Part A
Dear Members of the School Board,
Thank you for having me here today. I am here to address the concerns that some parents have raised about my assignment of the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is my understanding that one parent in particular has expressed concern about their daughter’s aggressive and passionate response to the book, disapproving heartily of the decision. While I truly understand their plight, I am here before you to defend my assignment of that book to the class, and to even explain and respect the student’s reaction to the assignment. Coates’ arguments in Between the World and Me provide passionate and actively confrontational criticism of white privilege and the disruption of black bodies to young children who do not yet know the intricacies of racial division and inequality in America today.
In including Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me, this was part of my responsibility as a teacher to expand students’ minds by offering them perspective they would not otherwise receive. Coates discusses important, incendiary issues related to black lives in America, chief among them the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement in the allegedly post-racial Obama era, which inevitably wallpapers over the continuing issues of social stratification, police brutality, and more. Black bodies are the focus of Coates’ position, which he argues are constantly being abused by a continuing culture of highly entrenched and systemic racism. White supremacy still reigns supreme in this country, whether overtly or covertly, with little indication of change in those systems. In this country, there is a specifically problematic way in which race is constructed that Coates points out – that the white majority are not necessarily ‘white’ by any real biological distinction from black people, but merely think so because of centuries-long cultural and aesthetic distinctions that are extremely arbitrary in nature. Coates calls this “the Dream,” the highly insulated white fantasy that allows white people to ignore the privileges they enjoy because of said whiteness (Coates).
While these ideas are controversial and confrontational, to be sure, this does not mean that our students should be insulated from them. As Coates himself writes in Between the World and Me, “I would not have you descend into your own dream. I would have you be a conscious citizen of this terrible and beautiful world” (Coates). My goal with this assignment was to raise the consciousness of my students, so that they may look at the world with a more socially and politically engaged eye, and understand the privileged role that whiteness has in American society today: “I am convinced that the Dreamers, at least the Dreamers of today, would rather live white than live free” (Coates). Race relations continues to be an important issue in this country, and making our students aware of the concepts of white privilege and racial discrimination is an important step towards challenging their own ideas of race and identity.
Part B
3. Ever since the advent of television in the 1940s, in which televisions became one of the staple appliances in the American home, the medium has had a tremendous impact on American society, culture and history. From being engaged on issues of international importance thanks to news media, being able to have unprecedented access to political leaders through televised debates and media coverage, and the increasing complexity of television shows and programming, the American people have improved their standing as informed, intelligent and engaged citizens. Because of the television, the American people have become more informed and engaged in political discourse, and have relied on it more and more as an increasingly popular entertainment medium.
The 1940s saw the television become ubiquitous and an inescapable part of the American household, which opened up new avenues for news and entertainment. At the time, the US had approximately six TV stations on the air, and television sets had only just reduced in price enough for the average American to find that affordable. By the 1950s, the prosperity of World War II had allowed Americans to become more focused on leisure and entertainment, and so the television industry saw incredible expansion in the early 1950s, mostly due to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) expediting licensing for new stations (Schaller, Schulzinger, and Anderson 90). In the early days of television, most shows were simply theatrical performances and old-fashioned sitcoms that were filmed as if on a theatrical stage. However, in the late 1950s, Hollywood started to sell older films to television and produce made-for-TV movies, allowing that form of media to expand into television. As a result, most original drama was taken off television for the time being (Schaller et al. 91).
The 1960s, in particular, saw a sea change in both the political and racial lives of Americans through the television. This decade saw some of the first publicly televised presidential debates, such as the 1960 debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon; both of these figures would become the first Presidents to truly take advantage of the media presence that television would provide to offer a more personable approach to the American people (Schaller et al. 174). In particular, television proved to be the central element to Kennedy’s presidential win; in showing his handsome figure and charismatic personality to millions of Americans through the medium of television, citizens learned to appreciate the optics of politics to a degree that was not enjoyed by those who listened to debates on the radio. Starting with the Kennedy-Nixon debate, television turned politics into theater and politicians into celebrities, with all the added priority on image that signified.
