Song "I have a dream" by Common and Will.I.Am and the connection with Martin Luther "The King" Jr.

I am happy

Iam happy
I am I am happy

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[One day]

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

We gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[that one day]

that one day

all of the people and myself

are gonna find a better way

My dream is to be free   

my dream is to be

my dream my dream is to be

my dream is to be

my dream is to be free

A search for brighter days

I ride through the maze of the madness

struggle is my address

where pain and crack lives

gunshots coming from sounds of blackness

given this game with no time to practice

born on the blacklist

told I'm a little average

A life with no cabbage

that's no money if you're from where I'm from

funny,

I just want some of yours son

dark clouds seem to follow me

alcohol that my pops swallowed bottle me

no apology

I walk with a boulder on my shoulder

it's a cold war

I'm a colder shoulder

I fight the same fight that made 

Martin Luther the king

I ain't usin' it for the right thing

in-Between lean and the fiends

hustle and the schemes

I put together pieces of a dream

I still have one

I am happy

I am I am happy

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[One day]

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

We gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[that one day]

that one day

I'ma look deeper than myself

are gonna find a better way

My dream is to be free

my dream is to be

my dream my dream is to be

my dream is to be

my dream is to be free

The world see me lookin' in the mirror

images of me gettin' much clearer

dear self,

I wrote a letter just to better my soul

if I don't express it,

then forever I hold inside

I'm from a side where we outta control

rap music and the hood play a fatherly role

my story like yours, yo, gotta be told

tryin' to make it from a gangsta to a Godlier role

and Jewish people in cold caves

hate has no color or age

flip the page

now my rage became freedom right

write dreams in the dark

they far, but I can see em

I believe in heaven more than hell

blessings more than jail

In the ghetto, let love prevail

with a story to tell

my eyes see the glory of, well,

the world waitin' for me to yell

I have a dream

I am happy

I am I am happy

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[One day]

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out oh oh

We gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

We gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out oh oh

we gonna work it out

[Soundclip: I have a dream]

I got a dream

[that one day]

that one day

all of the people and myself

are gonna find a better way

My dream is to be free

my dream is to be

my dream my dream is to be

my dream is to be

my dream is to be free 

By. http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/freedomwriters/dream.htm

   “A dream” written by Will.I.Am, who also does it´s chorus, and performed by the rapper Common. Originally written to be part of ”Freedom writers” soundtrack, (an hip hop film presented in 2007 regarding the history of African-Americans teenagers and the adversities that they face in their life’s) this song represents strongly Martin Luther “The King”, like they call him in the song, and his most known speech, the “I have a dream” speech. In this song we can see the fight against discrimination and that´s why the reference to Martin Luther King « I fight the same fight that made Martin Luther the king».

    When it comes to the music video, it contains scenes from ”Freedom  Writers” movie, mixed with partially animated sequences featuring will.i.am singing on a podium and Common rapping in hallways and rooms in front of stylized images of both the Holocaust and United States of America's black civil rights movement. Television footage of the "I Have a Dream" speech is displayed on monitors throughout the video. The images is intended to reinforce the song's messages of perseverance in the face of discrimination due to the non violent behavior of Martin Luther King, and hopes for a more racially tolerant world.

  Martin Luther King was the inspiration behind this beautiful song. A man that had a dream of millions: to be free and equal. A non-violent activist and an important leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world. In this song we can see a reference to his non-violent behaviour when they say « I fight the same fight that made Martin Luther the king/ I ain't usin' it for the right thing».

Now we have some interestings videos regarding the "I have a dream speech" and the film "Freedom Writers"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Writers





Beyond "A dream"

   Before we are able to understand beyond this song, we first need to understand what really an African-American is.

   An African-American (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) is a legal citizen living in United States that have ancestry in an African country. Most African Americans are of West African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States.

   

   « I just want some of yours sun /dark clouds seem to follow me». Just this little part of the song show us the fight that African-American have to face every day just because they want to be part of a society that don´t accept them as equal because in our society black are always perceived as a bad thing, like we can see in this two sentences of the song « born on the blacklist» and « dark clouds seem to follow me». Although this fight for be a part of society, African American is the minority that, collectively, are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the United States and have also the highest level of Congressional representation of any minority group in the U.S.  The African American trend to vote for Democrats because in the 1930s during the Great Depression, after Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program provided economic liberation to African Americans; Roosevelt's New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal associates, regardless of region. The African American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s.

