The creation and growth of, The National Association for the Essay

The creation and growth of, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, after the Springfield Race Riot of 1 - Essay Example The Association is capable of bringing a shared national weight and personal local forces upon each aspect of the Negro's struggle for fairness of nationality. It encompasses the total collection of civil rights action and its constant programs of public awareness as well as its legal triumphs have made key contributions to the insurrection in race that is now witnessed. In one way or another, it has moved by far the irresistible mass of present leaders of the Negro society through its ranks. This includes several of those currently heading other civil rights groups. Moreover, it functions as a source of information and direction and as a clearing-house for private associations and government and for the majority of the broad public who refer to it for support every year. The association anticipates expanding its agenda to contain active concern with problems of community orientation, scarcity and retraining. This paper seeks to discuss the roots and foundation of the association and its development. It will also seek to explain its organization, its mandates and achievements throughout its growth. Introduction National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the biggest, oldest and most powerful civil rights organization in the United States. ... According to the fourteenth revision, blacks were full citizens of the United States, and were given the right to equal protection of the law as any other citizen1. The Association acts as a legal support society at the local level, but in fighting for the rights of black Americans at the national level, it chooses cases for their strategic significance, and in so far as possible goes in the courts only where there is good possibility of victory. The organization is an interracial society, but its membership is preponderantly black. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People legal defense and education fund established in 1939 is a related but officially separate organization with a staff of lawyers2. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is one of the most important societies in the United States promoting and attending courts for Africans Americans and other minority groups. The duty of the Association is dual: to wipe out racial prejudi ce, and to accomplish the legal, cultural, social and economic fairness of minority groups. Started in 1905 by a set of social activists, the organization primarily demanded the eradication of all differences in law and policy based on race or color. The primary official meeting of the Association was held in 1909. By 1945, the Association could boast of more than 1,600 branches and 300,000 members. More significantly, the organization had embarked on achieving reliability among lawmakers and using its power in the courts3. Lack of competition is one feature that is most outstanding about the debates among civil rights activists. There was no significance competition between the private civil rights bar and the Department

Compare and contrast Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Compare and contrast - Research Paper Example The second point he argued that true religion consists of genuine inward persuasion of the mind, while the power of the government is force. By this he meant that force will never bring people to the true faith. The third point he argued that if the magistrate would have power to change people’s mind, still it will not bring people to the true faith since many of them believe in wrong religions (Locke, 1796). One of the historic researches that scholars have found out is that Judaism and Christianity was once unified, but time came and they parted ways because of competition. The anti-Jewish Christians statements about late antiquity suggest that salvation was first for the Jews but it was entrusted to them through grace. For example when Jesus Christ came into the world and was he rejected by the Jews. The anti-Jewish believed that at that point it was their opportunity to receive salvation. Martin Luther’s anti-Jewish were very caring in that he accused the catholic of being unfair to Jews and treating them â€Å"as if they were dogs,† he also was annoyed by them when they refused to convert and said â€Å"A Jewish heart is as hard as a stick, a stone, as iron, as a devil.† It is very fascinating how theological issues are viewed differently with scholars, believers as well as theologians. For instance, Mircea Eliade, James George Frazer and Rudolf Otto brought their point in a very interesting way. For example, James in his book The Golden Bough distinguishes between magi and religion. He argued that magic is for primitive people while reign through faith. His remarks can be compared to that of Otto who focused on religious experiences with a fear which benefits people’s relation to God. God is taken to be presented in peoples responses and these responses have this role because they are assigned a phenomenological character which is different from other feelings experienced elsewhere in this human life. Eliade

Friend Recommendation System Software Design

Friend Recommendation System Software Design CHAPTER 4 SOFTWARE DESIGN DESCRIPTION 4.1Â  INTRODUCTION The Software Design Document provides transcript which will be used to aid in the software development phase of this project by providing the details for how the software should be built. Within the Software Design Document are narrative and graphical documentation of the software design for the project including use case models, sequence diagrams, object behaviour models, and other supporting requirement information. The requirements in SRS will be fully addressed in this software design document or alternative solution should be given. 4.2Â  DESIGN OVERVIEW The purpose of this software design document is to provide insight into the structure and design of each component in the Friend recommendation system. Topics covered include the following: Class hierarchies and interactions Data flow and design (DFD) User interface design Test cases and expected results In short, this document is meant to equip the reader with a solid understanding of the inner workings of the Friend recommendation system. The modules, as can be perceived from figure [ ], are as follows: Collect_Data_From_Sensors Data Collection Data preprocessing Activity Recognition Friend-matching graph construction Friend query and Feedback control These modules will be described in detail in the next section on System Design. 4.3Â  SYSTEM DESIGN This section provides a modular structure of the proposed system and explains each subsystem along with the relationships between the subsystems and the interfaces between the modules. Figure 4.1: The Architecture Diagram 4.4Â  DESIGN CONSTRAINTS: The server should be multithreaded. The Android application at the client side should have a retry mechanism to connect to server. Software System Attributes Usability : The software will be embedded in a website. It should be scalable designed to be easily adopted by a system. Reliability : The system should have accurate results and fast response to user’s changing habits. Security : The system uses GPS location information to find friends within some distance. In order to provide privacy, a region surrounding the accurate location will be uploaded to the system. 