Jasmine Kent--Response to Daniel Sweat's Topic

I think many comedians have made their careers by using stereotypes as comical humor. Especially many black comedians that I know always have a part of that in their performance. Off the top of my head, I can think of Monique, Lil Duval, Mike Epps, and Kevin Hart.

Yet, when I think of how stereotypes making people famous, I think of the show called The Boondocks. It is a show on BET that exploits the many black stereotypes through a means of humor, but the aim is not just comedy, the aim is to also show the ridiculousness of such stereotypes. If taken correctly, a viewer will laugh and enjoy themselves while also realizing, the ways in which the characters of the cartoon live and behave are not the ideal ways to represent oneself in reality.

In the clip below, we have Tom, a lawyer often thought of as a "white-black guy" because of the way he talks and acts. His soul was taken over by the soul of Stinkmeaner, a deceased elderly man, whose ignorance and "nigger-ish acts" characterized him. To get revenge upon Riley and Huey's grandpa, Stinkmeaners soul acts as a parasite to Tom's soul and only reveals itself in "nigger-moments". Also, beware of profanity.

As you can see, the clip is hilarious, but the stereotypes that come out are a black mans anger, language, temper, and violence. If people were to take this as humor and nothing realistic, they would enjoy it but not imitate it. If people were to take it as a true stereotypical show, then they would laugh and imitate it expecting everyone to find it funny, no matter what race they are. That's not true though, if a white person was to reenact this scene to a black person, it wouldn't be so pretty. See the thing is, many people do imitate and repeat the things that they see on TV. And if a mature audience isn't the only audience viewing these shows, then these things will be taken incorrectly; to me, this is how ignorance spreads. Even though we show whatever we show on television, its the families jobs at home to make sure their children and relatives are raised right so as not to be prejudiced or purely stereotypical in everything they do.

Jasmine Kent

Stereotypes: Jasmine Kent

Parmi's blog topic intrigued me because of how stereotypes are forms and the truths or antiquated truths behind them. Stereotypes are used locally, nationally, and even globally, but we can't depend on anyone to distinguish between the realities of a certain race or people if they haven't experienced it for themselves. Therefore, we need to realize the message we are sending out each day when it comes to our vernacular, our behavior, and mass communication like movies, radio shows, books, television, and etc. Like Akshay Saxena said in his presentation, the only things he knew about the south was what he saw in movies and on TV. When he came here he saw that it was something totally different than portrayed via the media.

Personally, what came to my mind when I thought of stereotypes was athletics. My school was for the majority, white, but when it came to our track team and the 7 people that made it to state every year, they were black. When we would go out to track meets and win, many people got to know us as their prime competition. When returning back to campus, all the non-black people were like, "I'm glad we have black people at our school or else our track team wouldn't be fast". Other people would say to me "Man I wish i had a black butt like you, then i could run and jump fast". They were my friend and always joking around, so I was passive to the comments and would laugh with them; no need to act astute when I knew they weren't trying to be rude right? Yet I didn't know this stereotype was so embedded in them.

This string of thoughts lead me to a conversation on facebook I had with my cousin about a white man starting an all white basketball league. Don Lewis, the commissioner of the all white basketball league, claims that he wants to, "create a league that focuses on "fundamental basketball" instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color.". Lewis says that the "street-ball" played by "people of color" is one that involves players flicking off other players or grabbing their crotch. He states that they want to stress, "a more fundamental basketball, which blatantly fits white players better." Here is the interview where he explains how and why it is not racist to have an all white basketball league. Here are a few excerpts from the interview posted on the web, you can also listen to it on this mp3 file. Here is also a video that has Charles Barkeley's opinion and some of the rules for the AABA as construed by Don Lewis.

Jones challenged the commissioner, asking, "why do you think it blatantly fits white players better?"

Lewis: "Well, because the facts speak for themselves. Look at the NBA, which is a very athletic-oriented style of play. Would you agree with that?"

Jones: "There are definitely good athletes in the league, but it's hard to get to the NBA if your fundamentals aren't strong."

Later on in the interview, Jones pressed Lewis on the issue of racism and segregation.

Jones: "How in the world is it not racist if you don't allow anybody to play but white Americans? It's segregated."

Lewis: "It's the same as a private club."

Jones: "But that would be segregated also."

Lewis: "The league is not segregated because we allow ownership of anyone, know matter what their color is."

