Christiane Campbell                  2/15/2020                                                                                   

In “A Report from Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin, the horrors endured by Harlem’s black community from white people and especially white police officers are revealed. He includes first hand accounts of witnesses of police brutality, including Frank Stafford’s who defended the Harlem Six. In Baldwin’s article, shared beliefs within the black community are portrayed and gives idea for suitable questions for a fieldworker to ask to uncover more of the culture being described in the article.  

To commence with, three of the shared beliefs in the black community portrayed in the article are the education that black children receive is inferior to the education of white children; the police are the enemy; the police are afraid of black people. The first belief is highlighted when Baldwin states, “the Negro’s education…a segregated education…is but another way of saying that he is taught the habits of inferiority every day that he lives.” This belief is still currently accepted by the black community and proves to ring true through all the articles of today– that are just a quick Google search away– that expose the disparity in quality education in regards to white versus black kids. The second belief is conveyed when he states “And the police are simply hired enemies of this [the black] population.” This belief is still widely accepted by the black community and this is seen with black people’s responding comments such as “the police violate the very rights that they’re supposed to protect” whenever the topic of police brutality is brought up. The third belief is emphasized when he says, “since they [the police] know that they are hated, they are always afraid”. This belief is also widely accepted by the black community and can be observed in social media comment sections discussing police brutality against black people. In some ways, this article is almost a mirror to the black community today.

Subsequently, this article raises questions that field workers can ask to further uncover the culture this article describes. Some of these questions can be, “Knowing that their education was inferior to those of their white counterparts, how did the behavioral dynamic of black kids differ from white kids?”; “In what situations was black hopelessness most evident?”; “In what way(s) did you see black fear of white police officers juxtapose the fear white officers had towards black people?”. These are great questions since they give the person being questioned an opportunity to expand on their answers since the question is open-ended and can give a close look into a popular black mentality. Other sources a fieldworker may use to penetrate the insider perspective are articles, books, and films written by those on the inside– like James Baldwin’s.

In the essay “A Report from Occupied Territory,” written by James Baldwin, illustrates life in Harlem in the 1960s, where police brutality and discrimination took place against this community that is mostly conformed by black individuals. James Baldwin illustrates some behaviors that are present in this culture which is the absolute fear of police in this community. In one of the cases, one fellow got beaten while asking why the police brutalizes youngsters. Another example of unjust judging was when six youngsters – the “Harlem Six” – were incarcerated unjustly for the murder of a couple. In this community or culture, there is insider phrasing used against the people that live within it. Because of these past events, the shared believe within that community is that the police do not serve all people, and that they are just prejudiced savages.

To penetrate the insider perspective the fieldworker must visit the community and not only see what is happening currently but how these events and behaviors evolved. Also, some questions a fieldworker might ask is how the residents feel about the neighborhood current situations regarding justice and how the rising generations react to prior conflicts withing the community. And, how they think problems such as police brutality might impact their families. In summary, in front of problems like the ones explained in the prior paragraph, for a fieldworker to get a stronger insider perspective, they must go to families that have been affected by these experiences. How would people find a possible solution to this kind of issue?

Christiane Campbell                                                                                                       2/12/2020

CCNY ENGL 21002 | Prof. Shamecca Harris

Informant Description 

         The pseudonym I will be using for the person I am interviewing is “Marcia”. They are a cisgender, heterosexual female. She is nearly 18 and is White with an Albanian background. The chosen topic is Islam. This topic was chosen because I am interested in Islam and she is Muslim. I was especially interested in the general principles of Islam, such as there being an engagement period to get to know a person further instead of just dating; modesty is another important concept included in the Islamic faith that I was interested in. To my surprise, Marcia does not follow the majority of Islamic principles; this is majorly due to the general attitude in Albania towards Islam. According to Marcia, most Albanians are Muslim, but are very loose in the way they practice the religion. This is a stark contrast to other countries of the world such as Iran, where Islam is practiced in a much more conservative way. For example, mentioned earlier in this informant description is how there is an engagement period practiced by Muslims where they get to know a person beyond the friendship level. The reason for this is that boyfriend-girlfirend relationships are not permitted in Islam. However, Marica says that despite being Muslim, she and other Albanian Muslims that she knows do not follow this. For them, it’s more about being romantically involved with the right person the first time instead of being romantically involved with multiple people (like the typical person) over the period of your life. As a result of this, Marcia agrees that there is a pressure to get your love life right the first time. Another concept I mentioned that is important to Islam is modesty. In this religion, it is widely accepted that you are not supposed to show a lot of skin and in many cases you are to wear a headscarf (a hijab, in this case). Marcia and the majority of Albanian Muslims wear clothes that expose a substantial amount of skin, such as shorts and also do not wear the hijab. Overall, I was extremely surprised to learn that there are liberal Muslims and that Albanian culture is the reason that Islam is practiced with little to no conservatism there. However, I feel I should not have been surprised because there are liberal participants of every faith and culture is an influence in every country to how a religion is practiced there.

