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Black American National Anthem

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CS & the role it plays

When the average person thinks about computer science there are three assumptions you either are a computer nerd, association with video games, two you know everything and anything about technology or three you're just really smart. However, as the world becomes more technologically focused people have realized how much broader it is. 

Depending on your field of work as a software engineer you can influence thousands of people perspectives on things if you happen to be working on a search engine, like Google. As humans we have bias, and this bias gets written into everything that software engineer will work on whether they know it or not. Many people, black folk and their allies, who work in Silicone Valley, startup companies, or just in technology at the average corporation this fact and know the importance of having not just diversity but black diversity within these spaces. This is the cause for the huge amount of opportunities in tech for black and brown women and men. 

While diversity in every sector is important the representation of POC, more specifically black people is essential in order to ensure that the thousands people who DO see bias, if said black software engineer was working on the results for the search of something like ‘black power’, that it’s not negative and does not portray groups like BLM & The Black Panther Party as terrorists.

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Race is one of those concepts that is very complicated and has a long standing history throughout America. Psychology is a major taht focuses on how the brain works and the behavior of a perosn as a result. 

Psychology is a way to study why people do the things they do. It’s a way to understand more indepth why people think and for this project, the topic of Race Pyschology. 

The concept of race has been apart of the building and foundation of how America operates. It’s so ingranied in evryday life that sometimes we don’t even notice when we’re prejudice or a victim of things like micro-racism. It’s normalized in all aspect of society and that’s why it’s so hard for people to recognize sometiems when they are being racist. This concept has been passed down for generations and people believe that this is normal behavior to act. It’s almost involuntary in some cases. The concept of race itself and acts of discrimination and prejudice must be unlearned. Nobody is born racist, but racism is a learned behavior that is passed down and accepted in society and that’s why we face the issues we do.

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Neurologists are medical doctors that deal with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system.

 Black neurologist would recognize that they have a duty to ensure the health and wellbeing of the people in the black community. In the field of medicine, the greed for wealth often overshadows the needs of a patient. This can be seen in the overcharge of certain medications and even the turning away of patients who do not have proper insurance plans. In most cases, it is done through the neglect for medical attention towards black people, especially black women. Many doctors ignore their patients’ concerns or cut corners in their treatment towards black patients. Black neurologists should not assimilate to these unfortunate realities. They should contribute to the counterdiscourse and work with patients to provide them with the most effective treatment that will fit their financial standing and guarantee thorough and accessible services that will fight for the rights of their patients. 

The charge for Neurologist would be to continue to advance in creating treatments that can further ensure the wellbeing of the lives around them. The nervous system is the most highly complex part of the body that controls our everyday functions and often endures permanent damage when having either little to none or insufficient treatment plans. It is essential for neurologists to continue to research and share findings of solutions that can assist the lives of the black community. 

-T. Nelson

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Is white superiority Inherent?

Time in time again, we’ve seen throughout history that European countries an white powers have taken and colonized land for their own benefit. They have colonized people and entire countires and justified thei actions as ethical or reasonable because they deemd their skin and values as superior to everyone else. Is this type of characteristic inherent of white people? of European people? Why is this a common theme amoung colonizers, even today we see this theme across America. Regarding immigration, relationships with other countires for their natural resources, and even education. But then how is this fixed? If these ideas and traditions are passed down does it become inherent, and if so how is this put to a stop?

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The field of psychology serves as a resource to open the mind of individuals in understanding their thoughts and emotions. Psychologist focus on the behavior and mind which encompasses tools to birth empowerment in regards to expanding thought of self which influences relationships whether intimate or that of a greater social context.

