Most recent public comments by Sophie Williams https://nowcomment.com/users/51166 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314817 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314817 This tittle is very thought provoking to me, as we think of those involved in the drug trade as easily garnering whatever level of respect they desire- usually equal to or higher than what they deserve on the totem pole of the game. Though through this ethnography and through the wire we see that it is much harder than the media usually portrays for members of the drug trade to revived the treatment and respect they deserve; as well as making it through the initiation or challenges/responsibilities of climbing the ranks of the drug trade. Figures like Ray and Stringer have to work hard to climb up into their position as well as embody characteristics such as the ability to "express friendship and flexible understanding without ever revealing vulnerability"(81 ). This is an incredible skill to have- again back to emphasizing we are so much more alike than it may seem. Wed, 03 Apr 2019 19:58:51 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314801 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314801 These sentences demonstrate how this ethnography like the wire importantly emphasized how we- as university students especially- have much more in common with members of the drug trade than we may think or certain than the media portrays such people to be. Here Benzie shows going through with the consequences of his own actions and decisions, which we as college students do everyday. He is even accepting the consequence of leaving the legal sector to start working with Primo and Ray. Many students here enjoy pushing the boundaries, just like Benzie, Primo, Cesar, etc. we all deal with the consequences- this small fact brings us more unity than may be perceived on the surface. Wed, 03 Apr 2019 23:16:36 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314411 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314411 This comment bring me back to Anderson's Code of the Streets in the introduction when they were describing the various repurposed hotel/shelters in Midtown situated between nicer neighborhoods with more resources-especially mental health resources. There are very few to no mental health resources for the less affluent in this country, as public health seems to mainly focus on physical health leaving mental health to the private sector. Ceasar's situation demonstrates the lengths which some may go to in order to seek simply stability, and for others they may simply be stuck without options to combat their mental health issues in order to reach security. Wed, 03 Apr 2019 18:58:53 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314382 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314382 Julia brings up an incredibly important point. As an audience we see dealers through a tinted sense-especially in the wire which importantly shows how people connected to the drug trade are just like us-we see dealers are successful, smart, business-like- think Stringer's attendance at night school- though we need to question could they really cary on without the partying, the women, the 'lifestyle', and even occasional drugs- whether at the level of Stringer or Bodie. Sometimes viewers can be narrow-mindedly too focused on making black and white conclusions- either addicted or function; either in the game or out of the game... etc. Wed, 03 Apr 2019 18:44:18 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314305 https://nowcomment.com/documents/136072?scroll_to=1314305 I agree with Julia that the women in this reading play a very submissive role- fitting of the traditional patriarchy structure mentioned in the string above- Candy, similar to the Goodfellas scene that Julia recalls, is the "cook" when Felix runs the Game Room, as she is the woman and filling the role of the diligent wife. As well the game room and other businesses that Felix and Ray ran used and took advantage of submissive young women- potentially taking advantage of women who were not in a proper mindset to be giving consent as they are crack addicts. They are preying on the weak in society- drug addicts to lure clients into their legal businesses and to lure customers to buy drugs. Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:00:25 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309354 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309354 Despite beating a dead horse- this is an important point that the entire country must hear at the present. The media definitely plays into the face that we unaware of the many sad and premature endings that happen everyday. The media needs to play on our emotions in order to keep themselves in business- they find the unlikely heart warming stories to parade around with, enticing us into the illusion that everything is fine and dandy- despite living in the era of "The New Jim Crow" Wed, 27 Mar 2019 22:05:46 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309352 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309352 This insightful point takes me right back to Professor Williams comment about the current state of local politics in Florida-concerning allowing previously convicted felons, who have sufficiently served their sentences to be allowed to vote again. I was surprised when I leaned that in Florida of all states the governing body had successfully passed a piece legislation that allowed felons who had completed their sentences or their paroles to be allowed to vote in elections again. I was too quick to be surprised in this instance- as in fact as we are talking here Florida republicans are doing anything they can to prevent convicted felons- i.e. people of color, who morally deserve less for some reason- maybe skin color who knows- to change the definition of what it means to have completed ones sentence. They are attempting to pass legislation so that a convicted felon has only completed his sentence if he has paid off fees equal to the amount the government spent on him while he was systematically forced to be confined to prison. Because one such person is very likely to have that money... Tue, 02 Apr 2019 09:08:11 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309350 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309350 This is a very important insight for this reading- as this is the underlying thesis of Alexander- that we are still implementing the culture of the Jim Crow era today in the 21st century though rather than doing so through separate but equal laws and regulations, we are doing so with "race neutral language" that can't offend anyone and qualifies as politically correct, though it allows us as whites to keep our superiority to those who just by the pigment of their skin are to be treated less than human. Through this book, Alexander unveils this truth of neutral languages that empowers a horridly horrendous cultures of incredible inequality. Wed, 27 Mar 2019 21:49:22 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309348 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309348 This sentence caught my attention as it seems very reminiscent of the political atmosphere today, especially focusing on poor white Americans. Alexander notes that the system of slavery gained even more power when poor whites realized that they had a slice of power in the fact that they had a 'superior' skin color and therefore natural superiority to people of color. This created strife between the two classes, though of course with the help of the white elite there was no way the poor whites would loose this struggle of power. Today the same socioeconomic class of working class whites seem to show similar sentiment, worried that people of color-deserving of a permanent lower class status- are taking over their position and with the help of political figures like Trump this class attacks people of color for seemingly no reason just to ensure they can maintain their fact-free superiority. Wed, 27 Mar 2019 21:43:19 -0700 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309318 https://nowcomment.com/documents/134033?scroll_to=1309318 This sentence sparked an interesting connection to Darwinism, as I was reading through this chapter. I was surprised to learn through Alexander that slaves at first were not only African or African American, rather there were white slaves as well. Concurrently there were Africans who had been enticed to come to America as indentured servants, and not complete slaves. This paragraph explains that Slave owners found a way- through the help of Darwinism or using it as a horrid reasoning- to create a culture in which only Africans were slaves- as they were distinctly different than all others due to their glaring physical differences. Through a weird and awful twist of Darwinism, slaves overtime evolved to be only black, while whites evolved to steal power. This evolution continues to occur through today- as Alexander is arguing: rather than roles evolving today, laws are evolving to prevent further undoing- evolution- of our preset stratified class of whites living with the power above people of color. Today this has evolved to the era of "The New Jim Crow" or the era of mass incarceration. Wed, 27 Mar 2019 20:44:10 -0700