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Created January 6, 2020
Community? Engagements? Arts? Well, for starters this is a class taught at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY by professors Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde. The goal of this class is to form a relationship with the community by engaging in artistic projects with the community. The outcome of this will manifest itself in many ways, some recognizable and others not so much.
CETA 2020: Our first 2 emojis (of hundreds)
Created January 6, 2020
Individual Tasks
Collect addresses, make & write thank-you cards, design pronoun buttons--Anna Davis
Blog Manager--Paige Wessling
Recorder/archivist for This I Believe essays--Sarah Metcalfe
Social Media--Lydia Baggett & Garrett LeVan
Photographic Inventory (3 people)--Yousef Alsdudi, Sarah Bennett, & Faith Boles
Space, raw material, & tool inventory manager AND order enforcer--Emily Neat
Quality Control & Class Ethicist--Alex Toney
Software Design Team (3 people)--Shelby Barker, Emily Cecil, & Abby Pearson
Fabrication Team (3 people)--Brooklyn Greer, Will Hemingway, & Marissa Price
Finishing Team (4 people)--Nannie Baze, Emon Daneshmand, Ally Frederick, & Madison Phillips
Additional photographic documentation--Kremena and Kurt
Working with production design at Kre8Now Makerspace--Kurt and Kremena
Publicity for the class--Kremena and Kurt
Securing materials needed--Kurt and Kremena
As always, I found this episode highly intriguing and moving. The systemized discrimination in our healthcare system is absurd and horrifying. It was especially interesting to listen to this episode in the midst of the current pandemic, when statistics show the back community is suffering at higher rates than the white community. This demonstrates how prevalent this problem still is in 2020, nearly two decades since the formation of the Freedman's Bureau. Further, the section of the podcast discussing the first instance of universal healthcare proposed in the US was captivating as it is still a prevalent political debate, especially now, and the arguments against it are very similar to the ones of today. I had no idea how many thousands of freed men died after the civil war but in hindsight it makes sense, due to the blatant racism that was still very much present. The way the narrators webbed together stories and history in this episode was truly amazing, and highlighted how widespread and still present racism is in US healthcare.
ReplyDeleteIn listening to episode 5, my mind kept coming back to the present moment and the devastation COVID-19 is causing in the Black community. It is appalling that so litlle has changed in terms of the healthcare system's racism since the end of the Civil War.
DeleteI agree that is insane to think about how a country that claims freedom for all still puts people on a lower level only because of something as trivial as ethnicity. It seems so antiquated and screwed up when I really think about it.
DeleteI agree
DeleteI found this episode very interesting. I was not expecting it to be about farming from the title. I’m not really sure what I was expecting. Anyway, I thought it was interesting when it talked about how 14% of the sugar cane farms were owned by Black farmers then a decade later it was down to 2%. It was such a dramatic drop. Which can be credited to the banks not giving loans in time or for the right amount of money. That was interesting to me because now in 2020 the percentage of Black farmers is around less than 2%.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was gutted when June’s father likely died of a heart attack after helping him try to get ahead.
It is so sad that so many people have lost their jobs and livelihoods because of unfair and unjust treatment.
DeleteThat drop in land ownership percentage was jaw dropping.
DeleteThe statistic floored me as well...systemic racism is incredibly potent
DeleteThe death of his father was such a devastating moment in this podcast and it made me wonder how many other people have died trying to do work they weren't in good enough health to do as a direct result of the system not giving them enough help and support
DeleteThat was sad to see people losing their jobs for no reason
DeleteWhen I heard 14% i was already floored at the low percentage. The drop to 2% is unbelievable.
DeleteListening to this podcast at the time of COVID-29, it’s hard not to focus on the enduring disregard for Black lives in our country. In the podcast, Hannah-Jones describes the massacre of Black people that followed their deliberate abandonment by Sherman’s army in the fall of 1864. Today we witness the disproportionately and appallingly higher rates at which Black people contract the coronavirus. That the latter is the result of systemic inequality and disregard for lives was made clear by Governor Andy Beshear as well. In his daily briefing a couple of days ago, he pointed out that Kentucky continues to see disproportionate deaths in the Black community and said: “We should've been doing better in our health care system and in our world, and I hope coming out of this we commit to doing better.” My question, then, is this: what will it take for this country, for all of us, to pledge to ending systemic inequality in the U.S.? How many more pandemics and how many more podcasts, books, newspaper articles, speeches do we need?
ReplyDeleteIt is insane to me to realize how often we are faced with the possibility to create a better America and a better life for people and still choose not to.
