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embracingdiversity · 1 year ago

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Babae Ka, Hindi Babae Lang: A Glimpse Through Women Empowerment

Throughout the pages of history, the concept of gender has consistently emerged as a subject of profound societal preoccupation, warranting careful examination in the pursuit of national progress. Furthermore, this study illuminates the manner in which cultural norms and social stratification exert influence over the representation and access to various opportunities for distinct cohorts of males and females (Nirola, 2018). Undoubtedly, historical evidence substantiates the notion that women consistently exhibit resilience and resourcefulness in times of adversity. Moreover, it reveals that women have significantly contributed to the advancement of human society to a greater extent than their male counterparts.

Nevertheless, the enduring presence of patriarchy within society has been observed since antiquity, exerting a detrimental influence on the recognition and appreciation of women's contributions towards enhancing the well-being of individuals within patriarchal societies such as the Philippines. Undoubtedly, women are consistently subjected to numerous sorts of oppression. Yet, there is currently a notable trend towards the advancement of women's empowerment within the present era. While women have consistently exhibited strength, their resilience has further intensified, leading them to actively advocate for one another without hesitation (International Women’s Day 2022: “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow,” 2021).

“Abante Babae! Palaban militante!”

“The future is female.”

“The last man standing is a woman!”

The aforementioned terms are not unfamiliar to the Filipino population, as they have been previously encountered. Moreover, these gestures serve as deliberate actions aimed at enhancing the visibility of feminism throughout the nation. This strategic approach seeks to magnify the voices of women, thereby facilitating their advancement in society. Moreover, notwithstanding the increasing sense of empowerment experienced by women in contemporary society, the aforementioned words serve as a poignant reminder of the arduous nature of the ongoing struggle for gender equality that women face across all domains (University of Birmingham, 2015). In order to gain recognition, individuals must vocalize their concerns, engage in public displays of advocacy, and actively strive to assert their entitlements. Regrettably, they are also subject to persistent assault and abuse. Consider, for example, the phenomenon of prostitution, which is undeniably a manifestation of gender-based violence and a type of violence directed towards women. Prostitution, as opposed to other manifestations of gender-based violence, exhibits a distinctive characteristic whereby monetary transactions are involved in the perpetration of abuse. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the exchange of money does not entirely eradicate individuals' awareness of the dynamics surrounding sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and domestic violence (Farley, 2020). The likelihood of women engaging in prostitution is higher, and they are more prone to becoming victims of their own circumstances. This can be attributed to the fact that prostitution represents a visible expression of behavior that deviates from traditional gender norms. Consequently, individuals involved in prostitution face social exclusion, which results in the denial of esteemed status and associated benefits linked to societal norms. Therefore, it was imperative to put an end to the many forms of exploitation faced by women. It was crucial to empower women, enabling them to exercise autonomy in decision-making processes and ensuring they were not subjected to any form of manipulation.

Moreover, women encounter obstacles in numerous professions that are predominantly dominated by men, such as politics, academia, athletics, various legislative arenas, and diverse professional domains. In addition, women exhibit higher poverty rates compared to men on a global scale. Examining the distinct experiences of men and women in relation to poverty, as well as the substantial obstacles they encounter in accessing resources, economic prospects, and the benefits of representative democracy, enables policymakers to enhance the efficacy of poverty alleviation measures (Malhotra, 2009). The challenges encountered by the individuals in question are undeniably attributable to the presence of sexism and the perpetuation of gender stereotypes. Nevertheless, it is imperative for the global community to fulfill its commitments to feminism by actively promoting the empowerment of women and addressing their legitimate concerns pertaining to the attainment of equal rights. It is crucial to note that this call to action should not be misconstrued as a gender-based struggle between men and women, but rather as a collective effort to combat and eradicate discrimination. Feminism unequivocally constitutes a struggle against sexism rather than a struggle against men.

The phenomenon of sexism towards guys does indeed exist; nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that men generally possess higher social standing and wield greater power than women in numerous nations. Consequently, any harm experienced by men is mostly an inadvertent outcome of gender discrimination predominantly targeting women. To ensure the ongoing development, empowerment, and leadership of women within their own cultures, it is imperative to currently prioritize and direct attention towards them. This implies that they must possess a concrete existence in the now, while also being unequivocally associated with the future. In order to progress, it is imperative for society to empower women to exercise autonomy over their lives, including the ability to make choices regarding their own bodies. The autonomy of individuals necessitates their unrestricted agency in decision-making, hence entitling them to exercise their freedom without external imposition. It is important to acknowledge that they are women, not just mere women

Written by: Stefhany Mae Robles

Pubmat by: Stefhany Mae Robles

References

Farley, M., PhD. (2020, November 16). Prostitution Is Sexual Violence. Psychiatric Times. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/prostitution-sexual-violence

International Women’s Day 2022: “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” (2021, December 3). UN Women – Headquarters. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/announcement/2021/12/international-womens-day-2022-gender-equality-today-for-a-sustainable-tomorrow

Malhotra, G. K. (2009). A Real Portrait of the Concept: Women Empowerment. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1462820

Nirola, B. (2018, November 26). Patriarchy And The Status Of Women In The Society. Youth Ki Awaaz. https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2017/12/role-of-patriarchy-and-status-of-women-in-indian-society/

University of Birmingham. (2015, September 7). Understanding gender. GSDRC. https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/gender/understanding-gender/

#advocacy #gender #gender equality #equality #feminism #empowerment #womenempowerment #blog

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tmarshconnors · 3 months ago

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The 'Rivers of Blood' Speech by Enoch Powell

Birmingham, England April 20, 1968

"The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils. In seeking to do so, it encounters obstacles which are deeply rooted in human nature. One is that by the very order of things such evils are not demonstrable until they have occurred. At each stage in their onset there is room for doubt and for dispute whether they are present or not. People are disposed to mistake predicting troubles for causing troubles and even for desiring troubles. “If only,” they love to think, “if only people wouldn’t talk about it, it probably wouldn’t happen.” Perhaps this habit goes back to the primitive belief that the word and the thing, the name and the object, are identical. At all events, this is a dangerous fallacy. It is supremely dangerous in the case of a nation or a whole community. To see and not to speak would be the great betrayal.

The commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcass of dead policies. When the evidence of the eyes and ears stands in opposition to the conventional wisdom of the day, it is the latter which will be disregarded, in almost every case with dismaying results. A respectable person in England almost dreads to disagree with a profession so unworldly as the academic. At the same time he never doubts the education, training, and equipment of an Army which within our memories was raised to defend, under God, these great and Christian realms. How ready he will be to fall back upon the judgment of those he most despises!

It is one of the many contrasts between England and America that whereas in this country political debate and action proceeds upon the assumption that good intentions will always suffice to make everything turn out for the best, in the United States a much more cautious view prevails. In this country, if people believe that something would be nice if it were so, they are all for assuming that it will be so. In the United States the predilection is to make sure that it is so. In this country the argument is about intention and desirability; in the United States it is about effect and practicability.

One reason for this difference is perhaps that in this country politics and government are conducted as a kind of game, almost as a sport, against a backdrop of an ordered and secure society. In the United States government and politics are conducted in the very presence of risks and dangers and difficulties which are a real and ever-present part of the national experience. But what is a kind of luxury for us is a necessity for them, and we shall find ourselves paying a heavy price for our apathy and complacency.