Lewis: "But you won't let anybody play but white people.... If you say that only white people can play, I have no idea how that's not segregated."

Lewis: "I'll agree in a sense, yes it is segregated."

The radio host referenced a line that Lewis said earlier in the week, a claim that the AABA is "a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."

Jones: "What makes you think white people like fundamental basketball?"

Lewis: "I ran a league, and they like that fundamental style of basketball."

Lewis continued, expressing interest in a white-vs.-black game called "Snowball vs. Bro Ball." His exact quote:

"In the past 72 hours, I've been approached by two different parties to not only televise what we're doing, but to turn this into a reality show from the time we start all the way through, and at the end, have our white all-stars play a group of all-star black players, with the series called Snowball vs. Bro Ball.

This really disturbs me. Are white people so intimidated by the athletic ability of black people that we must be patronized and segregated just so that the white man can feel better about himself? That's terrible. When I looked up the Racial Composition of the NBA, NFL, and MLB I found that 79% of the NBA is black, 65% of the NFL is black, and 18% of the MLB is black. While we might be dominant in the NFL and NBA, but that doesn't mean we are the sole ethnicity dictating the leagues. Whites, mexicans, europeans, etc all are very talented and represent themselves in the NBA, if not overseas or in other sports. Races besides African American are not to be put down athletically just because of their representation in 3 different sports.

So the question is, are black people blessed with more acute athletic prowess than other races? By the statistics and other personal experiences, this stereotype could be true, but discriminating in outlandish ways like the AABA or simply acting like black people are doing white people a disservice naturally, is where the stereotype has gone too far.

Jasmine Kent

Parmi Shah-Response to Jasmine's topic

It's interesting that you bring this up, because there was a video on youtube I saw just recently about racism in the elevator. Basically its a girl getting in the elevator and subconsciously clutching her purse tighter. Its a comedic approach but it stil makes a point. I feel that the stereotypes presented in all these children cartoons and mainstream media have made an impact on the people who watch it, and than their children. Even though the videos are simply meant to be funny, portraying racist stereotypes is affective enough to be considered crossing the lines. Another thing i've seen is that a lot of TV shows use racist stereotypes in a saterical format that is actually advocating against racism rather than for it. however children and evne some people who watch the show miss the satire and take it for face value. This makes using racism as a mode of entertainment very sensitive.

Here is the video I was talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRfjLfyXYlA

warning: profanity!

Matthew Orr's Response to Daniel Sweat's Question

I believe the most recent person to get famous off of a stereotype has to be General Larry Platt and his song: "Pants On the Ground." The stereotype he plays off of is the inner city African American in the South. A lot of southern rappers do this as well, trying to get rich and famous off of ideas that urban African Americans in the South are thugs and trouble makers. The clothing that these people supposedly wear are baggy pants and shirts and Air Force One's or something equivalent in style.

This trend of style can be linked to prison wear. Since prisoners are not allowed to wear belts, they must keep their baggy clothing, namely their pants, up with their hands. This eventually broke away from prison to youth trying to look "gangsta" and tough (1). This is the trend that General Larry Platt on American Idol tried to sing about. According to his lyrics, he believes people that walk around with their pants on the ground look like "fools."

This fashion has become such an issue and the stereotype progressed by the youth in Atlanta, there have been talks for a couple of years now to ban baggy clothing altogether in Atlanta city limits. I remember in my middle school just a few miles outside of Atlanta city limits, baggy clothing became such a problem, the administration enacted a new rule that shirts could not be longer than the tips of your fingers when held by your side. Also, pants had to have belts at all times, like in Atlanta. This was done because of the threat of guns and knives being concealed by the students with long shirts.

So, unfortunately, some stereotypes, like baggy clothing in Southern urban areas, has been promoted by southern culture through rappers and the like. General Larry Platt (shown below) is one of the few that have become famous by advocating AGAINST this style of clothing. In fact, going back to Jeff Foxworthy as noted by Daniel Sweat, the "redneck" comedian has even made a reference to this problem in one of his standup jokes:

"If your mamma is still driving you to school, then you ain't no 'gangsta': Pull your pants UP!"

