Reflecting on Our Class

by Regis Reeves

I first think that this assignment is exciting and full of life. As we are moving through the course and the foundation has been laid, I feel we are getting to the meat of the course. For me that is looking at the dynamics of the African American person, the woman, the man and the family. I enjoyed the review of Slavery and its impact on America. One aspect that I have had a lot of thought about recently is the “40 acres and mule.” We are seeing so many African-Americans affected by the foreclosure crisis. But there are not just middle-class African Americans being affected; we also see the wealthy as well. Rapper and movie star Eve, Michael Jordon, Terrell Owens and so many more are selling off their homes. The idea of owning land/property had been passed down to black families since the emancipation. Most of us who grew up in poverty or poor were told the most solid financial thing we could do was to buy our home. But after slavery, owning your own land meant farming. It meant that the property you owned would produce an income. But today, owning a home is a direct expense. It is not producing income. Equity is not income and we finding that out the hard way now. We really have to look at how we approach whether buying a house is what we need to do, but many of us have over extended ourselves because of the “40 acres and a mule” ideal. We thought that owning a house/property in and of itself would create some kind of economic stability for ourselves.

Moving on, Anderson and Stewart have a great breakdown of the vast dynamics of the African American in the United States. I just enjoyed how they laid out the journey from post slavery to present. I can see that it has been a slippery slope of establishing who African Americans are in society because on every hand, White America has had their hand or voice in the discussion.

From religion to the family, white influence has influenced who we are or how we are viewed/perceived. It is no wonder of surprise that the establishment of Black Studies has been such an up and down journey. I just believe if we as African Americans were left to tell our own story without white filters, the understanding for all people including African Americans would become crystal clear. Every race on this planet has been able to tell their own story, accept the African American and maybe the Native American who were all but wiped out.

Noliwe Rooks continues to show the Ford involvement, the confusion and sometimes manipulation of Black Studies by white influences through the 60’s. I can see that establishing the purpose of Black Studies was in a “nutshell,” a mess throughout the 60’s. However the chaos in my opinion was neither because of incompetence nor the white man. I feel it was because how fast the African American was changing in our society through the sixties. From voting rights to becoming elected officials, sports icons, mainstream entertainers and educators, the black man was changing fast. We were entering middle-class and being to be accepted in white schools and colleges. Because of this we as a people no longer had one way of seeing ourselves and one way of seeing white America. While we were changing, people like the Ford Foundation were struggling to keep up and understand as well. So when I say it was a “mess”, I say it with no blame or finger pointing. It was all new ground being plotted out and the make-up of that ground was changing faster than we could keep up with it. Included in all of that was the rise of the Black Woman. As stated in the clip “Black Women and the Women Rights Movement, the black woman was beginning to assert herself with white woman as they began to take their rightful place in the community. As I look on so much information today, I cannot help but wish that some of those who opposed each other could have seen what we see today as we look back. There was really no one to blame or be against. Everyone was working from their own place of sincerity and authenticity. Although we could not always see it, we were working together and for the same cause. Sadly we face this today as well, black leaders against black leaders and never stopping to realize how huge “blackness” is and that it cannot be approach from one single perspective.