The Great Depression Brought Changes to Art in Many Ways Essay Example for Free

The Great Depression Brought Changes to Art in Many Ways Essay Life In America was more open and out going then normal. Jazz clubs opened up at mostly every block, where young vibrant people would go drink and dance the night away. This kind of social activity was looked down upon by older citizens that thought this kind of behavior was inappropriate. This would ultimately lead up to prohibition and the first time ver in American history an amendment was excused making alcohol illegal in the United States. This caused crime rates to skyrocket within American cities causing some of the most notorious gangsters in American history to emerge, such as A1 Capone. So many other things came out of the roaring 20s, such as inventions of the automobile, radio and airplanes, new fashion styles, skyscrapers and movies. With life changing, so did art. Mostly throughout the 1920s there were a variety of art movements and styles that were popular. Such as surrealism, Art Deco, reglonallsm and with new technologies came photography and also film. In 1929 the stock market crashed causing many people jobs and their life savings. Banks were continuing to fail and jobless workers would rely on crime and theft to support their families. With the stock market crash and many people in debt, this paved the way for many artists to express their feelings, through painting, architecture [pic]and photography. One of the most popular art movements during this time was known as American Scene painting. This art movement rejected the earlier European Modernist and abstract styles. It primarily depicted realistic scenes of American life. One of the famous American scene painters was Charles Sheeler and was known as a Precisionist painter. HIS paintings mainly consisted of simplified forms of American factories and buildings and used crisped defined edges with smooth brushwork throughout his paintings. Above is his famous work titled simply mostly found in American architecture, Jewelry, furniture, clothes and handcrafts through out the 1920s. Its geometrical design with parallel lines kept the sleekness style throughout the 1920s. Surrealism was originally formed in Europe and with art students from America they had brought the style over to the United States. Some of the most popular surrealist was Alexander Calder and Joseph Cornell. Calder was a sculptor and an engineer who was inspired by surrealist painters in Europe to sculpt and create moveable pieces of art. One of his famous works was Lobster Trap and Fish Tail. All of the parts moved, not mechanically, but with the wind. People think he was an abstract artist, but he wanted to stimulate the imagination. Regionalism was another art movement that was influenced by the American Scene painting. Grant Wood was a regionalist painter who focused on the everyday living in America. His American Gothic is a realistic painting of what appears to be a husband and wife in front of their farm house. But it is actually supposed to be an older Iowa farmer and his daughter. The Regionalist movement is divided into two groups. One is the social realist and was influenced by the social troubles of the lower class. The other was the Regionalist and they were more focused of the positive side of things (such as Grant Wood), hoping to drive America out of the depression. A Regionalist painter named Thomas Hart Benton, painted his Instruments of Power from the mural America today. Which shows a mural of all sorts of technological improvements during this time period. It consists of a train, plain, electric towers, steam engines and other symbols of industry. The social realists were primarily focused on the American worker and sought to change the hard economic times of the Great Depression. In fact, most of the social realists rejected idealism and focused their attention o n how the artists saw the subjects and depicted how they felt about the subject. Social realist style was associated with hard-edged muscular figures that are distorted and morphed. The movements main goal was to show struggles of the working America. The leading social realist during this time was Aaron Douglas, who was also the leading artists for the Harlem Renaissance. During World War l, million of African Americans moved to the north to look for jobs. In the south there was not much opportunity at all for African Americans. This would be later called the Great Migration. This would cause great racial tension in the north. In Harlem, eager to share their social thoughts with the rest of the world, African Americans would then explore their new surroundings and experiment with usic, writing and art that revolutionize the Harlem Renaissance. Aaron Douglas would be the forefront of the Harlem Renaissance. He would produce great works, such as Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction. This piece was meant for African Americans to realize they are part of this world and this country. The painting is a reenactment of the Emancipation Proclamati on, which suggests that Douglas was trying to reinforce their part in history. Douglass style was highly influenced abstract style. He would use a limited color palette in his paintings using a ariety of light and dark contrasts within his works. In contrast to Aaron Douglas, a young Jacob Lawrence would appear, painting a series called The Migration of the station. He used an abstract style and simple shapes that fits the forms of Cubism and African American folk art. In March 1933, newly elected president Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested a plan to revitalize the American economy. The plan was called the new deal and was simply a promise to the American people that this new plan would get America out of the economic depression. Many organizations came out of this new deal plan. For starving artist, this gave them a prime opportunity to make money and also to show their works of art. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was an organization that was going to give artist work. The PWAP did not last long but it gave artists a reviving boost. Then in 1935 a much similar organization established called the Federal Art Project (FAP) employed over 5,000 artists from 1935 to 1943. Artists such as Michael Lensin would benefit from this organization. His mural Mining gives a true understanding of the American worker. Much of the FAP art were murals, sculptures nd frescos that still exist throughout the country. Most of the subject matter in these works of art was mainly about American struggle and American prosperity and achievements. These organizations would not Just produce painters, but would also produce great photographers that would capture real live images of people. This new technology would then revolutionize photography and will inspire future photographe rs throughout history. Photography was the most popular forms of art during the Great Depression. With new technology for cameras it was easy for photographers to capture images everywhere they went. The photographs captured real people with real struggles. It also captured the harsh reality of the Great Depression. Many photographers would go a different course and try to promote more positive images such as young people dancing and having a good time. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) would hire these photographers to capture certain images to promote positive life. The Great Depression was a time period when people needed to see the harsh realities of the Depression and how it effect people, especially the lower class citizens. A photographer such as Walker Evans was known as one of the masters of hotography. He took pictures of many people during the Great Depression and showed the grueling struggles of Americans. Walkers use of lighting, composition and capturing great detail was what made him a pioneer in the photography world. His photos of sharecroppers and immigrants during the Depression show the harsh realities of their situation. He was hired by the Farm Securit y Administration (FSA) to take a series of photographs of families living in run down homes. A photo taken in 1936 shows a family living in poor and dirty conditions posing in front of the camera. They all look run down and defeated. He placed them directly into the center of photograph making sure that they were the focal point of this picture. You can see throughout the picture Just how terrible these living conditions were. He would then carry out more series of photographs of the lower class during the Great Depression. imagery of the Depression to show viewers the impact of the struggling economy. The Farm Security Administration was aware of how photographs impacted public thought. There are Pictures such as mioung Girls Knitting Stockings in Southern Hosiery Mill by Lewis W. Hine, which shows girls in a factory working in a harsh tmosphere. This was an earlier photo taken during World War l. He would then focus more on the progress of America. He took an extraordinary photo called Rivetting on the dome, a quarter mile up. It was a photo taken of workers during the construction of the Empire State building. Some photographers took pictures of the positive, many photographers were more curious about the stru ggles during the Great Depression. One photographer in particular was Dorothea Langes

