The media today innervates every aspect of our daily lives. It surrounds us and begs us to openly embrace it with loving arms as the very emblem of what a democracy should be. Yet, the image it gives, is the distorted perception of the narrow band of elites who control it. They are the ones who determine what is, and, what isn't news, according to their own values and biases. Unfortunately, African-Americans as a whole rarely fit their narrow definitions. Thus, that same perception that the mass media so freely gives, overwhelmingly excludes African-Americans from its sight. The purpose of this essay will be to take an in depth analysis of Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly chapter by chapter, and, see just how today's mass media has cast Black people out from amongst the masses.

In chapter 1, Bagdikian talks about how the corporations controlling the mass media have established themselves as an "endless chain" through interlocking directorates, mergers, acquisitions, takeovers and leveraged buy outs for the primary purposes of money and influence. Along those lines, Bagdikian also mentions that the media power is bought and owned by the elite and often serves their own personal purposes. Yet, these elite so often conform to a standard stereotype that it often becomes difficult to tell the difference between any of them. Overwhelmingly, these elite are white males usually over 50 years of age.

This obviously presents a problem? What about the interest of everybody else outside this tight knit group, particularly what about others outside this elite race. If the mass media have truly just become elaborate tools for serving such a narrow minded perspective then what will this mean for African-Americans. The result has become painfully obvious, as will be discussed later in this essay. But, even at this point one can see who, by in far, are the losers in the race to communicate culture to a world that knows too little about us as it is.

Bagdikian goes on to say that it is those same elite who that establish the very nature of the market. One may choose to wonder as to the just how much human nature can transcend ignorance and bias. Certainly, in the area of mass media, the nature of the market has become one that permanently excludes African-Americans. A good example of this may be readily seen by turning on the evening news with the leading anchormen on either of the three major American T.V. networks. If you can't tell the difference, (like me), then fear not, your vision is not defective. In essence, the very nature of our evenings news is one that must obviously need to be told through someone who looks likes one of those elite males. Whether an African-American (or for that matter any one else) could do an equally effective job communicating the same message, we will never probably never know.

Bagdikian concludes by bringing to light the rather obvious result of these elite controlling the vast majority of our media; they are the ones who actually control the market. Even given the fact that human nature is still somewhat subjective and actually can change (though to what degree will probably always remain a mystery) control is definitely not. You either have it or you don't; there is no in between. For African-Americans, this is yet another frustrating obstacle to grapple with, and, a painful reenactment of our past. Just as control of our own lives was denied to us when we were packaged and shipped in chains over to this new "world" so also is control of our desire to express who we, are, and be intelligently informed of events that will affect our lives, been taken from our power. In effect, the mass media has chained us into a life of ignorance to be slaves to those elite who possess all the control.

In chapter 2, Bagdikian talks about how corporations controlling the mass media handicap their publishers and editors so as not to disclose information that may be potentially harmful to them. No where is this more destructive than in the way corporations exploit Africans (and others) in third world countries. Often factories in these places are so far below standards that one would even question letting your own dog live in such a place. And yet, these corporations have the audacity to call themselves the harbingers of democracy, promise, and opportunity. Buried under the guise of being an asset to that countries survival, these corporations continue to treat Africans with a sub-human antagonism.

Given that the mass media pose test on what will and will not be published, leads one to invariably conclude that the issue of human rights, and, the lack thereof in those sweatshops will ultimately never reach you or I, at least not via your local newspaper. The pain and anguish that these people must endure each and every day in order to make a living will forever remain "foreign" to us.

Perhaps the most frustrating point that Bagdikian brings out is that it is the elite owning the corporations who are to blame. While it might be easy to say that certain items are newsworthy and others are not, surely needless human suffering is just as newsworthy a cause to bring to the light of the public now as it was in the past. There is still poverty and oppression occurring under the banner of democracy. It should not matter whether or not the search to uncover the truth (supposedly the objective of a journalist) will step on a few toes in the process. The only important thing is that the root cause be dealt with to end the conditions that exists. Unfortunately, the root cause is hidden under piles of red tape and vice presidents that merrily do his bidding for him. In the end, trying to uncover the real culprit becomes something close to trying to uncover a needle in a barn of haystacks.

