A trip to the Archives

        Yesterday I visited the LaGuardia and Wagner archives. The Archives are located within the college; they house many of the written and physical artifacts of New York Cities history. Our class visited these archives in order to gain a better understanding of how to utilize research facilities. We were shown a historical document as well as many artifacts that had to do with past mayors.
        The document we examined was a written version of a speech former mayor Robert F. Wagner made to address the Harlem riots of 1964. This was useful and relevant to our class because it gave us an idea of the aftermath of the riots. We have been studying the causes of the riots and what actually occurred, but we have heard no input on the riots from an authoritative perspective. As a group we analyzed the document and drew conclusions on what we thought Wagner was trying to say. He mentions touring Harlem after the riots and finding much of it untouched and unaffected. He also mentions the obligation of local government to maintain law and order. When we went over this part I felt as though he was trying to justify the brutality performed by the NYPD. My classmate Elvia felt he was trying to minimize the severity of the event. Our guide to the archive, Tara, used our differing perspective to exemplify the effect of secondhand sources. Although the speech itself was a firsthand account, anybody could put their own ideas into Wagner's words. This is why she stressed the importance of checking facts. I found the tour of the archive very useful. For one, it showed me a place within the college i could go to access real historical documents. These documents may prove useful while i am writing any of my three research papers this semester. The trip to the archive was also useful in that i was given a lesson on reading and analyzing documents.

Revised Diagnostic

                Malcolm X, being the amazing speaker and thinker that he was, presented many innovative ideas to the black community in his time. His words evoked strong emotions in everybody who listened. In addressing the issues faced by black Americans he eluded to an oncoming explosion, a revolt perhaps. He implicitly urged blacks to take up arms against the continuing oppression they faced at the hands of a racist and fascist government. Malcolm X was well aware of the scrutiny African-Americans faced at the hand of police who were allegedly working to serve and protect. He also realized the spread of lie that led whites to believe that blacks were more animal than human. Although obviously concerned with the state of blacks in his homeland, Malcolm X also had his scope on international matters. He felt that there was no voice for black people on an international scale; world leaders saw little good in allowing a sense of unity to form in the minds of blacks throughout the world. The words of Malcolm X were inspiring to African-Americans everywhere; the imminent explosion he spoke of was soon at hand as anger could not and would not be contained. Black people throughout the country would heed the words of this revolutionary thinker and fight back at the power that tirelessly worked to hold them down. Malcolm X knew there would be a revolt because he could clearly see the way a government full of racists and fascists oppressed so many of its own people.
            It is crucial to talk about this oppression because it was so prominent in the everyday functions of the country. In Malcolm X’s speech on “The Police State” he speaks of how officers of the NYPD were given permission to utilize whichever strategies they felt necessary to keep African-Americans “in check”. Whites were informed of the constant police activity in Harlem as a way to demonize blacks and make Harlem seem as though it was a breeding ground for crime and violence. This could only fuel the anger of blacks; even though freedom had been technically granted, they had not been granted most basic human rights.

Blog #1

         In this blog i will be discussing the introduction to Walter Mosley's piece Workin' on the chain gang. This summary should be viewed without bias, Workin' is a piece meant to show people that regardless of race, color, or creed we are all struggling in the world. In his introduction Mosley says some very powerful things concerning our capitalistic society and its negligent attitude towards basic humanity. He speaks of how Black Americans are demonized so many years after the end of slavery and even after civil rights had allegedly been granted to them. Though he focuses on black struggle, he conveys the idea that we are all experiencing this struggle. A keyword which can be used to describe the ways he discusses our society is apathetic. He speaks of our capitalistic society which places value on every human life. It is careless towards those deemed to have no value. In one part of his intro he talks about decisions that are made by those we elect to govern us. These decisions rarely are made to promote happiness among the people of the world. These decision are usually influenced by the possibility for monetary gain. Mosley makes many important points in his intro, one point he made i believe to be important was when he said "Our abilities far outmatch our actions. This is because our actions, and the actions taken in our name, are truly not ours to govern"(Mosley 5). I find this quote to be crucial  to one of Mosley's main points. He brings up the point that although we expect politicians voted into office to represent our wants and needs, they frequently do not. Mosley expresses that business and government have blended to a point where political actions are taken for financial gain and no longer for the good of the common man.