“Black Press Soldiers Without Swords” was a documentary explaining the major events of the creation and events of black newspapers in america. Some of the major ones they talk about is Robert Abbott’s Chicago Defender and Robert Vann’s Pittsburgh Courier. The Chicago Defender was the first large one to make a major impact. Abbott used the paper to not only help his fellow black men and women but also try to help fight the way african americans were looked at. One of the interesting things he did was write the race of the white men after their names like they would do to african americans in the white newspapers. He wanted to treat the white men the same way they treated black men in the media. He wanted to show they have the same power as them with their media. Which is an interesting thing because for so long the white men had all the power but now with not only the creation but the growth of the black newspapers they gained power for themselves. In a way it was the start for them to push to be treated more fairly, they were able to fight back in some cases. However, especially in the south, fighting back like this lead to lynch mobs and other harassments or attacks. 

The white man still believed they were superior and so they still tried discriminating on the newspapers. The black newspapers often didn’t have a way to get the money to keep the paper going. They could get some ads but not large ones from department stores and other brands like the white newspapers did. Black newspapers heavily relied on money just from distribution. Since they couldn’t get the ad revenue if their paper didn’t sell they often had to shut down the papers after a short time. The newspapers were always starting up and then shutting down, the people didn’t have a consistent source of information. 

I think one of the more interesting points talked about in the film was when they discussed the use of the paper to sway the people for so many things. Like the Chicago Defender wanting people to move to Chicago from the south and fulfill the need in the workforce. Another interesting use was when one of the papers called for black people to leave the Republican party because they felt they were being ignored with their needs.Though it was hard for the newspapers to grow, once they did and had a following they had immense power and saw in how the african american community acted.

“Documenting Hate” was an hour long film about the actions and people connected to the Charlottesville rally in August of 2017.The film did a really good job of detailing what happened on August 11 and 12^th at the beginning and then moving forward into who are some of the people that were there in those days. They talked to people on both sides, and a retired FBI agent who had worked with things of this nature when with the FBI. 

When they searched for people of the Rise Above Movement, it was interesting to see how none of them wanted to talk. The one I had in mind was Michael Miselis. When confronted them, very straightforward and fair, not hiding anything he wouldn’t talk to them. He instead denied their accusations, including when they tell him they had photographic evidence, and drives away in his car. I found that most interesting because if you feel strong enough in your opinion to physically harm someone on multiple occasions then I would think you feel strong enough to talk to someone about it. Though if he does say he was there doing those things legal charges could be brought up I suppose.

The rally started because people were saying a statue of General Lee from the civil war needed to be taken down. Then people who disagreed came in and that is when the physical altercation started. There was probably some prejudice thoughts on both sides. People who wanted the statue down probably thought anyone wanting it to stay up was inherently racist and bad people. People who wanted the statue to stay probably assumed the others were all democrats who wanted everyone change their way of living to help others, in a socialistic way of thinking. I think both sides had these thoughts coming in and rather than talking and listening they just yelled assuming they were right and let it go as far as physical attacks to try to prove their points right.

Welcome to Blogs.uww.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!