In fifteen or twenty years, on present trends, there will be in this country three and a half million Commonwealth immigrants and their descendants. That is not my figure. That is the official figure given to Parliament by the spokesman of the Registrar General’s Office. There is no comparable official estimate of the increase in the indigenous population during the same period. In fifteen or twenty years the present immigrant population of Great Britain, which is estimated at between one and two million, will have grown to five million, approximately one-tenth of the whole population, and approaching that of Greater London. Of course, this would be a rapid and unprecedented transformation of a country which in 1948 was still almost homogeneously white. So great a number of immigrant people simply cannot be absorbed without such profound changes in the culture, social fabric, and nature of the population as to render the resulting society unrecognizable.

The great majority of immigrants are here for the long haul, with every intention of making a permanent home for themselves and their families, and with every right so to do. The existing population is already growing alarmed and agitated. Here I quote the words of a letter addressed to me by a constituent in North London: "The black man will have the whip hand over the white man." This is a reflection not only of the sense of helplessness and confusion, but also of resentment and hostility, which are increasingly felt and voiced. When the United States becomes concerned about a "racial problem," it calls in the National Guard, and their government knows that the call can be justified. Here, the “moderate and responsible” members of society as often as not are more apprehensive of the consequences of defending order than of the disorder itself.

Many of them, like the writer of this letter, regard the prospect with horror and foreboding. One of my constituents wrote to me in desperation. In a fortnight, she said, she would have to vacate her small house, where she and her husband have lived for 15 years, because a “crowd of Negroes” was moving into the street and had already made her life unbearable. She went on: “Mr. Powell, it is difficult to describe what the consequences are for us, with the constant noise, the constant threat of violence, and the dirt. We dare not go out of the house, because when we do we are followed by gangs of Negroes, who pelt us with stones and jeer at us. I am not a racialist, but I have never experienced the like in all my life. These people are not our people and our home is now not ours. Please do something about it.” (The words "Negro" and "racialist" are verbatim.)

It is, indeed, difficult to describe the consequences of the natural reaction of the original population to the remorseless transformation to which it is being subjected. To quote another constituent: “I have three children, all of whom are in school. In two of the three classrooms of my children there are, and there have been, Negro children. Each of my children has been assaulted by them, and each time they have tried to fight back. This morning I had to see a Negro teacher because my son had been whipped by one of these boys, but the teacher was not interested.”

It is not true that the immigrant population is consistently law-abiding. In the most serious of all crimes—murder—there is an increasing incidence of crime by coloured immigrants. In one case this year a coloured man was convicted of the murder of a white girl with whom he had been living, and in another, also in London, two coloured men were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a police constable. There has been an increase in attacks upon women, and here too there are constant reports of racial aspects.

For these and other reasons there is a rapidly increasing danger that this country will be the subject of the kind of inter-communal violence which is endemic in parts of the United States, and now for the same reasons is spreading to England. If I am right, and even if I am only partially right, if there is any element of truth in what I am saying, I am sure that the people of this country will listen to a voice warning of danger before it is too late.

Of course, the most strident voices will be raised to say that this is all a figment of the imagination; that there is nothing whatever to worry about. They will also say that I am pandering to the worst instincts of human nature. But when the official figures show that the immigrant and immigrant-descended population of this country will approach five million within twenty years, it is no good at the same time denying that the consequences of that are going to be serious and grave.

Yet I can already hear the chorus of execration. How dare I say such a horrible thing? How dare I stir up trouble and incite hatred? I am simply being prudent and responsible, and to give a warning before it is too late.

The sense of urgency will have to be felt. This country is not going to be easily forgiven for throwing away its future. The vision of the nation is being blinded by sentimentality and the unwillingness to face the facts.

I say to you that in my lifetime this country will look and feel like a different country. Even now, in parts of our cities, the transformation is evident. They found that 15 per cent of the population of Wolverhampton is now non-white. The people are questioning and alarmed. They have cause to be alarmed. If only the House of Commons would reflect the views of the people in its legislation, there would be no cause for alarm. But they do not, and I believe it is a great betrayal.

We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. I simply cannot believe that any rational person can look on in this way without some sense of impending disaster.

But that is what is happening. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. Indeed, I am astonished at the sanity of those who make the decisions. They simply cannot be mad, literally mad, in their actions and attitudes. And yet they are.

For these reasons, among many others, I believe that immigration is the issue which will determine the future of this country. The House of Commons must be brought to understand that it is an issue of survival. If not, we shall have handed over to our children a legacy of the most monstrous growth of all time. This is not fantasy. This is not invention. This is not cynicism. It is reality.

In this country, in fifteen or twenty years’ time, the black man will have the whip hand over the white man. For these reasons, among many others, I believe that immigration is the issue which will determine the future of this country. We must be mad, literally mad, to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.

I simply do not have the stomach to go on with this, though it is not yet finished. There is a danger, a clear danger, that we will be overwhelmed. Indeed, it is not only a danger, it is a certainty.

I do not believe there is a single person in this country who does not believe it. They are all sensible people. They all know what is happening, though they are afraid to speak out.

For these reasons, among many others, I believe that immigration is the issue which will determine the future of this country. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.

I have left this country in despair. But I do not despair of our country. I believe in the British people. The significance of this cannot be overlooked. There is a danger, a clear danger, that we will be overwhelmed. Indeed, it is not only a danger, it is a certainty.

In fifteen or twenty years’ time, on present trends, there will be in this country three and a half million Commonwealth immigrants and their descendants. That is not my figure. That is the official figure given to Parliament by the spokesman of the Registrar General’s Office. There is no comparable official estimate of the increase in the indigenous population during the same period. In fifteen or twenty years the present immigrant population of Great Britain, which is estimated at between one and two million, will have grown to five million, approximately one-tenth of the whole population, and approaching that of Greater London. Of course, this would be a rapid and unprecedented transformation of a country which in 1948 was still almost homogeneously white. So great a number of immigrant people simply cannot be absorbed without such profound changes in the culture, social fabric, and nature of the population as to render the resulting society unrecognizable.

I simply do not have the stomach to go on with this, though it is not yet finished. There is a danger, a clear danger, that we will be overwhelmed. Indeed, it is not only a danger, it is a certainty.

I do not believe there is a single person in this country who does not believe it. They are all sensible people. They all know what is happening, though they are afraid to speak out.

John Enoch Powell MBE was a British politician and statesman. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament and was Minister of Health then Ulster Unionist Party MP. Before entering politics, Powell was a classical scholar.

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nvyoung · 1 year ago

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Sad to see abused and injured animals rescued from a former animal rescue here in Anniston. Why does Calhoun County have troubles when it comes to animal shelters and rescues? Thank you Greater Birmingham Humane Society for rescuing animals at the League for Animal Welfare.

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acdtjessicaowen · 2 years ago

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WC- 17th April

Today we all presented our individual pitches in front of the group

I made my individual pitch over the easter holiday responding to the brief and client, I completed a lot of research which I am going to present here in order to complete my 2-minute pitch.

The first thing I researched where the clients;

Birmingham City Council;

BCC explain that there is no place for being timid or afraid, they allow public art to challenge and contribute to debates, and act as a catalyst for collective thinking about what we want from society.

I found out about Birmingham City Council's- Six strategy objectives. This is important as its what they look for within public art/events.

Strengthen Birmingham communities and place

Bring communities together.

Voluntary arts support and encourages creative and cultural activity.

Increases activity within the area

Enable Birmingham Residents (including young people)

To experience creativity and have the opportunity to develop as creators, participants, audiences and leaders in the cultural field.

Improve Birmingham's reputation as a desirable location

Digbeth, up and coming how does it improve?

Where people and businesses want to be

Why is Digbeth desirable? history? arts?

Enhance Birmingham's cultural offer

Will it bring new people into the city?

Is it inclusive?

