Blog Post #4 by Cabrera, Roberto

    Racism is seen everywhere in our society. When I hear that word, I think of it as a way to oppress or discriminate others for their culture. After reading Talking about Race, Learning about Racism, I learned that racism is defined "As a 'system of advantage based on race'" (Tatum, 1992, p.3) as well as being a prevalent feature in our country. Tatum shows how Black-American and White-American students are being separated from each other such as one group being the majority and earning freedom while the other group becomes oppressed or prejudiced for their culture. Many people in our society who identify as Black-American are experiencing oppression, prejudice, and cannot afford to live in a safe environment. As for those who identify as White-American, they feel accepted, have better opportunities to become successful, and spend time with people who also identify as White-American, which makes Tatum ask(s), "Why are all the Black kids still sitting together", which is a question I would ask as well. She argues that "Race is considered a taboo topic for discussion, especially in racially mixed settings" (Tatum, 1992, p.5) and many people do not think about the person's culture or how they feel being different from one another, which is why every person should respect one another's culture and have an opportunity to become friends with them.

    

    One class I took in college where I began learning about racism and seeing my own race was Social Work 325: Diversity & Oppression II. I remember learning about the lives of innocent Black-Americans who were murdered by people of different race. As a class, we were watching the documentary 13th. While watching 13th, we had to write a paper on what we learned and touched us the most from the documentary. The scene that touched me the most was the scene when Trayvon Martin got shot by George Zimmerman, which also happened eight years ago in Florida. Zimmerman was caught by the police after he murdered Martin, but I was upset when "They did not arrest him after killing someone who was innocent (Cabrera, 13th-SWRK 325, 2020) because they assumed Martin was a suspect because he was Black-American. The way I see society makes me think of Martin's death because I imagine what I would be like if someone wanted to hurt me for being Hispanic/Latino. Sometimes, I see people working with others of similar backgrounds and not giving others of different cultures or assets an opportunity to work with them or feel supported by them. They just assume that they are bad people and not getting to know what their race is really like. Something important I learned when taking that course was that everywhere in society, there are "These instances, known as 'racial profiling', this is when people who tend to suspect things about others because of the way they look, anyone who is viewed a threat ends up getting hurt" (Cabrera, 13th-SWRK 325, 2020), and it is time that all of us as a diversity view one another as equals. White-Americans are not the only humans living in this society, there are also other cultures/races including Black-American that want freedom just like ourselves. We must build empowerment and help Black members in our communities feel accepted. There are still innocent Black-Americans being oppressed such as the assassinations of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and it is time for all of us to make a change in the community. (If you have a chance, please feel free to watch the documentary 13th. It is on Netflix, but it is also uploaded on YouTube. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8&t=900s)

    Not only were the article and the documentary eye opening, but it was also hard for me to understand the feelings of those people when they are living in their homes or fighting to earn money or a job to help pay their mortgage and feed their loved ones. Many black families are "More likely to live in poor neighborhoods" (NPR, 2018) and have a hard time finding ways to keep themselves safe. There are richer neighborhoods most White families could afford as "White people flee to the brand-new suburbs popping up all over the country. Many of those suburbs institute rules, called covenants that explicitly forbid selling homes to black people" (NPR, 2018), which not only oppresses them from moving into the neighborhood, but also shows why they think are the majority in their society, which I disagree with them. We all live in a diverse area where every person is different and facing different/difficult situations. Some of us could be either rich or poor, Black or White, male or female, but no matter how different we are from one another, all of us matter in society.

    All this made learn about myself including my race and all the different people I hang out with. This article has helped me become more aware of myself as well as teaching me how to stand up to oppression. Every human being is different, but just because we are a certain race/culture does not show we are either good or bad people. All of us can be unique by stopping racism, oppression, and discrimination. Social Work 325: Diversity & Oppression II was not the only course where I experiences race, another class I remember taking that talked about privilege and accepting others was FNED 346. One quote from Tatum's article that makes me reflect on how I learn racism as a Latino student remembering "White Privilege" was by McIntosh (1989),"I realized I had been taught about racism as something which pits others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at a disadvantage" (Tatum, 1992, p.13). I remember White privilege was described as more opportunities for white students and learning the systems of dominant minority groups they see or interact with them, but not only is race a problem, privilege is another thing that should be removed. I think everyone deserves a chance to be accepted and have opportunities to succeed. With oppression, privilege, discrimination, and negativity removed, it will make every person including myself a better person as well as living a better life in the society. The more we communicate and help one another, the safer it will be for us to live in our society. 