Documenting The Depression Essay -- essays research papers

Documenting the Depression: The FSA photographers and Rural Poverty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Great Depression fell hard in the year of 1935 bringing what seemed to some people the end of the world. But in truth, the Great Depression was nothing near the end of the world, in fact the year of 1935 was not the first year nor was it the last year that many families had suffered and went hungry due to lack of work. Families forced to leave their home. Children going in hunger while their bellies pierced with pain. Mothers trying desperately to keep the family together while holding the brunt of the problems due to the depression. The husbands feeling the guilt for not having a job and thinking that it is his fault. Children scream with lack of food and sheer boredom as the families pack their bags and head towards California in hopes to find work and the start of a new life. This is a painted picture of what one might have saw during the Great Depression. However, we need not imagine what it might have been like. What pictures might have looked like because we already know.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Photography was a technological advance during the nineteenth century and although not many people had cameras, the ones that did, did not miss the opportunity to capture the cruel times of that period. In John Vachon’s picture taken in 1940, he shows an abandoned farmhouse in Ward County, North Dakota. Vachon also takes a picture of the living quarters of a fruit packing home for the workers in Berrien, Michigan in 1940. The small confinements of the house could barely suit one person let alone a whole family. Dorothea Lang, another photographer of that time shots photos of a migrant mother in Nipomo, California in 1936. Her face stern and wrinkled. A look of sadness and concern appears on her tired face while her two children cling on to her shoulder. She also took a picture of a Mexican migrant workers home in Imperial Valley, California in 1937. His home is merely anymore than a small bedroom. A shack made out of cardboard and what appears to be aluminu m. Once again, hardly set for one person let alone a family. These conditions were not anything unusual. Unfortunately, those were the times during the Great Depression and the photographers could not have captured them any better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Depression ended because of... ..., North Carolina in 1939. That picture was taken by Marion Post Wolcott and it shows the owner neatly pressed wearing a black suit and hat smoking a cigar. Arthur Rothstein took another picture in 1940 that one also depicts an owner of a mule dealer in Creedmoor, North Carolina neatly pressed in a black suit only smoking a cigarette as opposed to a cigar. Those were the people who didn’t care that people were suffering, they didn’t care if they had no home and most of all, they didn’t care if children went hungry. They were in it for they money. So when I look at those pictures and think what the American middle class worker at that time would think, I hatefully have to say that they would not care one way or another. You win some, you lose some.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Depression was a tragic era in history. To sum up the feelings and hard times that people had suffered through would be nearly impossible. But like I stated in the previous pages, the pictures tell no lies. The pictures cannot erase the expression on people’s faces or the appearance that portray. The evidence is in the pictures, it always has been and it will remain to do so until the end of time.

