It was really interesting to listen to the LWYL Cafe about prison arts. Jennifer Stoever, a professor at Binghamton University, presented on her research that she refers to as “The Sonic Color Line”. I had never before considered the fact that racism and stereotypes can be an issue through sound, and not only the visual senses. Her research incorporated her own experiences as a teacher and analyzes the power distribution in a classroom. This was really interesting to me, and I had never before thought about connotations with “quiet” and “loud” in terms of the different stereotypes that people have. She further peaked my interest when asking questions like “What does curiosity sound like?” I love learning about different angles from which you can address a problem, and I think it would be interesting to learn more about the way sounds impact stereotypes in our society!

This prison arts session was an incredibly eye-opening event that exposed me to the different interconnections between art and systemic racism, as well as the criminal justice system in the United States. One of the points mentioned that mainly caught my attention was the synesthesia of racism. Race, despite it being a ‘visual entity,’ can also be expressed through sound, and this sound can be used as a discriminatory tool. As it was explained by Professor Jennifer Lynn Stoever, there is important intersectionality between race and gender and black women have been pressed since their childhoods through the use of sound and silencing. Black girls are stereotyped as noisy since their early years of life; their unique voices and opinions have been dismissed and silenced throughout their lives. As a person who has never been a victim of discrimination because of my skin color, it is my duty to educate myself and others about the importance of uplifting black voices. In an America undergoing multiple crises, an important step toward dismantling systemic racism is to understand the importance of intersectionality, as well as the connections between racism and the patriarchal nature of our world.

During this seminar, I was exposed to a number of major issues the United States still has. One issue that really caught my attention was prisons and how they should be reformed. One of the participants of the seminar, Larry Greene, spoke of how prisons are difficult to live inside and mostly change people for the worst. Additionally, people who get out of prison would be discriminated against by society, and be forced to steal again. He spoke of how he was extremely fortunate and that he was able to join a theater club in order to help express himself freely and have time to explore his own personality while in prison. 

Back when I was growing up, the local neighborhood consensus was that prisons are a place for criminals to rot and pay for the crimes they did. However, I never really understood this point of view and knew that there was some other way. Larry Greene helped illustrate that there is another way. From what Larry Greene said about his experience in prison, we should be developing more programs like theater in prisons to help people explore what they like to do freely and let them develop into a better person. Additionally, we should give prisoners the option to learn and even develop a trade while in prison. This could allow for more prisoners to be helped by the system, not hurt by it. Yes, not all prisoners will be able to change for the better. However, I think that many of the people who ended up in jail were in unfortunate situations, and in reality, want to become better people. In the long run, this could help reduce overall crime rates and make America into a safer country as well.