Parmi Shah FOOD resonse

Sports are funny to me. I can spend all day playing them, getting dirty and bruised up gives me a rush. But I cannot spend time watching them on tV. its ironic, because channels like ESPN are america's favorite past time, not to mention the Souths. I found a video on the Southern Sports Awards. This is kind of funny because the awards are not actually about sports, but more the sport culture that the southerners of perfected: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUXXhdR7fH0
Its about tailgaiting and its introduced by Paula Dean, the souther cooking queen. This video represents the epitome of southern culture, food, sports, and plain southern culture.

Sports, Michael Cox

The period of my life that would have been involved with Sports primarily was spent in Minnesota, so I don't really have much to say with respect to Sports in Georgia however I think there are enough people who have experience here to present a good number of opinions.

In the area that I lived Football was the big thing. Almost all of my friends were on their high schools football teams or had been at one point. The only reason I wasn't was because I was home schooled and didn't have transportation to get in every day for practices. I did have friends that were home schooled that played on HS teams as well. I think this is a pretty good indicator of how important it was to the surrounding communities. The played football no matter what the weather. I remember sitting through snow storms watching my friends playing. Nothing stopped those games.

Increasing stereotypes. Michael Cox

This is in response to Daniel Sweat's post regarding southern stereotypes and whether people who make their living by making jokes about those southern stereotypes are increasing the effect of stereotypes or if it doesn't really have much of a difference, and it is a response to Parmi Shah's post regarding stereotypes.

I think the amount of influence those types of people have really depends on the audience that's listening. A lot of people seem to miss the fact that there are "rednecks" all over the country, not just in the south. I myself have been raised both in the south and the north and I have seen this. There is a certain type of people that have a mindset that is based off of a lower education level, these people are more impressionable and are more easily influenced by the things they see. In my experience living and working among these different types of people I would say that these stereotypes presented by comedians are more influential among these people with a lower level of education. Among people who think more objectively and are as a general rule more intelligent, these stereotypes are shot down more frequently or seen through as largely a facade.

With regard to security services stereotyping against people of particular nationalities and skin tones, I would say that while this is unfortunate and in some ways unfair, with regard to security in airports until another more effective method is established for detecting individuals who may be a threat, that even though this is an inconvenience to some people if it is still providing some level of security it is not altogether bad.

As far as stereotyping black people for law violations and police officers being more likely to ticket them instead of giving them a warning, I think that largely is due to the reputation established by both the ideas behind black gang identities, and also what is presented in media. I don't think that it is right or just, but I think those are some strong influences that breed this type of stereotypical thinking towards black people.

Using your heritage- Daniel Sweat's intro

Jeff Foxworthy has made a living making fun of his heritage. He has done jokes about his speech, his family, and his way of life. He has sold cd's, made movies, and done stand up so much that he his a house hold name. My question for the weak is what other southern stereotypes have people used to make them famous? Do you think that they make these stereotypes worse or do you think that it is ok?

Stereotypes, why? by Parmi Shah

So this week, for the visual presentation project I found a fact that African American's actually do tip less than Caucasians, and this made me wonder how many other stereotypes are true and why?

So I looked in to crime rates and saw that According to the most recent FBI uniform crime statistics, white males are responsible for 48% of all sex crimes and black males are responsible for 48.1% of all sex crimes. YET the Toledo Police Department is at least twice as likely to issue tickets to blacks than to all other drivers. The numbers in Akron, Columbus and Dayton are similar: blacks are about twice as likely to get tickets as those who are not black. So the question is what is true, and what is just influenced by stereotype. My thoughts are that the mere .1 percent difference in the race is probably based on the stereotype where the predominantly white law enforcement look for black criminals skewing the numbers, not because the crimanls arrested are framed, but because the same effort isn’t being put into other races. This manipulates the ratio and reinforces the stereotype. The reason I find this so interesting is because driving while black is equivalent to my situation which is flying while brown. I get stopped almost every flight because my last name is a first name for Arabs. Regardless of the fact that I am not Arab, its racist for “random checks” to occur because of race, it skews data and influences stereotypes which than influences people to continue their prejudice. It’s basically a vicious cycle.

Daniel Sweat's Southern Sports: Baseball

In my town, LaGrange, Ga., football is number one. But this is closely followed by baseball. We have 6 major league players or former players from my hometown. The most resent is Luke Bailey.
Although he is from my rival high school, everyone in the town knows his name. He is held as a celebrity and treated as such, but he is a nice guy still.