For residents and visitors?

Enhance the quality of the public realm

Does it fit in with the upcoming Digbeth area

Parks, streets, public spaces

Recognise and create key events

Personalities and moments in history.

Oval- Digbeth regeneration

Oval owns a 16-acre regeneration site made up of 40 buildings, including a custard factory, fazely studios etc

They house over 400 creative businesses from graphic designers, dance academies and post-production agencies

New HS2 terminal means London will be 50 minutes away.

My original idea was to base my pitch around the history of digbeth, I completed research from medieval Digbeth to modern day Digbeth, shown beneath. However, when researching this I realised how important creativity is to Digbeth, today being known as the creative quarter of Birmingham. This led me to research more about the art within.

When researching around the arts in Digbeth I found out that Birmingham is the premier location for street art, particular around the custard factory. A lot of it stems from the 2014 City of colours festival, which brought artists from all over to paint in and around the custard factory.

Another thing which inspired me to base my idea around the art within Floodgate was the photos I had taken when we went to the site, I loved how you could make the art stand out.

From this, I researched artists who are shown within Digbeth including Justin Sola, Annatomix, 0707, Jy Sharpes, and Dan Kitchener. This is shown in my video.

When coming up with my new idea I decided to design a mind map answering the brief and Birmingham City's six strategies; exploring why the site is unique and interesting...

The mindmap is shown below-

This mindmap helped me put all my ideas into perspective in order to answer the brief. However beyond this I wanted a reason for celebrating the arts therefore I completed more research about hy the arts are underrated and why we should celebrate them. The research including...

Why are the arts underrated?

Humans always find a way to express themselves through art, whether that's music, dance, drama, writing, painting etc.

Art is often overlooked in schools, and one of the main reasons for this is sciences, people who have a greater aptitude for sciences are considered smarter within the school, which is further from the truth- I wanted to portray this throughout my pitch. This research was from the Ted talk spoke about in a previous presentation within the performance lab.

Why should we celebrate art?

Mirror- Arts force us to see ourselves and society. Art makes us better.

Culture- Art has a sneaky way of telling us what to value, and what's important, from our language to apparel. The arts inform our identity as individuals and society.

Worldwide- Arts help us see the world through others' eyes, the world isn't one-dimensional or monochrome. the arts are underrated when people think science can explain everything but it's much more complex.

Internal- words can always express how someone feels, art gives people expression where they can't find joy.

Unify- Art brings people together, and builds bridges, whether pieces of music give us shared experiences that bring us together.

This research led me to finalise my 2-minute pitch, I did enjoy making this however I did find it quite difficult as I've never made a video before. I used the platform Vimeo to make the video by completing a 7-day trial, this was quite difficult including getting the timing right for each scene in order to allow them to be slow enough for people to read. Another thing I would've improved about my pitch is to have an actual plan, maybe diagrams of what I wanted to achieve as my pitch was mainly the research and meaning of what I wanted to achieve.

After this we were put into our groups for the module and started to discuss what our plans are.

Wednesday 19th April

Today was the first online SA talk which was an introduction to academic writing skills- structuring, planning and finding sources.

The first thing we went through was how to critically reflect:

Critical- 'Examining and judging analytically and without bias'- looking at other people's opinions to make judgements of your own.

There are three parts to a critical reflection piece; The What?, So what?, What now?

The What?- A description of the experience. For example, a description of who, what, why, when, and where.

So what? This is the sense-making section that asks you to surface general meaning, significance, and your position/viewpoint to what you're doing.

What now?- This makes connections from the incident/experience to further actions. What would you do differently/the same next time? What are the lessons learnt?

This session was very helpful going through different sources as inspiration which could help us throughout the module which I will look through and use as inspiration for the pitch.

The task today was to go through the essay worksheet plan, drafting and coming up with an individual proposal. For this, I completed a mind map for my introductory paragraph.

Introductory plan-

This paragraph has to be approximately 150 words long. Where I will lay out the aim of the essay and the exploration being made throughout the module.

To help me gain ideas for this part of the SA I completed a mind map shown beneath.

Within this mind, I went through questions such as;

What is speculative design?

Why is speculative design important?

Who is the client?

what exploration is being made?

How will you show you've developed from year one?

This mind map helped me understand the introductory part of the Sa plan, which is a layout of the aim of the module, I feel like having it all on one page will help me when I come to write the SA as this is how I work best. I also used the layout of the worksheet to help me with this as this was a helpful structure. However, I find I work better when I write it all out in front of me.

This first session was very helpful as a starting point, I do struggle when starting to write an essay at this volume however this gave me valuable information to get a good head start on it.

EDIT

INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL

GROUP PROPOSAL

THE CLIENT

THE CONTEXT

PERSONAL SELF

Thursday 20th April

Today was our first workshop with Tony in the computer room, today we set up our Adobe accounts which we can use for the next three years throughout projects which will be really helpful.

Today was an introduction to the software sketch up which is a 3D software which will allow you to build anything from skyscrapers to mock-up designs. Today was all about experimenting with this software using tools such as line, and push-pull. grab etc to create anything. This was really helpful as I am not very good when using this software however after this session I used it a bit at home, it will get some getting use to but attending these sessions weekly will be really beneficial.

Friday 21st April

Today we sat down as a group and spoke about the chosen idea which was, Niamhs was a steampunk-inspired social area. We discussed initial ideas and what we liked about each other, expanding on this original idea.

We wanted to incorporate some of our ideas within this pitch but still stick with the original idea. This included adding greenery to the area, keeping the steampunk theme, and including local graffiti artists to create art in a specific place, I think this is important as it keeps the idea of Digbeth being the 'creative quarter' of Birmingham which would be a shame to loose as the amount of creativity within this site is amazing.

From this idea, we kept the original idea of it being a social space for anyone to use, especially students it can be a new place for them to socialize, study and chill for children and family as we have the idea of incorporating some social games within. Also, we like the idea of having a cafe within the space which would be cheap, the idea of being too good to go or using the app Olio came from this. These were all ideas quickly generated through a mind map which will be developed later on.

Our list of what we wanted on within contained;

Physical appearance

Pods

Changing floor

Graffiti

Plants

Steam Punk theme

Winter- will they change?

Facilities

Food/drinks

Art/Music

Power sources

Heaters

Games

Funding

Sponsors

Donations

Government

Below is the mindmap we created which sums up our whole idea.

To develop from this we decided to get a Pinterest board up and running to explore the steampunk theme.

This was very helpful as it allowed me to understand what steam punk is, I think this is a really interesting concept for the pitch.

When exploring this we decided that we needed to design furniture for the space therefore we each decided to each take on a job, I decided to design som furniture, Niamh decided to design a stage which would be used for live performances, Muki was designing lamps/themes which we then send to Hemza who will 3D modify them into the floodgate space.

For my design, I used inspiration from Pinterest to research the style of chairs and steampunk patterns to combine into one chair. I used Procreate to design which was really easy and I did really enjoy this as I don't usually do digital art, however, it was quite time-consuming but I think the outcome was worth it.