Entertainment television increased in popularity as well, with TV shows like I Love Lucy elevating their stars to celebrity status. Prior to the mid-1960s, black people were hardly visible on television screens, with very few shows featuring many black characters in prominent roles, if at all. However, this changed in 1965 with the popularity of Bill Cosby’s detective show I Spy, in which he won three Emmys. Other black actors and comedians became prominently known for highly-acclaimed roles in television on shows like Sanford and Son or Julia. This allowed a previously-white hegemony to be broken up, allowing American audiences to see people of color represented on television screens across the nation. In this way, television reflected the advancements provided by the Civil Rights Movement, granting people of color a more prominent and equal place in American media just as they demanded in American life.
In the 1970s, the Vietnam War became the first war to receive truly comprehensive television coverage on the ground, immersing the American public in numerous gruesome images of war that helped to fuel the vibrant protest movement against the conflict. The 1990s saw the rise of cable and satellite television, setting out new frontiers for the entertainment and political engagement of the American people. 24-hour cable news networks like CNN and MSNBC began to become prominent, offering Americans a one-stop destination where they could become informed on the news topics of the day. This became revolutionary in allowing Americans the ability to know the nuances of political discourse on virtually an hourly basis, as the expansion of news into its own constantly running, compartmentalized networks permitted people to become as informed as they could possibly be on issues relating to politics, news and cultural discourse. However, this also coincided with the transition of cable news into providing more ‘soft’ coverage, in which more personal and entertainment news was provided to fill news cycles rather than concentrating in breaking events or major news stories (Schaller et al. 21).
The evolution of television as an innately American vehicle for learning and entertainment has charted the nation’s advancement from a white-centric, low-information nation deep in the throes of war to the vast media landscape it has become today. From the televised debates of the 1960s to the boots-on-the-ground immediacy of the Vietnam War, the American people got a much closer look into the actions of their leaders on a geopolitical scale. Racial equality became more progressive as a result of increased exposure to minorities on television. Cable news networks created a specific haven for news media that could be accessed 24/7, allowing Americans to become as informed as they have ever been about politics and culture. While one can argue that the prevalence and saturation of television media has reached the point of overexposure, television’s importance as the vital source for much of the American people’s understanding of the world cannot be overstated.
5. Bruce Schulman, in The Seventies, argues that the American public chiefly view the 1970s as a ‘lost’ decade, known as the ‘Me’ generation that was more concerned with cultivating pop culture than engaging in dramatic social discourse and activism. However, Schulman’s assertion is that the 1970s were just as radical and intriguing a decade as the 1960s, though it does not have as immediately and affecting a series of social upheavals as the Civil Rights Movement to its name. Despite the comparative loudness of the 1960s counter-culture, the 1970s was a decade full of incredibly important and impactful events and changes in American life. Instead of considering the decade just a graveyard of over-the-top fashions and disco music, the 1970s saw dramatic political and cultural changes in the rise of the south and an increased reliance on the private sector as opposed to the federal government.
Many concrete historical events took place that changed American life inexorably in the 1970s. The Energy Crisis of the 1970s saw America experiencing tremendous shortages in oil, gas and other forms of energy, while President Jimmy Carter took active (but unsuccessful) steps to address this through the public addressing of the a “nation living in energy sin” and the appointment of a radical National Energy Policy (NEP) (Schulman 127). This led to a substantial economic recession that would only be addressed in the 1980s, and saw the end of the American economic boom caused by the end of World War II. Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the country, serving as significant advancements in women’s reproductive rights and heralding the arrival of women as equal members of the workforce and the American public (Schulman 168). Both of these events, among others, forever changed America’s social and economic dynamics, giving women more power over their bodies and lives while also temporarily disrupting America’s status as an economic superpower.