DeleteThe account of the union army leaving thousands to be slaughtered and re-enslaved was grotesque. As you point out, this pattern of systemic inequality is still extremely present in the US.
DeleteIn this episode, Hannah-Jones describes yet another meeting of high-powered US officials and Black leaders (she describes Lincoln’s meeting with Black leaders in one of the early episodes). In this case, Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman turned to a group of 20 black church leaders and asked them, what do you want for your own people? The answer was: land ownership. Though initially a provision is made to give every Black family 40 acres of land, it is soon overturned because of Lincoln’s assassination and a new U.S. President who doesn’t believe the well-being/equality of Black people is something to strive for. I comment on this because we see the same scenario playing over and over again: white people in power ask Black leaders what Black people need. Black leaders respond. And then either nothing happens or whatever happens is quickly undone. So we can’t really say it’s not clear what structural changes would overturn the structural inequalities that have always marked Black people’s lives in this country. We have been told what changes are needed. Over and over again.
ReplyDeleteIt breaks my heart that we have the ability to change things and make things better, and yet, we still turn away from that because of selfish desires and wrong opinons.
DeleteFaith, so well stated!
DeleteI am starting to believe that a system that has people politely ask for the same things over and over again and accept and wait when they don’t get it is wildly intolerable
DeleteI feel somewhat guilty of these same acts of white people with power...I will be inspired to do something, partner with people, and work toward change but because it is not impacting my life immediately in the moment, I often get dragged away by other worries and commitments
DeleteIt is frustrating to see the changes that could be made to help, aren't done
DeleteOne of the things that hit me the hardest while listening to this episode was when he lost is father. Due to the unfair advantage the bank had taken, his own elderly father had to work a job that only someone in good health should have been doing. It makes me sick to think that even private sectors such as banks, willingly and readily take advantage of the black community and show no remorse over the grief and loss they cause. This man worked his entire life, and yet seems to only end with pain and hardships. The level of disrespect shown by an entire country to an entire community of people within THEIR own country is truly heart shattering to me. Someone's skin color should have no say in their possible success, but we see over and over again, a country that allows the black and minority communities to be taken advantage of and then thrown to the side as if their handwork and dedication meant nothing. It makes me wonder how many more people must become sick because of a lack of health care or lose their homes because the bank forecloses upon them until we wake up and see the problem is not the individuals, but rather the corrupt and misused systems.
ReplyDeleteHis father's death hit me hard. After all the successed they had had in previous years, I can't imagine the pain they felt to see how severely the system was turned against them that year and the years following.
DeleteI completely agree
DeleteI get so frustrated and upset when I hear of people working their whole lives away with nothing to show for it. To know this is the expected life of people straddling poverty, especially people of color....it’s unbearable.
DeleteIt shocks me to hear about people who have to go to work sick or who are expected to be productive amidst crises like this pandemic. It makes my heart sad and highlights that our society is not focused on the proper things
DeleteThis is very well-stated, Faith. I was also saddened when he lost his father.
DeleteThis is something I've been thinking about a lot as it relates to the pandemic. So many essential workers are continuing to go to work right now because they feel forced to, so they can continue to pay rent and buy groceries and such. They're risking their health to pay bills, which is exactly what June's father ended up doing. It's disturbing
DeleteWhen June lost his father I was heartbroken. What was possibly even sadder was when June believed he had disappointed his dad, despite the acts of discrimination committed against him.
DeleteI knew that a large number of enslaved people joined Sherman and the army on the way out of Atlanta, and I knew the abandoned Confederate land was redistributed, but I had never heard of the massacre Sherman and his men perpetrated. I was really shell shocked to hear it. I was further shell shocked to hear about June's father passing.
ReplyDeleteJune's father reminded me a lot of my great grandfather. He was a dedicated worker, so dedicated he never ever retired. He loved it and we knew he did, so we never told him to stop, but when he went to work on Friday and by Monday he had died of a cancer he'd ignored, we all felt like we should have asked him to retire. June's father believed he had something special in his farm, and he did, and he was determined to see the success he deserved, even if it killed him. When June talked about how his father just held the dirt and said it was his and could not be taken from him, I almost teared up. The pain of having everything you have worked for ripped away from you just because of your skin color is unfathomable, but it is a daily reality for people of color.