My first design is shown below;

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dragonfire1017 · 2 years ago

Photo

Haven (male) (at Greater Birmingham Humane Society) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqG8stNr2Gw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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spiro-nagnew · 5 years ago

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Adopted this little baby into our family a year ago today

#gotcha day #adoption day #adopt dont shop #puppy #dog #pets #animals #greater birmingham humane society #family

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carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory · 3 years ago

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Pittsburgh’s Moths Reflect Environmental Impacts of Industry

by Nicholas Sauer

I began to think in earnest about industrial melanism while working at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 2018 when the We Are Nature exhibit was on display as part of the museum’s intensive focus on the Anthropocene. There was an unassuming corner of the exhibit devoted to the fate of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) during the Industrial Revolution. Dark-colored—melanistic—peppered moths were rare in England and Germany until the Industrial Revolution and the inevitable increase of air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. With the rise of heavy industry, pale peppered moths began to stick out like bright specks on soot-covered vegetation. These pale moths were easy targets for hungry birds. The coal-choked environment favored the moth populations that possessed a gene for darker coloration, providing an example of natural selection at work. In recent years, scientists have located the specific gene that accounts for the darker moths and can trace the changing selection on color variation in peppered moths back to at least 1819 when the burning of coal for industrial purposes began to pick up steam in the British Isles.

In 1896, English entomologist J.W. Tutt theorized that his nation’s industrial conditions profoundly affected local moth populations. He argued that lichen on trees provided camouflage for the salt-and-pepper-colored moths. According to Tutt, industrial pollution killed off the lichen and, in turn, the pollution—soot and ash—camouflaged the darker moths, particularly the dark form of Biston betularia, f. carbonaria. It was not until the 1950s that Tutt’s theory was tested. Through a series of experiments, lepidopterist Bernard Kettlewell demonstrated that when both light and dark peppered moths (f. typica and carbonaria respectively) were released in industrially-contaminated woodlands in Birmingham and Dorset, England, birds fed on the most “conspicuous” form, f. typica, the pale moths. Kettlewell’s experiment would wind up in science textbooks for decades to come as a demonstration of natural selection.

"[1931] Peppered Moth (Biston betularia) f.carbonaria" by Bennyboymothman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In the wake of Kettlewell’s findings, similar experiments were conducted in the United States, even in the Pittsburgh area. The scientist leading the melanism study in the Eastern United States in the 1950s, Denis Frank Owen (1931-1996), pored over the moth collections right here at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as well as those of several other natural history museums in the Northeast and Midwest. A transplant from England at the beginning of his long career as an ecologist, Owen sought to test whether or not Kettlewell's results would be reflected in his own data on the American side of the Atlantic. Owen’s own findings were very much like Kettlewell’s. This, of course, was unsurprising in the case of Pittsburgh considering the massive amount of pollutants that were emitted by the city’s steel mills. To get a good idea of how polluted the city was at that time, check out the two soot-stained squares that remain on the mural The Crowning of Labor on the second and third floors of CMNH’s Grand Staircase.

Owen discovered that Pittsburgh had some of the earliest records of industrial melanism in the Northeast—melanistic forms of Epimecis hortaria (or, the Tulip Tree Beauty) dating from 1922 and Biston cognataria dating from 1910. Owen posited in his research that the number of melanistic moths were increasing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in environs surrounding industrial cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh, even as far as outlying rural areas. At Westmoreland County’s Powdermill Nature Reserve, all eight of the peppered moths observed in a 1957 study were melanistic, according to Owen.

Unfortunately, records of industrial melanism were never kept as meticulously in the U.S. as they were in the U.K., so our understanding of how widespread the phenomenon was States-side is incomplete. However, since the 1970s, much more data has been collected on peppered moths in the U.S. than before. This data has reflected the implementation of clean air regulations and tracked the overall decline in the ratio of melanistic peppered moths in favor of the pale form, supporting the theory that these moth populations, either Biston betularia (f. typica or carbonaria) or their cousins, are subject to natural selection that is weighted by pollution. Biologist Bruce S. Grant has suggested that more recent data from the post-industrial era be put to greater educational use—not to supplant Kettlewell’s famous experiment, but to supplement it with more up-to-date scientific findings.

Regrettably, even in the “Post-Industrial” era following the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970) and the Clean Air Act (1972), peppered moths are subject to human-exacerbated environmental threats. In the 1980s, when scientists sought an explanation for the continued presence of melanistic moths in rural eastern Pennsylvania, they instead discovered two major dangers to peppered moths and their habitat. First, so-called gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar dispar)—an invasive species introduced to the U.S. by humans in the 19th century—were rapidly defoliating the woodlands that the peppered moths called home. Secondly, the Pennsylvania Department of Forestry was spraying the area with the pesticides Dylox and Dimilin to combat Lymantria dispar and may have adversely affected the peppered moths in the process.

This example of the twin dangers of invasive species and pesticide use, in addition to the earlier instances of industrial pollution, demonstrate human beings’ profound effect on the natural world during the Anthropocene. The travails of the peppered moth are key to understanding the influence humans have on the ecosystems around them, so far as becoming even a variable in the way natural selection operates. The Pittsburgh area and the scientific collections at CMNH have played an important part in the study of industrial melanism in peppered moths and will continue to do so as the natural world responds in its way to human influence. The decline in melanistic moth numbers that correlates with cleaner air and more conscientious environmental regulations provides hope that that human influence is not uniformly negative.

Nicholas Sauer is a Gallery Experience Presenter in CMNH’s Life Long Learning Department. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Works Cited

Blakemore, Erin. “New Evidence Shows Peppered Moths Changed Color in Sync with Industrial Revolution.” Smithsonian Magazine, 1 June 2016. <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-evidence-peppered-moths-changed-color-sync-industrial-revolution-180959282/>.

Cook, M.L., et al. “Post Industrial Melanism in the Peppered Moth.” Science, no. 3 (Feb 7, 1986): 611. Gale In Context: College, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A4128493/CSIC?u=pitt92539&sid=CSIC&xid=56d31b9d. Accessed 17 Apr. 2021.

Grant, Bruce S. “Fine Tuning the Peppered Moth Paradigm.” Evolution 53, no. 3 (1999): 980-984.

Grant, B.S. and L.L. Wiseman. “Recent History of Melanism in American Peppered Moths.” Journal of Heredity 93, 2 (March 2002): 86-90. <https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/93/2/86/2187377>.

Manley, Thomas R. “Temporal Trends in Frequency of Melanistic Morphs in Cryptic Moths of Rural Pennsylvania.” Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 42, no. 3 (1988): 213-217.

Maynard, M. and Geoffrey T. Hellman. “Comment.” The New Yorker Magazine, 13 August, 1955: 15. <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1955/08/13/comment-4365>.

Owen, D.F. “Industrial Melanism in North American Moths.” The American Naturalist 95, no. 883 (Jul.-Aug., 1961): 227-233. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/2458933?seq=1>. Accessed 18 April 2021.

Rudge, David Wyss. “The Role of Photographs and Films in Kettlewell’s Popularizations of the Phenomenon of Industrial Melanism.” Science and Education 12 (2003): 261-287.

Smith, David A.S. “Obituary: Denis Owen.” The Independent, 23 Oct. 1996. <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-denis-owen-1359897.html>.

#Carnegie Museum of Natural History #Peppered moth #Moth #Inverebrate Zoology #Anthropocene

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thinkingimages · 4 years ago

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What Photography & Incarceration have in Common with an Empty Vase / Edgar Martins

‘4give me ma’ reads the screen of a Nokia cell phone. The text message is being drafted, yet to be sent – if ever. It is an image that speaks of inhibition, vulnerability, regret and longing, and comes from Edgar Martins’ latest work, What Photography & Incarceration have in Common with an Empty Vase, a twin publication produced in collaboration with the inmates of Her Majesty’s Prison Birmingham in the West Midlands and their families. Combining original photography with archival material, whilst oscillating between image and information, evidence and fiction, Martins produces a multi-layered visualisation of the absence of the inmates, as experienced by those on the outside. With no photographs taken within the prison walls, and no prisoners ever revealed within the photographs’ frames, the work skews the medium away from its preoccupation with the referent.