The South ‘rose again’ in the 1970s, transitioning from the lost segments of the country into a thriving social and political force to be reckoned with. Because of the failure of Democratic senators and leaders to keep the racist vote in light of their support of black civil rights, the Republican party picked up where they left off, catering to racist rhetoric and white animus in what was known as the Southern Strategy (Schulman 35). The Southern Strategy stoked white resentment against socially-progressed minorities, who had been historically oppressed in the South. This then created a new and impassioned population of Southern Republicans who began to make themselves known as a popular and powerful cultural force within the South. It also helped that Southern states were experiencing economic booms at the time, as thriving states in the West and South created a whole new emphasis on privatization and the need for liberty and free-market capitalism. According to Schulman, "the South's historic policy prescriptions—low taxes and scant public services, military preparedness and a preference for state and local government over federal supremacy—came to define the national agenda" (255). The South’s fervor for small government became incredibly popular throughout the nation as a result.
Another ideological shift that occurred as a result of this Southern focus in the 1970s was the increased prominence of conservative evangelical Christianity within American politics. While Christianity was always an element in American political life, their influence moved outside of their own little spheres and into the national arena due to their novel ideas of personal salvation through grace (Schulman 94). Furthermore, the rise of Southern-based entertainment like The Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey and the Bandit and others created a sense of broad appeal toward the South even in Northern states for their quaint folksiness and apparent authenticity. Films like Network showcased biting satire of the manipulation of news media outlets for the sake of sensationalism and ratings over truth (Schulman 50). These elements and more showcased a culture that increasingly despised institutions like the news media, the government and the police, which was a common theme throughout the 1970s.
In addition to the rise of the South, the American people became much more distrustful of the federal government in a post-Watergate United States. This had much to do with the aforementioned “southernization” of America, as the free market was increasingly seen as “the favored means for personal liberation and cultural revolution” (Schulman 257). The private sphere became the preferred method for living out American lives, choosing instead to focus on their own individual accomplishments rather than relying on support from the federal government. Americans evinced “an unusual faith in the market” during this time, trusting it more than the government to give them proportionate returns on social, economic and cultural capital (Schulman 5).
Vietnam and Watergate were certainly one of the major impetuses behind this newfound distrust in the government. In the case of the Vietnam War, America had just finished pulling out of a costly, time-consuming and devastating losing war that was supremely unpopular in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving a generation of young people distrustful that the government had their own interests at heart. This was exacerbated by the impeachment of Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal, which exposed the conspiratorial lengths the government and its leaders could go to in order to maintain their level of power. After learning of these betrayals, Americans naturally chose to place their trust in the free market and smaller government as a result.
Granted, these are not the only major cultural upheavals in the 1970s, as there was a variety of adjustments and movements in media and culture that advanced progressive ideals. The rise of second-wave feminism in the 1970s was especially prominent, and identity politics (in which people increasingly identified themselves and their political positions based around things like race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and more) grew in popularity as well. Minority voices were beginning to be heard in film, such as the rise of the Blaxploitation film movement, and the avant-garde art scene introduced new ideas of form and expression through artists like Andy Warhol. The rise of New Age religions like the Hare Krishnas and self-help personal growth cults also evinced a certain kind of cultural revolution and activism based around eschewing Western ideas of religion and spirituality in favor of Eastern philosophy. Despite these smaller movements popping in and out throughout the decade, this does not take away from the 1970s’ overall focus on the rise of the South and of an increased distrust in government that rippled through the rest of the century and beyond.
Chiefly because of these two major changes to the American cultural milieu, there is a great deal more drama and political intrigue to be had in the 1970s than many in American may believe. While these changes seemingly move in more regressive directions than the positive, optimistic progressivism of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, they are changes nonetheless, and heavily informed much of the American cultural changes that followed. Without the distrust of the federal government in the 1970s, and the success of the Southern Strategy, we might not have found ourselves in the commercialist, de-regulated 1980s and beyond. Because of these reasons, it is safe to say that plenty ‘happened’ in the 1970s – it was just sneakier and less flashy than the overtly celebratory activist upheavals of the 60s.
Works Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. 2015. eBook.
Schaller, Michael, Schulzinger, Robert D., and Karen Anderson. Present Tense: The United
States Since 1945. Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Bruce J. Schulman. The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and
Politics. New York: Free Press, 2001.