James Baldwin reports on the appalling treatment of ‘non-white’ groups, or people of color, “…which is also a plea for the recognition of our common humanity”.  This article includes varying cultural perspectives of the 1960s, and the two most emphasized are those of the black community and those of white policemen.  Some cultural information within the black community includes slight indicators within their language usage (such as the use of the word “axe” instead of asked).  I appreciated that Baldwin chose to retain these nuances within his piece not only for the mere sake of accuracy, but also to solidify the integrity of others’ words.  Another piece of cultural information is within their behaviors.  The way in which they felt they must carry themselves in order to be cooperative was (and remains today) extremely restrictive and precautionary so as not to draw attention to oneself or create conflict.  The feeling of living in “occupied territory” sculpts the majority of their behaviors and consequently becomes an unavoidable aspect of their culture, being constantly surrounded by and fearful of the intimidating presence of racist white policemen.  The negatively impactful culture of these forces is apparent not only in their disgusting privilege and views, but the sheer brutality that those perspectives breed.  Their blatant abuse of authority and complete disregard for ‘the other’ as human creates an ignorant, heinous culture in which they possess no remorse.  These white supremacists consider people of color as savages when in fact, that is who they are.

As outrageous as it is that this event occurred more than five decades ago and cannot be undone, we must still consider what might have been done in order to continue improving our society today.  There is a multitude of unasked and unanswered questions regarding this particular circumstance, in which a fieldworker might ask to further uncover the culture that this article describes.  A more obvious question may be to ask the policemen, “Why do you view yourself as superior to people who are ‘different’ than you?”, or “How do you feel before, during, and/or after you treat others in this manner?”.  On the other side, they may question the innocent group by asking, “As a minority, what do you do to avoid conflict?”, or “What do you think should be done to advocate for these victims?”.  There are innumerable possibilities of inquiry to gain a better understanding of both parties’ perspectives and to grasp how each culture is shaped.

In order to more accurately understand the insider perspective, we must also consider other factors beyond these informants’ contributions.  A fieldworker might also speak to communities just blocks away from the area to apprehend any differences and, if there are any, why?  They could ask a nearby largely white community, “Is your neighborhood heavily monitored by the police?”, or “What does the police activity look like from your perspective?”.  Any additional information would colossally impact the awareness and comprehension of how these situations come about and are perceived.

After reding the article, I believe that the culture that was included urban culture. This culture includes minorities, (any person who does not identify as white). Along with being minorities, the culture described are people who dwell in the inner cities. Within the people in the Urban culture, there are a lot of the shared beliefs and behaviors exhibited. Although it is sad, one major shared belief is that the police were a force against people of color. People of color back then believed that the police have a vendetta against them and if you ask people of color today how they feel, it is scary to hear how much they believe the same thing to this day. Something that I noticed while reading James Baldwins article was the fact that the word “Negro,” was a term loosely used to describe black people. To call a black person a “Negro” was the norm which is obviously not acceptable currently. A known behavior of black people back in those times were to shelter themselves in a way. For example, if something was happening to a black person involving the police, other black people tend to run away or close their doors and turn their backs. This is because black people didn’t want to reap the repercussions of trying to help their own. Police officers would assault everyone and anyone who got in their way. In the end, the overall article made me really think about how black people lived back then and how we live right now and what I concluded is what scares me the most.

This article takes place in the 1960s at the height of the civil rights movement. In this time the population is still enduring segregation. Segregated into different schools educating African Americans and white children differently ingraining the ideas of white supremacy at a young age. Even in the blurb of the article it starts by saying Negroes which gives us information on how African Americans were viewed at the time. The society was still telling African Americans that they were still not good enough to be with white people, that they are inferior. The police system took on this shared belief through brutally force by destroying and putting fear into African Americans. Even standing up to authority having a darker skin color your life was put at risk. This continued to fuel the already great divide between the two races. The police are supposed to protect the citizens but instead were targeting a whole race. African Americans did the only thing they could by minding their own business, keeping their heads low and trying to stay off the streets as much as possible to avoid the inevitable fate of being abused by society. The same system they are supposed to believe in to protect they were scared of.

Some questions a fieldworker might have to uncover the culture the article describes…
Who do you call when you feel endangered? If not the police why? Do you feel safe with the police? In what ways has police brutality changed from 1960 to today? Has it changed?

A fieldworker who wanted to gain the ondsider perspective would need to put himself in the enviornment where this has occured such as Harlem. Not only to go to Harlem but to speak with the residents of Harlem about how they were treated and what is their relationship with the police.