Blog Post #3 by Cabrera, Roberto

                  Marcus is being viewed differently by the people around him. One of those people is Emily, who is Marcus's teacher. s she teaches, Marcus seems to have the ability to participate. As he tries his best, but there are times when Emily sees him as a disruptive student if he did not act like himself. Emily see's Marcus as both a complex and complicated student. Marcus is taught to be a good student, but when Emily sees him, she seems to view him as someone who needs extra support towards the way he acts and learns. When Emily sees Marcus ready to learn in class, she sees that he "Participates easily" (p.116), but when Emily starts giving a writing assignment to the class, Marcus starts "making a beat on his legs while Emily is teaching" (p.116) which makes Emily see him as a disruptive student and shows that he sometimes becomes frustrated when he sees work is coming to him, which also makes Emily frustrated. When Marcus does not act like himself, Emily tries to help him, but he tends to not listen to her. Emily does tell Marcus "If we can't have a conversation, I'm going to have to call the office" and tries her best to talk to him. Not only is Emily his teacher, Marcus looks at her if she were his boss telling him what to do, which I think Emily does have the right to do that because she wants the best for Marcus, but Marcus tells her, "Nobody is the boss of Marcus Andrews" (p.120) which makes it harder for Emily to help Marcus get her attention to be motivated to learn. All this happens at Marcus's school and Marcus seems to be someone who has a hard time being with his teacher. The first example where I think Emily see's Marcus as both a complex and complicated student was found on this  part of the article,"Tip #1: Let Him Be Heard". In this section of the article, Emily sees Marcus as an active student while being hard to take care of for his behavior. Emily can see that Marcus is "Disruptive and provocative", but "When he is physically present, she gives him multiple opportunities to be heard 'positively', meaning within the parameters of acceptable student response, during lessons" and she calls him on Marcus to answer the questions and present with his knowledge. As Marcus happens to struggle, he sometimes does not want to answer Emily's questions. The harder the lessons turn out for Marcus, it also makes it harder for Emily to support him while teaching at the same time. She thinks Marcus can do better and this is my claim for Emily seeing Marcus as someone who needs to work on his own character, try his best more in class, and clear his behavior.                                                                                                                              

    Another example from the article was found on "Tip #3: Let Him Be Helpful", where Carla Shalaby sees/describes Marcus as a deserving human as well as both complicated and complex. She sees Marcus supporting his classmates and trying his best to be a good student. He seems to be great with his peers. In this section of the article, Marcus witnesses someone feeling upset and tries to find help for her. As a good student, "He had to leave the room for counseling and and told a staff member, Nyra was crying" (p.136) and he seemed to feel bad for Nyra. He was the only student was willing to stand up for someone and make someone feel bad to become better. Carla also shows how Marcus's experience has been a struggle, but at the same time, he follows directions and when he does something bad, it seems as if he looked more on his good side. When Emily was teaching Marcus a lesson in class, "She gave him a super hard book, and he worked so, so hard to read all of it, and Emily was proud of Marcus for being so smart and creative, which also made Marcus feel proud of himself" (p.143). The way I see it now, Marcus is a student who listens and wants to work hard. Emily also had a hard time dealing with Marcus, but when Marcus wanted to become a better student he had support from others to make him feel motivated, which was counseling. This shows how the author sees Marcus as a student who is deserving, complex, and complicated, but overall, she sees him as a deserving human. 

   

    This also compares to (Dis)ability by Beth A. Ferri. This article can also relate to Marcus's ability in school. The last example from the passage that made me think of how Marcus was being viewed for his ability was "Individual Educational Program (IEP). According to the passage, Marcus had an IEP which "Included allowance for a full-time paraprofessional to be at his side in the upcoming academic year" (p.140) which could have also been his key to success. Marcus's plan did involve classes with disabilities, but with the support given to him, that is what made him a successful student. According to (Dis)ability by Ferri, "When speaking of ability we invoke a host of ideas and images that rely on systems of norms to demarcate the line between ability and disability" (p.30) and Marcus was viewed towards his disability, which gave Emily a hard time to concentrate on Marcus and to see how she could best support him. Marcus was able to learn, but when he struggled, Emily did not seem to have the ability for his learning needs. When Marcus was able to give it his best shot, Emily was relieved and proud to see him to do his best, which also made Marcus proud. Marcus was a student who was tough to handle, but the more positive he turned out to be, the less stressful was not only for Emily to teach, but the easier for Marcus to learn better and the deeper I could understand how Carla sees Marcus as deserving human, complex, and complicated student.                                                                                                                                                                                                I felt as I was the same student Marcus as a young learner. Something that Marcus was being taught was being a good student, which was something also taught to me. Even now, I still try to do things to make myself a better person. I was a student who wanted to be helpful and heard, which I still do today. After reading the article, I learned that "Our ways of thinking about student ability and our educational practices with regard to perceived differences must account for the ways that ability is socially, culturally, spatially, and temporary located" (p. 32-33) and our learning styles must be expressed in a way to show that we need support in our struggles. As a student now, I participate and work to the best of my ability, but I also struggle at times and experience difficulties finding support. During years in elementary-high school, I had an IEP to support me towards my learning needs as something in school that made me stress the most the most were tests and the way teachers were teaching. With an IEP, I was able to succeed. I was also able to get support towards my classes. As a college student, there has been many changes. I have accommodations towards my learning needs and as a student with different learning needs, I fear of being behind and not having the same amount of support every year. Support is important when you are in school. When my professors or staff from the community see me, I am being viewed as complicated student. What makes me feel complicated is the worries I have during the semester, the support I try t receive, and seeing where Is stand in my class such as my grades, attendance, and academic skills. In order to become better, I try to talk with professionals and seek support. This what makes me the same student Marcus was at a young age and I still feel this way today. These are all my examples for how Emily and Carla S. (author) see Marcus and what I think makes them feel like Marcus is that person.