Metaphorical and enigmatic, the photobook’s imagery throughout evokes the piercing sense of vacancy brought about through enforced separation. We find deserted residential streets lined with barricaded houses, a seascape superimposed by a white chalk outline of a head and a series of photographs depicting contemplative figures outside the towering prison walls – we can only assume that these people are in some way emotionally connected to the inmates on the inside. Significantly, some of the latter feature fold-outs which can be lifted to reveal and conceal what lies beneath. By this design, Martins heightens the tensions between visibility and invisibility, presence and absence and, perhaps above all, the real and the imagined.

As well as what is revealed and concealed, the book also meditates on what is communicated and what remains silent – or rather, what cannot be revealed and communicated. The book frequently presents images of communicative tools; the telephone, the postcard, the letter (one of which had its words almost entirely redacted in black bars before it reached home). In addition, we find improvised devices as well; cigarette packets with darkly humorous messages overlaying their health warnings show how one prisoner sought to communicate with other inmates during his solitary confinement, whilst engravings on pencils suggest another’s more private articulations with the self: ‘let it go’… ‘tonight’. These artefacts – traces of human presences, and expressions of their desires to connect – signify the oppressive, life-denying conditions the penal system has imposed on them – a pursuit of justice in the name of the ‘greater good’ of society....

Full exhibition review by Alex Merola

#Edgar Martins #Books #Photo Books #Essays #Alex Merola #Reviews #What Photography & Incarceration have in Common with an Empty Vase

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petnews2day · 2 years ago

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GBHS working with Bessemer Police to get justice for poisoned puppy

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/aJehf

GBHS working with Bessemer Police to get justice for poisoned puppy

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – After receiving hundreds of calls and emails from people after some claimed to have witnessed the poisoning of a seven-week-old puppy, the Greater Birmingham Humane Society is working with Bessemer Police and Bessemer Animal Control to ensure justice for the young animal. “On Tuesday evening, GBHS got some complaints and calls […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/aJehf #DogNews #AnimalCruelty, #Antifreeze, #BessemerPoliceDepartment, #EmergencyAnimalCare, #GreaterBirminghamHumaneSociety, #News, #Puppy, #WBRC

#animal cruelty #antifreeze #Bessemer Police Department #Emergency animal care #Greater Birmingham Humane Society #news #puppy #WBRC #Dog News

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studiesof-fandom-primaryblog · 4 years ago

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The Journal of Fandom Studies

Volume 1, Number 2, 1 October 2013

Augmenting fan/academic dialogue: New directions in fan research by Paul Booth [DePaul University]

Fan studies as a discipline is still in its infancy. But even given this nascence, there have been significant shifts in the ways that it has theorized, studied and investigated fans over the first two and a half decades of research. As scholarship, fan studies has moved away from ethnographic investigations of fans as the main object of study to focus instead on the output of fan discourse as the key mode of examination. At the same time, scholars like Henry Jenkins and Matt Hills, both central to the discipline, have opened dialogue about the nature of the fan/academic, often called the ‘aca-fan’. This article uses the lens of aca-fandom to analyse fan answers to interview questions at a large Midwestern Doctor Who convention. Fans were asked about the role that fan studies has played in their life, how they perceive the study of fans and whether fan studies as an academic discipline has an effect on their fandom. The fans’ answers reflect a critical awareness of fandom but a general ignorance of fan studies. This article argues three points to take away from this. First, fan studies needs to refocus attention back onto fans themselves through ethnographic work. Second, the discipline needs to refocus its output less on esoteric academic titles and more on popular venues. Finally, fans and academics should engage in specific dialogue to open up avenues for new fannish and academic exploration.

A case of identity: Role playing, social media and BBC Sherlock by Ann McClellan [Plymouth State University]

Many fans of Sherlock Holmes are now extending their interest in the famous sleuth into the world of social media. In particular, the BBC’s modern adaptation, Sherlock, seems to have grabbed the public’s attention with multiple character role plays on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. It remains unclear, however, whether to categorize these narratives as fan fiction or role play game. This article explores the genre differences between fan fiction and role play game and identifies specific genre characteristics that place social media fan narratives in the role play game category. While adaptation studies and much of fan fiction center on issues of fidelity to the source text, role play scholarship emphasizes recreating the world of the sourcetext. Role playing both expands the boundaries of the original series in that it provides viewers with more—more stories, more character development, more adventure—but it is also limited by the constraints of the original show’s characterization and overall narrative arc. Online role play characters must speak like their source characters, they must interact with other characters from the show in textually appropriate ways, and they must respond to new situations in ways that are consistent with their televisual counterparts. Looking specifically at BBC Sherlock role plays on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter, this article explores the ways in which contemporary audiences are using social media to challenge traditional understandings of genre, world building and fandom in order to approach a greater verisimilitude of play.

‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ of cult TV: Fans, followers, and fringe religions in Strangers with Candy and Veronica Mars by David Scott Diffrient [Colorado State University]

This article explores episodes of the contemporary American television programmes Strangers with Candy (Comedy Central, 1999–2000) and Veronica Mars (UPN/CW, 2004–07) so as to ascertain and discursively frame the complex relationship between cults (or neo-religious organizations) and cult TV. Although different from one another in many respects, these two TV series share an interest in the cliquish formations of high-school life that divide students into warring camps of insiders and outsiders. Moreover, both programmes contain pivotal episodes in which the ritualistic practices of fictional cults are presented ambivalently – as a source of humour yet also as a gateway through which the unconventional female protagonists pass on their way to self-discovery. That journey has extraordinary resonance for fans or ‘followers’ of these programmes. As argued by Jonathan Gray in his recently published work on ‘affect, fantasy, and meaning’, fans and followers are viewers who are ‘most involved in their consumption’. As such, Strangers with Candy and Veronica Mars deserve scrutiny as steadfastly worshipped texts conducive to the kinds of meta-consumptive discourses and practices that might shed light on culturally entrenched attitudes related to neo-religious activities.

Community clip show: Examining the recursive collaboration between producers and viewers of a postmodern sitcom by Rekha Sharma [Kent State University]

In the new media landscape, exclusive communication within a TV show’s creative team or amongst its fans is no longer sufficient to maintain the continuation of the programme. Instead, a community arises through the collaboration of those behind the scenes and those in front of the screens. By utilizing interactive technologies, showrunners and audiences have redefined notions of media consumption and mass media. An illustrative case is NBC’s postmodern sitcom, Community (Harmon, 2009–). The show features metadiscourse on media production, responds to viewers’ feedback and preferred narratives and shares the creation of meaning with the audience. As a result, the show has developed an ardent following because viewers feel their concerns are directly addressed by the show’s creative team. Further, their contributions challenge the conventional belief that fan interpretations are merely secondary discourse to the primary television text, as Community fans’ works have helped shape the televised narrative. One episode, Season 2’s ‘Paradigms of Human Memory’, deals with the creators’ and viewers’ mutual conceptualization of time and reality encapsulated in the series.

‘I’m not a lawyer but …’: Fan disclaimers and claims against copyright law by Jenny Roth and Monica Flegel [Lakehead University]

Fan fiction has become increasingly widespread, and online discussions between fans about fan fiction and copyright reveal the extent to which fans are both governed by and resist copyright law, as they understand it. As complex agents both within and outside of law, writers and supporters of fan fiction reveal the problems of speaking against law from a position that is regulated by law, a position creative re-producers are forced to occupy in an increasingly copyrighted, patented and trademarked world. So long as those whom the law is meant to regulate see themselves as legitimate shapers of that law, even though they inhabit space outside the formal mechanisms of law or the legal world, the law will not be effective. When fans with little or no legal expertise invoke and interpret copyright, they reveal that copyright does not attend to the complex realities of creative production, nor the very active consumption, engagement with, and re-articulation of cultural artefacts and texts in society to effectively police at the grassroots level.