   When it comes to the African American education, we have in this song the reference of how hard is the achieved of education by this people because in American their isn´t equal opportunities to black American and that leads to more criminality, addictions, poverty, broken dreams and African Americans tends to form gangs « where pain and crack lives

gunshots coming from sounds of blackness» that why in the song they make a special request « I just want some of yours sun» as a hope that things get better and that black people could have the chance to be part of the society, that black people could have the chance to exist «My dream is to be». By the year of 2000, the rate of literacy in the African American society grown a lot but it still is below white and Asian Americans rates. African Americans attend college at about half the rate of whites, but at a greater rate than Americans of Hispanic origin. More African American women attend and complete college than men. 

  

   Due to this advances in education, African American started having a more important role in the American society. Until 2000 most of the African American population had illegal jobs and most lived a life of deep poverty « that's no money if you're from where I'm from»  because of the low rate of education but that changed, and now, the new generation of African-American have a proper job and a proper future like all the others Americans. This happened mostly because of the advances made during the Civil Rights era where the racial disparities regarding poverty decreased from 26.5% in 1998 to 24.7% in 2004 what leaded to the increase of black middle class. In 2004, African American workers had the second-highest median earnings of American minority groups after Asian Americans, and African Americans had the highest level of male-female income equality of all ethnic groups in the United States. Also, among American minority groups, only Asian Americans were more likely to hold white-collar occupations. Although this great jobs opportunities that African Americans had, when the companies where facing financial problems the first to be fired where black Americans what show us that discrimination still exist but is more often showed in times of need and depression.

   

   

   Concluding, Martin Luther King still represents a great voice in the search of equality and liberty to African-American and great things where maid in his name, like this song that represent all that he fought for and against.

Will.I.Am, the producer of this wonderful song.

Common, the main singer of this song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dream_(Common_song)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American

Some Interesting videos

The other side - an oppressor vision

A film seen in the class showned by our teacher, «the last king of scotland».

«The Last King of Scotland» is a 2006 British drama film based on Giles Foden's novel of the same name, adapted by screenwriters Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, and directed by Kevin Macdonald.

«The Last King of Scotland» tells the fictional story of Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who travels to Uganda and becomes the personal physician to the dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). The film is based on factual events of Amin's rule and the title comes from a reporter in a press conference who wishes to verify whether Amin declared himself the King of Scotland. Amin was known to invent and adopt fancy imperial titles for himself.

But like every history, there is two sides of the history. The one that  we'll justify is the oppressor named Amin.

There are much perspectives to justify this behave of Amin. 

Firstly, there is the psychological, he as a child after his father's death, he were abused by the English army. So, he took his goals to the extreme, because he was mentally affected. His behaviour were caused by his sickness.

Then, the patriotic, he actually made the Uganda nation develop, he actually changed the face of Uganda (about what other people think about it) and the 300 million who were killed while he ruled the country, they tryed to betray their country because they didn't wanted Uganda to grow. And also because other countries were doing it as well.


In third, the well-hearted mind, Amin's intention were good, but his advisores's aid inffluenced him baddly and he just tried to have a strong fist because that's what you need in Africa. And the 300 million deaths were just for protection of the other population.


And to finalize the economist, Amin biggest aim was just to make fortune in Uganda, to the economy growth. 


To conclued, in general, while Amin's dictatorship, Uganda's economy grow, but it wasn't well distributed, and that was what caused the misery of the rural areas and the eccentricity on the Uganda's downtown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_(film)#Historical_accuracy

The Declaration of the human rights - work discrimination

Article XXIII

1.Every person has the right to work, to free choice of employment, tojust and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to a fair and satisfactory,which guarantees, as well as his family an existence worthy ofhuman dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, other means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to organize labor unions and to join to protect their interests.

It is illegal to discriminate against anyone of the grounds of their race. This includes their colour, nationality or ethnic origin. Unfortunately, it still happens but you need to stand up for your rights and not let any employer get away with it. There are different types of discrimination but they are all wrong and all punishable by law.

Direct Discrimination

Direct discrimination is when an employer blatantly treats people differently because of their race. This can include advertising jobs that are only for people of a certain race or paying one race more than others for doing the same job. This is not allowed and needs to be stopped as soon as it becomes an issue.

Indirect Discrimination

This type of discrimination is not quite so blunt but it includes rules or practices that put you at a disadvantage in the workplace because of your race. So it may be that your employer institutes a new dress code, for no particular reason such as health and safety, which discriminates against people from certain ethnic backgrounds. They may try to talk their way out of it and say it isn’t racist but if it puts you at a disadvantage because of your ethnicity, then it is.

Harassment

Often, there is no one incident that stands out as being racist but the way that you are treated by your boss or colleagues is unfair. This can be in the form of racist jokes or underhand jibes, or being given the menial jobs to do when you are more qualified. Even if your boss doesn’t join in, if they overlook the
behaviorthen they are just as guilty. If you make a complaint about the way you are being treated and it only makes it worse then you are being victimizedand you need to seek further help.

