Where Amazing Happens (Hyde Park - Chicago)

The name of this course is "If These Walls Could Talk," and surrounds its curriculum around historic artistic views and defining "mural." For the first Action Project of my Humanities course this Elective Term, we had to create a drawn piece of art work that signifies what our chosen neighborhood needs. For example: if someone's chosen neighborhood has a violence problem, maybe they can draw a no shooting picture. We also have to tie this back in to what we have been learning by utilizing historic styles of art. We have to also utilize our mind and think of symbolic ways to get our point across, which is my favorite part of the project. I chose to pick the Hyde Park neighborhood because I currently live there and it's one of my favorite places to be. Researching the neighborhood was pretty easy because it's widely known as a pretty important place in Chicago. This made my project flow pretty smoothly because I could easily research what I had to.

DR. "Where Amazing Happens," Nov 30, 2015

DNR
11/2015
Where Amazing Happens
Pencil on paper 11” x 14”

In my art piece, you can clearly see the the statement in the middle of the drawing. It says "Where Amazing Happens," and if you look closely you can see "Hyde Park" faded in the background. The intended message that I hope to get across is that greatness has came out of the Hyde Park neighborhood, so this is inspiration for people my age and younger to be something great, no matter what neighborhood you're from. From my research, I realized a lack of education in Hyde Park, as the main school there, Kenwood Academy High School, has a 50% reading proficiency rate and 40% mathematics proficiency rate. These are fairly average numbers for a CPS High School, but I believe my neighborhood can do better! This serves a problem to me, because the worse this situation gets, the more kids on the streets, which means more killings and all types of other bad stuff. 

If you look closely, you can see my horizon line, drawn through the middle of the drawing, this is where the eyes of my viewer are first drawn to. There are also buildings throughout the drawing with a long path that has a vanishing point. I tried to create this art as a tribute to Hyde Park and simply, all the greatness that comes out of my neighorhood, with shoutouts to Mary Lincoln, Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, Erne Duncan, and Vic Mensa. These are all people that are and have done great things. 

I colored my drawing accordingly to the color of each symbol. So, the Save Money symbol is red, so I colored it red, and Ali's gloves were usually red or gold, so I colored them red as well. 

Is It Because I'm Black?

The last unit for my Rhetoric class, "Unite," had the guiding question: how does rhetoric inspire and mobilize? We discussed how to use rhetoric to inspire others to take action by looking at some early attempts at uniting different groups around a specific cause in America. For our action project, we had to create some form of art that "speaks" on an idea and I chose the medium of literature. I've created a poem, titled, “Is it Because I’m Black”, speaking directly to the issue of racial profiling. Upon creating my piece, I had to dig deeply and remember what I love about my African American heritage! I was reminded, unfortunately, that racial profiling is still a problem, not only originating from policemen, but from African Americans, too. It’s my personal belief that there would be no such thing as racial profiling if some African Americans got their lives together! (I’ll explain exactly what I mean by this in my Artist’s Statement following my poem) Many are scared to say that, though. I must say, it wasn't easy to create my poem or even articulate explanation for my artistic choices, but of course, I feel like the message that I got across was worth it! I really love this poem and I hope you love it, too. It's one of my strongest pieces!

"Malcolm X/MLK." Wikipedia. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Is it because I'm black?

Man, I hate that crap

Blacks suspicious like water when it's tap

When you're black, and see a policemen, just assume it's a trap

Is it because I'm black?

I'm not really sure if I understand

Do you think discriminating against blacks makes you the man?

Or... Or is it because I'm black?

Am I supposed to be out on a corner sellin' crack?

Or breakin' my back

Running from police?

This ain't track,

Man, that's whack!

I think it's 'cuz I'm black.

You know, It never made sense to me...

I bet you they would arrest a blind black man...

Like, "why are you cuffing me, I can't even see!?"

It's definitely because I'm black

Or maybe it's because they don't wanna see

Any Productivity

Out the black race

Or... Or maybe they wanna see us eat without saying grace

Or.. Maybe they wanna see all blacks get a lil penitentiary taste

Yea, these are all horrible things,

But do my eyes deceive me?

Are things not what they seem to be?

Or what we see on tv?

Oh, it's DEFINITELY because I'm black

But lemme take you back

Back when everybody was pro-black

When Martin had a dream,

Remember that?

And you could hear Malcolm X scream... "by any means"

Remember that?

They say it's because I'm black

I say compassion's what they lack

I say slavery... is equivalent to "enslaving me"

And as a young black man I just wanna be free.

(Thank you)

This poem was inspired by the discrimination of African Americans around the US. This issue is so important to me because whenever I decide to have children, I don't want to have to worry about them being racially profiled. Why would that even be a concern of mine? It doesn't make sense for me, as a young black man, to fear for my life as a police car rolls by.

I looked up the definition of "police" and what I found online was: “the civil force of a national or local government, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.” When you think the phrases, "public order" and "detection of crime," do you think of policemen or do you think of police brutality? Crazy, right? My artwork's message is to bring more awareness and contribute my own personal perspective on the wrong-doings of some of the policemen in this nation.

I feel like this is important and I'm sure many would agree with me. Those people would also understand the emotional appeal of my topic. Even if you don’t understand or feel the need to care about this issue, you still have to have a heart. I’ve had family members beat in front of me just because something went down in the area and we’re all black. I know you have heard a story or two about a white cop killing or cuffing a black man for no legitimate reason and it concerns me to know that we can't even trust policemen to keep us safe. Look at Trayvon Martin who was killed for simply walking home while wearing a hoodie, because he was black. Look at Walter Lamer Scott who was shot down and then wrongfully accused of stealing a policeman’s stun gun, because he was black.

Some specific reasons why this topic concerns me may just blow your mind. Here are some mind blowing statistics (from Wikipedia):

1. Racial profiling un-officially began in 1693, when Philadelphia's court officials gave police legal authority to stop and detain any "negro" (freed or enslaved) seen wandering around on the streets!
2. June 2003, the Department of Justice issued its Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies forbidding racial profiling by federal law enforcement officials.
3. As of 2000, fewer African American men were in college than were in prison.
4. The average black kid is nine times as likely to have one parent in jail than the average white kid.

I chose to express my feelings about this issue through a thoughtful poem. This literary medium requires using a pen, of course, and a piece of paper. The medium of my choosing also requires the mental intelligence of what’s going on in the world. My preferred writing device is my phone, which is where I keep most of my spoken pieces. I feel like talking through my poems is a powerful form of expressing myself to others, and I hope you enjoyed my poem as much as I enjoyed crafting it for you and more importantly, speaking out on the issue of police brutality and profiling!

My poem has quite a lot of strong ethical appeal. I allude to my African American heritage a lot, which ties into my credibility as a writer and speaker on this top. I use Allusion to tie my poem back into the history of African American greatness, such as: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I use Hypophora to add pizzazz and present rhetorical questions, such as: “is it because I’m black?” and “but do my eyes deceive me?”. I seem to use Similes and Metaphors as well, such as comparing track to running from police or when I referenced blacks to being suspicious like tap water.

Due to the rhetoric and influence of my poem, I believe that anyone who is concerned about the same things I'm concerned about will help me in abolishing the discrimination against African Americans!

References:

"Racial Profiling." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.