke to the millennial while addressing the relation between the race commentary of the 21^st century and the ideology of slavery. Peele suggested that the new approach to racism was culture appropriation and reveals the irony of breeding Black Americans to be physically stronger and eventually more athletic.

I think the movie definitely falls under the “horror” genre but also featured elements of dark comedy and light observational humor. The film’s soundtrack was scored in a very heightened and eerie way, similar to horror movies. The film also used symbolism to alert the audience of a foreshadowed fear. I thought the soundtrack for the film was ingenuous and appealed to a younger audience to fear something more familiar. Black youth today have a societal angst about the white suburban area, and Peele captured that feeling really well. I was relieved that Peele wrote the protagonist Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to have a basic survival instinct, in contrast to nonsensical characters in horror films; the archetypes that usually get themselves captured or killed quite easily. I was very impressed with the plot revelation and the ending. I could not have predicted what the antagonists planned to do with the Chris. It turns out the family sold black bodies in order to perform a brain transplant and send their consciousness to a “sunken place”. I mean the plot couldn’t be more metaphorical in relation to the mental enslavement of black people today. The ending scene was a complete shock for me. I could hear the entire audience gasp when the police showed up to the scene of Chris over a bloodied Rose (Allison Williams). Because of the present social climate and racial tension from police brutality against blacks, the audience has assumed that ultimately Chris would be shot or imprisoned. It was a nice surprise to see his best friend, a TSA agent, step out of the police car.

The Films that age like wine

Film is a historical language, a reflection of culture. Many pioneers of the film industry debated if film was meant for simple entertainment or for the purpose of sharing truth around the world. I believe the best films imitate life and appeal to emotion. My favorite film genres in no particular order of importance are drama, mystery, and neo noir. The added subgenre of comedy and fantasy in a film makes the plot more memorable and well-paced. Drama films allow me to cry, laugh, and connect all in one setting. I’d much prefer an intimate plot that centers around the character build rather than a story that centers on the plot. I’m usually aware of foreshadowing scenes and can easily predict a film’s outcome if the plot is too mediocre. The ability to identify with the characters in a film through emotion is what leaves me with a lasting impression and makes a film impactful. Influential films are able to speak to the posterity and will be relevant decades later.

Neo Noir films were essentially a subgenre of noir and after the Hay’s Codes were removed from film, directors like Curtis Hanson, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino arguably created some of the most polished original scripts with innovative editing techniques and prestigious actors that have come to represent American film. This film movement mirrored Italian neorealism, where the settings were authentic and the plot was centered on the conditions of everyday life, and people who did not resemble the Hollywood stars from an earlier era. I appreciate the raw dialogue in neo noir film and the combination of absurdity and distinct actors that represent an entire subculture. Mystery films have the most energetic pacing and intricate story lines that are hard to be duplicated. This genre is better able to reveal or to hide information from the audience, which allows the film to be unpredictable. Honestly who doesn’t like to be fooled or surprised? These films have heightened climatic points and are able to leave the audience engaged up until the end of the film, and if you’re like me-you won’t be able to stop talking about it.

The Window

I feel as though the more I age the less possibility I have to be and do the things I might desire. The ability to recreate you is essential but when will it cease to matter? When are you defined by the things you create and the goals you accomplish? The window for this time gets smaller every day. When I am trapped by my competing thoughts and my body is confined to the bed I see this window getting smaller. I feel a sinking feeling in my gut when I imagine all that I have not done and desperation to rid myself of imperfections and obstacle that hinder me from moving forward. The key is to keep moving. The tragedy is that no one tells you for some career paths and awards that you should start at the age of three to be at the same professional standard as everyone else who competes with you. You don’t realize that to go to space you need a bachelor’s degree  and 1.000 hours of flight school so you should probably know this your junior year of high school. If you are less than 5’2 and see at 20/100 uncorrected level you are already unable to achieve this. There is a societal pressure to accomplish certain things at a standard age level and so no one wants to go backwards or start a new career at an older age. This makes you less desirable than other candidates. I never want to be held at such constraints. The importance of self-actualization is dimmed by the demands to meet the expectations of a given perception of a successful life. Every day the window gets smaller and there is less time to improve your existential understanding, to understand your spiritual beliefs or nihilism, to experience things that give you a deeper comprehension of life and appreciation. I wonder if keeping up with the world will result in a quicker individual death and we will lose our sense of what is real and true.

The hardest pill to swallow

Social Justice is a difficult pill to swallow.  This pill is a thick with a pungent flavor and bitter after taste. You are almost unable to wash it back with water without tasting the residue on the back of your tongue. Social Justice can be an uninviting subject for people, a pessimistic presage for a nice casual dinner. When you understand justice for other people defines the context in which you experience justice you are called to act, you are compelled to feel empathy.

I met a girl in college who reminded me of the demographic that does not get to see justice. Foster children are a group of people who are unspoken of, people whose actions are misconstrued and their stories unheard. She was one of three other roommates I had in my four bedroom dorm. She was small and had light bruises, like patches on her skin, like peeled scars that never quite regained their melanin.  She wore sunglasses all the time and was very recluse. I would invite her to the cafe and any events myself and my other roommates attended. One day I talked to her about her scars and found we had more in common that I knew. She was in foster care; same as I had been. She was undesirably medicated for behavior concerns. The medication caused her to contract Stevens-Johnson syndrome and she was left with burns all over her body. She needed sunglasses because her eyelids were so burned she could not see in the sunlight and had no eyelashes. Foster children are being over medicated with threats of being institutionalized  because adults have not accurately accessed PTSD and do not have the patience to deal with the complications of parenting children who have been abused and moved around their whole lives.

