Prisoners of Poverty

2.8 million people walked the streets of Chicago today,

but while they were criss-crossing across those cracks in the concrete

not one of them noticed that they were passing through a prison

A prison where inmates of income do time in the dungeons of cardboard castles

Where the cafeteria is a trash can and the bathroom is a brick wall

Where the only occupation is an outstretched hand held up by the hinges of hunger

and a fleeting faith in humanity

Where the visiting room is divided by a one way mirror:

Made of excuses and explanations, it enables everyone to ignore the incarcerations

So a teen can sit seeking food front and center on the sidewalk,

while the human herd, unable to hear, hurries past him like livestock.

Too focused on our future at a suitable cubicle

to see that a donation to a juvenile is usually doable.

We’ll leave the heavy lifting up to legislation

in hopes that our nation

will stop its endless arming for wars

and start fighting the battle to bring its homeless indoors.

Instead of spending money making missiles long range,

I think it makes more sense, to use our dollars for change.

But, until the day we stop building bullet holes in our democracy

for citizens to fall through

Until that day,

The change will have to be made by you.

Drawing Up God

Over the course of history, different races have altered Jesus to resemble their own. If you look closely at the picture above you can see how each culture has tweaked his appearance to resemble their own.

So I asked myself, why did people feel the need to change his appearance? Why do I think of a white guy when I picture Jesus rather than a middle-eastern man? Well I think it comes down to relatability. People want to feel a connection with their religion. They want to feel like it is their own and so they will make every part of it as relatable to their own personal lives as possible. It really makes me think about how self centered humanity is at times. Especially when Jesus was first being depicted, races were far more segregated than they are now so people didn't want to be praying to someone who looked foreign. We always like to say that god created man in his image, but I wonder if it's actually the other way around.

"Korean Jesus" from 21 Jump Street

In addition to this, I would argue that a parallel can be drawn between the way people have depicted Jesus and memory. Now forgive me because I did get this from Wikipedia, but it brings up an interesting point. It states that, "his artistic depictions... are based on second or third hand interpretations". Now as I recently learned from a Radiolab on memory, each time you "recall" a memory, you aren't retrieving the actual event from metaphorical file cabinet in your brain, but rather recreating an entirely new memory based on your last recreation of that memory. It went on to say that the more times you recreate the memory the more you alter it to make it more about you. Just as how nearly if not every time Jesus was painted or illustrated he was recreated from a previous recreation. Not only this, but he was also tailored to be more like the race of the person doing the recreating. Clearly, there are some similarities between the two processes.

Spongebob filling memories in his brain (wrong!)

Another reason why I think people have altered Jesus' appearances was to further their agendas. In a fairly recent npr broadcast, author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and The Saga of Race in America, Edward Blum, discusses how different groups of people have used Jesus' race to further their causes. In the late 1800's as waves of Jewish immigrants came to the U.S. some religious artists decided to severe Jesus' appearance from it's Semitic roots. These artists in favor of immigration restrictions began to depict Jesus with blonde hair and blue eyes as apposed to dark brown hair and brown eyes. Again, we see this trend of people altering Jesus' appearances to benefit themselves.

What does this say about humanity that we alter religious figures to benefit ourselves and our own agenda's? What are some other possible reasons for altering Jesus' appearance? Are there any modern day examples of the power of people wanting to racially relate to people of power or fame? (for example in American T.V. shows there are very few lead actors who are a minority) 

Reducing Characters to Racial Stereotypes

Recently while eating at a local sub shop with some buddies of mine I happened to notice a particularly interesting comic book. After looking a bit closer at the cover I noticed a few things about the black man depicted in the boat that I think show some racism on the part of the author/illustrator. 

For example, while all the other men are saving someone, working the sail, or looking in horror as they sail away, the black man is the one rowing the boat. He is the only responsible for doing the hard work. Also, while everyone else in the boat is fully clothed he isn’t wearing a shirt which I think again simplifies his character too nothing more than someone capable of manual labor. Additionally, the other characters depicted seem to have received more detail. They all receive dramatic poses, facial expressions, while again he is simplified to the guy who rows the boat. Along with this, his body almost appears to be concealed by shadow. We can’t even see his eyes, almost like he is identity is trying to be concealed by one of those black bars the police use to keep people anonymous. Lastly, and I admit that this may be an over-analyzation, but it almost appears that the white man in the back of the boat is afraid of the black man rather than the volcano. These were just some initial observations before I had any real knowledge of the content of the story.