 

                                             

        

                  

Blog Post #2 by Cabrera, Roberto

 

                                                                Adultification Bias

    After watching End Adultification Bias, I learned how black girls were being oppressed from their teachers, peers and other professional adults. Instead of being seen as a member living in the same community with people of different backgrounds, they were being seen as suspects or disrespectful people for being a Black-American. Three stereotypes the author(Georgetown Law) mentions in the video that describes how "Adults describe them as are loud, aggressive, and angry" which not only makes black girls feel discriminated, but also threatened by other people. Not all Black-American girls feel this way and there are Black-American girls in the community who are innocent and deserve to be respected and supported. They make mistakes just like everyone else and in social circumstances where they hurt someone by accident or any mistake they make which makes them feel depressed, they should be forgiven and not threatened. According to the video, "All kids make mistakes, but in similar situations black girls are treated differently. A white girl's mistake might be met with sympathy and understanding, but time after time, black girls are punished instead because they are held to a more adult standard of behavior" which shows that if White-American girls make mistakes, people would tell them that it is OK or they would help them fix their issue, but if they saw black girls make mistakes, they would have negative reactions and say things like you could've done better, you are not good at this, or get out. This is a way to show how most people view Black-Americans as "Loud, aggressive, disrespectful", and it also impacts not only their race, but also their class and sexuality". A majority of them are more likely to be punished or go to prison than people of different race. Not being able to succeed is another huge impact because every person of different who tries their best receives sympathy from others, which I think Black-Americans should also receives sympathy because they work just as hard as people of different race. Also, when it comes to people asking either Black females about having sex, some of them do not even know much about sex and never attempted to have sex with anyone. People make assumptions that Black people have sex a lot or do things that are inappropriate, which shows they are wrong about them and do not understand the feelings and aspects of black people and how living in the same society with them is hard. Overall, it is time that all of us help Black members in our community feel welcomed in our society and not make them feel threatened because many of them are innocent and need our support to become better people. The way I have seen black people, they do not look "Loud, aggressive, or disrespectful" and not all of them have similar problems. 

What's Wrong With You

    This article mentions a teacher whose name is Ms. Steinberg who works hard to strengthen their students to become successful. While teaching, she sees that Jeremy is doing a magnificent job and likes playing the role as "Kenickie". He also gains experience while playing as Kenickie and it makes him a better actor as well as not only impressing Ms. Steinberg, but also himself. Later, his father Reverend Erb stops by to tell him how seeing his son playing as Kenickie is a bad role for him and wants him to be removed from having that role. This is a way to show hate and aggressiveness over his son doing what he thinks is best for himself as he expresses to Ms. Steinberg he does not like to see his son playing that role. He tells her, "I don't like the part Jeremy is playing, I think it sends the wrong message".  This shows that Reverend wants Ms Steinberg to remove Jeremy from playing as "Kenickie", but she tells Reverend she will not do that because as she sees Jeremy working, she knows Jeremy is a hard worker and deserves this position. Ms. Steinberg's goal is to make Jeremy feel great about himself, which is also a job Reverend as well, but Reverend does not like the act of his own son playing teenage roles.  Reverend is portraying Jeremy as someone who should be strong and acting his own age and not act like a teenager. In this section, Jeremy does a great job while playing his role which can lead him to even greater things Ms. Steinberg which includes "going out for dinner" or even having better roles in plays. Jeremy is doing what he thinks will make him look good and not letting anyone tell him what to do. Nonetheless, Reverend was right about one thing which was "Most people (grownups) don't like teenagers, they don't trust them, and certainly wanting to be around them is suspect", but it seemed like Jeremy liked the attention of working with teenagers and Reverend did not like it. It takes courage from someone unique to support you by telling you hw great you are, the skills and talents you bring to the extra curricular space, and that you are being yourself. Nobody would you appreciate you the same way as someone else would. We all have different mindsets. After reading this section, I learned from my pasts that I do not have a mindset or a preference for working with anyone no matter how different they are whether they are teenagers. Anyone that supports you best is person that will always have your back and show leadership.  

