White and Black as a Cultural Identity

I decided to do a brief search in the Commercial Appeal of the photos that come up with the word “white” and the word “black”

Black

1.    

April 22, 2014

They say you can judge a cook based on just one dish roast chicken. It’s the simplest thing, the little black dress, appropriate for any occasion, easy to dress it up or dress it down. Here, roast chicken recipes adapted from three famous cooks. (Todd Sumlin/Charlotte Observer/MCT)

2.    

April 20, 2014

February 27, 2006 - The Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles speaks to students at Tuscaloosa Academy in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as part of the school's Black History Month celebration Kyles, who was with Dr. Martin Luther King when he was killed in Memphis, recalled King's last hours for the students. (AP Photo/Tuscaloosa ...

3.    

April 20, 2014

First Lieutenant Dina Elosiebo of Memphis poses with a District of Columbia National Guard UH-60 BlackHawk at Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Va., on April 15. Elosiebo is the first female black helicopter pilot in the Washington National Guard. (Kris Connor/Special to Scripps News)

4.    

April 17, 2014

February 21, 2012 - B.B. King, left, Buddy Guy from Chicago, and Warren Haynes, right, perform during the White House Music Series saluting Blues Music in recognition of Black History Month in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

5.    

April 17, 2014

June 26, 2006 - President Bush receives a guitar as a gift from blues great B.B. King, left, after King performed for the President during a celebration of Black Music Month in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

White

Photos

1.    

April 23, 2014

Photod by Ford MacDonald/Bart Mallard “The Old Forest,” a 1984 made-in-Memphis film based on a 1979 short story by Peter Taylor, stars Peter White as Nat Ramsey, a young man from Memphis society who falls in with a woman from less-respectable circumstances.

2.    

April 22, 2014

By 2014 - A Thought For Food
Photo by Chris Desmond

Carol Borchardt Spring Greens Leek and Gruyere Tart makes great use of baby greens that are coming into season. Swiss and white cheddar are good alternatives for Gruyere, which can be expensive. Store-bought crust can save time.

3.    

April 22, 2014

The orange sun begins to set above searchers and divers looking for bodies of passengers believed to have been trapped in the sunken ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. One by one, coast guard officers carried ...

4.    

April 21, 2014

President Barack Obama makes a face as he reads "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House is Washington, Monday, April 21, 2014. Thousands of children are gathered at the White House for the annual ...

5.    

April 21, 2014

White Station's Dillon Mitchell (right)

In assessing the results, it seems that 4 of the 5 pictures related to “black” directly correlate to the activities of black people whereas the pictures relate to “white” are much more diverse.  I have always had mixed feelings as to the when the specification of race is important.  Although race is a social construction, it is something people take pride in.  Black Student Associations and White Supremecist group wouldn’t exist otherwise.  Race is real and engrained in our society.  My mom always yells at my grandpa when he references the “black pharmacist,” etc.  “Why does it matter that he’s black?”  To some extent I agree with her.  It is usually not a necessary classification.  However, news media, politicians, and scholars almost always reference when persons who may or may not affiliate at “black” do something, often negative unless they’re the first “black” to accomplish something.  To what extent do you think race should be an integral part of someone’s identity?   Are these photos consistent with your understandings of the news?