4.5Â  MODULE STRUCTURE The below is the structure of modules: Username/password User’s Credentials User Data User Data Query for Processed data Friends Send FeedbackFriend ListFriend List Figure 4.2 : The Module design 4.4.1 DESCRIPTION OF MODULES This section describes each of the above modules in brief. Module: LoginOrRegister This module contains login or registration in order to register the user with Friendbook application. If the user has already registered, then he/she can directly login and start using the application. If he/she is not registered then he/she has to register with friendbook application. Module: Authenticate Users This module compares the entered Username and Password with the respective records among the database entries. If a match is found, then redirects the user to his/her profile page. Else, an appropriate message is thrown and the user is redirected to the registration page. For registration, compares the Username entered with the ones in the database to check its availability. If unavailable, then asks for a different Username, else create a new record in the database and save the entered details. Redirects the user to his/her profile page on registration with appropriate message, if the Username is not already present. If the Username entered during registration is not unique, then an appropriate message is thrown. Name and Usernames should start with an alphabet and Password should contain at least one alphabet and one numeric character and one special character. Module: Collect_Data_From_Sensors Smartphone (e.g., iPhone or Android-based smartphones) are equipped with a rich set of embedded sensors, such as GPS, accelerometer, microphone, gyroscope, and camera. On the client side, each smartphone records data of its user from the sensors such as accelerometer, and GPS information. This collected data is further sent to the server for further processing. Module: Data Collection and Pre-processing This module collects the data sent from the client side. The raw data collected will be in format {time ,latitude ,longitude ,accx ,accy ,accz }. The collected raw data is further pre processed to remove outliers. Median filtering technique is used for outlier detection and removal. An unsupervised learning technique is applied on the preprocessed data to form clusters known as Kmeans clustering algorithm. The resulting clusters forms a list of activities carried out by a user, where each cluster representing an activity. Module: Activity Recognition Now that the k clusters are formed, each represents an activity, lifestyles are further extracted from these activities using LDA algorithm. A library called LAML is used*. It provides a convenient API to get topic structures for an array of input strings.The extracted lifestyles are used to find the similarities between the users. Once the similarity is calculated, the user who has highest similarity is suggested as a friend. Module: User Query and Feedback Control This module performs two tasks, it accepts and responds to user queries (eg, query for friend list) and collects feedback from users in order to improve the accuracy of the friend recommendation system. 4.6Â  INTERFACE DESCRIPTION: The following is the list of external interfaces: SOCIAL NETWORK PORTAL: A portal where the users can do registration by entering their details and also provide a feedback on the recommendations to improve the accuracy of the system. It is implemented using JSP and HTML. MOBILE INTERFACE: It continually sends the daily activities to the server via network using TCP connection. The daily activities are characterized by walking, sitting and GPS location. RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM : This is the interface in which the friend recommender algorithm works in the background. This interface will be used by the users. Customer cannot do many operations, but their feedbacks or ratings are very important to create a relevant recommendation. End users can only provide feedback and view recommendations. HARDWARE INTERFACES : The recommendation system can work on any smartphone device. These devices should have some limit requirements to make the application run effectively. The processor speed and internet speed are expected to be high. SOFTWARE INTERFACES: This system can work on any platform. Internet connection is a must to reach the system. Moreover, most of the application will be coded by Java. Java APIs of database management tools such as Netbeans, which is a standalone workbench application to interact with database management tools. 4.6.1 Use Case Diagrams And Key Features A use case diagram is a kind of behavioral design, which is constructed from an analysis. It presents a graphical synopsis of the capabilities provided by a system in terms of actors, aims and dependencies between use cases. Friend book user can perform following activities: Install the application in their mobiles Login/Register with the application View the list of most similar friends Upload feedback for improving accuracy of the system. The Use Case diagram in Figure 4.3, shows the different functionalities a friendbook user can perform. Figure 4.3 : Friendbook User Use Case The System can perform following activities: Collect raw data from users Pre-process the data Perform Activity Recognition and extract the lifestyles using LDA Find the list of friends based on similarity between users Handle Feedback Figure 4.4 : The Server Part Use Case 4.8Â  Class Diagram Top Level Client-Side Class Diagram: The client side class diagram, mainly consists of UI(user interface) required for a user to register with the application by providing user’s information, after which user will be able to login and start the service. Once the application starts, it continually records the values from sensors in the format: The above values are to the server at regular intervals (say 3secs). In order to send the values to server a TCP connection is setup. Once the connection is setup, the device will start sending the data. The users can also provide a feedback on the recommendation results given to them. Top Level Server-Side Class Diagram: The server-side class diagram, consists of classes that are executed in a sequential manner. Firstly, ActivityClustering class collects the data sent from the android device, and pre-processes it using median filtering technique. After the data is filtered, the processed data is then partitioned into k clusters using k-means algorithm. Next, a class known as ConvertToActivitySeq is invoked, which maps the activities to cluster they are close to and produces a list containing sequence of activities i.e,. the life document. This document is further given as an input to LifeStylemodelling class, which computes p(word/document) i.e, it calculates probability of word given the document matrix. This matrix is then decomposed to produce two matrices, called p(word/lifestyle) and p(lifestyle/document). Finally, p(lifestyle/document) matrix is used to calculate the similarities of the lifestyles between users. 4.8Â  DATA FLOW DIAGRAM The data flow diagrams are pictorial representation of data flowing in the system. DFD’s are used for the purpose of viewing the data processing in the system. In a data flow diagram, the data elements flow from external or an internal data source, through an internal process. Level 0 Data Flow Diagram A level 0 DFD or a context level design represents the intercommunication between the system and external sources, which act as data sinks. In Level 0 DFD, the interaction between the system and external entity are designed in terms of data flows across the system boundaries. This level diagram shows the complete system as a single procedure. In the DFD diagram shown in Fig*, the lifestyle information are the sensor values sent from the client i.e., android phone to the server. The data sent from client are processed to produce a list of potential friends. Figure 4.* : Level 0 DFD of Lifestyle based friend recommender Level 1 Data Flow Diagram The level 1 DFD, exhibits how the system is split into sub components, where each component represents one or more data flows to or from an external source. And when combined, it provides the complete functionality of the system as a whole. It represents the inter components data flows in a specific sequence and also the data flow between the components of the system. The proposed application consists of the components as shown in the figure 5.*. It first performs data collection, raw data pre-processing by noise removal, Activity recognition where each cluster represents an activity and finally calculates similaties between users to suggest a friend. Figure 5.