After doing some research I discovered that the man enslaved person who was freed and the story takes place during the civil war, but I don’t think that changes the fact that this cover is racist. If anything I think it can enforce this claim. The author/illustrator has oversimplified and diminished the character of the man rowing to nothing more than a freed slave. All the other men in the boat clearly are feeling all sorts of emotions at this point in time and we can tell this from their poses and facial expressions. The African American man’s face appears to be completely blank, and lacking emotion. Although, it’s hard to even tell what his emotion is because again his face is partially concealed by shadow. His pose is merely rowing and this conveys no feelings whatsoever. In my opinion all of this can lead us to the conclusion that the author/illustrator has oversimplified this man’s character to little else than a black slave.

Now although this book was published in 1963 I think these themes are true in hollywood in modern america as well. The first example that comes to mind, I’ll have to admit is dated, but it seems so shocking nowadays that I think it’s worth mentioning.
(If the video doesn't load use this link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTchUep_bmg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZTchUep_bmg)

This blatant racism was acceptable in the mid 80’s and continues this theme of oversimplification. They literally play a gong every time the guy’s name is said. Gedde’s Watanabe’s character obviously isn’t developed really beyond the point of the racist depiction of a funny chinese guy.

Another example of racism in hollywood that is brought to mind comes from the recent movie remake of classic American t.v. show, The Lone Ranger. In which Johnny Depp portrays “Tonto”, a Comanche Native American. Now this example isn’t as blatantly racist as some of the other examples but it’s at the very least questionable. For instance, in a Huffington Post live discussion Chris Eyre, a film director and producer and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, makes the says that, “I literally don’t know what is Native American about the character Tonto”. He went on to mention that Kemo Sabe is actually Potawatomi rather than Comanche. Between the face paint not actually being authentic to what Comanche people wore, and the random placement of a crow on Depp’s head, the film seems to depict some strange combination of racial stereotypes rather than an actual representation of a Comanche person.

Although diminishing characters of books and movies to nothing more than the stereotypes of their race has lessened since the 1960’s, it seems that this trend still continues to this day.

Taking Immigration Seriously

A New York Times article today showed this image of a group of boys (some unsure of their age) trying to illegally immigrate to the US. The article contained this image because it was reporting on the government's new plan to provide "$2 million in grants to enroll about 100 lawyers and paralegals" to illegal immigrants under the age of 16 who are traveling without a parent. After reading this, I was initially confused. Since as long as I can remember, I have been told that the government awards everyone charged with a crime a lawyer if they need one, but here it says that for all of the illegal immigrants that are tried in immigration court, there are only 100 lawyers. And these 100 lawyers can only represent children. As it turns out, if you are not a US citizen, then you don't recieve the "benefit" of a lawyer (Semple).

Personally, I consider the right to legal represantation to be a basic human right, and I thought most Americans did too. But maybe, people believe that legal representation is the right of American citizens,  but for everyone else our government accuses of a crime, it's "benefit"that non-citizens do not deserve. Maybe.

But, my guess would be that, if you surveyed Americans and asked "Is the right to a lawyer a basic human right?", the result would be an overwhelming yes. But, if you asked "Should illegal immigrants facing deportation be granted a lawyer?", you would see significant amount of people who answered no. In this way, I think that this American value contradicts many American's opinions and actions.

One such American is Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. He argues,“The broader message [of this new immigration plan] is that we don’t take our immigration laws seriously" (Semple). I agree that we don't take immigration laws seriously, but maybe not in the same way. Because serious to me means that we don't just believe in our rights, but we extend them to all people accused of a crime by the US government. In fact, I think that even after this plan is put into place, our immigration laws won't be "serious" enough. After all, "since october, more than 47,000 children traveling without parents have been caught" (Semple). How are 100 lawyers supposed to give legal representation to all those kids? And harder still, how will they give good legal representation to those kids? Additionally, why should families and adults not be apointed lawyers as well? It is downright unfair to make the right to a lawyer some twisted type of lottery, and we, as Americans, need to start standing up for the rights we supposedly believe in.