U.A.A.C.D.: Recent Episodes
UAACD
These podcasts are a combination of a our ongoing Corner Pocket newsletter and the product of a two-week long program at the Missouri History Museum facilitated by UAACD as part of the ongoing America I Am (the African American Imprint) exhibit installation as presented by Tavis Smiley. The students came from various locations to view the exhibit and expressed their views on their experience through writing exercises,visual art, and audio podcasts. These are their excerpts from the programs.
While working with the students to prepare content for our first newsletter,we touched on a very important topic, "boy play or harassment". The girls talked openly about the lack of respect that is sometimes displayed by boys when they interact with the girls and the boys talked about why they behave like that(if they behaved like that at all) and what they think about the girls. We were also able,thanks to Kayla Bush,to get some feedback from one of the teachers about this topic. At the end of the day, we learned that respect is something that must be given in order to be received and we all must respect ourselves first.- Shante Duncan. Enjoy!
I felt hatred once again but not for the white but I felt I was hated like the spirit of the Ku Klux Klan was looking upon me from the gates of hell ready to strangle me by my neck and hang me. It was a really scary feeling. And I was really upset that they were Christians because what they did was not Godly. When I walked around the rest of the gallery I got happy simply because I saw the rise of Black Americans. We brought happiness to the world, I think, we made living in America fun with our music, talent, and skill. Even in the worst of times we had fun and didn’t care what white people thought or would do to us.
America fought against a nation they felt restricted and halted their freedom and destiny as the world’s strongest nation. Slaves fought against a nation they felt restricted and halted their growth into a respected, idolized, and powerful race of people. So basically a nation who is halting their own. That’s like a cat being chased by a dog, being chased by a vacuum. Another example could be an angry husband who hates his boss so he screams at his wife and kids.
Today, we get treated different just because I’m a black female. It affects me because if I was white I would be getting better treatment and not racial comments. Just because I’m black today that don’t mean I won’t be black for the rest of my life. So if I was a white female getting pulled over by the police I would just get a warning and pat on the back and move on. But if I was black that racial white police officer would write me a ticket quick fast and a hurry and my question would be to him “if I was white would you have done that to them?” my identity might have something to do with my color but not all the time. Black should be treated equally to whites. Rules are rules. We should all follow by them.
I saw so many things in the second half of the exhibit. I heard all kinds of music, people talking, etc. I saw a Ku Klux Klan gown and mask, it really hurt to see that and know that they are still around today. I also saw a bus and on it whites sat in the front and if blacks wanted to ride, they had to sit in the back. It’s hard for me to understand why we couldn’t sit in the front like everyone else.
The 2nd part of the exhibit really interested me because it named many people I was familiar with such as Michael Jordan, Tupac, Jackson 5, Prince, and Gwendolyn Brooks. The first thing I saw when I walked in was the “KKK” and I got chills because they were white supremacists who killed and lynched blacks for no reason. But, on a good note the entertainment and music rooms kept me motivated that I can do anything I put my mind to. Thanks to people who paved the way for my success.
To walk through the exhibit and look at the pictures and objects is one thing, but to understand the hardship of the Africans is another thing. During my experience it was disturbing yet inspiring. It was truly a life changing experience. I tried to understand how it would feel if I was taken away from my homeland to a land I have never been to before. Then knowing that slave owners were using other humans as free labor for their own personal gain. Also the slave owner referring to slaves as property not citizens is truly disturbing.
One time I had went to the store with my ma and all these white people were just staring at me. I really wasn’t thinking about it, for real. I walk around the store, picking stuff up for my ma and a lady comes up to me and asked me are you a thug or a banger. I said no. Just because I got tattoos doesn’t mean that I’m a thug or anything. I just like getting them. I like the pain and how it feels. She said, “I’m sorry. I just wanted to know.” She also said that it’s really pretty and I told her thank you. I told her thank you. Now, every time she comes inside my job, she gives me hugs and ask how I’m doing and how is school going and stuff like that. So you should never judge a book by its cover.
The beginning of the exhibit showed all of the hardships of the past, but it also showed you how much we prospered during the process of gaining equal rights. African Americans basically went through Hades to show that they can overcome anything that the world throws at them.
When I went through the exhibit I felt as if it was a flashback to black history. I was not happy nor was I sad because of some the things I saw were heartbreaking, joyful painful, angry, proud, and much, much more. One of the flashbacks were when I saw Tupac one the most successful musician and film actors. But it’s just Tupac, eventually dying in 1996 from gunshot wounds. Now, that was one of my worst tragedies. Or another when I saw Rosa Parks get finger printed because she decided to not give up her seat on the bus after a long, tiresome day of work. People such as these that make us sit in one room with whites or shake a hand of a white person.
As I walked through the exhibit, I felt sad at just the thought of how African Americans were treated like dogs and considered property and having a receipt. I didn’t feel as bad after seeing the other half of the exhibit because it was the start of equal rights and the end of slavery.
Living in a predominantly black neighborhood, men and young guys will always try to talk to you. They always assume that I’m older than what I am. I look like a mom and I look like I have a job so guys would mistake me for a grown woman when I’m only a kid. When that happens, it makes me feel like you only want me for one thing, just like a kid in a candy store. As a young black female, I am to be treated as a queen and nothing less than that!
When I reached the church part, I felt like at home because I’m used to church and the singing environment. Today during the exhibit I saw black and gospel motivators. Black soul music that came from our ancestors is great! I really enjoy that part. It made me feel good being an African American singer.
My name is McKenzie Marshall and I attend BDHS. My thoughts and feeling about the 1st half of the exhibit were kind of ironic because America was labeled the “land of the free” yet slaves weren’t free. They were mistreated. It sickens me to see that no matter how much the black people progressed or helped this country, that as a people were still not equal. As we moved through the second half of the exhibit, it displayed the modern day civil rights movements with MLK, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. These people inspired me to stand up for what’s right.
Chains Cold stiff metal Keeping you from places you want to be You are taken “no request” away from your family
The struggle to live when there is nothing to live for Freedom has gone forever more- Solomon Cazer