* : Level 1 DFD of Lifestyle based friend recommender 4.9Â  OBJECTS AND ACTIONS (SEQUENCE DIAGRAM) The sequence diagrams shows below. Sequence for Setup Connection: This sequence is to set up FOR TCP connection between user and the server. Also monitors GPS and Accelerometer by collecting the data from them. Sequence for Monitor Result to the server: The raw data, that is sent from the client is collected by server. And the collected raw data is pre-processed for outlier removal. Sequence for Finding Friends: When the user queries for the friend list, the server accepts the request from the client and responds by sending the potential list of friends. Sequence for Data Collection: The data collection module collects life documents from users’ smartphones. The life document is collection of users activities. The life styles of users are extracted by the life style analysis module with the probabilistic topic model(by using a library for LDA ). Then the life style indexing module puts the life styles of users into the database in the format of (life- style, user) instead of (user, life-style). As the packet arrives , these packet will be store in files. Sequence for Preprocessing: The user sends data, and preprocesses to make the data consistent, by remove irrelevant data.The preprocessed data is converted into archive and upload to the database. Sequence for Database Connection: Data base connection is established when a friend request query is posed. A TCP connection will be established between user and server. Server will process this request and respond with the extracted information from the database i.e, the list of potential friends. 4.10Â  PSEUDO CODE MOBILE END: SERVER SIDE PSEUDO CODE:

No Loner Mourn For Me Explication :: essays research papers fc

William Shakespeare â€Å"No Longer Mourn For Me When I Am Dead† Explication   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Read the sonnet with a sarcastic angry tone and a whole different meaning is found. He uses words and angry phrases that repeat and reflect off of each other. I believe the author does not want people to be saddened by his death. Not because he cares for the people but because he is angry. It is almost as if he sees his death as a last joke he had on them. In lines 3 and 4 he says   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Give warning to the world that I am fled,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell.† he repeats vile and seems to have a very angry tone. He says that this world is vile and that the people who dwell in it are worms. He has fled from that world and now he feels it is their turn to feel unwanted and angry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the line â€Å"Nay, if you read this line, remember not, the hand that writ it, for I love you so, that I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot, † he is being machiavellian, he points out that he loved her and is being a martyr about the fact that he thinks in her sweet thoughts she would forget him. His anger is surpassed by his death, now the one who he thought did not love him in life is stuck with out him forever because he is dead. â€Å"Do not so much as my poor name rehearse, But let your love even with my life decay,† He is saying do not think of me or speak my name after I am dead, but feel bad and let your love for me decay with his body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Almost a suicide note of someone who is very angry, when read a certain way you can see totally different things in a poem. Last lines† Lest the wise world should look into your moan and mock you with me after I am gone.† The whole world and me are now mocking you because everyone knows what she has done.

Education of African American Male Students Essay

The Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme court which outlawed racial segregation within public education facilities. Segregation of public education existed until the Supreme Court considered arguments by the schools requesting relief concerning the task of desegregation. In Brown II, the Supreme Court delegated the task of carrying out the desegregation to district courts with orders that desegregation occur â€Å"with all deliberate speed† (The United States Supreme Court, 1954). This phrase â€Å"with all deliberate speed† was easier said than done. Segregation practices continued in America well after 1954. During these early years groups like The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and The Nation of Islam emerged as the new lead organizations for the Civil Rights Movement. Leaders like Megar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. emerged all were assassinated before reaching the age of forty. These assassinations sparked the emergence of younger and more radical groups. Groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party had goals for education. The Black Panther Party created a comprehensive plan for improving their community. The plan was called the Ten Point Plan (Ten Point Plan, 1966). The Ten Point Plan stated: We believe in an educational system that will give to our people knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else. (Ten Point Plan, 1966, p.1). The 1960’s were an era of great change in African American culture. This was also a time for new leadership in the African American community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Megar Evers had chosen to use a nonviolent approach. Malcolm X was more radical and was willing to use violence to get equal treatment. After all three leaders were assassinated; leaders such as Stokely Carmichael had a new concept of  what America should become. In 1968 Stokely Carmichael created the term institutional racism, which he defined as the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture or ethnic origin. One of the new topics in education reform focused on how to educate African American males. Students in urban areas have been exposed to deteriorating conditions, which include overcrowded classrooms, limited funding for education, and unstable learning environments. In recent years the education of African American males has encountered several problems. Although 72% of African-American students in America graduate from high school, over 45% of African-American males drop out of high school (Green & Carl, 2000). Another problem is that one in four African American males are expelled from school each year. Additionally a disproportionate number of African-American males are in special education and remedial reading classes (Lee, Winfield & Wilson, 1991). According to Livingston and Nahimana (2006), Success with African-American males requires understanding the social context in which they exist. This journey of cultural understanding begins by recognizing preconceived assumptions about urban African-American male children, African-American children, particularly urban youth, are very keen on picking up the adult’s perception of them. Thus, understanding the behavior and dynamics of urban African-American families will greatly aid in understanding and educating the African-American male child. (p.210) Statement of the problem In recent years, there has been a trend of academic underachievement among African American males. Economic opportunities, lack of education, lack of father figures and the lack of understanding from the American society has damaged the self-esteem and the educational opportunities of young African American males. This research discussed the role that education has contributed to the underachievement of African American males in education. The purpose of this study was to review and analyze the data regarding the education of African American male students. Specifically, the study looked  at the factor impacting the education of African American male students. This results of this study aims to encourage and educate professionals by providing information and additional strategies in promoting the educational success of African American male students. The following research questions guided this study: 1. What factors have influenced the education of African American males? 