Black History Convocation Program

The Black History Month Convocation program was an excellent way to introduce the meaning of Black History in the views of a man who came from all backgrounds and now is a member of Congress.  I did not expect to see a member of Congress attend the program, not alone give us his interruption of what the meaning of Black history meant to him. Encouraging our generation to give back and show that as African Americans we can do so much more to bring our people a better future. His journey on becoming a senator, by being inspired to better a few children’s lives in a struggling community similar to his own, shows that a passion can change a person. His passion lead to even a Xavier student finishing college and become a pharmacist thanks to Senator Richmond. Just by him sharing his success of moving from a little league coach, to a senator, to now a member in the House of Representatives has had an impact on me moreover fellow students at Xavier when discussing the event afterwards. One analogy that stuck in my head was the comparison of relating a person to a thermometer or a thermostat. Stating that you could be a thermometer and just watch things as they go on or a thermostat where you make a change such as Rosa Parks did when not giving up her seat. Representative Richmond’s speech truly stuck to me and made me want to follow his advice and do better things in the Black communities. I also enjoyed the set up of the advocation program, where they sang the Black Nation Anthem, and gave students like myself the chance to hear experience what it truly is to come from African decent. Since I am biracial, I never truly got to understand the meaning of Black History. Now attending Xavier, I feel more connected with my culture and the convocation program has helped a great deal. All together, The Back History Month Convocation Program has helped me understand the real meaning of Black History Month, which is to better my future and help other African Americans throughout the years, “Make a difference!

Carpe Diem (BHM Convocation)

I admit that I initially loathed the idea that I’d miss lunch to sit and listen to a presentation on how to be black. Much to my surprise, I was pleased by the discourse given by Congressman Cedric Richmond. Being the wonderful skeptic that I am, listening to Dean Byrd’s introduction, I was resistant to believe that this man would really be an effective speaker. First, he went to Morehouse (an arguably more elite HBCU than Xavier). Second, he is a Louisiana state House Representative (I am not a Louisiana resident). Third, he is a close personal friend of our President Francis (I figured he would be an old conservative man who would lecture at us instead of directing to us). Needless to say, I thought his speech would fly over my head—but I was wrong. Congressman Richmond was young, relevant, and surely knew how to speak to the youth, even quoting rap lyrics in his speech. His speech was to answer the question What does Black History Month mean to you?  A question that many African-Americans are asked each year during the month of February. I again figured this would be a presentation I’d heard many times over, but when it was strikingly different, I highlighted a few statements that particularly struck me.

The first statement was “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” This overly optimistic statement resonated within me for some reason. Maybe it was just the fact that my day up to this point had been long and mundane. Maybe it was the idea that someone … But I think this line struck me because it allowed me to have a sense of self-worth. In the grand scheme of the world, I really don’t matter; I am but a small speck of pigment in the grand painting that is the world. I am one of billions, but Congressman Richmond ensured me that there is someone in the world that really cares about me and appreciates my full worth. It drew some sentimental emotions out of me.

The next quote I drew from is speech was that “the biggest sin in life is wasted talent.” I believe that every individual has a story. And in that story comes some sort of motivation to live. For some it is their family, for some it is some sort of skill. But I believe we all live for some avaricious goal. Congressman Richmond convinced me that we should all grab that notion and seize it. Whatever you live for, go out and pursue it because we all have something to share. Go out and live for what you love. Carpe Diem.

Black History Month Convocation

I really enjoyed the Black History Month Convocation program. I think it is great how Xavier recognized first time freshmen on achieving a 4.0 grade point average for their first semester. It really shows how Xavier really wants us to strive for greatness and it gives the students more motivation and determination when we are awarded for our hard work. What I ultimately enjoyed about convocation was the speaker, Representative Cedric Richmond. He did not give us some boring speech that we have already heard before about doing right and stay out of trouble, but a speech that we can make applicable to our lives. Mr. Richmond’s speech mostly talked about giving back to our communties and those who helped us get where we are today. His speech really hit home when he made reference to Xavier University’s Mission Statement about “preparing its students to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society”. He used examples from his life to show us how to give back and recognizing those who helped guide us through our childhood years. First example, he stated how when he was younger he played basketball but once he got to a certain age his coach made him teacher a group of kids. He did not believe that he could really motivate the kids, but he remembered what his coach had done for him by motivating and making sure he stayed on top of his school work. Mr. Richmond would just constantly tell his kids to be their best and ultimatley be a positive influence for them. Another example from his was life was the impact the custodian had on his life. He gave the custodian more credit for how he is today rather than his teachers becase the custodian made sure he had lunch money, that he accomplished his homework, and that he stayed out of trouble. Representative Cedric Richmond made it very clear that the most important thing about life is being a positive influence and giving back to the community.

