“Yo’ Mama’s Disfunktional” is a book written by Robin Kelley. In this book, Kelley fights back for African-Americans. He is tired of people talking about African-Americans, especially mothers. Kelley feels as if people are blaming the poor blacks for the stereotypes that they face today. Kelley believes that scientist do their studies in African-American cities and don’t show enough about how African-Americans are depicted in their everyday lives.
The book “Mama might be better off dead” was an eye opening story that brought awareness to readers on the downfalls and limitations of the health care system in America. Mama might be better off dead, talks about a poverty stricken African American family who lives in one of the poorest neighborhoods on the Westside of Chicago. The Banes family faces life threatening illnesses and issues that are causing them to question their position in the health care system. Jackie Banes a wife, mother, granddaughter, and the glue that kept her family together, shows in this book her level of strength, vulnerability, concern, hurt, love, and care throughout the entire story. The book also shun a light on the role reversal of the family dynamics in America.
The author discusses racial, gender, and income inequalities in a way that is fair to both sides of the argument. Potts discusses the inequalities that these women are faced with and explains the research behind it. In this article, Potts explains the scientific research that is done to explain the role that poverty, lack of education, partaking in unhealthy behaviors and how these aspects influence the overall quality of life of certain individuals. This essay discusses the life of a young woman whose life was cut short. Crystal Wilson was a normal individual who passed away unexpectedly in her sleep.
A Response to “Why Are All the Cartoon Mothers Dead?” Bambi, Nemo, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, Aladdin, and almost any other cartoon main character you could think of is a motherless child. Sarah Boxer, author of “Why Are All the Cartoon Mothers Dead,” claims there is a troubling pattern of missing mothers in almost all the cartoon movies. Disney has discarded mothers in cartoons. Author Sarah Boxer believes that the absent mothers of her essay weren’t an accident, in the beginning of her essay she explains the cartoon charters are weeping over their dead mothers.
In “If I Were A Poor Black Kid,” writer Gene Marks claims that poor inner city children have opportunities to be successful in life if they follow the advices/ideas he gives such as, to magnet/private school, have technology access and get good grades. Throughout the article Marks, emphasizes that poor inner city kids have the ability to be successful but they do not want to use the resource they have available. This article has been a controversial because Marks compare himself with the poor inner city kids without having knowledge about the challenges poor inner city kids face daily. The argument the author presents in the article may seem logical on the surface but investigating more deeply it can be unreasonable. Gene Marks is a man who comes from a middle class white background.
The street affected every African American in Harlem. • Further, to what extent are African American children’s life chances today, especially in urban areas, better than Bub’s? According to Joanna Penn, Journalists Resource- Harvard Study Resource, “children from high-and low-income families tended to be worse growing up in urban areas, particularly those with concentrated poverty, compared with those in suburban or rural areas.
Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, attests to the hateful and cruel reality that is the life of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi circa the 1960’s. Stockett writes many anecdotes surrounding the relationship between Constantine, an African American maid, and the child she cares for, Skeeter. Skeeter reflects upon a memory of Constantine and
Her tragedy reflects not only the sexism in the African American families in early 20th century, but also the uselessness
African American families during that time are often being torned apart with the women of the household widowed because the husbands were murdered. An example of such cases is Joe Johnson’s wife, where “white men saw him and shot him and he died and leaves [the wife], a poor widow with a housefull of children, and no one
There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.
The mother cries racing to the church to find her child and unfortunately discovers that her daughter’s life has been taken from her in violent act of racism. After all, the mother must accept the loss of her child.
In the Chicago land area alone, gentrification plays a huge role. Gentrification is the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx or middle class of affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents. In other words, it is when the city tears down a building where people live, to update its area and raises prices so high that tenants cannot afford it any longer, forcing past tenants to move into poorer areas. Hundreds of lower and middle class income people have been afflicted by gentrification in Chicago, but it really isn't as bad as people make it seem, it is a sign of economic growth and improvement. Dave Ross states in his article how gentrification works that, “Many aspects of everyday life are being changed for the better, buildings and parks are renovated and beautiful.
During the last two weeks of studies, I question why Mrs.Hilly has sympathy for African children, but cannot find sympathy for African Americans in her own community. The ironic thing about Mrs.Hilly is that she threw a charity event for African children. The irony in this is that how much money was put into
Afro-American women writers present how racism permeates the innermost recesses of the mind and heart of the blacks and affects even the most intimate human relationships. While depicting the corrosive impact of racism from social as well as psychological perspectives, they highlight the human cost black people have to pay in terms of their personal relationships, particularly the one between mother and daughter. Women novelists’ treatment of motherhood brings out black mothers’ pressures and challenges for survival and also reveals their different strategies and mechanisms to deal with these challenges. Along with this, the challenges black mothers have to face in dealing with their adolescent daughters, who suffer due to racism and are heavily influenced by the dominant value system, are also underlined by these writers. They portray how a black mother teaches her daughter to negotiate the hostile, wider world, and prepares her to face the problems and challenges boldly and confidently.
In the current setup of African-American family set up, children and young adults go through tremendous stress and challenges which have a potential of damaging both their psychological and physical wellbeing. In today’s environment, young adults as well as children need to acquire skills, develop strengths to cope, bounce back from hardships and be prepared for
