I have always thought of myself as an independent thinker. Free from influence, trends, and popular thought has been a personal hallmark of mind. I kind of had an idea that society had influence, but not as much as I thought. Then reading happened… (Funny, I know).

As I was reading Sociologist, C. Wright Mills and looking over lecture notes, I just had an epiphany. In short, our personal troubles are many times connected to issues that “transcend” our local environments. For example, my being raised in a single parent home was part of a larger structural issue that was at play in society. Around that time, many kids in American inner cities were being born to single parent households. It could be the affects of the War on Drugs, the affects of housing discrimination practices, underfunded schools and the like. Now that I think about it, most of my friends were raised in homes similar to mine. Another example to note is the issue of swimming. What I mean by that is the fact that many Black kids I grew up with did not know how to swim, including myself. It was not that we did not want to know or that we were lazy. The exact opposite was true. We wanted to learn. We had the will to learn. The fact could be that a lot of community pools closed because of budget cuts. Also, I think of how most people learn to swim. they learn from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives and close friends. My grandmother grew up in a time when she was denied access to public pools because of her skin color. She had to work out in fields, so she could not learn how at the public schools. So if my grandmother was not taught or allowed easy access, then who teaches my mom? She goes through life living in public housing, because of discriminatory housing practices and no neighborhood access to pools. So who teaches me? Now this is in no way an attempt to make excuses. I just want to highlight the adverse affects of structural forces on individual people.

In closing, a lot of this is eye-opening. Structural forces do influence individual lives’ and it must be admitted. Again this is not an attempt to shift responsibility away from the person. With that said, we must stop looking to “divorce individual life from the larger institutions within which the life is enacted.” When that is achieved, I think people will gain a better perspective of the world we live in through the lives of others.

This was a question that became a question in my life a few years ago. I always knew I wanted to be a Sociologist, I just didn’t know I wanted to be one. Sounds strange??? I know, just stay with me…

I was born in a housing project in Memphis, TN. I was an only raised by my mom (who’s father died while she was in the womb and never married) and grandmother-never married (God rest their souls in Heaven).  My grandmother would eventually buy us a three bedroom in a nice area. We were excited!!! That excitement soon turned into a miserable condition. We were the first Blacks in that general, and boy did our white neighbors remind us of that fact. They decided to leave us some well-thought art work that was spray-painted in our driveway, “Niggers Go Home!” My grandmother broke down and simply said to me, “We are at home son…” I saw the hurt in her eyes. I saw the anger in my moms eyes. The irony, we had been living in a housing project and never had experienced that kind of hate before. The police came out, and of course no one was punished. They protected each other, they protected their kids through lies and deceit. By the way, all those “good” neighbors who claimed to be totally ignorant of who did it was eventually outed by a neighbor YEARS later after “white flight” (that is another blog…). It was hell over there for years. My neighbor’s pit bull would mysteriously “escape” whenever my cousins and I played outside, but I never once saw Greg, Scottie, or the others ever have to run from that dog when they would be outside playing with their remote control cars. I wondered I wondered… I grew up hearing the stories, but I didn’t know what was going on. I soon learned by the age of 9 years old. Why did a 9 year old boy have to experience that?

That was the start of this journey to understand this world I live in. A funny thing happened. I wanted to know why people treated people like this. I wanted to know what caused people to hate and mistreat one another because of how they look. I read a lot of news and articles concerning Sociology, but something was missing. I am embarrassed to say that it wasn’t until 2014 that I began to scratch the surface of this Sociology thing. I began to uncover exactly what it was. I FOUND MY CALLING!!! I wanted to scientifically study the society that I live in.

Stay tuned as I briefly share another irony as it relates to my journey to becoming a Sociologist.

1.       According to Marx, I believe I was raised by workers. Even though my parents were small business owners, they did not control any production of goods. Their business was based more on a service provided. Plus, they did not have any employees that worked for them. They knew of class differences but I am not sure they truly realized to what extent those differences were created and controlled.

2.       I do believe that most workers are class conscious. They know there are differences. In most cases workers even admit of these differences. The problem is that it is false consciousness. For example, the supposed middle-class feels a bit more secure and superior to a perceived lower class individual. The flip side is that the middle-class workers are at the disposal of the owners in most cases. That is why there is so much fighting amongst the working class. Some are for unions and some are against unions. That is an interesting example because one would wonder what worker in their right minds would be against unionization.

3.       I most certainly could see myself helping workers become class conscious. I have been a part of that worker system before and it is so unfair. The tactics that many owners use against the workers are immoral. The hours demanded, the lack of security, the lack of health benefits, retaliation tactics, and the like are reasons for a consciousness to develop. I would do all I could to unite the workers for a common cause. I would show them the adverse effects of this current model, both direct and indirect. I would expose salary differences as well. Also, galvanizing support of the community and putting pressure on elected officials would be the ultimate goal. Highlighting the structure and functions of the current system would help the workers see these as huge problems. Listening to their stories would cause me to act on their behalf.

