Owen 'Alik Shahadah

To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor If this be known to you and your allowance We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs” Through the use of the word “lascivious”, Othello as a black man is portrayed as having an insatiable lust for sex and likely perversion, a framing designed to fuel the father’s worst possible fantasies. In this presentation, Brabantio has had his daughter abducted by a black man, taken against her will or perhaps as a result of some dark magic employed by Othello. As he confronts Othello, he reveals what he thinks of black people. Othello is thus denigrated and undervalued. Despite his achievements, the father’s anger boils down to the color of his skin. Brabantio tells Othello that since his daughter had refused to marry some of the finest men of Venice, it is impossible that she would choose to be with a black man (p. 77). Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her, For I’ll refer me to all things of sense — If she in chains of magic were not bound — Whether a maid so tender, fair and happy, So opposite to marriage that she shunned The wealthy curlèd dearling of our nation, Would ever have — t’incur a general mock — Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.” Even Desdemona’s testimonial and reassurances that she simply loves Othello for who he is, there remains a tense atmosphere. Othello’s position as the other is thus solidified in the minds of others. Despite his success, he remains an Other,…

bell hooks’ piece asks questions of whether or not feminism had made it easier for women to move out of patriarchal settings of terrorism, especially in one’s emotional life. It is also interesting to see how feminism, not just the word, but the idea has entered pop-culture. It seems as if though fashion icons and celebrities want to be labelled that term but the reflection of their actions and the image they present their viewers and ‘followers’ with, almost create a culture where women ‘can…

Rind and Heart Sometimes without ever being physically present, a character can still manage to have a significant impact on the development of other characters by personifying a prominent theme of the novel that inspires an important transformation. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Rinehart never actually appears in his physical form, but still strongly influences the narrator, a young black man from the South who moves to Harlem to pursue his dreams of becoming a powerful figure in society,…

On Friday, October 21, 2016, I attended the play Day of Absence/ Happy Ending. This play consisted of two short one act plays. Both plays were set in the mid-1900s. Day of Absence was set in the south and Happy Ending was set in New York. The first play was Happy Ending. I did not enjoy this production. The actors played their characters very well. I appreciated how well the actors committed to their role. However, I did not like the idea that the characters justified stealing from their boss…

The English language has so many variations all over the world, a handful just within the United States. The west coast or more specifically California has the typical "valley girl" vernacular. While on the far east coast of Massachusetts there is the Boston accent. In the south where there are majority people of color the vernacular starts to mostly generalize to form a “southern accent”. This southern accent is what people generalize as “ghetto” and the way majority of black people talk. "you…

To attempt to live like Atticus Finch is quixotic, much like expecting a new social construct within the United States. A professor of Political Science and African American studies, Dr Melvin Rogers, initially seems like he will appreciate modern black introspection and then admire how its epistolary form contributes to contemporary literature. But he does not move in that direction. I disagree with Rogers’s assessment of Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates, specifically his view,…

Omi and Winant seem to be giving a starting point for racism. People are born and taught on how to think by their peers. Most kids also rely on a public school system that teaches the views of the community around them. There doesn’t seem to be a solid foundation of a national bar for the schools to follow and with that it leaves it up to the schools to provide their own interpretation. They also are bringing up the fact that your own opinion decides what your beliefs are. You don’t have to be a…

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I have an enchantment with strong women. I 'm not sure why exactly, but maybe my background and the fact that I used to outwardly acquiesce so easily is part of the reason why I am fiercely supportive of women who follow their passions no matter the obstacles in their way. Add that to my fascination with history, and it was no suprirse that I found FlyGirls and Hilary Prentice. Hilary is the producer of this "work in progress," and earlier this…

Afrofuturism is an idea that situates concepts of spirituality and Afrocentrism in a literary setting. This literary setting usually has a scientific undertone. It is an idea that destabilizes the unfavorable lens of racial bias through which the African-American is viewed. It aims to provide solutions through literary means to the problems faced by blacks in a Western world. Afrofuturism can be expressed through various art forms. One very innovative mode of expressing afrofuturism is through…

“One sign of maturity is the ability to be comfortable with other people who are not like us” (Kraft). This is a major issues that Harper Lee discusses in her classic coming of age novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel’s main focus is on racism and prejudice as it mostly centers on the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white women. Every character in the novel grows in some way including Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. Scout becomes less naïve, along with growing…