Gone with the Wind

The movie Gone with the Wind (1939) is considered the most beloved, popular and of everlasting relevance. It has won several Oscar awards in 1939. Produced by David O Selznick, and directed by Victor Fleming, the film was released a few months after WWII began in Europe. It enabled the American viewers to identify with the war and its theme of survival. It was based on a novel written by Margaret Mitchell about civil war and reconstruction in America. Producer, David O Selznick had obtained the movie right to Mitchell’s novel in 1936 for $50,000. The renowned film was shot in Technicolor which was used very rarely in those times. The historical classic movie of the Old South during civil war period boasts of an eternal cast in a timeless, classic tale of love-hate romance. The movie covers the various romantic pursuits of the resolute heroine Scarlett OHara, against the background of historical events. Ashley, the man she loves marries her cousin, Melanine. She finds it difficult to find love during the civil war years and is forced to seek shelter for herself and her family in the plantation Tara. She defends it against union soldiers, carpetbaggers and even against starvation. Scarlet marries Rhett Butler but the marriage fails due to her indifference towards him. She again returns to Tara. Cinematography: Cinematography is the art of making camera and lighting choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.Techniocolour was not widely used when the film Gone with the Wind was being filmed. Moreover, it carried several disadvantages. Selznick borrowed all the seven heavy, cumbersome cameras of the Technicolor Corporation for shooting. Each picture had colour consulant who had the power to reject any colour scheme she felt was incompatible with colour cinematography. Moreover, the technical advisers, who were supposed to assist the cinematographers, had only worked with black and white film. Technicolor required double the amount of lighting for illumination of a scene. Selznick had previously worked with technicolour. He knew that it would be very important in giving Gone with the Wind visual richness needed for a classic drama. Actually, Selznick wanted the film’s colour to have the same impact as the characters emotions. He was so determined in it and went to the extent of dismissing the first cinematographer, Lee Garmes, for choosing a colour scheme which Selznick thought was very much subdued. The next cinematographer, Ernest Haller, was more successful in obtaining more glowing effects. Selznick had realized that shadow formed an important part in a scene’s visual impact. He asked his colour consultant to shoot Scarlett and her father on the hill at Tara. With the farm gleaming brightly in the distance, the ensuing farming effect strongly emphasizes Gerald’s feeling about the significance of the land. Selznick employs this silhouetting to the similar effect in the film’s final scene, when Scarlett stands on the same mount as she comes home to Tara. Another use of shadow is to highlight moments that focus on relationship between characters in the film. It is first used in the form of the frightening shadows Melanie and Scarlett cast on the walls of temporary hospital. Later on, delivery of Melanie’s baby is lighted with silver streams of light. The darkness in the scene renders it more personal and gives it a powerful simplicity. (Fleming, 1939). The use of Matte painting was another technique which Selznick adapted from black and white film to Technicolour. When a shot is filmed, the area to be painted in afterwards is covered with black matte paint on a glass screen positioned in front of the camera. Afterwards, a colour scale illustration of the omitted portion is shot to cover the blacked out area. Clarence Silfer, the special effects cinematographer of Gone with the Wind used the technique to complete a number of sets that were only partially finished. All, Outhouses, Tara’s side views, background vegetation, the train station roof, the twelve oak plantation, the decorations in the old armoury, some of the wounded soldiers lying on the ground in long shots, and an entire street of burning houses, were matte paintings Film editing Editing is the art of establishing rhythm in film. People often does not notice or acknowledge the contribution of film editor. Major aspects of the editing of a film are created outside the editing room. The director, script writer, and photographer are also involved in editing. One of the responsibilities of the editor is to ensure that intentions of the scriptwriter have correctly been portrayed in the film. Hal C. Kern, the film editor of Gone with the Wind, won the Oscar award for film editing. One can clearly observe that smooth flow of events which are portrayed in the film. In this film, there is an outstanding use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood. Production design Production designer is the in charge of the film’s art department which consists of an art director, prop master, costume designer and a ser decorator. He works in close association with director, and director of photography to produce film’s feel and look by choosing the right shapes, colours and compositions for each shot. A production designer’s duties cover far beyond extending support because a movie is eventually a visual medium, its visual material is almost like another character, itself producing a mood and bringing out an emotional response from the spectators. Production design involves lot of planning and the production designer should be able to strike a balance between his own creative vision with the film’s need for authenticity of place and time. Lyle Wheeler, the art director of Gone with the Wind, won an Oscar for his efforts in the movie. Work cited Fleming, Victor. Dir. Gone with the Wind, (1939). Selznick I

