Discuss the emergence of the Hip Hop nation and the global popularity of Hip Hop. What features of Hip Hop give it such a massive, widespread appeal? How does Hip Hop’s political role relate to its role as a form of entertainment? Do the two elements work together, or does one overshadow the other?
Page 2
Contrast the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with the presidential election of Barack Obama in 2008. Do the two events suggest a substantial change in racial attitudes in a brief period of time? Or does a juxtaposition of the two events suggest that class has become more important than race in the distribution of political and social influence?
Page 3
What accounts for the disparities in health between white and black Americans? Is the root cause of these disparities economic or racial? Can the health crisis be solved within the black community itself or does it need to be addressed by outside intervention from the federal government? Would even government intervention be able to address the problem, or does it require a fundamental restructuring of America’s social and economic structures?