Baseball is a life style in the South. There are leagues for every child age group from 3 years old and up. The extremes of these leagues are travel leagues where people will drive from Texas to Georgia for a weekend tournament. My brothers were on such teams, although they only played in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, and at these tournaments you would see extended families. There would be the stereotypical dad cussing at the ref for a close call. Here is a video of the coaches fighting after what looks to be a ten year old game or younger.

Baseball is America's past time, but it is the South's second leading religion behind football.

Sports in the South

Honestly, I can't find an answer to your question Matthew. I'm from Texas, and when it comes to sports we take every one very seriously, mainly Basketball, Football, Track, and even Gymnastics. When it comes to colleges in Texas, one can see how highly each main sport is ranked in their conference, and even the nation. If you refer to the Big 12 Sports site, you can see that many southern states are ranked above and beyond northern states. For men's outdoor track the rankings are as follows:

1.	TEXAS A&M
2.	Florida State
3.	Oregon
4.	LSU
5.	Florida
6.	NEBRASKA
7.	Arkansas
8.	Arizona State
9.	OKLAHOMA
10.	Stanford
11.	Indiana
12.	BAYLOR
13.	Minnesota
14.	Penn State
15.	TEXAS TECH
16.	California
17.	Virginia Tech
18.	South Carolina
19.	New Mexico
20.	Auburn
21.	Kentucky
22.	Georgia
23.	Arizona
24.	OKLAHOMA STATE
25.	Washington State

as you can see, 10 of the top 25 are southern states. That's just one example though, I don't want to go on copying and pasting for each sport. But I feel that when it comes to sports, I always see people from my area, or the south, ranked in the top 100 in the nation to be recruited. I personally know many people that went to and ran pro, like Sandy Wooten and Brittany Cross, that used to run on the same track, Alamo Stadium, against my Track and Field AAU team in the summer. When it comes to football, probably only one or two of my friends didn't go D1. The others went to Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Baylor, Florida, and the list goes on. I know a lot of this is personal, but I didn't want to fill this blog up with long superfluous national prospective athlete lists, their rival rankings, their commitments, their accomplishments, and etc. Yet here is a video of my friend Mychal Dungey running against Rynell Parsons in the 200m dash. Rynell had the fastest 100m time in the nation at 9.99 as a sophmore.

Football is almost a national phenomenon, but I do believe that the southern states dominate this sport. With all the big, hefty men bred down here, its hard to argue. The top 3 teams in the Nation were:

1. Alabama

2. Texas

3. Florida

All southern states. Sometimes I wonder if its just in our blood ;)

When it comes to basketball, the rankings display much more presence from the northern and mid-nation states. I don't feel that the south dominates that sport as much as it dominates track&&field or football. Maybe because they are both outside sports and the weather down here allows for that to be played year round, but up north it is much harder to utilize that time to get better. The national rankings for basketball are as followed and were found on the this Sports page :

1. Kansas

2. Kentucky

3. Syracuse

4. West Virginia

5. Villanova

6. Purdue

7. Duke

8. Georgetown

9. Kansas State

10. Michigan State

11. Gonzaga

12. Tennessee

13. Wisconsin

14. Texas

15. Butler

16. Ohio State

17. Brigham Young

18. Northern Iowa

19. New Mexico

20. Georgia Tech

21. Temple

22. Cornell

23. Pittsburgh

24. Vanderbilt

25. UNLV

Obviously the presence of the south isn't as strong when we take a look at this.

When it comes to gymnastics, I did it for about 8 years of my life! All I know is that the hardest competition was at regionals, because once you got to nationals you had seen all of the competition. There was no one out there better than the region that consisted of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and a few more that I forget because it was a little while ago.

Yet, even with all these rankings and personal experiences, I couldn't label just one sport to represent the South. The South is a powerhouse for all sports and the rest of the nation better come ready or go home.

Jasmine Kent

Jasmine Kent--Blog Topic: Stereotypes in the South

Stereotypes are big everywhere, whether they are the punch lines of jokes, the initiation of fights, or are actually reality. Yet, when do stereotypes cross the line? When are they true, totally false, or ride down the middle so one can tilt them either which way for their own purpose? How often do you use stereotypes subconsciously in your daily life and when do people actually notice and respond to them? How do they respond to them?

Many specific southern stereotypes I can think right off the bat are ones about Texas. When someone says they are from Texas, the initial thought of some people are to think of cowboy hats, cattle, accents, and plain flat country. A funny play on this was a clip found in an episode of Family Guy where the Griffin's move to Texas to hide their infant son, Stewie, from the angry mob in Quahog, RI.