Black History Month Reflection

The Black History Month Convocation was a very successful opportunity to hear U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond. He encouraged us through words of wisdom and paths that we should take to make better communities and give to younger generations and to the communities that paved the way for us.
Something that stood out to me is that he said his high school role model was the head custodian because he always pushed him to be better than he was because he knew he had potential to be something more of himself. Basically, the custodian looked out for him and encouraged him by making sure he did his homework and making sure he had lunch money and things of that nature. This reminded me of myself because when I was in elementary school me and the custodian had a great relationship and he looked out for me also.
Another thing that stood out to me was that he said “To whom much is given, much is required”. I hear this verse so much at church and I just LOVE it! I see plenty of people come back home to my community and give back and it’s not always money. They volunteer at events and church and we all just have a good time together and this is what I want to be able to do. I will go back to my community and help where I am needed because “to the world you may be small but to one person you may be the world” and I could encourage others to go for their dreams just as others did for me.
The last thing that I loved was his thermometer/thermostat analogy. This analogy says that you can be a thermometer and record what happens or you could be a thermostat and record what happens and ALSO make a change to the area. I have heard this before and the fact that he said it in his speech just tied everything he said together.
I love everything that he mentioned and I will use my past to pursue my goals and allow them to not chase me like nightmares.

BP Oil Spill

I agree that the BP oil spill is an example of an environmental injustice after reading the article Perry Wallace wrote. The BP oil spill leaked out 2.6 million gallons oils over the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill is an example of environmental injustice because the oil spill affected minorities who live and work near the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental injustice is when minorities or low-income communities don’t have the power to change an environment issues because of their race. The government has to be concern about environment justice because of the Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Population,” federal agency have to make an effort to address environmental justice. On the other hand, BP didn’t really take action on environment justice. The minorities in the BP oil spill were the people who didn’t have the power to stop and clean up the oil spill while BP had the power to. The effects of the BP oil spill to the minorities are that the spill caused a decrease in fish for the Southeast Asian fishermen to sell, and African-American businesses are not receiving many oil spill cleanup contracts by white-owned businesses. The oil spill destroyed many fishing equipment such as crab traps and oyster plots, used to catch seafood. Many Southeast Asians and African-American still live in hard times because of their race. The National Office of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a report that contains list of Recommendations of solutions for the BP oil spill. Most of the points in of the Recommendations were to help minorities live better and be treated equal. The Recommendations would take time and money to be put into effect if BP takes them into consideration. However, if BP doesn’t take the Recommendations into consideration the company doesn’t care about the minorities and care more about their money.

 

Works Cited:

Wallace, Perry (2010) “Commentary: Environmental Justice and the BP Oil Spill: Does Anyone Care About The “Small People” of Color?,” The Modern American: Vol 6: Iss. 2, Article 12.

BP Oil Spill Response

In the beginning I would have honestly thought that this wouldn’t be considered an environmental injustice for the simple fact that I thought I knew a large amount of facts about this topic. After reading this article I obviously didn’t know anything. I just thought this oil spill was an accident, and no one (except the fishes) got hurt. I didn’t think about the possibility of people being affected. BP oil spill is definitely an example of environmental injustice. I feel that whenever a neighborhood’s health is put into danger that’s when injustice occurs. When the oil spill happened the public really didn’t hear about what happened to the neighborhoods near the incident. The media only talked about the animals, and tried their best to find someone to blame. The trend within the different stories of environmental justice is that all of the big companies never really take the blame for what they did. Honestly, how could they not? There was blatant evidence!

The moment I decided that this was environmental injustice was when I read that none of the African American residents didn’t receive any oil spill cleanup contracts. This shows that BP didn’t care about the thoughts or concerns of the residents. They didn’t want to hear about the effects that the oil spill made on the physical states of the residents. Southeast Asian community was affected just as much as the African Americans were. Being that there were fishermen, the oil spill affected all of the fish which also caused a problem. Having the NAACP coming out shows that this problem is pretty serious. They had to undergo an investigation and everything! At the end of the day in order to make things happen reports must be filed! It was a wonderful thing that the NAACP came out to investigate. I hope that actions will be made just like this for other environmental injustice incidents.

Environmental Injustice or Concealed Racism?

The evidence that Perry Wallace presents is credible and even appalling at times. The British Petroleum oil spill is with a doubt a perfect example of an environmental injustice. As Wallace clearly explains in this article, this entire situation was a result of power imbalance. Our country has a significance imbalance of power and it seems as if it is continuously growing as our country continues to grow and become older. The power imbalances include the ultimately powerless individuals and “the superior power of those causing harm or allowing [it to be done]”. On many occasions these powerless individuals are considered to be minorities or “underrepresented” groups of people. In the case of the BP oil spill, this was definitely the situation. While the media displayed the stupidity and carelessness of the different BP executives at the time, they never depicted the affect the spill contributed to the environment of many minorities living near the gulf coast. People did not seem to realize that this oil spill affected the livelihood for many families in that area. Many people understand that the fishing industry is an extremely popular industry in that area, but many did not know that the African American commercial fishing community is even more popular. These were the first people affected. Not only did the spill affect their physical health, but also their economic stability as well. These individuals were out of a job at least 3 months because of someone else’s mistake and carelessness. The saddest part about this situation is that nobody seems to care. Many African American businesses did not receive oil spill clean-up contracts.  Of course looking at this situation, it can easily be labeled as racism. Racism is apparent in this situation, but it is more than just racism. This situation is the result of extensively greedy careless individuals. These greedy individuals did not care if they affected African Americans or Caucasians; it was simply all about the money in their pockets at the end of the day. Unfortunately I believe, no in fact, I know that this injustice is not over. It will continue because no one truly believes that environmental injustice, concealed racism, is a problem in our country.

