Letter

Demarie Enriquez
2580 17th street NW
Washington DC, 2009
D’marieEE@giggabits.net
November 24th 2009

Cc: Dr. Manuel Feliciano, President of Language & Literature of the National Student Association.
807 Ruddick Ave
Los Angeles, CA 545930
Dear, Dr Manuel Feliciano
I am writing you this letter to encourage and request that more professors in the department of languages in universities across the United States teach in a more oral approach to the class instead of grammatically.
I make this request not to be exasperating but to provide a critical commentary on the performance of most students learning languages in universities here in America. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian scientist, mathematician, linguist, philosopher, educator, artist, playwright, & social thinker, believed that “early introduction and approach to modern foreign languages is through development of speaking and listening through an emphasis on oral work; the good pacing of lessons through an emphasis on rhythm”.
While grammar is important in any language, when students have no real frame of reference to their native languages’ grammar, they struggle with learning a new one. I feel in order to absorb a language you must be totally submerged in the culture where you’re forced to learn the language because that’s the language they speak. An ideal way of teaching students language is to use oral expressions such as questions, phrases, dialogue, readings, and songs. With this technique you can not only teach the grammar but the right pronunciation of words and use more realistic phrases so that students can actually dialogue with people who speak that native language. A lot of the grammar and oral taught in class are not conducive to what is used in the real world. So why not replace it with practicing sentences and conversations so that over time the repetitive sequences become second nature to the students.
Understanding how to read and write in Spanish is a very good skill, but unless you are working for an international business or something that involves understanding written work it wouldn’t be very helpful in someone stopping them on the street asking them a question. The improvement of oral idiom in a language is very vital to the success of a student attempt to embrace and comprehend what they are taught. I sincerely hope that this diminutive amount of advice that I gave can be used as a frame of reference to make more developed lesson plans of language courses. Thank you for being charitable with your time. If you have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
DeMarie Feliciano

Racial Faux Pas

Have you ever had someone address your race to your ability to do something? Everyday African Americans like myself have dealt with race being correlated with are ability to articulate,communicate, or conquer some type of outstanding accomplishment. In the essay " Excuse me your race is showing" Author Karen Bates describes some events that her fellow associates and her herself have encountered while being black in America. Her essay describes how whites or others often think about blacks. They are illiterate, "Ghetto", work in low paying jobs, poor, only successful in sports and entertainment,and lazy. She describes their actions towards blacks and how it is very much of a Faux Pas in social etiquette. Many cases of these Faux Pas occur everyday, where its someone saying " I didn't realize you were black when i spoke to you over the phone, your very articulate." or Handing someone the keys to your car because they look like valet, even those statements like "all black people can dance", and "do you work here?" even when you see that the person doesn't have a work shirt on. Its common courtesy, all blacks don't make statements like, "I didn't realize you were white, you have so much common sense," or ask "what trailer park complex you live in"? We do just assume because they are white that they are any less or anymore then they are as a person. Unfortunately, i believe whites subliminally do that to keep blacks in that mindset of never being better than what they already are. Statements like that can have powerful holds over people, because your not only belittling their race but questioning their authority,social status, and their intelligence. And there is nothing more outraging then someone questioning your ability to think for yourself. "Excuse me your race is showing" depicts how ill viewed blacks are in America today and shows that some whites don't have the proper etiquette to know when to say or do things at certain times or even at all.

Afro-Latinos (Boricua y Moreno)

In revelations Roberto Santiago talks about his struggle with identity, in his essay he discusses the struggle of being an Afro Latino not knowing what race to claim as his own. As a child he could never quite understand why white people referred to him as black although he was also Latino, but to other Latinos he was Latino not black. Latinos separated themselves from being black as if to be black is negative. As if Latinos are not part African just like us. The battle with acceptance and his understanding of his own race is identified through situations he encountered in his childhood. A prime example would be when a white woman referred to him as a “Nigger” not understanding the capacity of hate in that word he had received advice from his aunt ( Tia/Ti-Ti). In her statements she subliminally tells her nephew that the need for separation is a mindset and that in the end even with our different culture and skin color we are all the same. He took her advice and decided not to let anyone categorize him into just one group he was a Boricua y Moreno and he loved it and appreciated it. Because in the end he knew no matter what even if black people don’t except him, he can be sure a white person will treat him as if he was black with no knowledge of his Latino heritage. To me this essay touches on a lot of things, 1. The fact that Being Black is looked down upon so degradingly, Black is not taught to others as being beautiful, it’s taught to be depressing and worthless. This keeps black separated from being a part of cultures that are relative to their own native one. 2. In many Latin American Countries discrimination against the Africans that live in the different countries like Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and many more. Many of them identify themselves separately in categories of Mestizo, White, Mulatto, Black, mixed Black-Amerindian, Amerindian, indigenous, and Mayan. To us, they are all Hispanic/Latino but they consider themselves different depending on their skin color. In most countries their census don’t account for the afro Latinos living in the slum parts of the countries listed above, therefore poverty and hunger is prevalent amongst those who are evidently of African descendent. 3. How ignorant white people are to judge people/ or assume that if your skin is dark then your black without even acknowledging that fact that you might be a different ethnicity. They continue to talk about us as if we are unsuccessful, unattractive, unsociable, and ignorant people. They assume that because we are not successful in the same things that they are in that it is of less value. No matter what Africans, Afro-Latinos, African Americans, Afro-Europeans, still have the richest culture and history and are built with skills to survive and make use of what they have to be successful.