Positive Action

There are some instances when people are targeted for jobs on the grounds of their race and when this seen as acceptable. These cases are when a particular racial group is severely under-represented in a certain career field or role. Then employers can provide special training and encourage people from particular ethnic groups to apply for certain roles.

Getting Help

If you feel that you are being discriminated against at
workor when seeking employment then you have every right to take action against it. Racial discrimination is illegal and you shouldn’t stand for it. Start by approaching your boss about the subject with clear examples of what has happened and ask to see their equal opportunities policy. If they are unhelpful, or the cause of the problem, then you will need to seek help elsewhere. Talk to your trade union if you have one or go to your local racial equality council who can help you take the case to an employment tribunal.

Racism in the workplace is illegal and should not be tolerated. Whether it is direct, such as advertising a job for a certain race, indirect by implementing rules that out you at a disadvantage, or in the form of harassment – speak out. Approach your boss about the problem. If they are unhelpful or
victimizeyou for raising the issue then consider taking them to an employment tribunal.

This kind of racism just doesn’t help the economics’ growth. Discrimination is one of the reasons of the stagnation of the economy. 

Due to discrimination in employment, workers who are really good at what they do, don't get jobs because of their skin tone, sex, religion and even sexual orientation.

When people actually realize a wide range of things about for example, factors of production, not to hire this person, it will bring repercussions throughout the economy, because that person could bring new approaches to markets.

Economy behind 'the street'

    In the 60s, the United States observed the rise and increase of the number of black people who went becaming increasingly coming to this country. This increase in immigration has resulted in increased marginalization in both robberies and assaults in even due to the crisis that occurredin the 50s.

    The 1964-1991 ever more was marked by several economic recessions, which is interspersed with some periods of high economic growth. The country also suffers competition from other countries such as Japan or the European Union countries - both in the international and the domestic market itself.
     Due to the marginalization of the black people they could not get a job increased unemployment and increase in the informal economy activities undertaken by the population of the ghetto that was not accounted by The National Accounts.
     When there is this kind of revolt, the economy suffers major negative repercussions, causin ganger and rising information (hyperinflation). Thus, the economy is deteriorating more and more.

    Due to the marginalization of black people they could not get a job such that it resulted in increased unemployment and increase in the informal economy activities undertaken by the population of the ghetto that was not accounted for in the National Accounts.

  When there is this kind of revolt, the economy suffers major negative repercussions, causinganger and rising inflation (hyperinflation). Thus, the economy is deteriorating more each time.

"The street" by Romare Howard Bearden

 

   At this week post, we chose to write about the "collage" called "The Street" created by Romare Howard Bearden.

   Romare Howard Bearden (September 2, 1921- March 12 1988) was a social worker with the New York City Department of Social Services from the mid-1930s through 1960s working on his art at night and on weekends. Bearden art was inspired by his lifetime throughout the United States and Europe.

   In this "collage" he used newspaper and magazine photographs that he enlarged from their original color into huge black-and-white photographs in order to provide the artist's desired effect of urgency.His subjects included life in Harlem, memories of the rural South, and jazz musicians.

   The early 1960s brought a period of transition for Bearden. In 1963 a group of African American artists began meeting in his Harlem studio. Calling themselves the Spiral Group, they sought to define their roles as black artists within the context of the growing civil rights movement.
   His "collage", exhibited in 1964, caused a wave of controversy and excitement but the shock provoqued by this "collage" in first hand turned into solid success.

   The social turbulence and civil rights movement of the 1960s seemed to have served as a catalyst for beardens art, enabling him to find his truest subjects and the means to render them.

The finale presentations !

  At this week classes we finished the presentations of the project works regarding 4 subjects: Hip-Hop music ( by Alexandra and Ricardo), Gospel culture (by Jorge and Yuan), the diferent dialects in England (by Cristiana and Margarida) and the difference between queen's english in the films "Elizabeth the Golden age" and the film " the queen " and also in the series "Little Britain" (by Bruno and Raul) and the Indian-English (by Kcenia).

  Our favorite presentation of the week was the one regarding the Different dialects in England presented by Cristiana and Margarida because in a first aproach this subject could be a little boring but they managed to make it interesting and they had a very dynamic presentation.

  It was also a very interesting work due to the variety of different English that perhaps  language more much difficult to define.
  Like they showed us, in England we can find more than 45 different dialects and one example is the language spoken  in the East End of England: Cockney and this was the language that captured our attention because i is spoken by the English working class and because it was the language spoken by Eliza Doolittle in the film "My Fair Lady", like is showned in the next video.

Although it wasn´t the best presentation we also enjoyed the videos shown by Bruno and Raul regarding the TV series "Little Britain" and we will put here the one we enjoyed the most.