Category Archives: Conversation Pieces

The design of the GSU “quad” discourages unity

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Smoker's Area in the Quad~ Close to entrance of Sparks Hall across from Classroom South Photo Credit~ Scatia Anderson
Smoker’s Area in the Quad~ Close to entrance of Sparks Hall across from Classroom South
Photo Credit~ Scatia Anderson

The design of the GSU quad discourages unity because it can divide different people  by the different sections. For example: The ‘smokers” area. Due to the many risks and advertising of the no smoking movement in the U.S. many young people (ages 16-24) don’t smoke cigarettes. The ones that do have there own section in the quad. They post up or sit down by the the entrance of sparks hall which is located right of the entrance of Kell Hall. When you walk past you immediately get hit in the face with cigarette smoke. The smell is so intoxicating that I don’t even sit in the quad.

GSU Emergency Call Photo Credit~Neil Brown
GSU Emergency Call
Photo Credit~Neil Brown

Another design of the GSU quad that discourages unity, the picture of the emergency call box on Neil’s blog. You have all these stickers covering up the emergency call box.  A sticker is covering up the word police. That doesn’t show unity.  Can you imagine if something was going down at the quad at night. Students wouldn’t t be able to identify where it is. The stickers shows that the students don’t care about the safety if there covering up what it is suppose to be very important. Especially since this campus is in the heart of downtown.

What’s to come of the Summerhill Community???: Where are the African Americans going to go???

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So you guys already know about the moving of Turner Field in Atlanta, GA to Cobb County, GA. The new Stadium has been purchased by Georgia State University for the GSU Baseball and Softball team. This entire process is about to have a MAJOR change on the Summerhill Community. Many people including news reporters and social media and residents feels that the move of Turner Field was move was racially motivated. This has caused tensions between black residents and white residents.

“Summerhill, the neighborhood where the stadium currently resides, has a population that’s 89 percent black.” (Barber) One of my family members lives in the Square at Peeplestown apartments right behind the stadium. This apartment complex is majority African Americans and they have low-based incomes and is assisted by government housing (Section-8). The landlord/government has already told the residents of the apartment complex that they have to move out by the end of this year (December 2016). Georgia State plans on making those apartments into GSU dorms. That’s great and all but my family member has no idea where he’s going to move him and his family. Its not just my family that’s being affected 

I researched a little bit and these are some of things I found. “The loss of Turner Field also means the loss of hundreds of part-time jobs, a crushing blow for a neighborhood where the median income is $15- 20k lower than where the new stadium will be built.” (Barber) In my site response I talked to a man who explained how the move of Turner Field is going to affect his financially. https://sites.gsu.edu/sanderson57/2016/09/13/my-view-of-turner-field-pt-2/ 

Do you know where they’re going to move??? I do.They’re going to move to the next low income areas. Like DeKalb County, Clayton County, and another part of Fulton County.  

Sources: James Redding Jr. (My Uncle)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/houston-barber/the-fall-of-turner-field-_b_9612302.html

BLACK LIVES MATTER

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Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square, Manhattan
Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square, Manhattan  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Black_Lives_Matter_protest.jpg

This image is powerful because it shows black women and mothers protesting peacefully for a cause. The black women and mothers in this photo are holding orange and teal poster boards. The women are protesting in what looks to be a city. The backdrop of this image shows many buildings. The black woman on the left is holding a orange sign that has black letters in all caps . The poster reads  “Is my son next?” The word next is highlighted to emphasize that her son could possibly be next to fall to a system that suppose to protect every citizen in America. If you pay close attention to the sign you will see a peace sign on the upper right area of the poster. This peace sign illustrates that that this woman wants civil peace. Also on the poster board you see a heart that had a zig – zag line right down the middle. If you notice the lady’s expressions she looks like someone said something about her poster and she was flabbergasted at was said. The lady on the right is holding a teal poster with black letters in all caps.The poster reads “#Black lives matter”. The # (hashtag) is highlighted. Hashtags are a big social media search tag. You can put a # sign in front any subject and it will show you every post about that subject that was used on that social media page. The women are also being video tapped by a heavy set white male with a high-profile camera. 

My Turner Field Experience

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Now that Turner Field in Atlanta, Ga is being closed I feel like I need to tell my experience of the infamous stadium. How cliche of me I know. My Turner field experience was probably a little different from yours. Now that I think about it I never really been to a Braves baseball game. How ironic since I was born and raised in Atlanta. I grew up in single-parent household. My mom faced a lot of challenges because my father wasn’t there financially and sometimes even physically. Now that I have gave you a little background on my life. Lets get to the story.

It was hot day in July and my father wanted to spend some time with my brother and I was 8 going to 3rd grade the following school year. My mother agreed because we haven’t seen him since my birthday in February. My mom dropped us off and In my mind I’m thinking that I get to go to my 1st baseball game. Boy was I wrong. I distinctively remember hearing my father yelling ” I got tickets, tickets right here”. I was just a little girl I didn’t understand what he was doing. He was scalping tickets just to make some money. My father grew up in Summerhill Community. They didn’t have the best infrastructure.There were no “good” schools, there was a lot of drugs and crime. My father didn’t have a lot of opportunities to better himself. He was trapped by the infrastructure of Metro Atlanta for low-income families. He did what he thought he knew was right. My father once said “You can take the boy out the hood but you can’t take the hood out the boy”. 

On that day I saw a black man struggle to get cash. I saw my father struggle for cash because he felt like he had no other option. I started to see the world differently that day. I saw the struggles of a black man who has strikes and has too many kids.