Psychology’s role in the black community as it relates to black power promotes change and self-efficacy leading to social well-being. In order to improve the relationship and mental awareness of blacks as a collective, cooperative engagement is necessary. The mindset must not be encaged but free to explore various perspectives and question that which is brought forth in reality. As black people, it is vital to stand together and not allow the typical opinions of society dictate how the world is viewed. During times of segregation, changes in society were detrimental in that there was an effort to either increase or decrease racial differences. African-Americans fought for equality because of wanting their voices to be heard. The treatment displayed during this time involved impacting the mental and emotional stability of black individuals. The hardships faced resulted in oppression. Although there was an existence of oppression, blacks continued to thrive.

The field of psychology’s responsibility to address the issues of today is to identify issues which impact the emotional, mental, and social well-being of individuals. It is beneficial to arrive at the root of the problem. In doing so, questions as such can assist in meeting the issue: What is the problem? What is the root of problem? How can the problem be conquered?  How can one improve their mindset about the problem? What steps are needed in order to heal?. Psychology works towards implementing ways to transition from negativity to positivity. In striving for a greater change of addressing issues of today individuals should remember the mind is a powerful thing and what you think you become.

 -D. Edwards-Davis

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RACE IS A CONSTRUCT 

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The Black Power Movement 

The Black Power Movement was a political and social movement whose advocates believed in racial pride, self-sufficiency, and equality for all people of Black and African descent.

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The Hidden Figures in Engineering

Excerpts from “The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race” By Maya Wei-Haas

As America stood on the brink of a Second World War, the push for aeronautical advancement grew ever greater, spurring an insatiable demand for mathematicians. Women were the solution. Ushered into the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1935 to shoulder the burden of number crunching, they acted as human computers, freeing the engineers of hand calculations in the decades before the digital age. Sharp and successful, the female population at Langley skyrocketed.

Many of these “computers” are finally getting their due, but conspicuously missing from this story of female achievement are the efforts contributed by courageous, African-American women. Called the West Computers, after the area to which they were relegated, they helped blaze a trail for mathematicians and engineers of all races and genders to follow.

The West Computers were at the heart of the center’s advancements. They worked through equations that described every function of the plane, running the numbers often with no sense of the greater mission of the project. They contributed to the ever-changing design of a menagerie of wartime flying machines, making them faster, safer, more aerodynamic. 

But life at Langley wasn’t just the churn of greased gears. Not only were the women rarely provided the same opportunities and titles as their male counterparts, but the West Computers lived with constant reminders that they were second-class citizens. In the book, Shetterly highlights one particular incident involving an offensive sign in the dining room bearing the designation: Colored Computers.

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The field of engineering deals with technology and innovation. The job of an engineer is to make things more efficient by applying the principles of science and mathematics. The work of Engineers link scientific discoveries to the needs of society.

The numbers of blacks in engineering are very low and when you narrow it down to black women in engineering it is even lower at an astounding 2%. This is the number from a 2018 article. Just imagine the numbers from an article written in the 1960's. My discipline would look at these readings and agree that blacks were treated unfairly and not given the credit they deserved. White men believed that black women were not smart enough to work as engineers and that women had too many emotional problems to work under the pressure of an engineer. Furthermore, the number of women in stem and engineering are low because young black women do not have black role models. What would’ve been the biggest and greatest role models were kept hidden from the light because of their skin. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan were engineering geniuses working during the time of these readings but whites did not want to give them their credit or the respect they truly deserved for the impact they made for aeronautical studies.

My disciple is currently encouraging more women to join STEM. Almost every time I watch tv I see an AD Council commercial about “Empowering Girls in STEM.” These commercials showcase women working in STEM talking to younger girls and serving as their role models. In order to get more young black women in STEM we need more role models. Black women engineers were the backbone to NASA discoveries. Black women are more than capable of making many more scientific advances for now and for the future. The numbers may not be equal, and black women are still being discredited, but my field saw the issue then and sees it now. It’s unfair, but black women have the strength to fight the odds.

- Alondra Stafford 

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a famous Nigerian author. Americanah is one of her most popular novels and it speaks about the experience of a young Nigerian woman in America attending a university, a nod to the Diaspora.