Cultural information included in the article are racism/racial discrimination as well as brutality and abuse of power from the law enforcement. The article first retells of an incident in which colored citizens heard and witnessed cops beating young children, to then be beaten themselves for questioning the cops. One man was beaten so badly in the eye it was beyond repair. The article then focuses on the “Harlem Six”. Questions a fieldworker can ask to uncover the culture described by the article can be “Why are the citizens of Harlem treated as they are?”, “Why is there tension between the citizens of Harlem and the law enforcement?”, “How many accounts are there from the citizens of Harlem claiming that a police officer has abused their power?” “Does this only happen in Harlem?” and “what can be done to lessen the treatment colored citizens of Harlem face from law enforcement”. Other sources of information a fieldworker might use to penetrate the insider perspective would be to acknowledge their racial identity as it could affect their research, to visit Harlem them self, to listen to accounts of these incident from the officers and to see if these same officers treat white citizens as they do people of color in and outside of Harlem.

“A Report from Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin is about how African Americans are treated poorly and usually take on menial and degrading jobs that further this prejudice that they are “animals and uneducated”. This essay brushes on the Harlem Six. The Harlem Six were six teens who were wrongfully accused of first-degree murder. They were later sentenced to life terms, but it was eventually revealed that the confessions were coerced. Their names are Wallace Baker, Daniel Hamm, Walter Thomas, Willie Craig, Ronald Felder and Robert Rice.

One major issue of this was the fact that they were black. Before they were convicted, a few of them overturned a fruit stand. If they had been white, they wouldn’t have been as big of a deal and wouldn’t be falsely accused of first-degree murder. This article shows multiple cases of segregation and how white Americans were superior to African Americans. It also shows how White Americans almost have this inherited prejudice by saying the N word and not caring and acting as if they are better than everyone else. Same with white Americans who were police and used police brutality for no reason expect for the fact that they had the power of authority.

 A fieldworker might ask

How often are the police in the neighborhood?

Do they often abuse their power?

How do they interact with those living their?

How do they handle situations that involves other races?

A fieldworker might penetrate an insiders perspective by getting to know locals and try to understand their day to days and the events that go on in the neighborhood.

James Baldwin’s article includes many cultural information such as the mistreatment of black people by figures of authorities which seems to be a common occurrence, the perception that black people were inferior to whites, the increase of violence happening every Sunday, amongst many other repeating rituals and behavior. A fieldworker would ask why are black people viewed as inferior, why are they being constantly beaten by authorities figures? A fieldworker would study not just the individuals but society as a whole. Why have this heinous custom been adopted by white people and why has it been stigmatized. A fieldworker would reach out to those committing hate crimes against black people and ask why do they feel the need to beat black people senselessly without a reason. A fieldworker would observe the society of Harlem and maybe even get involved assuming that they themselves aren’t part of the problem. Other sources of information that a fieldworker might use to penetrate the insider perspective would be to talk to those who are being abused by a system that was supposed to serve everyone equally. Interviewing those affected might garner an empathetic reaction from the fieldworker and an understanding of the effect of racism in society. A fieldworker would also look for ways to trace back to the root of the deep-seated racial inequality that plagues society. An important fact is that fieldworkers would be able to challenge the authorities in demanding for evidence for the crime the Harlem six were wrongly accused of.

In the essay “A Report from Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin he writes about Harlem during the 1960’s, in particular describes the case of The Harlem Six to try and give insight of the meaning of Harlem being a “occupied territory”. Baldwin describes a young salesman named Frank Stafford who wanted to know why the police were beating up the children resulting in him getting beaten and arrested. The cultural information this article is included through the experiences that residents in Harlem have to face. Whether it is the police brutality or the larger experience of segregation, it is not unique to Harlem. Baldwin points out that what is true of Harlem is true with every city with a large African American population. In these places the police ‘are simply the hired enemies of this population’. The police violate cultural information such as rules from the fourth amendment and the right to a fair trial that are common ideas with the residents of Harlem. The laws that are placed to protect black people are meant “to be my servant and not my master… to respect the law, in the context in which the American Negro finds himself, is simply to surrender his self-respect.” Baldwin notes that automation has rendered many people jobless and no solution to deal with the increasing unemployment rate has been given. Their present to keep the Negro in his place and to protect white business interests/ the white supremacy.

Fieldworkers will have to offer an insiders’ perspectives along with your own to translate the cultural data into ethnographic text. A fieldworker would have to adapt to non-biasedly look at the multiple perspectives of the people of Harlem. A fieldworker will also look at other sources of information that are part of the culture such as the police department.

• Questions a fieldworker would ask to uncover the culture of the article is:
• Who are the people living in Harlem ? What are the socioeconomic factors for those in “occupied territories” that are putting them at an disadvantage ?
• How do police officers act in Harlem versus other outside areas of Harlem? How would a police officer engage a black person versus a white person?
• What is the difference between a “Bad” Negro and a “Good” Negro? What are the set requirements that makes one a “Bad” Negro? How are the Bad and good Negro treated differently?