Taking full advantage
Sometimes I think I'm weird. I probably am. Most people use their blog to talk about issues in their field. Others use it as a journal. Blahzay blahzay. I'm going to do my best to share things without revealing too much, since I want to be ethical and not demean anyone's character.
I'm taking an independent study on diversity issues in public relations. I'm enjoying the reading but all this time on my hands has me putting things off. Right now I'm reading the Truly Disadvantaged and American Apartheid. Both books look at the factors that have contributed to the ghetto underclass. As much as I don't want to play a race card, racism, segregation, discrimination, and prejudice are embedded in the fabric of American life. American Apartheid looks at how racism and segregation have been main factors in the creation and maintenance of the ghetto. In the 1920's racial violence was high in northern urban cities. Aside from racial violence neighborhoods developed "improvement associations," which ultimately involved working to prevent black entry and maintaining the colorline. These associations lobbied city councils for zoning restrictions, threatened real estate agents who sold homes to blacks and even pushed for public investment to drive property value up to keep blacks from affording. One thing I found that I thought was really dirty was that agents would sell to the black middle class that needed quality homes but may not be in a position to pay for it. The agent would sell the home collect a cash advance and several months of mortage before the buyer defaulted because of the high prices--much higher than those paid by whites--and was evicted.
Reading both of these books makes me wonder why I didn't look at these issues more in undergrad. I was actually against taking a course in Africana Studies! I eventually took a course my sophomore year but I really wish I had a deeper background to apply issues of race, class, gender, and social inequality to my public relations training. One of the main reasons I entered the Masters program was to find ways to apply communication to creating a better society for those that are disadvantaged. When I say that, I look around my community and the type of youth that I work with and I wonder what can be done to improve life for them. What can be done to give them better access to education? What can be done to get them out of this culture of poverty and slave mentality? That is where I am. The more I think about PR the more I equate it with activism. I want to see change and so here I am.
I'm taking an independent study on diversity issues in public relations. I'm enjoying the reading but all this time on my hands has me putting things off. Right now I'm reading the Truly Disadvantaged and American Apartheid. Both books look at the factors that have contributed to the ghetto underclass. As much as I don't want to play a race card, racism, segregation, discrimination, and prejudice are embedded in the fabric of American life. American Apartheid looks at how racism and segregation have been main factors in the creation and maintenance of the ghetto. In the 1920's racial violence was high in northern urban cities. Aside from racial violence neighborhoods developed "improvement associations," which ultimately involved working to prevent black entry and maintaining the colorline. These associations lobbied city councils for zoning restrictions, threatened real estate agents who sold homes to blacks and even pushed for public investment to drive property value up to keep blacks from affording. One thing I found that I thought was really dirty was that agents would sell to the black middle class that needed quality homes but may not be in a position to pay for it. The agent would sell the home collect a cash advance and several months of mortage before the buyer defaulted because of the high prices--much higher than those paid by whites--and was evicted.
Reading both of these books makes me wonder why I didn't look at these issues more in undergrad. I was actually against taking a course in Africana Studies! I eventually took a course my sophomore year but I really wish I had a deeper background to apply issues of race, class, gender, and social inequality to my public relations training. One of the main reasons I entered the Masters program was to find ways to apply communication to creating a better society for those that are disadvantaged. When I say that, I look around my community and the type of youth that I work with and I wonder what can be done to improve life for them. What can be done to give them better access to education? What can be done to get them out of this culture of poverty and slave mentality? That is where I am. The more I think about PR the more I equate it with activism. I want to see change and so here I am.
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