Continuing The West Wing in 140 characters or less: Improvised simulation on Twitter by Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore and Jonathan Hickman [Birmingham City University]

Sharing some of the findings from a study of fans tweeting as characters from US TV drama The West Wing (NBC, 2000–2006), this article uses data from Twitter observation and fan interviews to examine how participants negotiated the structures of Twitter through this activity. In particular, we consider what implications that negotiation has for the resulting fan text; for how participants perform fandom through this medium; and for how they perceive the value of their fan practice. Through this investigation, the article demonstrates some of the ways in which Twitter facilitates and constrains articulations of audience engagement.

Keywords: Doctor Who; aca-fan; academy; convention; fan; interview; BBC Sherlock; Facebook; Sherlock Holmes; fan production; role play; social media; world building; Strangers with Candy; Veronica Mars; cult TV; cults; fandom; religion; active audiences; interactive media; postmodern sitcom; television fandom; textual poaching; virtual community; authorship and authority; copyright law and legal discourse; fan policing; fanfiction; law and society; producer/consumer relations; TV drama; Twitter; audiences; online communities; television.

#journal: jfs #text: academic paper #researcher: paul booth #researcher: ann mcclellan #researcher: david scott diffrient #researcher: rekha sharma #researcher: jenny roth #researcher: monica flegel #researcher: inger-lise kalviknes bore #researcher: jonathan hickman

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goofysheltercats · 8 years ago

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[image description: A black cat with yellow/green eyes. She is lying down on a quilted blanket, curled up with her paws tucked under her face. She seems relaxed, but her eyes are wide and alert.]

SAMANTHA

Domestic Short Hair Mix • Young • Female • Medium • The Greater Birmingham Humane Society • Birmingham, AL

ABOUT SAMANTHA Primary Color: Black Weight: 5.5 Age: 1yrs 0mths 1wks Animal has been Spayed

#cat #adopt me #goofy shelter cat #domestic short hair #black cat #kitten #the greater birmingham humane society #birmingham al #alabama #image description #captioned #mod fishy

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bigforeheadgaaal · 6 years ago

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10 Angela Davis Quotes That Will Inspire Anyone To Keep Fighting for Social Injustice

Angela Davis is a well-known activist, educator, scholar and riveting orator born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1961 Davis enrolled in Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. While studying at the University Davis studied abroad for a year in France and returned to the U.S to complete her degree in 1965.

Moved by the deaths of four little Black girls killed in a church bombing in her hometown of Birmingham in 1963 motivated her to join the civil rights march. By 1967, Davis was influenced by Black power advocates and joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and later the Black Panther Party. Davis would later continue her education by earning an M.A from the University of California at San Diego in 1968.

Davis words, speeches, and books over the years has inspired a new generation of revolutionaries and thought-leaders of today. Here are ten quotes from Angela Davis that will inspire anyone to keep fighting for Black people.

1. “Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.” – Angela Davis

2. “I believe profoundly in the possibilities of democracy, but democracy needs to be emancipated from capitalism. As long as we inhabit a capitalist democracy, a future of racial equality, gender equality, economic equality will elude us.” – Angela Davis

3. “My idea of philosophy is that if it is not relevant to human problems, if it does not tell us how we can go about eradicating some of the misery in this world, then it is not worth the name of philosophy. I think Socrates made a very profound statement when he asserted that the raison d’etre of philosophy is to teach us proper living. In this day and age ‘proper living’ means liberation from the urgent problems of poverty, economic necessity and indoctrination, mental oppression.” – Angela Davis

4. “Actually we’ve had a black bourgeoisie or the makings of a black bourgeoisie for many more decades. In a sense the quest for the emancipation of black people in the US has always been a quest for economic liberation which means to a certain extent that the rise of black middle class would be inevitable. What I think is different today is the lack of political connection between the black middle class and the increasing numbers of black people who are more impoverished than ever before.” – Angela Davis

5. “Revolution is a serious thing, the most serious thing about a revolutionary’s life. When one commits oneself to the struggle, it must be for a lifetime.” – Angela Davis

6. “The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what’s that? The freedom to starve?” – Angela Davis

7. “When children attend schools that place a greater value on discipline and security than on knowledge and intellectual development, they are attending prep schools for prison.” – Angela Davis

8. “We cannot assume that people by virtue of the fact that they are black are going to associate themselves with progressive political struggles. We need to divest ourselves the kinds of strategies that assume that black unity black political unity is possible.” – Angela Davis

9. “The 13th amendment to the constitution of the US which abolished slavery – did not abolish slavery for those convicted of a crime.” – Angela Davis

10. “In this society, dominated as it is by the profit-seeking ventures of monopoly corporations, health has been callously transformed into a commodity – a commodity that those with means are able to afford, but that is too often entirely beyond the reach of others.” – Angela Davis

#angela davis #black panther #black history #womanism #being black

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eruptionsanddisasters · 4 years ago

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The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement

By Martin Luther King Jr.

It is always a very rich and rewarding experience when I can take a brief break from the day-to-day demands of our struggle for freedom and human dignity and discuss the issues involved in that struggle with concerned friends of good will all over the nation. It is particularly a great privilege to discuss these issues with members of the academic community, who are constantly writing about and dealing with the problems that we face and who have the tremendous responsibility of molding the minds of young men and women all over the country.

The Civil Rights Movement needs the help of social scientists

In the preface to their book, 'Applied Sociology' (1965), S. M. Miller and Alvin Gouldner state: 'It is the historic mission of the social sciences to enable mankind to take possession of society.' It follows that for Negroes who substantially are excluded from society this science is needed even more desperately than for any other group in the population.

For social scientists, the opportunity to serve in a life-giving purpose is a humanist challenge of rare distinction. Negroes too are eager for a rendezvous with truth and discovery. We are aware that social scientists, unlike some of their colleagues in the physical sciences, have been spared the grim feelings of guilt that attended the invention of nuclear weapons of destruction. Social scientists, in the main, are fortunate to be able to extirpate evil, not to invent it.

If the Negro needs social sciences for direction and for self-understanding, the white society is in even more urgent need. White America needs to understand that it is poisoned to its soul by racism and the understanding needs to be carefully documented and consequently more difficult to reject. The present crisis arises because although it is historically imperative that our society take the next step to equality, we find ourselves psychologically and socially imprisoned. All too many white Americans are horrified not with conditions of Negro life but with the product of these conditions-the Negro himself.

White America is seeking to keep the walls of segregation substantially intact while the evolution of society and the Negro's desperation is causing them to crumble. The white majority, unprepared and unwilling to accept radical structural change, is resisting and producing chaos while complaining that if there were no chaos orderly change would come.

Negroes want the social scientist to address the white community and 'tell it like it is.' White America has an appalling lack of knowledge concerning the reality of Negro life. One reason some advances were made in the South during the past decade was the discovery by northern whites of the brutal facts of southern segregated life. It was the Negro who educated the nation by dramatizing the evils through nonviolent protest. The social scientist played little or no role in disclosing truth. The Negro action movement with raw courage did it virtually alone. When the majority of the country could not live with the extremes of brutality they witnessed, political remedies were enacted and customs were altered.

These partial advances were, however, limited principally to the South and progress did not automatically spread throughout the nation. There was also little depth to the changes. White America stopped murder, but that is not the same thing as ordaining brotherhood; nor is the ending of lynch rule the same thing as inaugurating justice.