2. How have historical perspectives regarding poverty in the African American community changed? 3. How have attempts to desegregate public schools in America operated? 4. What strategies can educators use to improve opportunities for African American male students? Limitations of Study This study was based on existing literature and research regarding factor impacting African American male students. The scope of data collection included journals, books, and articles dealing with African American male student. The literature consisted of a number of studies involving the African American family structure. Studies in the field of education often do not include a control group. Other sources describe recommendations or proposals that may correlate with successful implementation of various strategies, but do not have quantifiable data to support those models. The limitations that these factors bring include the amount of study and research that exists within the literature Research was confined to the past decade; with the exception of the historical aspects presented Definition of Terms Accountability: a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable for the academic progress students by linking such progress with funding for salaries, and maintenance Culture: refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of â€Å"culture† reflect various theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Institutional racism: the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture or ethnic  origin. Poverty: the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence. Public education: education mandated for or offered by the government to the children of the general public, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. The term is generally applied to basic education, K -12 education and primary and secondary education. Racism: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others. Racial segregation: is characterized by separation of different races in daily life when both races are doing equal tasks, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Urbanization: means increased spatial scale and/or density of settlement and/or business and other activities in the area over time. The process could occur either as natural expansion of the existing population (usually not a major factor since urban reproduction tends to be lower than rural), the transformation of peripheral population from rural to urban, incoming migration , or a combination of these. Design of the Study This study was descriptive in nature. All data were based upon research of available literature on the challenges of poverty and its role in the education of African American male students. Guiding questions were answered based upon a review of existing literature and research which addressed the factor impacting African American male students Literature on educational learning strategies were identified, studied and discussed. The information is presented in four chapters: Chapter One will consist of the introduction of the research paper. Chapter Two is the review of literature, outlining as pertinent to the research question. Chapter Three presents the analysis of the findings, and theme regarding the historical perspectives and impacting factors associated with the education of African American males. Chapter Four consists of a discussion including summary, conclusions, and recommendations. CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction Before educators analyze the negative statistics for African American males, the fact that there have been successes must be realized. According to Livingston and Nahimana (2006), Success with young African-American males requires understating the social context in which they exist. This journey of cultural understanding begins by recognizing preconceived assumptions about urban African-American male children. African-American children, particularly urban youth, are very keen on picking up the adults’ perception of them, thus understanding the behavior and the dynamics of urban African-American families will greatly aid in the understanding and educating the African-American male child. Although the literature is quick to point out that many urban African-Americans are reared in single family home, one should not assume that there are not positive males in the child’s extended family. Uncles, grandfathers and even older male siblings can play an important role in aiding our work with students. ( p.210) There are several questions that could be asked about the education of African American males. According to Education Today (2007, p.22), â€Å"there is a new question that will be asked. Will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of African-American boys hereafter to negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death?† African American male students are faced with several challenges in education such as unemployment, housing, violence, incarceration, drugs, and education. According to Livingston and Nahimana (2006), â€Å"Educating young African American males has become an increasing concern for educators and human service professionals over the past 20 years. Disproportionate rates of school failure, dropout, and incarceration all speak to the need to develop interventions, which can account for the structural and ecological factors that impact African-American families and African-American children† (209). Even the United States Senate has noticed the new disturbing trend among African  American males. According to United States Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) â€Å"in 1999, 65 percent of African-American male high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless. He added that by 2004, the share had increased to 72 percent, as compared to 29 percent of whites and 19 percent of Latinos.† Schumer also noted â€Å"the incarceration rate of young African-American males is at historic highs, more than half of African-American males do not finish high school, and an African-American man in his 20s without a high school diploma is more likely to be in jail than to be working† (Wright, 2007, p.4). Family Structure/Foundation In America, the traditional family structure consists of a mother and a father. According to May, â€Å"In the 1950’s the normative American family consisted of a breadwinner father, homemaker mother, and several children, all living in homes in the suburbs on the outskirts of a larger city. It was a narrow view of a model family, yet it pervaded the media and was widely accepted as the ideal and most normal† ( p.20). Today, the dynamic of the American family structure is much different. Bishop (1991, p 23 ) stated that â€Å"In the 1990s there are still traditional families with parents and children, but the definition of a family has broadened considerably. Children are raised by many varieties of caring adults: single parents, grandparents, kin-networks, homosexual couples, and others. Even traditional appearing families are often blended families of children from different biological parents.† African American families have similar dynamics. Billingsley (1968, p. 36) â€Å"identified three categories of African American families: primary families (e.g., two-parent), extended families (e.g., other relatives, in-laws), and augmented families (e.g., nonrelated individuals).