1.       I think the purpose of higher education is to equip citizens with the requisite skills and knowledge so that one is better able to contribute to society.

2.       I decided to go to college because I want to have the credentials and skills necessary to compete in our society. Also, I wanted to acquire the knowledge required to help shape my community. I wanted to become informed about the structure and functions of the world I live in. hence me choosing to major in Sociology.

3.       I do believe a college education will help me become a citizen. I will be a more informed person. I will also have what my society deems as an asset. My higher education experience will force me to be an agent for change.

4.       (Read)

5.       It related in part but not whole. The main reason being is that I was not thinking in broader terms. I need to think in larger terms and more relative to society as a whole.

6.       An educated public is necessary for a democratic society because people are more informed. Since people will be more informed hopefully that will lead to community engagement. There will be more of a burden to participate in society and the influences of said society.

7.       No, public education is not attainable for all Americans. One primary reason is the fact that college is so expensive. Tuitions have risen while college funding has decreased. State funding has obviously not been able to keep up with the rising costs. This causes a great problem for society, because lesser informed citizenry is not as engaged with the community. Higher education, in many aspects, plant seeds of civic engagement. When citizens are priced-out of higher education, that means less people engage in the issues of society. Using my sociological eye, I would like to research why the tuition rates are rising at this rate and state funding decreasing. Using research, I would hope to show the ills that happen in society when they public is less informed. Figuring out ways to highlight this epidemic would put pressure on legislators to change this.

I just got to my laptop after my Sociology class. Wow is all I can say. For the sake of brevity and the risk of losing this quick thought, I want to scratch the surface of an issue. The plight of the Black quarterback. The Super Bowl will showcase two quarterbacks that are at different stages of their careers and totally different as it relates to the aura that surrounds both professionals. This conversation is a big one, but I want to add my “two cents.”

I constantly ask myself why are ESPN analysts making the criticism of Cam Newton’s celebrations an issue of generational differences as opposed to race? The analysts seem to not want to highlight the obvious. Of course I believe that some of the old school analyst just truly are turned off by this generation’s choices of expression. Maybe Cam Newton doing a hip-hop dance rubs some people the wrong way. My question then becomes, “Are you equally offended by Aaron Rodgers’ pelvic thrust that has somehow turned into a national State Farm campaign. Or are they equally offended by Peyton Manning’s noticeable arrogance and elitist personality. Why won’t these analyst just be honest? This is not all generational. What if Cam Newton had the behavior of a Johnny Manziel? Or what if Johnny Manziel was in Cam Newton’s shoes right now? Would he be as criticized while winning games? Cam Newton has no history of violence, drugs, and/or rehab stints. So I wonder why all of the negative reactions and the lack of sound reporting on this issue.

I am saddened and disappointed by these sports networks. Their lack of calling to carpet the larger issues at play only lays the foundation for the next wave of negative, cloaked racist responses to the next successful Black quarterback. The structure forces still remained unchallenged. This would be a grand time to address the issues of racial discrimination even in our most beloved sport. But maybe doing that would make it our “most hated sport” in the eyes of the benefactors… Peace

I had a thought earlier. Before I elaborate, I must say I am new to this blogging thing, but hey enough of the ramble on my greenness.

Back to the point. I am loving this Sociology “stuff!!!” It is engaging and thought-provoking. Back to the point… We have been talking about the “sociological perspective.” Simply put, look at situations and ask questions that a Sociologist would ask. Let’s take the homeless guy who asks for money as an example. Usually we judge or wonder what that man is homeless. Well, the Sociologist thinks in broader terms that has a ton of specificity in it. They would ask, “Are there economic forces at play that is causing homelessness?” They would in essence look at trends. That brings me back to my thought or “point…”

The Oscar award show is the hot topic, again. Of course, you guessed it, people are up in arms about the lack of minority nominees. I even read an article a few minutes ago that highlighted the same issue of diversity as it pertains to Broadway. There definitely is not a shortage of commentary on this topic as I am typing now. Then, I had my “novice” Sociologist epiphany. I thought like a Sociologist. The readings and the lectures seemed interwoven into my thoughts. My thought on this matter is that there is a larger issue that needs to be discussed. The conversation and attention needs to be focused on the lack of minority representation throughout the entire arts industry. The award shows, production plays, and the like are only the final products of the underlining forces at work behind the scenes. This is no accident. So, the problem is much deeper than just inequality in nominations. The inequalities are taking place in the boardrooms, on the sets, and on college campuses. That is the conversation that needs to be had. Those are the specifics the media needs to focus on, but we are too distracted fighting over the nominations. The media is not innocent, but that is a whole different blog… Peace.