What Have I Learned?

by Teneka Hudson

In reflection of this semester, I have learned many lessons that I truly believe will carry me far in the life and career ahead of me. I am a student that has been out of school for more than 20 years and decided to go back to school after being “stuck” in a position for many years. My employer is more concerned with the amount of education more so than experience. My AAAS experience has truly given me knowledge power. To learn in depth history about blacks, how they came to America and how they were treated as slaves gives me power to overcome obstacles that seem large but in fact are small. The history of the black race, I believe is even deeper than one semester of information. There is so much that is yet to be told and unfolded in order to help our society understand the “Why” factor about blacks.

There are a lot of black men that are locked up. They do not understand the impact that this has on the families that are missing a son, brother, dad or even granddad that has been taken away from their families to sit in jail every day and miss out on life’s precious moments. There was a story of a black male in jail here in Memphis. He was able to get cell phones, food and drugs. He was so proud of it, that he decided to record himself of video and publicize on Facebook for all to see that he was having a great time in jail. There is definitely something wrong with this picture. He made jail seem like a great place to be. When in fact, he has lost all the rights he had to be a man for his family and for our society. It deeply saddens me to think that he feels that he is in a good place in his life. What ever happened to black pride and strong heritage?

I feel that there should be some type of AAAS class offered to these men in jail. They need to know more about their history. They are lost souls that do not know their true purpose in life. Instead of watching TV, they should be allowed to watch some of the presentations that were listed under our contents section in ecourseware. They need to be informed. They need guidance and wisdom. They need to know that there is more to life that being told what to do all day everyday of their time served. Jail is a serious matter and it is no place to party and advertise for children to see. The video that was placed on Facebook, gives our young black men a sense of hopelessness. They are given misleading information in telling them that jail is a cool place to hang out and smoke dope. This is so far from the truth. How is it possible for these guys to have so much? Is this a way of training their minds to think that life is much easier when you’re in prison. I blame the authorities for allowing so much fun to occur behind bars. They are giving our black men exactly what they want. They are given false hope in telling them that, if you do something bad enough to go to jail then you can go to jail and have a great time. There is something definitely wrong with this picture. There should be some higher powers that need to step in and make some serious changes to our jail facilities.

The question was asked how we can get more people to take the AAAS class when there are so many black people that need this education. I feel that this class would definitely be a good start to making our black race a stronger race in terms of knowing a deeper clarity on the history of black Americans.

I have learned a lot in this class, and I plan to help anyone along the way that is looking for an insight on the blacks and whites that live in today’s society.