† The structure of the African American family has not remained static over the years. According to Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan (1995) African American women are now twice as likely to maintain families solely then they were in 1940. Another trend involves women heading the household. According to Darity and Myers (1995, p. 1), â€Å"The rise in female-headed families among African Americans has been swift. Twenty-eight percent of African American families were headed by women in 1970, and 46% were female headed. This data make it clear that patterns of African American family formation have undergone substantial change over the past 50  years in a number of important aspects. The absence of fathers from the homes has been associated with delinqu ency. According to Auletta, â€Å"living in single-mother household has been suggested as a contributing factor in the development of adolescent problem behaviors† (p.23). There are other concerns with the African American family that involve marriage. According to Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan (1995), â€Å"the proportion of African American women and men who marry has declined by 20% over the past 50 years, compared to the general population that has remained steady. The combined impact of delayed marriage, more non-marriage, high divorce rates, and a high rate of births out of wedlock are observed as having a profound effect on family formation in the African American community. Four out of every 10 African American families have a woman maintaining the family without the support of another adult. These trends are directly related to the well being of African American families and communities. Unemployment In the African American community there are several challenges for young African American males. The lack of jobs has a lot to do with poverty and continues to plague the African American community. According to McAdoo (p. 15), High rates of unemployment have had a profound impact upon the African-American community. Discrimination, inequalities in hiring and recessions, plant closings, the removal of high paying, industrial and manufacturing jobs to rural America and Third World countries have removed a number of African-American males from the urban employment sector. Historically, the rate of unemployment among African-American men has been twice that of White America. On the east coast the unemployment rates are even more disproportionate. Currently in major urban cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, 35-55% of African-American males between the ages of 18 and 35 are unemployed (National Urban League, 2005). According to Dubowitz (1999), â€Å"Currently 24.4% of African-Americans live in poverty as compared to only 8.2% of Whites and 22.5% of Hispanics.†(p.55)† There have been other studies that reveal males are more likely to remove themselves from their family when they are unable to provide financial support (Livingston & McAdoo, 1993). For African-American Families, and African-American male children in particular, high rates of male unemployment can create a context of fatherlessness, economic  instability, poverty, hopelessness characterized of manifested in children by low expectations, increased rates of high school drop out, and high rates of delinquency, which eventually assist in maintaining the context of persistent poverty (McAdoo, 1993). Unemployment can create multiple mental and psychological problems for African American male students Drugs in the African American Community There is an increased concerned about drugs in the African American community. In the African American community, children endure the most pain when fathers or brothers are missing because they are in jail. According to Newman (2005), â€Å"One reason why many fathers can’t be with their families is because of this country’s misguided war on drugs. Of the 2 million people behind bars in America, more than 450,000 are there for drug offenses. While drug abuse doesn’t discriminate, our drug policies do.† (pg12), Another statistic indicate that African Americans are more likely to go to jail for drug offences. According to Newman (2005,), â€Å"Despite roughly equal drug use between African-Americans and Whites, African-Americans are 13 times more likely to go to jail for drugs than Whites. In New York, 93% of the people in jail under the Rockefeller drug laws are African-American and Latino. Offering people treatment and help instead of incarceration for th eir drug addictions would not only save this country much-needed resources, it would help keep thousands of fathers with their families.†(pg12) There is another puzzling situation in the low-income African American community related to drugs. There are higher risk factors that create an environment more conducive to drug abuse and incarceration. According to Schensul (2005, p.39), â€Å"The drug use of low-income African American emerging adults is more troublesome because those protective factors associated with the role changes that mark emerging adulthood in middle class white youths and many youths of color are not necessarily available to poor young people.† These statistics reflect a correlation between income, drugs, and possible incarceration. Schensul (2005) noted that urban low-income youths experience many of the same developmental transitions as their middle-class counterparts. Some of the factors that promote drug use include increased residential instability, expanded and diversified social networks, exposure to high risk settings, and negative  social influences that support and promote the use of drugs and alcohol. However, urban students are subject to inadequate primary and secondary school education, family stressors stemming from the vagaries of impoverishment and government social policies, limited local professional role models, and few job opportunities that guarantee salaries and benefits above the poverty level. Material goods can also play a key role in the lifestyle of young African American males. According to McCord, J. (1990,), Sometimes there are families struggle that are related to school life (fashionable clothing and social life) but may not be able to do so for emerging adults whose financial needs are increasing. Selling marijuana is an option for intermittent income supplementation, and many youths have friends or relatives who are in a position to supply them with small amounts from time to time. Once involved in drug selling networks, youths can move to selling additional drugs if they believe it is reasonable to accept the associated risks. This means that students are willing to take unnecessary risk.(pg 35). Crime and Violence in the African American Community In the African American community there is a mistrust of law enforcement. According to McCord, (1990), Unlike suburban White youths, however, African American and Latino youths are targets for street violence, arrest, and police harassment and abuse. Once imprisoned, or on parole as adults, their institutional record may preclude voting and render them ineligible for employment opportunities. Imprisonment may introduce them to gang members or prospective customers. (p. 44) Studies also revealed that certain minority youth are at greater risk for violent behaviors. According to Fitzpatrick and LaGory (2000,), â€Å"Specifically, African-American adolescents are more likely than White, Hispanic, or Asian youth to instigate physical fighting and weapon-related violence and to suffer both fatal and nonfatal injuries from physical assaults. Not only are minority youth at greater risk for victimization by aggressive peers, they are more likely to perpetrate violence.†(p. 21) African Americans are at higher risk to have more fatal injuries than Whites. This results in higher homicide rates. Many prominent African Americans have shown concern about young African American students. The most notable of the critics, Bill  Cosby, has been vocal regarding the number of African-American men who are incarcerated and the growing number of poor African-American children who are being raised by irresponsible parents. Cosby publicly chastised many in the African-American community for not doing enough to deal with critical problems and issues, such as illiteracy, poverty, crime and violence, which remain challenges in the African American community. Cosby told a packed crowd gathered at a 50th anniversary celebration commemorating the Brown v. Board of Education decision â€Å"the ladies and gentleman of the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.