The leaving out of embarrassing information becomes especially relevant in assessing the alcohol and tobacco industries clearly bias distribution among African-American communities. Clearly there is no more substantial evidence than to drive down the street in south central Los Angeles, Compton, or Watts, and pass a liquor store on the end of every city block. When our local channel gives us or daily dosage of news, they are quick to point out the crime rate and proliferation of drugs and alcohol in these communities. However, what will forever remain to be said is who is responsible for putting the alcohol and tobacco there in the first place. As I mentioned earlier in this essay, clearly given the nature of, and lack of control that African-Americans have on the media, or any other market it is unwise to think that they own or even have any sort of stake in those corporations. If one were to record the name (and subsequent owning corporation) of every beer can found at the scene of gang activity or every "forty" found at the scene of a drive-by, even without a Ph.D in deductive reasoning, one might conclude that at least some of the blame for such easy access to destruction lies above the perpetrator being arrested (as is so often is the only part of any alcohol related crime involving African-Americans that is ever shown).

To add insult to injury Bagdikian also makes mention of how the mass media now use their concentrated power to even go as far as to make stories for themselves. I would not do myself justice if I didn't comment on the media hysteria over the O.J. Simpson trial at this point. For years, African-Americans have been unjustly accused in courts of law and faced two separate trials: 1) a trial by their peers, and 2) a trial by the skin colour. Yet, in the midst of other issues, (the most important one probably being domestic violence), here comes the issue of fairness in the courts for African-Americans, as if it were some new and rarely herd of phenomenon. It's the same story that became apparent during the Rodney King case. The fact that it only looks new and improved (O.J. style) is because the mass media did such an effective job in burying the issues once the flames were physically extinguished after the riots.

All of this leads to the a loss of a viable media who will be willing to do its job to the fullest, without bias, worry, or intimidation from a domineering elite. In the end though, real losers are those for which the mass media will forever censure and continue to leave out embarrassing, but, vital context to news stories at the implicit request of their corporate chiefs; those for whom the media will continue to be ignore until it becomes convenient to exploit them.

This becomes strikingly evident in looking at chapter 3, as Bagdikian points out how large classes of people are often ignored until they are at their worst. Truly, this has been the medias only consistent effort in portraying African-Americans. Our prime time news has become disconcertingly colour bias in all the negative areas. Your "typical" Black male is shown so many times as the suspect in an alleged crime, you would think that someone in back had a imaging machine set to virtually the same setting each time.

Even historically African-Americans have only been portrayed at their worst. While the media did not consider it newsworthy to report on reasons why people like my own father had to ride on the back of the bus just to get a shack of a school, they did consider it newsworthy to show detailed footage of Blacks being sprayed with fire hoses and attacked by dogs during protest for our rights. It is these images that resonate in the minds of your average American, one of seeing people traditionally oppressed being further pesecuted. Perhaps, if one is appalled enough at the gory imagery they might even look into cause of such events. However, whether you make it to that point or not, the mass media has held true to its philosophy of ignoring Balack people until they are going through their darkest hour.

A startling fact that Bagdikian reveals in this chapter deals with the amount of private interest literature is that is pumped into public schools. In my second weekly question sheet I commented upon how I believe that for all these corporations supposed generosity, that they are just seeding their future employment. It is this seeding that becomes a trap for many African-Americans into a life of marginality with no real chance for upward mobility.

A further distressing point that Bagdikian brings out, is of how reporters are essentially free to do investigative reports on subjects like welfare recipients, but face an onslaught of obstacles in trying to do the same with a corporation. But, this freedom reporters have been given has only manifest itself only in a negative the context for African-Americans. In fact, the media has done such a good job in exercising the extent of this freedom, that they have given America a blatantly false image that all welfare recipients are Black. In almost every documentary addressing the problem, the area talked about is some place like inner city Detroit, Chicago, or New York. An issue as big as welfare is not a national issue if it is only confined to a few relatively small area; where a majority of African-Americans live, but, you would never know that from watching the news. In reality the issue of welfare extends far beyond the confines that the media have enshrined it in, it reaches into nearly all communities regardless of the colour of ones skin.