After some years of Negro-white unity and partial success, white America shifted gears and went into reverse. Negroes, alive with hope and enthusiasm, ran into sharply stiffened white resistance at all levels and bitter tensions broke out in sporadic episodes of violence. New lines of hostility were drawn and the era of good feeling disappeared.

The decade of 1955 to 1965, with its constructive elements, misled us. Everyone, activists and social scientists, underestimated the amount of violence and rage Negroes were suppressing and the amount of bigotry the white majority was disguising.

Science should have been employed more fully to warn us that the Negro, after 350 years of handicaps, mired in an intricate network of contemporary barriers, could not be ushered into equality by tentative and superficial changes.

Mass nonviolent protests, a social invention of Negroes, were effective in Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma in forcing national legislation which served to change Negro life sufficiently to curb explosions. But when changes were confined to the South alone, the North, in the absence of change, began to seethe.

The freedom movement did not adapt its tactics to the different and unique northern urban conditions. It failed to see that nonviolent marches in the South were forms of rebellion. When Negroes took over the streets and shops, southern society shook to its roots. Negroes could contain their rage when they found the means to force relatively radical changes in their environment.

In the North, on the other hand, street demonstrations were not even a mild expression of militancy. The turmoil of cities absorbs demonstrations as merely transitory drama which is ordinary in city life. Without a more effective tactic for upsetting the status quo, the power structure could maintain its intransigence and hostility. Into the vacuum of inaction, violence and riots flowed and a new period opened.

Urban riots.

Urban riots must now be recognized as durable social phenomena. They may be deplored, but they are there and should be understood. Urban riots are a special form of violence. They are not insurrections. The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions. They are mainly intended to shock the white community. They are a distorted form of social protest. The looting which is their principal feature serves many functions. It enables the most enraged and deprived Negro to take hold of consumer goods with the ease the white man does by using his purse. Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking. But most of all, alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights. There are thus elements of emotional catharsis in the violent act. This may explain why most cities in which riots have occurred have not had a repetition, even though the causative conditions remain. It is also noteworthy that the amount of physical harm done to white people other than police is infinitesimal and in Detroit whites and Negroes looted in unity.

A profound judgment of today's riots was expressed by Victor Hugo a century ago. He said, 'If a soul is left in the darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.'

The policymakers of the white society have caused the darkness; they create discrimination; they structured slums; and they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance and poverty. It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society. When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also demand that the white man abide by law in the ghettos. Day-in and day-out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; and he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions for civic services. The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them but do not make them any more than a prisoner makes a prison. Let us say boldly that if the violations of law by the white man in the slums over the years were calculated and compared with the law-breaking of a few days of riots, the hardened criminal would be the white man. These are often difficult things to say but I have come to see more and more that it is necessary to utter the truth in order to deal with the great problems that we face in our society.

Vietnam War.

There is another cause of riots that is too important to mention casually-the war in Vietnam. Here again, we are dealing with a controversial issue. But I am convinced that the war in Vietnam has played havoc with our domestic destinies. The bombs that fall in Vietnam explode at home. It does not take much to see what great damage this war has done to the image of our nation. It has left our country politically and morally isolated in the world, where our only friends happen to be puppet nations like Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. The major allies in the world that have been with us in war and peace are not with us in this war. As a result we find ourselves socially and politically isolated.

The war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has seriously impaired the United Nations. It has exacerbated the hatreds between continents, and worse still, between races. It has frustrated our development at home by telling our underprivileged citizens that we place insatiable military demands above their most critical needs. It has greatly contributed to the forces of reaction in America, and strengthened the military-industrial complex, against which even President Eisenhower solemnly warned us. It has practically destroyed Vietnam, and left thousands of American and Vietnamese youth maimed and mutilated. And it has exposed the whole world to the risk of nuclear warfare.

As I looked at what this war was doing to our nation, and to the domestic situation and to the Civil Rights movement, I found it necessary to speak vigorously out against it. My speaking out against the war has not gone without criticisms. There are those who tell me that I should stick with civil rights, and stay in my place. I can only respond that I have fought too hard and long to end segregated public accommodations to segregate my own moral concerns. It is my deep conviction that justice is indivisible, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. For those who tell me I am hurting the Civil Rights movement, and ask, 'Don't you think that in order to be respected, and in order to regain support, you must stop talking against the war?' I can only say that I am not a consensus leader. I do not seek to determine what is right and wrong by taking a Gallop Poll to determine majority opinion. And it is again my deep conviction that ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus, but a molder of consensus. On some positions cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?!' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But conscience must ask the question, 'Is it right?!' And there comes a time when one must take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular. But one must take it because it is right. And that is where I find myself today.

Moreover, I am convinced, even if war continues, that a genuine massive act of concern will do more to quell riots than the most massive deployment of troops.

Unemployment.

The unemployment of Negro youth ranges up to 40 percent in some slums. The riots are almost entirely youth events-the age range of participants is from 13 to 25. What hypocrisy it is to talk of saving the new generation-to make it the generation of hope-while consigning it to unemployment and provoking it to violent alternatives.

When our nation was bankrupt in the thirties we created an agency to provide jobs to all at their existing level of skill. In our overwhelming affluence today what excuse is there for not setting up a national agency for full employment immediately?

The other program which would give reality to hope and opportunity would be the demolition of the slums to be replaced by decent housing built by residents of the ghettos.

These programs are not only eminently sound and vitally needed, but they have the support of an overwhelming majority of the nation-white and Negro. The Harris Poll on August 21, 1967, disclosed that an astounding 69 percent of the country support a works program to provide employment to all and an equally astonishing 65 percent approve a program to tear down the slums.

There is a program and there is heavy majority support for it. Yet, the administration and Congress tinker with trivial proposals to limit costs in an extravagant gamble with disaster.

The President has lamented that he cannot persuade Congress. He can, if the will is there, go to the people, mobilize the people's support and thereby substantially increase his power to persuade Congress. Our most urgent task is to find the tactics that will move the government no matter how determined it is to resist.

Civil disobedience.

I believe we will have to find the militant middle between riots on the one hand and weak and timid supplication for justice on the other hand. That middle ground, I believe, is civil disobedience. It can be aggressive but nonviolent; it can dislocate but not destroy. The specific planning will take some study and analysis to avoid mistakes of the past when it was employed on too small a scale and sustained too briefly.

Civil disobedience can restore Negro-white unity. There have been some very important sane white voices even during the most desperate moments of the riots. One reason is that the urban crisis intersects the Negro crisis in the city. Many white decision- makers may care little about saving Negroes, but they must care about saving their cities. The vast majority of production is created in cities; most white Americans live in them. The suburbs to which they flee cannot exist detached from cities. Hence powerful white elements have goals that merge with ours.

Role for the social scientist

Now there are many roles for social scientists in meeting these problems. Kenneth Clark has said that Negroes are moved by a suicide instinct in riots and Negroes know there is a tragic truth in this observation. Social scientists should also disclose the suicide instinct that governs the administration and Congress in their total failure to respond constructively.

What other areas are there for social scientists to assist the civil rights movement? There are many, but I would like to suggest three because they have an urgent quality.

Social science may be able to search out some answers to the problem of Negro leadership. E. Franklin Frazier, in his profound work, Black Bourgeoisie, laid painfully bare the tendency of the upwardly mobile Negro to separate from his community, divorce himself from responsibility to it, while failing to gain acceptance in the white community. There has been significant improvements from the days Frazier researched, but anyone knowledgeable about Negro life knows its middle class is not yet bearing its weight. Every riot has carried strong overtone of hostility of lower class Negroes toward the affluent Negro and vice versa. No contemporary study of scientific depth has totally studied this problem. Social science should be able to suggest mechanisms to create a wholesome black unity and a sense of peoplehood while the process of integration proceeds.