Essay about Clothing and Gender in Virginia Woolfs Orlando

Clothing and Gender in Virginia Woolfs Orlando In her novel Orlando, Virginia Woolf tells the story of a man who one night mysteriously becomes a woman. By shrouding Orlandos actual gender change in a mysterious religious rite, we readers are pressured to not question the actual mechanics of the change but rather to focus on its consequences. In doing this, we are invited to answer one of the fundamental questions of our lives, a question that we so often ignore because it seems so very basic - what is a man? What is a woman? And how do we distinguish between the two? It seems that in ordinary life, we are most likely to distinguish between a man and a woman by clothing. This is more difficult to do in the present day, in which†¦show more content†¦Perhaps the Turkish trousers, which she had hitherto worn had done something to distract her thoughts; and the gypsy women, except in one or two important particulars, differ very little from the gipsy men. (153) Clearly, it is much easier for a sex change to take place in an androgynous culture such as the one Orlando is leaving - by an androgynous culture, I mean a culture in which there is little difference between the roles of women and men - than in a culture like the English one to which she is returning, in which a much stricter set of rules govern social interaction. This is why the attempts of Orlando to pass (to borrow the term used by the transgender community) as a woman are so amusing. Socialized as a man, Orlando at first has no idea how to be a woman. The symbolic value of clothing, however, extends well beyond its use to differentiate the genders. Clothing in itself - pants, shirts, dresses, and the like - has in this novel little symbolic value other than to tell male from female. But jewelry also plays a significant role here - and it is in the jewelry that Orlando wears that she is truly able to pass for a member of the nobility. We must recall that she undergoes two transformations during the novel. The first, from male to female, is quite obvious. The second is a bit more subtle - it is the transformation from a member of the nobility to something resembling a commoner. (Of course, it seems that Orlando never officially leaves theShow MoreRelatedGender Inequality By Virginia Woolf s Orlando Essay1179 Words   |  5 Pages Virginia Woolf’s Orlando offers a pointed critique of gender inequality through its usage and portrayal of androgyny and fashion. The common perception of gender is threefold; people define gender t hrough physical difference, behavior, and a visual perception of sex. Gender is inherently unstable because it is dependent more upon an onlookers’ reality than scientific difference. Woolf uses androgyny and fashion in order to illustrate the insignificance of physical body: If a woman acts like a manRead MoreVirginia Woolf s Orlando Is A Work That Bends The Rules Of Multiple Ways1859 Words   |  8 PagesVirginia Woolf’s Orlando is a work that bends the rules in multiple ways. It plays with the idea of biographies, it questions the nature of fiction writing, it incorporates humor in bizarre ways. And on top of all that it brings into view certain controversial topics, and certain prejudices of Woolf’s time. The two prejudices this paper will be focusing on are homophobia and sexism. By looking at the character of Orlando and examining his/her relationships, romantic feelings, and place in societyRead MoreOrlando by Virgina Woolf2043 Words   |  8 PagesIn V irginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando, she flawlessly interlaces the realism of biography with elements of science fiction. In a time where every work of fiction was subject to the discerning eye of obscenity law, the discussion of sensitive topics, which went against the grain of public acceptance were susceptible to censure. The insertion of fantastical elements allow Woolf to fly under the radar of obscenity law, and experiment with the deconstruction of gender and the uprising of androgyny, as wellRead More Womens Roles During Times of War and Virginia Woolfs Three Guineas2915 Words   |  12 PagesWomens Roles During Times of War and Virginia Woolfs Three Guineas With the prevalence of war goddesses in most traditions from China to Greece to Ireland, women have been separated from the front lines of war for centuries. The goddesses, the divine representations of women in the ideal, are torn between dual roles: that of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and just war, and that of Vesta, goddess of hearth and home. These two roles, warrior and mother, are not necessarily as very differentRead MoreJudith Butler in Media Studies3516 Words   |  15 Pagesbiography of Judith Butler, a person would typically see a discussion of a highly intelligent philosopher of feminism, political theory, ethical and moral responsibility or gender studies. Her bibliographies are commonly describes as have a career focused on â€Å"research ranging from literary theory, modern philosophical fiction, feminist, gender and sexuality studies, to 19th- and 20th-century European literature and philosophy, Kafka and loss, mourning and war. Her most recent endeavors include an exploration