This point leads into chapter 4 of Bagdikians text as he talks about how the corporate "high priest" disseminate their own versions of the world through the media they own. The heroic myths they propagate about themselves, however are nothing compared to the scathing lies they create and feed the public about African-Americans. In my short time here, many of my peers have asked me what it must be like to live in LA. I in turn tell them that it's just like living in any other place except, that their are more people, places, and things around, and, that the weather is warmer. But few of them are content to accept that answer. What they really want to know is 'How did you (as a Black male) survive to make it here?' The media has given people 2500 miles removed from the streets of LA their own conception of the type of people that we are, and they've done it so well that people have a hard time believing me if I tell them otherwise. I even had one girl congratulate me for making it here. At first I thought that was rather unusual given that I had been planing to go on international study since last year, but then I thought about in the context for which the mass media portrays Black males my age; I guess I must be one of the "lucky" ones, I made it out of their stereotype.

Another point that Bagdikian brings out is how news has become very profitable. But, so often the source of that profit comes by exploiting African-Americans.

When people pick up the paper to read it, they like to be informed on how and what others are doing. Often the response (at least the only one that the mass media hopes for) will be one of envy or sympathy. Yet, it is not the medias goal to actually have you feel connected with the news they print, only to know that it is there and you may measure yourself according to it. As I discussed earlier, the media is quick to show African-Americans at their worse, but the exploitation doesn't stop there. The media has consistently exploited all aspects of talent endowed to Black people. But perhaps the best example relates to African-Americans in sports. Basketball and football players suffer some of the worst exploitation for their talent. Instead of commending them for their accomplishment, the news dehumanizes them into profitable items. Natural God given talent has become an endorsement for a new type of tennis shoe or some other over priced, foreign made item. In essence, the news has taken people who have worked hard to be the very best they can, and turned them into a sensational fad to be looked at, possibly even marvelled over, but not to be taken seriously, and if you've bought the paper or item the advertisers wanted you to buy in the first place, then you've fulfilled the media's only goal, regardless.

The last point that Bagdikian touches on in this chapter relates to how politically bland chain papers and the mass media have become in fear of offending corporate advertisers. No where is this more true than in looking at the city I grew up in, Carson, one of the many suburbs around the Los Angeles area. In contrast to what the papers want you to believe the LA area is not one big politically amorphous blob, where whatever holds true for the city of Los Angeles must hold true for its surrounding communities. In reality, many citizens, including African-Americans, don't feel any connection to politics outside their respective communities. In spite of what the media wants you to think about Black people, we really do genuinely care about the welfare of our neighbourhoods. Yet, papers consistently try to group all the Black communities under one big umbrella of the pressing issues that must be affecting our lives. In my community, (which also defies a media stereotype since it doesn't resemble south central LA) this clustering has created a sense of antipathy to all politics. Since the media has deliberately chosen only those issues that they feel must be affecting our lives, and, those issues in turn are so often are in stark contrast to the real pressing issues in each individual community, the majority of African-Americans are justifiably left feeling disconnected. An example of this would lie in the assessing the primary community issues between my home city of Carson and our neighbour, Compton. While both communities contain a majority percentage of African-American residents; the most pressing issue in each city is not the same. The most urgent issue in Carson is how to retain students in school after high school, while one of the biggest issues in Compton is crime prevention. Two communities; two pressing issues; two different concerns Black people have A paper will never be able to do either community justice by trying to substitute in one issue for another community.

Some of the reasoning for why injustices like the one just mentioned are allowed to continue is revealed in chapter 5, as Bagdikian reveals how news is edited to please owners and advertisers. This especially addresses the issues of political candidates.

African-Americans as a whole have long since been ignored from this world. First, because it was thought that we didn't possess the intelligence to be able to make the kinds of decisions involved, and, now because we don't possess the resources available to other candidates, and the main resource is of course, the mass media. As Bagdikian indicates, the mass media is now at a state where they selectively pick out candidates they will support. Unfortunately, African-Americans hardly ever make the cut. The fact that the US Congress is one colour and the US is many presents a disturbing picture of whose ideas, issues, and ultimately whose best interest is being looked out for.

In chapter 6, Bagdikian turn his attention to magazines attracting the "wrong" kind of readers. The demographics for which advertisers are looking for are 18-49 year old, above median income, affluent persons. While most African-Americans fit the age bracket, both society and the corporations will probably never permit too many of my people to fit the definition of "affluent."