† These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids — $500 sneakers for what? And yet they won’t spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics† (Watson, 2004, p. 10), Even though Cosby’s statements were harsh, they created a debate, which stirred conversation in the African American community. Incarceration According to Kunjufu (2001, p. 15 ), â€Å"over the past twenty years there has been a decline in violent crime in the United States. But in the African American community there has been an opposite trend. There are several factors that cause these trends, including poverty, family structure, high unemployment rates, crime, drugs and education.† Kunjufu also reported that African-American males in juvenile detention centers and prison have increased in recent years. Each year, thousands of young boys are placed in detention centers and adult facilities. Although African American males comprise only about 6% of the population of the, they represent over 50% of the penal population (Kunjufu, 2001). There are several other statistics that prove alarming to the African American community and the rest of the citizens in the United States. According, to Kunjufu â€Å"Currently one in three Africans American males between the ages of 20-29 is either in jail or on probation. The overwhelming majority of these men have been arrested and detained due to drug convictions.† (p. 26), Another statistic is that there are major inequities when it comes to sentencing of African American males. According to Livingston and Nahimana, â€Å"inequities in sentencing have lead to longer jail and prison terms for these young men at the most malleable period in their development. The return into the drug trade and the life of crime becomes a viable choice for many of these young men, accounting for the high rates of recidivism for  young African American males† (p.11). This is alarming because of high unemployment and limited education as well as the fact that prior conviction can lead to long term prison. The incarceration of African American males has had a dynamic effect on the community. According to Arias (2007), â€Å"The overwhelmingly high rate of incarceration among African-American men in America is striking a blow not only to the health and well-being of those men but also to their families and communities.† (p.20) This study reported that 12% of young African American males between the ages of 20-39 have been taken out of the household. This places a tremendous strain on African American women to take care of the household. Another staggering statistic is that only 62 percent of African American males graduate from high school. According to National Urban League Panel (2005, p.1), On average, only 62 percent of African-American males graduate from high school with their original class. African-American males make up only 6 percent of the United States population, but 40 percent of the prison population. Forty percent of those African-American inmates are between the ages of 17 and 26. (National Urban League Panel,). The age group between 17 and 26 is the age group that will likely attend college. If these current trends continue, there will be a tremendous increase in the number of African American males incarcerated. According to Pluviose (2006,)â€Å"by 2020, if current trends hold, that figure will rise to more than 65 percent for African-American men between the ages of 20 and 29.† (p. 22), These figures illustrate a tremendous need for employment and educational programs. The prison rate of African American males has had substantial economic impact on the African-American community. According to Holmes and Hughes (2003, p. 44), â€Å"incarceration rates in the United States, prison and jail inmates at midyear in 2002, reported that 12.9% of African-American males between the ages of 25 and 29 were incarcerated.† Segregated Schools What would Horace Mann think about the state of education today? Horace Mann was the father of the American school system. According to Hubbard (2005), Horace Mann believed that the common schools should be available to everyone. He wanted them to be available to people that were rich, poor, and of different backgrounds. As mentioned earlier Brown vs. the Board of Education was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which outlawed racial segregation within public education facilities. In Brown II, the Supreme Court delegated the task of carrying out the desegregation to district courts with orders that desegregation occur â€Å"with all deliberate speed† (The United States, 1954). The current challenge that urban education face is called the No Child Left Behind Act. According to The United States Department of Education (2007) â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), commonly known as NCLB, is a United States federal law that was passed in the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001. This law was signed on January 8, 2002, and reauthorized a number of federal programs aiming to improve the performance of United States primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children would attend. Additionally, NCLB promotes an increased focus on reading and re-authorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (NCLB, 2007). One of the many challenges with No Child Left Behind is that the goals are commendable, but the expectations are unreasonable because of the deterioration of the urban schools school district. The next challenge in urban education the education of African American males. According to Misani (2007,) â€Å"nationally between one-half and two-thirds of African male students drop out of school.† In addition, the research disclosed a 65 percent dropout rate in Chicago, with only 35 percent of African-American male students graduating from high school. In New York, the dropout rate is 74 percent, with merely 26 percent of African-American male students graduating.† p. 34) This is a tragic situation in urban schools when nearly seventy five percent of the African American male students are not graduating. According to Smith (2005, p. 27), â€Å"the drop out rates for African American males in metropolitan areas is well over 50 percent. Another trend is that some African American males believe that it is easier to drop out than to complete high school Bowye (2007, p.3) stated, â€Å"It is  most disturbing that dropping out of high school is more common than graduating from high school for children of color.† Focusing on another disconcerting trend within the community for African-American young men, Dr. Hodge pointed out: â€Å"Going to jail is becoming the common experience for children of color† (Misani, 2007, p.35). If African American children continue to think this way, many are headed for prison and the crime rate will steadily increase in these areas. There is also a problem when it comes to the placement of African American males in education. There are disproportionate numbers of African American males placed in special education and suspended from school. According to Rodney and Crafter (1999, p.185), â€Å"Nationally African American males score lower than any other groups on standardized test and are three times more likely than their Caucasian American counterparts to be misplaced in special education or classes for slow learners.† When situations like this continue to occur students feel neglected and are more likely to drop out of school. Many African American students think that the American educational system is unfair. According to Misani (2007, p. 34), â€Å"African-American boys are disproportionately and inappropriately assigned to special education classes, expelled and suspended from school, and underrepresented in college preparatory classes.† Consequently the study concluded: â€Å"Many of those who graduate are not prepared for college or further educational training.† (Misani, 2007 p.34) African American males represent 8.6 % of the nation’s public students in 2000-2001, but in some districts, they make up as much as 41 percent of the special education population (Smith, 2005).