Only a Beginning

    The last section of the article discusses about the different styles/needs youth have. It also tells me how youth need a space that not only makes them comfortable, but to also give us strategies on helping them find their path to become "leaders" in their community or educational journey. Before working with youth, something I learned from the passage was that we must understand their abilities and learning needs and see what could help them best to become better people instead of just having us find useful resources they may not want to acquire. Youth are here to be flexible and as a team, "We do not create a defined leader but a flexible view of one who leads; some will be tacit leaders, some will be overt, some will share leadership, and some will support it" (Steinberg, p.274) which will help our learning economy grow, especially for youth. Steinberg discusses youth in this section as passionate, knowledgeable, educated, and ready to become leaders. Not only are they people of different learning styles, they are also people of different ethnicities and are positive on becoming the people they want to be. Although this does not impact race, gender, class, etc., it shows that "Youth leaders are necessary to nurture in order to create a healthy and optimistic environment" (p.274) which changes leadership into empowerment, failure into success, and from being young learners to high achievers in their goals/plans. Looking back to my past, I realized how beginning my educational journey as a youth was not only starting school, but to also learn the concepts that could be happening in school such as how hard tests/papers will be, keeping track of my time, and finding the best people for support. As a youth myself, it is important for me to show people my struggles and with support from all other adults, that is what will help me be able to succeed and find my path as a Youth Development major. At times, it is hard for me to find help for my struggles, especially seeking advice from my peers. As a youth, it is important to express to people what support you need and how not only it will the change you as a learner, it can help people feel great about supporting you and can benefit from it as well.

From My Experience

    As a young person, I experienced prejudice in many areas of school, but one I remember in particular was in my Algebra One course. My teacher would ask every student to present a problem on the board. When my turn came up, I was scared to present my answer because I did not think my answer was correct. Also, I was afraid my classmates would make fun of me for getting an answer wrong. I told the teacher I was not ready today and she asked in front of the whole class why I did not feel ready to present in front of the class. As I told her that my answer may not be right, "She thought I was just making an assumption", but I was not. I was being serious and as I presented, she went over my mistake and told me what I had to do better. Some classmates were looking at me as someone who was not prepared and it started bothering me. When it came to the next day and so on, the people who had answers correct were getting most of their attention by the teacher, as for those who needed help like me, we were ignored and told to keep working harder. It felt as the teacher wanted to every student to get answers right the first time, which was the setting I was prejudiced and not feeling as a member of the class. By the time I presented and got the answer right, I was able to express how I was able to solve my problem, and only the teacher appreciated my skills. Most of my classmates ignored because I made mistakes and not talking a lot in class, but until then, someone came to me and said "Great job on the assignment" and I said to her "Thank you". She was someone who struggled like me and we became study peers. In college, I do not experience prejudice a lot, but I do fear of how I am performing and how I must succeed as well as finding ways to help me overcome my fears. 

All About Me by Cabrera, Roberto

 

                                                                                                                                               

Hello, My name is Roberto Cabrera. I am a Youth Development major at Rhode Island College. My goal after I graduate college is to work in the elementary school system and become an inclusion teacher. Also, I am the first in my family to enter college and my goal is not only to become successful and support elementary school students, I also want to be a positive role model my family and the people I work with. I want to support students and show them how important they are in the community. I am also a senior seeking for ways to become a better person. 

 

Blog Post #1 by Cabrera, Roberto

 

Know

• I already knew how Youth Development /People who either serve or help both families and communities are a huge impact towards all the different skills they have.
• Another thing that I knew, which was something I learned from YDEV 300 was that many young adolescents spend their time outside of school joining after school programs or clubs that are offered by Youth Development workers with activities they think young adolescents will enjoy and make them useful. 
• This article has affirmed me of how better our environment could be if we change and learn from our deficits as in the society we live in today, there are people who do not learn from their deficits or just do not care about it. In this article, "Youth Development Guide", young people learn and change from their deficits such as from "Problem fixing to to healthy development" (p.12) and change from being heard to being seen in person with a great personality.

Learn

• As I read the passage, something I learned about the history and practice of Youth Development was that before families and individuals became influenced by Youth Development, many of their deficits include, "Youth violence, drug and alcohol abuse, drop out from school, etc." (p.4) which I now understand can be common mistakes/faults and something people can change from before it becomes worse or affects their personal lives. These deficits can also affect youth or their young ones who are being supported. After knowing how Youth Development is a useful support guide, I learned that it can also be the primary source for support to become better in the community.

More

• I want to know more about "Resiliency Research". As mentioned in the passage, I learned that "Resiliency research focuses on young people who succeed in becoming healthy adults despite risks" (p.7), but how about those who are struggling, doing poorly or need help. I want to know if they work with people of all different learning or financial needs. How does this research help people such as what they provide and do to support one another and is it a good source.