What is true of magazines, is equally true of television, perhaps even more so. Programming during prime time has become light and fantastical so as to keep the audience in a buying mood. However, if you're the part of the audience that is not really "affluent" enough to buy anything, than where does that leave you. If your an African-American, than most often it leaves you wondering what has any of the televisions programming really got to with my life, and, why isn't television focusing on more relevant issues to problems we need to solve as a society.

Many of the prime time programs openly exclude African-Americans from this target buying crowd by deleting their presence from the screen. In the event that a popular show starring Black people becomes a hit with the American audience, the show is so far removed from reality so as to make one wonder about its relevance at all. A good example of this would be the Cosby show. While I must acknowledge that the show was entertaining and had its moments at times, the reality is that my dad wasn't a doctor and my mom wasn't a lawyer, and, I did not grow up in such a humorous and funny world. Instead, I grew up knowing that I was different simply because of my skin colour. People would never accept me for what was inside before they had first confirmed or rejected the stereotype of what the media told them about my outside. People would always be led to stare at me and wonder, "Am I anything like the Black guy they showed being arrested on the evening news?' And while this may not apply to every African-American, I believe that the vast majority would agree that though the Cosby show may you laugh for a half hour, once the show was over, the smiles quickly faded, and near frustrating emotion of trying to make a meaningful living in such a colour conscious society slowly returned to occupy the other 23 _ hours of your day.

Bagdikian concludes the chapter by saying that American newspaper publishing has switched from a circulation base to an advertising base. Those who fit what corporate advertisers want in their audience will receive the added benefit of quality information. Those who do not, are likened to always be damned to ignorance as long as the elite who control continue to use the mass media in the best way they see fit.

In chapter 7, Bagdikian talks about how mass advertising drastically affects the viability of small businesses. This is particularly true of community based cooperative food and grocery stores in African-American communities. The problem lies in the fact that many Black people in these communities have no personal transportation of their own to rely upon and so depend on the closeness of these coops to meeting their food and grocery needs within a relatively short distance of their place of residence. However, major chain grocery stores have consistently been able to get more of their advertised products across to more of the community for which they are no where near, through mass advertising. Since these smaller coops cannot possibly generate this kind of circulation for similar ads, they will be deprived of more new local customers, who, in turn, will be put to unnecessary hardship in making the long trip to the major chain grocery store via public transportation. The fact that the local coop can't reach as many people as it would like in order to lower it prices by selling a large volume of material will mean that prices will be higher on their shelves. This then leads to a loss of more customers, a vicious cycle that ultimately will lead to the death of the local coop and the inconvenience of all its customers.

The next point that Bagdikian brings out is of how the doctrine of objectivity led journalist to stick to "safe" politically neutral subjects like crime and natural disasters. However, while these subjects may be safe for that "affluent" target, buying audience, they are anything but "safe" for the Black man, who is the overwhelming stereotype of the suspect. Even as a teenager I could see that people were more likely to believe that I was a gangbanger if I happen to be wearing something red or blue, as opposed to believing that I was a young Black man with dreams and aspirations of getting a university education and going on to medical school so that someday I could be a physician in my community. And while one may tend to think that there would be no way that someone could possibly guess those things as my dreams, they certainly have had no trouble filling in all the things that the media told them have led me to be a danger to society: broken home, single working mom with no time to raise me properly, older brother already in a gang, and a dropout from high school, all of which could just as easily be drawn from reading the local newspaper that has already decided that these are the most pressing and relevant issues in the lives of all African-Americans.

Bagdikian's last point of the chapter deals with blanching of controversy, and, how it hurts the country's political process. Although this controversy can lie far beyond the mere scope of race, it often comes down to race as a basic premise. If the mass media's sole purpose is to deceive the public by deliberately ignoring some of the root causes of that societies shortcomings, then how can we ever expect to bring about any change in this democracy?

In chapter 8 Bagdikian addresses the proportional increase in cost for purchasing a newspaper compared to the proportional decrease in actual news received. Of note, is the fact that he mentions about how newspapers have reduced their amount of coverage on minorities and education, (two topics that when taken together comprise just one of the most critical issues facing the African-American community as a whole), and replaced them with more lighter and fluffier types of items, and, more "objective" things like crime. This is but another clear example of what I would term the "double helix of irony" African Americans face. On one strand we are either completely ignored by the media or exploited; on the on the other strand we are distortedly overemphasized in all the negative areas. There seems to be no middle ground or safe area as far as the news concerns us as a people.