Review Of Herman And Chomsky Essay

The ‘Manufacturing Consent’ of media operations written and applied by Edward Herman and   Noam Chomsky say   that elite mass media are united and interlocked with other institutional sectors in ownership, management and social circles. In democratic societies mass media plays an important role. They respond to public concerns and create awareness to the state policies important events and view points. The fundamental principles of democracy depend upon the notion of a reasonably informed electorate   that reflects   public opinion and respond to public concerns Media is an integral part of the society, media need not be controlled or set to a pattern they work united with other sectors.(European Journal of Communication; 2002, pg.147). Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model has been named as ‘conspiracy theory’ because of its determined view of media behavior, according to them mass media are instruments of power that mobilize support for special interests that dominate the state and private activity and mass media acts in unison with other sectors, i.e. the academy, to establish, enforce, reinforce and police corporate hegemony. (European Journal of Communication 2002, pg148) .   Herman and Chomsky reject the ‘conspiracy label’ however ‘the Manufacturing Consent’s emphasis is on motives of media behavior, in relation to institutional controls.(Herman and Chomsky ;1988,pg 1-35). The model assumes that media designs should be explained in structural terms. According to Herman and Chomsky there are five major ‘filtering’ mechanisms which structure the news content. The authors admit that propaganda model cannot give every detail of such a complex matter as the working of the national mass media, the model does not assume that news reporters, editors and other workers are instructed or typically compelled to omit some voices and emphasize others, the model outlines circumstances under which media will be comparatively ‘open’ or ‘closed’. As micro-analysis is not the task of the Propaganda Model, it only provides an overview of the system at work, making sense out of a confusing picture by removing the main principles of the system, the basic argument in this context   is that meanings are easily ‘filtered’ by restrictions that are made in the system. The authors argue that meanings are formed at odd levels, as the decisions are understood to be natural and sensible, however the authors do not imply that newsroom workers always make decisions to align themselves with the interests of the dominant elites.(Rai,1995:pg46) Herman and Chomsky write that all news material goes through five inter related filter restrictions. Leaving only cleansed residue fit to be printed.(Herman and Chomsky;1988:pg 3-14). The five filter elements are: (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner’s wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media. (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and experts funded and approved by the primary sources and agents of power. (Martin and Knight 1997,pg 253-254). (4) Opposition as means of disciplining the media; (5) anti-communism as a national religion and control mechanism.(Herman ,cited in Wintonick and Achbar,1994:pg108). The first filter restriction emphasizes that media are closely interlinked and share common interests with other dominant sectors as corporations, the state, and banks. The dominant media sectors are large firms with large businesses; they are controlled by very wealthy people or by their managers who are subject to sharp restrictions by the owners. The second filter emphasizes that the news production process is highly influenced by advertising values ,most media must sell markets(readers) to buyers(advertisers).This dependency can directly influence media   performance, Chomsky   remarks   that media content reflects the interests of the sellers, the buyers, and the product . Herman contends that the application of the first and second filters of the   propaganda model has greatly influenced the economy the communications industries, and politics went through dramatic changes the two filters ,ownership and advertising have become even more important. The third filter is the news gathering process, the dominant elite provide press releases, copies of speeches, periodicals, photos, and thus government and corporate sources are attractive to media only for economic reasons. The third filter stresses that the opinions by corporate and state sources are adapted to class interest and market force. Herman and Chomsky stress that the nature of the mutual relationship between media and sources directly affect the media performance. The powerful can use personal relationships, threats, rewards, to influence media. The media under obligations may carry untrue stories in order not to offend their close relationship with the sources. The fourth filter, flak, means the state the dominant social institution which has power and resources to force the media to play a propagandistic role in society Herman and Chomsky explain that flak refers to negative responses to media statement, it may involve individuals or independent action, and the authors contend that preferred meanings are structured by dominating official sources, in this way news may be skewed in the desired direction. The fifth filter, the anti-communism has been replaced by ‘otherness’ It’s the idea of scaring people, creating fear, hatred, and discontent aroused by social and economic conditions, to prevent them from realizing to what is really happening to them.(Chomsky 1998: pg48).The authors maintain that media shapes public opinion by controlling how ideas are presented; the five filters curb the flow of the news as it passes through its gates and can easily limit what can be big news. Herman and Chomsky state that these five filter constraints are the essentials of propaganda model, the members of the power elite try to shape the beliefs and attitudes and opinions of the people through the media, free and open discussions are part of the process but leaders utilize deceit and violence to combat individuals and institutions as the public does not agree with the opinion of the power elite. The world politics has seen radical changes since the demise of communism in the former Soviet Union as mentioned in the Manufacturing Consent. The fifth filter is termed ‘the dominant ideology ’through out this book, however,   anti –communism   has been emphasized as the ideological elements that are most important in terms of discipline and control mechanisms. The Manufacturing Consent, gives a vague description of the fifth filter its ideology helps to mobilize people against an enemy it can be used against any policies that threaten property interests or support the communist states and radicalism, the model presumes that media performance is understood as the outcome of market forces, the dominant media are deeply and firmly imbedded in the market system, the main information sources ,the media depends on   are the government and major business firms. Herman and Chomsky view media as dominant ideological apparatus same   as mentioned in the thesis by William Domhoff in his book ,The Powers That Be: Processes of Ruling Class Domination in America. (Domhoff 1979,pg 169). Domhoff contends that the   four basic processes through which the ruling class ‘rules’ are (1)the special interest process;(2)policy formation process;(3)candidate selection; and(4)the ideological process, the Herman and Chomsky’s theory is the mirror of Domhoff’s theory of ideological apparatus for dominant elites.