I felt the same about June's father passing
DeleteOnce again, I found this podcast very interesting. While this part of American history is awful and tragic. It is important that we learn about it in order to learn from our errors and stop this petty racism. It is impressive that after hearing the desires of the black leaders Sherman was able to turn around and turn this into a government order even if it didn’t totally work out. I had never heard about the 40 acres and a mule order before, so it was interesting to read about it. “And what’s remarkable is that Sherman turns that request of those men for land to work for themselves into a government order, Special Order No. 15. It said that the government would take 400,000 acres that it had seized from the Confederacy and split it up among those thousands of newly emancipated people. This becomes what is perhaps the most famous provision of the Reconstruction period, which we all know as 40 acres and a mule.”Other than that the rest of this two part podcast was outrageous. Listening to June and Angie lose their house and what June was so passionate about because of racial issues especially this being so recent.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I am surprised you hadn't heard of the "40 acres and a mule" order before...then again, I knew it as a concept, but I didn't know exactly when it happened or why. We do still need a lot more education.
DeleteI agree with Kremena that we do still need a lot more education
DeleteThere is a very cool protest shirt worn by many black activists that says “I want my 40 acres and a mule” today. If not for having seen this shirt and researched the meaning, I would have not heard of it until this spring break when I went to the Civil Right museum in Savannah, GA. It’s wild how much we don’t learn.
DeleteI agree with Kremena and Paige, we need more comprehensive education. I've learned through my education classes just how biased our history textbooks are and how much history they exclude.
DeleteI had never heard of it either! I wish our government was less subject to political whims...and more transparent
DeleteI also didn't know what "40 acres and a mule" was and had to google it
DeleteThis was a tragic episode, learning not only the difficulties June faced in trying to keep the farm going, but also his father working with him while not in good health and his death, and eventually, the loss of their land and home. Land that had been owned and used for sugar cane for generations suddenly was ripped from June's possession unfairly all because of the issues he faced with trying to obtain a crop loan while other, white, farmers had no trouble getting theirs. One thing I found most shocking was the accusation of the black farmers not being "competent" enough at farming to receive their loan. I'm interested in what will happen with the case
ReplyDeleteIt really touched me when his father died while working with June. Having an older father myself (who still works), this emotional stress is unbearable...and I don't know how June continued to be productive after losing someone so close to him
DeleteI was also shocked by the allegation that the black farmers were not "competent" or too lazy to get things done. You would think that the white farmers would know better given June's family's success in the 90's, but I guess racists are pretty well known for disregarding facts.
DeleteI also want to know what will happen with this case, hopefully we will find out? The disrespect and disregard for the land that had been in their family for generation appalled me. Calling the black farmers incompetent also made me very angry especially when unjustly compared to white farmers who already have an advantage in the system and society.
DeleteIt was tough to hear Junes father died after working hard on the farm
DeleteI agree Marissa. When the new white owner of June's former land spoke to the New York Times reporter and claimed that the loss of the land had nothing to do with race but due to June's lack of skill and initiative I was outraged.
DeleteOkay I know this is a long quote, but these episodes of 1619 (four and five because I was confused) Made this point from Howard Zinn’s “Radical History” pop into my head:
ReplyDelete“Why do we need to reach into the past, into the days of slavery?...I see two values in going back. One is that dealing with the past, our guard is down, because we start thinking it is over and we have nothing to fear by taking it all in. We turn out to be wrong, because it’s immediacy strikes us, affects us before we know it; when we have recognized this, it is too late— we have been moved. Another reason is that time adds depth and intensity to a problem which otherwise might seem a passing one, susceptible to being brushed away. To know that long continuity, across the centuries, of the degradation that stalled both Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X...is to reveal how infuriatingly long has been this black ordeal in white America. If nothing else, it would make us understand in that black mood of today what we might otherwise see as impatience, and what history tells us is overlong endurance”
It is important to know about the racism black people have experienced in history and are experiencing today. In knowing about this, we can more appropriately view public housing crises in urban areas that mainly affect people of color. We can understand how healthcare is deeply entrenched in white supremacy and how it affects people still today. We can see better the ways Inter generational poverty had worked to advantage white and rich people over black and poor people. We have to understand and explore this history to unblur our vision of today’s events.
*stalked UGH
DeleteThis episode struck me for a different reason. My grandpa had a farm that he cared for until he passed away, similar to June’s father. He was able to pass the farm off to my Uncle before he died, and saved it so we would not have to give the land away. It is horrible to think about black farmers having to deal with and fight for their land much harder than white farmers during this time, and the fact that loans were not given to them because they were “not as adequate of farmers” as the white farmers. I loved this podcast. It was very informational and provided interesting stories about things that happened in the past that I was not aware of.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete*Suicide TW
This episode was heartbreaking in many ways. Hearing about the inequality faced by Black farmers is extremely saddening. Growing up with members of my family being farmers I always heard about the issues that plagued them. Being in the agricultural industry as a family owned farm is a difficult feat. The CDC reports that suicide among farmers is 1.5 times higher than the national average. It is heartbreaking to think that this profession has caused such extreme stress. This stress is felt more disproportionately to Black farmers as they are also facing racial bias. I hate that this is the reality in this country.