As one example of this gap in research, there are no studies, to my knowledge, to explain adequately the absence of Negro trade union leadership. Eight-five percent of Negroes are working people. Some two million are in trade unions but in 50 years we have produced only one national leader-A. Philip Randolph.

Discrimination explains a great deal, but not everything. The picture is so dark even a few rays of light may signal a useful direction.

Political action.

The second area for scientific examination is political action. In the past two decades, Negroes have expended more effort in quest of the franchise than they have in all other campaigns combined. Demonstrations, sit-ins and marches, though more spectacular, are dwarfed by the enormous number of man-hours expended to register millions, particularly in the South. Negro organizations from extreme militant to conservative persuasion, Negro leaders who would not even talk to each other, all have been agreed on the key importance of voting. Stokely Carmichael said black power means the vote and Roy Wilkins, while saying black power means black death, also energetically sought the power of the ballot.

A recent major work by social scientists Matthew and Prothro concludes that 'The concrete benefits to be derived from the franchise-under conditions that prevail in the South-have often been exaggerated.,' that voting is not the key that will unlock the door to racial equality because 'the concrete measurable payoffs from Negro voting in the South will not be revolutionary' (1966).

James A. Wilson supports this view, arguing, 'Because of the structure of American politics as well as the nature of the Negro community, Negro politics will accomplish only limited objectives' (1965).

If their conclusion can be supported, then the major effort Negroes have invested in the past 20 years has been in the wrong direction and the major pillar of their hope is a pillar of sand. My own instinct is that these views are essentially erroneous, but they must be seriously examined.

The need for a penetrating massive scientific study of this subject cannot be overstated. Lipset in 1957 asserted that a limitation in focus in political sociology has resulted in a failure of much contemporary research to consider a number of significant theoretical questions. The time is short for social science to illuminate this critically important area. If the main thrust of Negro effort has been, and remains, substantially irrelevant, we may be facing an agonizing crisis of tactical theory.

The third area for study concerns psychological and ideological changes in Negroes. It is fashionable now to be pessimistic. Undeniably, the freedom movement has encountered setbacks. Yet I still believe there are significant aspects of progress.

Negroes today are experiencing an inner transformation that is liberating them from ideological dependence on the white majority. What has penetrated substantially all strata of Negro life is the revolutionary idea that the philosophy and morals of the dominant white society are not holy or sacred but in all too many respects are degenerate and profane.

Negroes have been oppressed for centuries not merely by bonds of economic and political servitude. The worst aspect of their oppression was their inability to question and defy the fundamental precepts of the larger society. Negroes have been loath in the past to hurl any fundamental challenges because they were coerced and conditioned into thinking within the context of the dominant white ideology. This is changing and new radical trends are appearing in Negro thought. I use radical in its broad sense to refer to reaching into roots.

Ten years of struggle have sensitized and opened the Negro's eyes to reaching. For the first time in their history, Negroes have become aware of the deeper causes for the crudity and cruelty that governed white society's responses to their needs. They discovered that their plight was not a consequence of superficial prejudice but was systemic.

The slashing blows of backlash and frontlash have hurt the Negro, but they have also awakened him and revealed the nature of the oppressor. To lose illusions is to gain truth. Negroes have grown wiser and more mature and they are hearing more clearly those who are raising fundamental questions about our society whether the critics be Negro or white. When this process of awareness and independence crystallizes, every rebuke, every evasion, become hammer blows on the wedge that splits the Negro from the larger society.

Social science is needed to explain where this development is going to take us. Are we moving away, not from integration, but from the society which made it a problem in the first place? How deep and at what rate of speed is this process occurring? These are some vital questions to be answered if we are to have a clear sense of our direction.

We know we haven't found the answers to all forms of social change. We know, however, that we did find some answers. We have achieved and we are confident. We also know we are confronted now with far greater complexities and we have not yet discovered all the theory we need.

And may I say together, we must solve the problems right here in America. As I have said time and time again, Negroes still have faith in America. Black people still have faith in a dream that we will all live together as brothers in this country of plenty one day.

But I was distressed when I read in the New York Times of Aug. 31, 1967; that a sociologist from Michigan State University, the outgoing president of the American Sociological Society, stated in San Francisco that Negroes should be given a chance to find an all Negro community in South America: 'that the valleys of the Andes Mountains would be an ideal place for American Negroes to build a second Israel.' He further declared that 'The United States Government should negotiate for a remote but fertile land in Equador, Peru or Bolivia for this relocation.'

I feel that it is rather absurd and appalling that a leading social scientist today would suggest to black people, that after all these years of suffering an exploitation as well as investment in the American dream, that we should turn around and run at this point in history. I say that we will not run! Professor Loomis even compared the relocation task of the Negro to the relocation task of the Jews in Israel. The Jews were made exiles. They did not choose to abandon Europe, they were driven out. Furthermore, Israel has a deep tradition, and Biblical roots for Jews. The Wailing Wall is a good example of these roots. They also had significant financial aid from the United States for the relocation and rebuilding effort. What tradition does the Andes, especially the valley of the Andes Mountains, have for Negroes?

And I assert at this time that once again we must reaffirm our belief in building a democratic society, in which blacks and whites can live together as brothers, where we will all come to see that integration is not a problem, but an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

The problem is deep. It is gigantic in extent, and chaotic in detail. And I do not believe that it will be solved until there is a kind of cosmic discontent enlarging in the bosoms of people of good will all over this nation.

There are certain technical words in every academic discipline which soon become stereotypes and even clichés. Every academic discipline has its technical nomenclature. You who are in the field of psychology have given us a great word. It is the word maladjusted. This word is probably used more than any other word in psychology. It is a good word; certainly it is good that in dealing with what the word implies you are declaring that destructive maladjustment should be destroyed. You are saying that all must seek the well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities.

But on the other hand, I am sure that we will recognize that there are some things in our society, some things in our world, to which we should never be adjusted. There are some things concerning which we must always be maladjusted if we are to be people of good will. We must never adjust ourselves to racial discrimination and racial segregation. We must never adjust ourselves to religious bigotry. We must never adjust ourselves to economic conditions that take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. We must never adjust ourselves to the madness of militarism, and the self-defeating effects of physical violence.

In a day when Sputniks, Explorers and Geminies are dashing through outer space, when guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can finally win a war. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence, it is either nonviolence or nonexistence. As President Kennedy declared, 'Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.' And so the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a suspension in the development and use of nuclear weapons, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and eventually disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. Our earthly habitat will be transformed into an inferno that even Dante could not envision.

Creative maladjustment.

Thus, it may well be that our world is in dire need of a new organization, The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment. Men and women should be as maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day, could cry out in words that echo across the centuries, 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream'; or as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who in the midst of his vacillations finally came to see that this nation could not survive half slave and half free; or as maladjusted as Thomas Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery, could scratch across the pages of history, words lifted to cosmic proportions, 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. And that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' And through such creative maladjustment, we may be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man's inhumanity to man, into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

I have not lost hope. I must confess that these have been very difficult days for me personally. And these have been difficult days for every civil rights leader, for every lover of justice and peace.

(Copyright 1967 by Martin Luther King Jr. Copyright renewed 1994 by Coretta Scott King. Reprinted by permission by the heirs to the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., care of Writers' House as agents for the proprietors.)

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