(Domhoff;1979,179-183). The Canadian sociologist Wallace Clement writes about the ruling class of Canada, he states through observation that the ruling elite have remained consistent over the past century. The institutional links within Canada are at elite level, ownership of capital is highly concentrated.(Canadian Corporate Elite;1975). Another Canadian sociologist Patricia Marchak (1988;pg122),stresses that the main question is under what conditions the state would be obliged to act only with reference to the interests of the capital. When such conditions are obtained universally, and when they do, the validity of Propaganda Model is likely to increase.(Patricia Marchak;1988,pg34). Herman and Chomsky do not claim that media acts only to circulate propaganda. The Propaganda Model   Ã‚  describes ‘the forces that cause the mass media to play a propaganda role’ they also argue that media not only serve the political and economic interests of dominant elite but also of the state. The authors admit that the propaganda model does not explain everything in every context it deals with the patterns of media behavior and performance. The elite media decides what topics, issues, and events that are to be considered ‘news worthy’ by the lower-tier media and establish the general discourse, they determine, they select,   they shape,   they control, they restrict in order   to serve the dominant elite groups in the society. This system is at odds with reality as the powerful are able to decide what the general public is allowed to see, hear, think and create public opinion by regular control. Individual powerlessness grows in the face of globalizing market; support organizations as the labor unions are weakened .In the final pages of Manufacturing Consent Herman and Chomsky acknowledge that the system is not all powerful, the domination of media by government and the elite have not overcome Vietnam syndrome and public hostility to direct US involvement in destabilization and over throw of foreign governments.   Herman and Chomsky took the phrase ‘manufacturing consent’ from the influential American journalist Walter Lippman who advocated consent engineering. He said common good should be managed by small specialized class. The creation of consent is not a new art, it was supposed to have died out with the birth of democracy but it is very much alive, it is now based on analysis rather than on rule of thumb. The engineering of consent is the essence of democratic process, (Bernays; 1947, cited in Wintonick and Achbar, 1994; pg41). the freedom of speech, press, petition, and assembly; the freedoms to make the engineering of consent possible are the most cherished guarantees of the Constitution of the United States.(Lippman, cited inRai,1995;pg23).   John Jay was the first chief justice of the Supreme Court he said ‘those who own the country ought to govern it’ in other words it is necessary to ensure that those who own the country are happy or else all will suffer, for they control investment and determine what is produced and distributed and what benefits will trickle down to those who rent themselves to the owners when the y can. The propaganda model contends that media content is organized to manufacture consent and to prevent opposition media content serves political ends the media makes choices that establish and define ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ causes. The news coverage devoted to government(state)policy in general(foreign and domestic) by the elite to generate audience interest and sympathy in some stories while directing attention away from other stories Media take close interest in the Third World and their interconnections with the   government.(Herman and Chomsky,1988;pg13-14). The authors write that media treats victims of oppression and state terrorism differently, depending on the perpetrators. The ‘unworthy victims’ (victims of oppression and /or state terrorism perpetrated by us (Canada, the US and the other capitalist democracies), and ‘worthy victims’ (victims of oppression and/or state terrorism perpetrated by official enemy states).Different treatment is observed in sourcing and evaluating stories, full swing investigation in search of villain and of high officials, to humane treatment more prominent coverage. In case of ‘unworthy victims’ of enemy crimes, allegations are simply invented they have to rely on official US. sources unless they prove it wrong in which case they are avoided(Cambodia under Pol Pot is a case in point).It predicts that the victims of state terrorism/violence that is perpetuated by the democracies or client states will be given treatment that can be seen to serve political ends (Chomsky, 1988; pg34). The writers as moral agents are trying to bring the truth about matters of human significance to an audience that can do something about them. My personal view is that citizens of democratic societies should take a definite course of self- defense to protect their rights with the help of radio and television, advertising and public relations to safe guard their rights from being manipulated. The Independent mind must be allowed to develop and grow in a free society it is a difficult task as in today’s free society, consent is manipulation of public opinion. I do agree with the writers, in my view the young minds should separate themselves from the official manipulative system. Thus the writers are invested with a moral responsibility to tell the truth, it is a very difficult task to perform today even in our free society. Works Cited Clement, W. (1975) Canadian Corporate Elite: Analysis of Economic Power. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. Domhoff, William G. (1979) The Powers That Be: Processes of Ruling Class Domination in America. New York: Vintage Books. European Journal of Communication (2002) SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol 17(2): 147–182. [0267–3231(200206)17:2; 147–182; 023691] Martin, Michele with Graham Knight (1997) Communication and Mass Media: Culture, Domination and Opposition. Toronto: Prentice-Hall. Wintonick, Peter and Mark Achbar (1994) Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Montreal: Black Rose.