I didn't know about the suicide rates among farmers. Farmers are an absolute necessity, and it's tragic to see how undervalued they are, especially farmers of color.
DeleteI had no idea the suicide rates among farmers were that high, but I guess when I think of all the struggles that come with the profession, I can see why so many feel hopeless.
DeleteI had heard that statistic before, but knowing nothing about farming, I wasn't sure what it was about the job that caused that. This episode, though, brought a lot to light that farmers have to deal with, particularly the racial biases that work against black farmers that I didn't know about
DeleteI had no idea suicide rates were that high for farmers. Just awful.
DeleteWow, this is so heartbreaking, but I'm glad you brought attention to it!
DeleteThis episode, as always, was intriguing, yet tragic. Last semester, I took a United States history course. This class focused on United States history up until the Civil War and notions of liberty, power, and social constructions. In this class, I learned that liberty in the early United States equaled the ownership of land. With land of their own, people had economic and political power, which is one of the reasons minorities in this country were denied land or had their land taken from them. But, as we can see through this episode and the plight of June’s family, land ownership no longer equals freedom. There are so many hoops that black farmers are forced to jump through that white farmers can breeze by: late and denied loans, putting up their entire lives as collateral, and more. This is just one facet of the systemic racism that plagues our country. This series of podcasts was a great resource to learn about our history, as well as modern times.
ReplyDeleteI had a love/hate relationship with these podcasts; I love to learn about social and other issues, but at the same time it breaks my heart.
DeleteAs someone who comes from a line of farmers (though I have historically tried to avoid this heritage), I have to reflect on where my family has stood in relation to injustices like the one discussed in this episode. My mother's family has farmed since before the Civil War. As far as I know, it was a fairly small operation in Henry Co KY and I am unsure if there were slaves involved. Recently, my mother took me out to the farm to show me how the land is laid out...since it will be mine one day--yikes! I learned that the land is very oddly pieced together. Our farm was once "land-locked" between other farms with no road access and my great grandfather had to diligently buy his way to the roadfront. I don't know how easy this was financially for him, but I know it took some time. I doubt he encountered this type of injustice, though. I think about all our current neighbors at the farm and how they're all white (that I know of)...I wonder how it got that way or if it always was
ReplyDeleteMy family also has had a long-line of farmers - I can't imagine being a person/family of color and not having the security in their land
Deletethis episode really hit home today. Like Emily, I come from a long line of farmers and I have been ignorant of the discrimination and struggles black farmers faced and still face. Today, I work at a law firm that is working on a dissolvement of an institution that will result in a large payout amount to numerous tobacco farmers. I am trying to do my part to make sure every single name is included that needs to - I don't know how many of the farmers on that list are a person of color or not, but all we can do is attempt to combat any injustice we see in the world little by little.
ReplyDeleteThis episode made my stomach hurt.
ReplyDeleteNobody will see this comment besides Kurt and Kremena, and the people who come here in the next class. I know this, because it's five days late, and nobody else cares anymore. The class is over. The class that serves as a continual reminder that this is a country that actively discourages us from treating our friends with the justice they deserve, and we accept it, is over. So I'm not holding anything back.
If you somehow end up reading this, I just want to give my attempt to convince you that this country was never good, or noble. This is the country where its most powerful fought the king of the United Fucking Kingdom over personal rights and then proceeded to do all the same shit to their workers. This is the country that held a four-year war over its supposed right to own another human being. This is the country that knowingly exterminated the people who lived here before, and then tells immigrants to go back to their "own country". this is the country that created the fucking Nazis.
I don't have the guts to be violent. I don't have the guts to hurt anyone. But that doesn't mean i don't fucking loathe this country and everything it stands for.
Updated Comment for episode 5 pt1 and 2.
ReplyDeleteThis episode emphasized the intrinsic, systematic racism still in US agriculture, banking and the federal government. I was brought to tears by June's account of losing his ancestral land and the home he built for his family due to acts of racism and inequality. I was especially struck in the second part of the episode when the lawyer begins to discuss that many Americans don't believe that racism is still so present in the twenty first century, and yet here it is in front of all of us. The finale of the series was tragic and bitter. Even when black Americans are able to gain justice it is never the justice they deserve. The unhappy ending is a reminder that in 2020 we live in a country of great inequality and an abundance of racism. This podcast has been beautiful, bringing me to tears of both joy and sadness, but overall it is a story of the most horrifying aspect of our nation.