These are just parodies of stereotypes, but for this post, I would like you to analyze southern stereotypes and how they are depicted in the real world, whether they are funny, like Family Guy, or are rude and violent, like the nukes made during the election of Barack Obama in 2008.

Georgia Tech's Impact on Atlanta

Georgia Tech has impacted Atlanta by adding a more urban, intellectual edge to the already youth infested city of Atlanta. Atlanta is already known for its night life and the flourishing businesses within the city, and once Georgia Tech was established, it brought more attention to the city. The addition of more youth and more young aspiring entrepreneurs has helped businesses to thrive, develop, and expand. The best example of this is Atlantic Station.

Atlantic Station was established in 1946 as a national model of smart growth and sustainable growth. One can live, work, and play in the same area, which is totally the opposite of our suburban nation. The following map shows its proximity to Georgia Tech:

View Atlantic Station in a larger map

Atlantic Station has a variety of stores like H&M, Victoria Secret, Guess, etc. but also includes places like the Regal Cinemas, Dolche, and the Strip. One can eat, shop, and be entertained all in the same section without a car. This is an ideal place for college students above and below the age of 21. Atlantic Station has catered to them as well as the city itself, bringing business and young minds from all around. It gives opportunity to the young and the old with its stylish, yet affordable homes. Its appeal is also emphasized by its proximity to the city. Georgia Tech and its population has helped this place flourish and become a model for the nation of what sustainable growth should really look like.

Besides the places that Georgia Tech has helped expand, Tech has also provided young job seekers into the city, keeping its economy growing. Ivan Allen Jr., in the graduate class of 1933, became mayor of Georgia from 1962-1970. Jim Allchin, in the graduate class of 1984, was a high level executive of Microsoft. Micheal Arad, in the graduating class of 1999, was an architect designer for the World Trade Center Memorial!

Those are just a few examples, yet I feel that they support my claim that Georgia Tech has helped flourish the young vibe of the city of Atlanta and provided new, innovative intellect to the upcoming businesses of the renowned city.

Jasmine Kent

Sports in the South - Week 4 Topic - Matthew Orr

When Southerners aren't enjoying a nice plate of BBQ pork, relaxing on an afternoon in a rocking chair in front of the plantation home, or deciding whether or not to attend church for a fourth day in a row, most Southerners love to spend weekends watching sports. In particular, football is most associated with the Deep South. High school football is almost a religion in small towns all across the South. However, what if football wasn't the only sport that the south enjoyed and contributes to the rest of the country?
I read a week or two ago in the Atlanta- Journal Constitution's High School Sports section online about the possibility of Georgia being a basketball state. This intrigued me because not only did my high school, Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, have an AWFUL football team (we haven't won a single game in at least two years), but we have a nationally recognized basketball program that has won four state championships this decade alone. As many high school pack the football stadiums every Friday in the fall, so does the Lipscomb gymnasium sell out at least an hour ahead of tip-off every Friday night in the winter and early spring.
Besides Wheeler High School, there are several other programs across metro- Atlanta alone that are consistently churning out elite prospects into Division-I schools every year, including Norcross, Milton, and Westlake High Schools. The blogger on the AJC where I read this article provided statistics about how many NBA players (currently playing and not currently playing) have come from each state since 2000:
"Alabama: 7
Arkansas: 4
Florida: 23
Georgia: 22
Kentucky: 5
Louisiana: 15
Mississippi: 11
North Carolina: 19
South Carolina: 3
Tennessee: 11
Virginia: 19*

*All but two are from prep schools and academies such as Oak Hill and Hargrave Military.

Other states of note:

California: 62
Illinois: 38
Indiana: 12
Maryland: 22
Michigan: 27
Missouri: 9
New York: 26
Ohio: 20
Pennsylvania: 22
Texas: 43"
-Statistics provided by Todd Holcomb of the AJC.
Other Southern states, like Kentucky, already have basketball as their de facto state past time. So here is the debate question for the week: Should Georgia, and for that matter, the entire South, be considered a football state, or should basketball be known as a major contributor to our culture here in the state?

Below are some highlights of a recent game between Wheeler High School and their archrival Walton. The two players they focus on, Ryan Harrow (#12) of Walton and Jelan Kendrick (#0) of Wheeler are the top two seniors in the state, and two of the best seniors in the country this year: