Has the Black community truly been afforded equal access to literacy necessary to be successful in contemporary America? Reference Richard Wright’s “The Library Card” and any other sources, including your own experience, if you wish.
The black community has not been afforded equal access to literacy necessary to be successful in contemporary America. In Richard Wright’s story “The Library Card”, he talks about his experience not having access to the books he should have had and that he so badly wanted to have. He said his family was too poor to afford them and that he didn’t have much of a chance to go to school. He discussed how the journey to find a job was difficult as a black man and once he eventually got one, he was still doing tasks that were less than his full capabilities. All of the white people assumed he wouldn’t be able to read because he was black and thought he was crazy for wanting books. The library wouldn’t let him get a card and he needed a white man as a cover just to have something to read. This experience involved a lot of fear that he said became less the more he read, but that amount of fear has the possibility of being so discouraging although that is not how he responded to it. Having this history of the black community not having access has definitely not disappeared. There is still discrimination and stereotypes that have stayed throughout time. There are gaps in education opportunities and financial situations that limit access to literacy. This still ties into job opportunities as well.
Discuss your experience of taking one of the literacy tests from Activity 4. Provide examples of questions and your responses.
My experience taking the Louisiana literacy test was that it was just incredibly confusing and seems to be unimportant ways of using literacy. It seems to be made just to confuse people and use it to discriminate since the article says the judges of whether or not the answers are correct were white. An example of a question that just didn’t make sense started with the very first question, “1. Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence.” I am assuming they are referencing the “1.” but even if that is the answer, the instructions on what to do do not make sense. A line cannot go around something and that could easily be used to mark it as wrong. It also is not clear what the number or letter of the sentence means.
A question that could be used to judge understanding of words in contexts still is just for confusion. “Write right from the left to the right as you see it spelled here.” This one was even challenging to quote. My answer would be “thgir” but this isn’t just literacy that they are testing. It is a riddle.
What is the argument in the article titled “With COVID, the African-American Literacy Crisis will get much worse”? Support your answer with evidence from the text, and with your own thoughts on this topic.
The argument in the article titled “With COVID, the African-American Literacy Crisis will get much worse” is that different access to virtual learning puts African-Americans at a disadvantage in this time of the pandemic. The article talks about how there was already a gap between white and black students’ literacy levels and this change is widening the gap. This is not just about reading, but how it leads them into careers. It talks about how with lower literacy levels, people will “struggle to find employment or settle for low-paying jobs.” They’re also less likely to vote. The article also mentions how school can feel less safe since things like a 6 year old African-American child got arrested at school recently. This is an ongoing problem of discrimination and Covid education responses are just furthering it with accessibility inequality.