BP Oil Spill

After reading the article on the BP Oil Spill ad how it showed signs of environmental injustice, I disagreed. I disagreed that it was an example of environmental injustice because of my knowledge of the spill. The spill happened in the open of the Gulf of Mexico. Its in the middle of the water away from the homes of the people. When mentioning that African American and Asian fisherman live and worked along the Gulf of Mexico was only a coincidence. By these group of people being fisherman, it is a smart business move to be located by the water. Also, it does not mention if they were not making sufficient funds to live their life fully. The incapability to received equal clean up contracts or job opportunities from white-owned businesses is more of social injustice (discrimination or racism). However, I feel as though the BP Oil Spill effected everyone located along the south of the country. People not located along the coast were effected just as hard because many of them worked for off-shore companies and had to lose their jobs. With these people losing their jobs, it effected other businesses,especially those in retail.

It is hard to think of this as environmental injustice because it so happened that the fisherman along the coast were of African American or Asian decent. The oil spill was detrimental to everyone and not just them. People lost jobs, businesses lost money, paychecks were cut back, etc. Which is why BP gave back to a great amount after the damage of their oil spill. So to me the BP Oil Spill was not a good example of an environmental injustice because it was catastrophic to everyone in the south and not to the fisherman along the coast. The mistreatment of the fisherman was a sign of social injustice.

BP Oil Spill

The BP Oil Spill is most definitely an example of environmental injustice; moreover, the way that the corporation chose to handle the situation is an even bigger example of environmental injustice. Thousands of people, such as fisherman and restaurateurs, lost their livelihoods because the oil spill prevented them from doing their jobs. It took an elongated amount of time to cap the oil spill; if i remember correctly, it took months just to get it capped let alone the clean up.  This situation was extremely disturbing because so many people lost a huge chunk of their income.  These “small people,” as the BP chairman ignorantly termed the people severely affected, are the driving force behind the Gulf Coast’s successful seafood industry. It is a sad case that these were the people who were brushed to the side and got little to no assistance to get their feet back on the ground. It is also disheartening to see that many of the small businesses did not get any oil spill clean up contracts; seeing as though, they are the ones who needed it more versus the bigger corporation that could afford to clean up on their own.  It is disturbing that the federal government and BP would try to down play this major catastrophe; however, it is not surprising because it is not the first time a major catastrophe similar to this was down played *coughs* Hurricane Katrina. The NAACP has some really good intentions trying to help out with their list of Recommendations to help find a solution to this major problem. Even though the NAACP’s recommendations are good ones, that is all they can do, but at least they are trying to help.  If more associations like the NAACP would step up, they could put pressure on the big businesses to do what is right instead of ignoring the people who have a problem with them.

Why the BP Oil Spill Defines Environmental Justice

After reading the Wallace article I disagree that the BP Oil Spill is not only an example of environmental justice, I believe it is the definition of environmental justice. The BP Oil Spill encompasses all parts of the social, economic, and unfair treatment or individuals based off socially constructed ideas such as race, as that is found in the EPA definition of environmental justice. The image of a large corporate company dragging its feet while people’s lives are not only effected, but ultimately changed is offensive to those on the opposite side of the power balance that Wallace describes. This power balance is one reason why environmental justice is not only still an issue, but a part of a host of other issues that have plagued the world since its inception. The ideas of power, money, greed, and the thought that one person is superior to another because of class or race is not a new occurrence and will be around as long as people with selfish ambition run the world. This article pointed out that the BP response to those effected by the oil spill shows that not only are specific ethnic groups affected, but those of different national origins and small businesses that are not able to compete with big businesses were ultimately ignored. The call of environmental justice is making a demand of the power of the large corporate company that holds so much of the influence around the world. The example of how the oil spill affected people dulls in comparison to some of the other truths about the oil spill. The article also points out company fighting federal regulation so that it is not bound by law to act with swiftness which shows that the company does not care about people as much as It does profit. The federal government not recognizing the Houma tribe is also disturbing and shows the similarities between big business and government action. Overall this article’s depiction of parts of the BP oil spill show not only what environmental is but why it is an issues that needs to be addressed.