Operation (Saving a life)

When a surgeon is placed with an operation many things come into play when it comes to preparing for it. When surgery is perform on a patient in need the surgeon must address the problems at hand and execute ways to solve them. Meanwhile, considering the patients emotions, their families emotions, the risks, and the outcome of the surgery ( whether its for the better or for worse). Depending on the operation determines the different risk factors that correlate to the intensity of the surgery. Most surgeons understand that their patients lives are in their hands. So they do all they can to make sure each step and procedure is followed through carefully. It takes a lot more that a steady hand and patients to make an incision in someones abdomen to remove a non functioning organ. It takes faith, faith in God that he will determine the fate of the sick patient, and he makes that decision whether to call them to his kingdom or let them stay here on earth. The pressure on surgeons may seem extremely stressful but all and all it is in someone elses hands.

Revolts in Iraq

Since the Bush administrations reign over the U.S government, many trivial events occurred relating to terrorist attacks and government spending. In 2003, America had declared war on Iraq, with the belief that they had weapons of mass destruction. America had armed a puppet regime named Saddam Hussein with heavy artillery years before, and following 9/11 felt threatened by his want to gain control over his country again without the help of the U.S.A. So America went to war, which was initially said to be over weapons of mass destruction, but during the years following it turned into a war over oil refineries. Unfortunately during this war many soldiers, innocent people, and children had lost their lives over a war they couldn’t control. Many headlines in the news are about Iraqi terrorist attacks, suicide killings, and revolts against their own government and the U.S. A. With events like Suicide killings in Baghdad killing 18 people and wounding 75 and Attacks on U.S military units stationed in Iraq, the people living that have endured and witnessed a lot of death and destruction. People’s psychological states are altered due to the war. Iraqis over time have taken measures into their own hands in order to show U.S soldiers and government that they are not welcome. Just as John Hope Franklin Says in Slave resistance, that overtime continuous brutality that’s in a system of human exploitation will lead to an eventual revolt or protest against the oppressor (or in this case the enemy). In his essay, he briefly talks about the slave and master relationship and how they naturally dislike each other and how overtime that hatred will build. Which lead to the many revolts against slave owners, killing of themselves, their masters, and their children because of their psychological state and view on slavery. His essay correlates to how those living in Iraq have internalized it, how they want to fight back to have their own rights, and how unbearable all the destruction is around them. Resistance only comes when one can no longer cooperate with an idea, another human being, or group. When they are unwilling to satisfy the request of another they will go to any measure to not have to cooperate with it, mainly because it’s not something they believe in.

What Should They Call Us?

Most Blacks know that they are from African descendants, but does that mean we should be called African; We have no real idea of what part of Africa we are from, or the language that our ancestors spoke , but we do know that African heritage traces back centuries before our grandparents were born and before their parents were born. Our heritage even traces back to European descendants. So are we not European also? The argument of whether African Americans or other generations of African descendents should solely consider themselves Africans is an argument based upon the basic knowledge of their heritage. Many people don’t know where their family originated because we have been so displaced. In Kwame Ture’s essay Pan-Africanism, on African Roots, he states that no one but Africans separate themselves or identifies themselves as a different group. He believes that we were divided by the Europeans on purpose. It was so that we would never identify ourselves as a whole. We would “ensure that there would always be differences”. In contrast, why can’t we just be called Americans, we know the language and the culture; we have been here for generations now. Is this not our land, the land we built as slaves? Although the point that Kwame Ture makes is indeed important and factual, we need to understand that America is as much of our heritage as Africa is. We have invested and built so much on American soil. Why would I not want to be called an African American? Gerald Early argued in his essay Never African Again that we don’t necessarily need to be totally indulged in our African heritage because we have no real sense of it because we have been so detached from it. We have built a new heritage and culture in America, why not embrace it and build upon the things we do know and the things we can change. He doesn’t want us to forget about our African heritage because it makes us who we are but we must also accept our American heritage. The argument made by both of these men is accurate depending on your view on heritage and its importance to you. But I feel like in order to embrace your heritage you must know exactly where you came from, that’s where we have our biggest issue. A lot of us have no frame of reference to our families’ original origin. So we are left embracing a culture we only have a limited amount of information about and back seating the fact that we are American as well as African. I feel that we should consider ourselves as Americans with African decent, meaning we embrace every aspect of the culture we built here in America but also know about our African history and make comparisons between the two and note the similarities and differences. Use the information you get to better or make additions to the American culture we have created or are still building upon, but more importantly, passing on the information to other people who don’t understand or know about African American history.

African Heritage & it's inpact on the Hip-Hop culture

Have you ever wonder where African Americans got their rhythm from? Hip-Hop is one of the most prominent music genres/cultures found in the African American community. Rappers, Djing Poets, graffiti artist, and break dancers all are aspects of Hip Hop culture. The definition of Hip Hop is an expression of ones struggle through words,dance, and music. Containing the same cultural similarities as the ancient African culture and oral tradition, Hip-Hop was what kept the community together. (Davey D.). Kinship was always a custom prevalent in African culture, Slaves would be tortured and tormented by their slave masters and they looked to each other for the emotional support. It protected them from psychological destruction. It was a way of survival for them during their separation from their native land and their original families. Many of their cultures were denounced so kinship and extended family was a way of rebuilding their life and dealing with issues(Revelations). Hip-Hop takes the same role in African American culture today. For years hip-hop has been used to express the aggression and the push for unity in African American neighborhoods. MC-ing was a way of expressing music to a beat so that people could feel the words instead of just hear them. A lot of rap during the evolution of hip-hop really focused on issues that African Americans dealt with on a day to day basis. whether it be racism,violence,drug abuse,sex, or simply partying. Djing is one of the main elements that started the hip-hop culture, this brought people together, and let them listen to music that had meaning to them. Dj's during the hip hop era made the parties a more unified experience with their catchy phrases and nicknames and nursery school lines. This was a way African Americans could relax and enjoy each others company. Break dancing was a way in which they expressed through movement to entertain, to create cliques, and get social status in their community. Just as in africa and their ritual dances, was a form of helping individuals understand their roles in relation to the community(New World Encyclopedia). In break dancing they different crews would battle showing off different movements that expressed a more nonviolent approach to battling. Graffiti was the expression of a more urban art work in that era, it was expressed on public places throughout cities acknowledging certain groups or affiliations. African art expressed different people and communities, they symbolized different things. Hip-Hop and African culture is not only parallel but a more modernized way that African American keep a close tie to their culture and their beliefs. The expression of their struggle and love for their community.

"Their eyes where watching God"

Zora Neale Hurston poured her story out into the book "Their eyes were watching God". As I came to the end of the book, I realized how dynamic her writing was. She wrote with such personification and idiom. the relationships that she created in the story was broken down in stages in her life and how she compared them to natures cycles. In each relationship she encountered someone was telling her what to do, starting with her grandmother forcing her to marry a man she didn't want to marry, Logan Killicks, her first husband who had spoiled her for so long and complained when she didn't want to help him. She struggled with learning to love Logan although he provided a lot for her. In her description she felt unhappy, she wanted to experience real love. Once she got fed up, she ran off with her 2nd husband Joe Starks. He was very dominate over her. He made her feel low and kept her quiet. She felt trapped. He made her his possession, life as his wife wasn't as fun as she thought it would be. But she stuck by his side until he died, but on his death bed she explained to him what he did to her, and how she didn't think their love would have turned out to be so materialistic,reserved and controlled. She then met a young man few months after Joe's death. Tea Cake. Tea Cake provided her with a life she never knew. They loved each other to their very souls. She experienced more things with Tea Cake then her other husbands but she enjoyed every second. In a turmoil part of the book she says to tea cake "Ah jus' know dat God snatched me out de fire through you. and ah loves yuh and feel glad".(pg 180) the love she had for tea cake was beyond any love she experience in prior things...and when he died she learned to appreciate what life had to offer and that all the things she had been through was not in vain. And that things had occurred for reasons that only God could explain. She realized that all you can do is watch God, and see what he has planned for you.

Missing Pieces

When you pick up a high school text book on the History of America in most cases it will elaborate on the different presidents, government, society, and those who left a great impact on it. In a lot of American text many great people are not recognized for the outstanding achievements and great ideas and inventions made that moved America into a more industrial and more technological state. They acknowledge men like Henry Ford for his model T assembly line, Samuel F.B. Morse for the electric telegraph, Eli Whitney for the Cotton Gin, and Orville and Wilbur Wright who invented the first air plane. But what about those African Americans, who have made as great of contributions, do you hear about them in American History text books? What about Garrett Morgan who created the gas mask and the traffic light, Burridge and Marshman who created the typewriter, Alexander Miles who created the elevator, and Richard Spikes who created the automatic gear shift? These men have made a great contribution to America are not acknowledged in such context for their inventions. In order to even know about this information you would have to find books that contain information about black firsts. Why is that? Are we not all Americans? Have we not all shed blood, sweat and tears for this country for it to be the way it is now. African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans all deserve recognition in America’s history. They try to exclude other races accomplishments in subtle ways and think that people can’t tell that they still have that puritan view on society and how it should be. They are able to say what’s important and what’s not. Is that really fair? In so many ways Ralph Ellison was right when he said” White Americans have fantasized Blacks no longer being a party of society and take credit for things that without blacks would have never been created”(Revelations). The question is would they have been able to write all the novels they wrote about the civil war, would they be able to listen to jazz, comb and brush their hair, use elevators, come up with the idea of a cell phone, create a movement of art, music, and literature like the African Americans, I think not. When the Europeans came over to the Americas for the first time they didn’t know what to do, they needed the Native Americans who were intact with nature, to show them how to hunt, and plant crops, and natural herb recipes to stay healthy. They took what use to be the Native Americans culture and their survival tactics and plagued and slaughtered them all and claimed the land theirs. Where is the patriotism in that? They have tried to erase the real history of Native Americans by their stories of thanksgiving and exaggeration of finding the new world, when true history shows the famine and disease they brought to the Native Americans. They needed them and much as they need us. Without the diversity of America, it would not be as advanced and as strong without its history books missing pieces. People like Lewis Latimer, Madame C.J. Walker, Charles Drew, and Fredrick M. Jones fill in those gaps of inventions/ideas they care not to discuss because they didn’t invent them. These missing pieces in history are important and who has the right to say my ancestors ideas or inventions aren’t American enough to be put in a history book?

Is America a "Post Racial Society"

When someone poses the question; "Is America a post racial society?” The first thought that crosses my mind is what is a post racial society? What does it consist of? When the phrase is dissected my interpretation is a society that no longer focuses on race and people embracing one another no matter what race, religion or creed they are. Has America really become a post racial society? Many people say now that we have a black president it is, but I question that statement, just because we have a black president doesn’t mean that Americans are not prejudice or racist. People think just because Barack Obama is president that all is well, when in l reality People have realized in order for this country to be successful they needed to make a better choice in choosing a president. Barack was raised by parents of the Majority race, he is black, but he is black as much as he is white. He drawls a line of equivalence that makes him a suitable candidate because it gave the majority group some assurance/validation. Meaning instead of it actually being post racial society people demanded change and where willing to put race on the shelf for the moment because they knew that bush administration was not focused on the problems of the people. The idea of race doesn’t just need to be a second focal point; it needs to be completely demolished. America needs to focus on real issues, like health, poverty, justice etc. Ironic thing is that these things affect minorities more so then majority, the fact that I call a race a minority and majority just shows that this society will never be post racial. Because we divide people into different groups as if they are not the same, as if they are not human beings. J. Dalaker, and Proctor, B. D gave statistics on healthline.com stating that Minority racial and ethnic groups are much more likely to live in poverty—23.6 percent of blacks and 22.8 percent of Hispanics lived below the poverty level, versus 7.7 percent of whites. Female-headed households (with no husband present) are much more likely than married couple families to live in poverty (27.8% versus 4.8%); with black and Hispanic female-headed households having the highest poverty rates (39.3% and 38.8%, respectively). Those with lower income have health issues, because of lack of access to healthcare. America has made it seem as if it’s an issue of social status and income, but people are fighting to get better jobs and seek opportunities that some races have automatic access to. This is another way I believe that certain races are excluded. The journal of blacks in education 2006 stated that not only are African-American scores on the SAT far below the scores of whites and Asian Americans, but they also trail the scores of every other major ethnic group in the United States including students of Puerto Rican and Mexican backgrounds. Studies show that the gap between black and whites sat scoring also is due to the income of the house hold. I believe that people with more money are able to send their kids to private schools that offer and have better teachers and programs to offer then public schools. These children have the opportunities to go to Ivy League schools and get good paying jobs while children less fortunate are unable to for whatever reason. I feel that this is a tactic that people use to keep others out. One of my fellow classmates made a great point on saying Racism was taught to him as Powerful people with Prejudices. Those who can actually do something to oppress the people they hate. But being prejudice is excluding a group or not favoring a group for the same reason, just because you don’t have power doesn’t mean your actions don’t have much as an affect or affliction on someone And isn’t that how it starts, you discourage a group for whatever reason excluding them in things that involve you and your race that could possibly be uplifting or beneficial to any group. It’s impossible to say that America is post racial, this country was built on 400 years of hatred between races, Is it possible that this new generation could get rid of customs past down in families for years? I think not. It’s going to take a little more than a black president and a second shelving of race for America to be post racial society. People need to look at each other as humans, respecting and wanting better for them. In order to be unified everyone must look past differences and see what issues they are faced with and work together to fix them.