I remember when I was about thirteen I had been prescribed Vyvanse and Zoloft. I opposed this; and had to be observed while ingesting the pills to ensure that I had in fact taken the medicine. I would not sleep all night and was underweight because I would only eat saltines and water because of how sick the medication made me feel. By sixteen I  was 97 lbs and had become really good at pretending to swallow the medicine. While my guardian watched me, I would take the small, nauseating pill and maneuver it under my tongue then take a long swig of water. I would hold out my tongue and smile grimly. Later I would spit out the grainy remnants and scrub the bitter residue from my mouth. I can recall the taste even now. It wasn’t until my first year in college that I realized the Vyvanse, at a lower dosage aided me in my work ethic while the Zoloft make me feel numb and sick. I was overdosed and high strung on  amphetamine.

I say this to recall the concept of proximity. The idea that we as people have to be close to a subject to address an issue that might change the way you view and live your life. The irresponsible and unfair treatment of children who are dependent on the state is a problem that can only be helped by the moral integrity of the people in charge. Yet the general public is not aware of their adversities, and therefore few are coming to the aid of these children who become victims of maltreatment in the DFCS system. Social justice should be extended to everyone even if the topic is uncomfortable and the reality is a hard pill to swallow.

Bryan Stevenson and self reflection

I was able to become immersed in the subject of historical racial integrity cases and taboo topics like government treatment of prison inmates while reading the first few chapters of Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercy. I took it upon myself to research cases he referred to in his writing, finding revelations that provoked an internal conflict and self -reflection. The controversy he covers in this book can be received uniquely different from the perspective of a black woman. I was genuinely shocked that the state of Alabama’s anti-miscegenation law was not appealed until 2000. I’m not sure why I felt so offended that even in 2011, 46 percent of the Mississippi GOP voters still felt that interracial marriage should be illegal. The portion of these votes compared to America voters is trivial, and yet I am still wounded, particularly because I am in an interracial relationship. I feel rejection hurts on every scale even if you are so far removed from the audience of your despair.

I cried when Henry, the first prisoner Stevenson met with as an intern at SPDC, sang a hymn of hope after his uninformative meeting with the young student. I knew the feeling  of receiving affirmation and the power of faith when you have nothing else. Faith is an abstract concept but in those moments it becomes the most palpable thing you have. I am guilty of sharing this feeling with an inmate yet condemning people in his situation and classifying men who share the same background. The hypocrisy of standing with black men and yet utilizing my ability to dissociate with their tribulations has been a standard practice of mine. Black people are so divided that we prioritize our own unique struggles before standing for one another. My condescension and constraints toward the black male is a product of the disdain felt towards black people by other demographics and the result of centuries of oppression.

Stevenson has posed the argument for me; do we run from the poor, do we run from blackness? Do we run from those who have been condemned? I feel the reality is you can earn your way into wealth, you can manage to never be involved with the legal system and you can leave black communities. However, you will watch people who look just like suffer from being marginalized and restricted because they are poor. You will still be wary of police officers and fear for your children because you will see stories of unarmed teens being gunned down simply because they are unlearnt on police procedures. You will witness prejudice even if you are a successful state attorney in a nice car simply because you are black. I believe we are not without empathy, we are not above the law and we cannot escape blackness.

 

The Ones who knows how to give an Introduction

Hello class, it is a pleasure attending this course with all of you. We probably won’t converse much so this is as personal as we’ll get. In light of this, I’ll try not to bore you. My name is Alyra, interesting enough I don’t know the origin of this name given to me just that some guy told me “Alyra” means harp. What’s even more ridiculous I had always been unsure of the pronunciation of my own name and so I allowed people to call me by different variations of  my name until I became fed up with the absurdity of a person’s ability to butcher a 3 syllable word. One day I said my name aloud to myself and said “yes I think I’ll stick with this”. So if you happen to say my name wrong, it’s okay; you and I are probably equally confident in the diction.

I love sitcoms, Arrested Development, Curb, and Friends (note my Blog title). I love light hearted shows that I can religiously watch during breakfast everyday. I also enjoy cynical and deadpan jokes from Rick And Morty and standup comedy specials because I can appreciate different aspects of humor and how a laugh can encourage social barriers to recede and allow people to interact more comfortably. I value fitness, health and am not afraid to dive into any outdoor sport headfirst. I skateboard,  hike, snowboard, surf and I’m pretty confident on a dirt bike. I have the scars that are synonymous with a person that is underqualified but has a natural aptitude for physical activities. In my down time I paint, well mostly I procrastinate the process and have a selection of unfinished canvas in my room. I’d like to think my portrait skills are above average; too bad it is only another hobby of mine.

I am a Film major and decided that I would give this career choice 2 years of my focus before opting to switch to another field that satisfies  my need to create.  I am one of those who tend to be good at most things that interest me and so it is hard to choose a clear path of dedication.

From an outside perspective I’d say my life would be a bit underwhelming but it’s more synonymous with a drama about a 19 year old edge lord with a lot of opinions and a bad haircut.

 

Some of my favorite movies I’d recommend

Dead Poet’s Society

The Hunt for Wilderpeople

Donny Darko

American Beauty

Shawshank Redemption

Braveheart

 

Feel Good memes

https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/