This lack of a middle ground stems from media and corporate advertisers subtle demand that the status quo is wonderful and that the American way of life is beyond criticism, as Bagdikian points out in chapter 9. Yet, for many African-Americans the status quo is anything but wonderful. It was the status quo that kept Black codes in place long after slavery was ended; it was the status quo that kept people like my own mother from even attaining this level of education in school so that she could formally critique society; and it is the status quo that continues to undermine African-Americans in terms of education, job training and accessibility, and the right to pursue a life of happiness. When one has contend with a society that refuses to even acknowledge him as a integral part of it, then I submit that America not only can be criticized, but desperately needs to be criticized.

Perhaps the saddest myth that the mass media has propagated, as Bagdikian points out, has been how they have handled the link between tobacco and heart lung diseases. For me this takes on a personal note of sorrow, as I have watch members of my own family succumb to the supposed "ignorance" at their being any real connection. It appalls me to think that tobacco advertisers would deliberately go out of their way to target minorities with their poison, yet, the two biggest products being sold in all those "excessively convenient" convenient stores on every corner I talked about earlier, are alcohol and cigarettes. The Black American is not only being ignored and exploited, but, is being poisoned and killed off at an alarming rate. Already the life expectancy rate among Black males is the lowest in the country. If we're not shooting ourselves on the street (according to the local news), then we're smoking and drinking ourselves to the grave.

When cigarette advertisers can afford to spend more on trying to acquire smokers than the Department of Education can on trying to educate them, this leads one to wonder about the entire structure of the system. Given the crippled condition of our public school systems, its not at all surprising to find ignorance on such a subject rampant in the Black community. But, when you combine this with the lack of information we will never receive simply because we are not part of that target audience that the media so diligently seeks at the insistence of corporate advertisers, the problems becomes likened to the sheep dog unlocking the gate and letting in the wolves. In this day and age, one might even go so far as to say that the sheep dog has formed a "secret" pact with the wolves for the systematic incapacitation and subsequent eradication of those unwanted sheep.

In chapter 10 Bagdikian alights to how the mass media has changed our perception of democracy itself. One of the major points he brings out which I also addressed in my
presentation, was how the media, in its zeal to please advertisers, wants all potential affluent consumers, regardless of their political persuasion. Consequently, those classes of people outside of this area, as would be very indicative of a large number of African-Americans, and the issues and problems we face, do not become news until they will in some way affect the lives of those more "affluent" consumers. This became disturbingly apparent in the wake of the Los Angeles riots. The issues of mounting tensions in race relations (specifically against the L.A.P.D. and Asian communities), the lack of ownership of businesses in predominantly Black communities, and the prevalence of easy access to tobacco and alcohol, all of the sudden, for a brief time, became hot topics to discuss nationally. Yet, these issues did not sprout roots and grow overnight, but in fact, have manifests themselves time and time again in the history of America. The fact that the only time they are acknowledged is when drastic measures must be taken to make the media sit up, and, for a time, acknowledge some of its injustices in its consistent effort to skirt relevant Black issues, just goes to show the complete break down of communication that has become painfully apparent.

Another point the author brings up, is of how the media is determined to keep the news as "objective" as possible. This leads into the problem with putting the news in its proper social context. To go back to the example of the riots, even though there was extensive coverage of the destruction, far too much emphasis was placed on the flaming buildings and not the flaming hearts lighting them. People don't normally feel motivate to rebel against everything their society stands for just because there mad. The problems lies deep within the very core of what this country was built upon when people become so frustrated with it, that they would rather see the richest nation in the world burn in effigy, as opposed to go on living as one its citizens for another day.

Bagdikian eludes to this point as he briefly discusses the mass media in context with race relations following WW2. Of particular note is his mentioning of a society that persists in keeping structuralized poverty. It is the maintenance of this type of institution that more any particular person the mass media is more to blame. The media has consistently projected blatantly negative stereotypic views of African-Americans, so as make the issue seem like one of divine implementation. Throughout history whenever Black people have moved into one area of the city, the more affluent Caucasian class has been quick to pack up and leave based on the media's lie that Black people will automatically decrease the value of their communities with the load of problems they bring. In essence, to say that Black people themselves are poor, not because they lack jobs and opportunities, but, simply by virtue of being Black. A good example of this has been occurring throughout the history of the Los Angeles community. At first white people lived in the city, when African-Americans and other minorities came they then moved into the suburbs (the location of U.S.C., a traditionally prestigious, predominantly white institution serves as permanent marker of the type of area south central LA use to be). In more recent times as African-Americans start to move into the suburb areas, the Caucasian population is gradually moving out into the foothills areas around LA. The media's insistent beliefs has left a society divided within its own place of residence. One wonders where the media's unfounded stereotypes will ultimately drive us to get away from one another.

The mass media's fear that they will offend their precious target audience has already set them against African-Americans. They clearly exhibit no real care for just how much they either exploit, ignore, or flat out lie about Black people, as long as they keep those who meet the definition of "affluent" in a happy buying mood. And while this is probably not what are forefathers envisioned (especially since lacked such "affluence" in Europe) this is the way that the mass media tells us how a "democracy" works.

This goes hand in hand with Bagdikians point in chapter 11, that African-Americans are part of the "unwanted population" in American society. Therefore, any news meant for our race is never really about our race. Editorials addressing so thought "universal Black problems," are never written with any meaningful social analysis. Examples of this are the numerous editorials that have been written addressing the issue of teen age pregnancy. Though commentators are quick too point out that it is rampant in the Black community, (notably missing is the mention of the fact that the problem is just as rampant in the white community too), the reasons they often point to are a lack of personal motivation in the individual. Yet, this lack of motivation isn't genetic, it often stems from the way we are forced to see the world. If our picture was one that presented endless opportunities waiting for us to grasp, then I submit that a significant proportion of this so called "intrinsic problem" facing the African-American community would not exist. If people, regardless of race or gender, feel that they have something to live for, and, that society really wants them to be an integral part of it, then, this problem, along with a lot of other traditional problems facing our nation as a whole, would end. But, since editorials rarely want to dive that far down, you would be left to your own to figure one of life's "hidden" secrets.

Chapter 12 deals with "the growing gap" between mass media and the public who reads it. In it, Bagdikian points out just how "unestablished" groups like African-Americans must resort to unconventional methods of protest as they have no "official" means to do so. But, even when these extreme acts make the headlines, after a couple of days they are quickly forgotten by the media. It is the media's forgetfulness of African-Americans that leaves us a society that unknowingly accepts social injustices based solely on race. Such is the case in the present state of LA, 3 _ years after the riots. Though the fires were put out long ago African-Americans are still fuming over it causes. Yet, the media has dedicated itself to the cause of covering up what led to such chaos in the first place. If one stops and thinks about the kinds of reasons that would drive the second largest city in the US to turn against itself, one might be lead to conclude that the problems and feelings leading up to such turmoil cannot be so easily extinguished. The problems I expressed earlier are still rampant in Black communities, and all the signs point to them resurfacing again if they are continue to be ignored. From any stand point you care to take, anyone can clearly see that there is something wrong with the way our society works, anyone that is, except the mass media. Perhaps they suffer from the same symptoms as the patient described by Oliver Sacks; they can see racial injustice, they can hear racial injustice, and when it boils over that can even feel some of the anguish of racial injustice; but, the point never seems to hit home, there actually is racial injustice.

The last chapter of Bagdikian's text gives an analysis of the type of media we are left with. Being dominated by a powers is one thing, but, when those powers start to look identical both politically and racially, then truly something has gone awry. Bagdikian points out that we would no sooner tolerate this in our government, yet, traditionally African-Americans have always had to tolerate a colourless power structure. Now that we have made some strides toward integrating this sacred institution, we must contend with media hostile to our very presence. Indeed, narrow control, as Bagdikian rightfully calls it, is inherently bad.

In looking at The Media Monopoly, Bagdikian seeks to point out how corporate control of the media has lead to the redefining of the very term "news" itself. No longer is it the search for the truth, regardless of the consequences, but, now it is the systematic propagation of the views of the small elite who own the mass media. Any "truths" that do not fit their definition are subsequently omitted from print. Omitted right along with those truths, however, include the issues and circumstances and realities that face many African-Americans. We either do not pass the "affluency" test with high enough marks to be considered worthwhile, or, whenever we do make to the news we face that same "double helix of irony" brought forth earlier. In a society of the masses, the media has taken it upon itself to desperately try and make certain that we will forever remain outcasts.