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Essay The Actions of Mathilde Losiel - 1245 Words

Life is a treasure box full of surprises that makes up the outgoing events of love, envy, joy, sorrow, and irony. In the short story, The Necklace, Madame Losiel is the wife of a poor clerk of the Minister of Education who thought about luxury (The Necklace). Since she caught the readers’ attention with her dowdy characteristics, she was also in the eye of the beholder (The Necklace). The narrator pictured her physical features by using imaginative adjectives such as â€Å"pretty† and â€Å"charming† (The Necklace). Madame Losiel was considered as a gorgeous young woman, but she did not understand the importance of life (The Necklace). She spent time thinking about how fortunate she wants to be, but did not spend time thinking about how important†¦show more content†¦After reading about her sadness at the beginning of the story, readers would think that she would be happy since she seldom receives invitations for occasions. Well, she was excited about the ball, but ends up throwing the tickets and sighs into her unhappiness (The Necklace). Once again, she was not content about anything (The Necklace). Every time she gets upset, her husband always ask â€Å"whats the matter?† or â€Å"whats wrong?† (The Necklace). His poor heart is filled with guilt and blamed himself for not going the extra mile. He found it difficult to find the tickets and he did her a favor-like always but the favor was not good enough (The Necklace). She claimed that she did not have any formal attire to attend the event (The Necklace). But why does she need a flamboyant dress when she is already a beautiful young woman (The Necklace)? She never takes the time out to praise her husband and let him know how much she adores him. She never does any wonderful things for him to make him feel like he is her husband. It is ironic how he puts up with her dissatisfaction; after all, they have been married for many years. Luxurious materials has always got the best of Madame Losiel. She wept to her husband and begged him to buy her a new gown for four- hundred francs (The Necklace). He saved her money to purchase a gun, but he gave her the francs anyway (The Necklace). It was a must for her to get something so that sheShow MoreRelated Necklace Assessment Essay1006 Words   |  5 PagesNecklace Assessment The story begins by showing the reader the main character, Mathilde Losiel. The narrator tells the reader about Mathildes thought towards her life. The character seems unhappy because she thinks that by some error she was born lower in the hierarchy, than she was made for. You are drawn into the story when you see the differences between her supposed life and the life she is living. You feel that she might get to live her supposed life when the story progresses. You

The Needs of American Cities for Policing Policy Free Essays

In analyzing the needs of American cities for policing policy for the future, race has to be considered in the equation. Researchers note that it is not possible to ignore the variable of race when describing the nature of policing in the United States. This includes efforts to develop a community policing concept, and race enters both for policing in the minority community and for the way policing does or does not use racial profiling so as to antagonize the minority community. We will write a custom essay sample on The Needs of American Cities for Policing Policy or any similar topic only for you Order Now In much of America, relations between the police and the African-American community have long been tense. In some regions, the police are viewed as an occupying army present not to protect the people but to control them and to keep them in their place. Numerous civil disturbances in recent decades can be traced to tensions between the police and the black community, from the riots of the summer of 1965 to the riot in Los Angeles after the first Rodney King verdict, from the problems in Crown Heights in New York to any number of disputed police shooting incidents in cities across the country. Even without a specific incident to set off a disturbance, there is often an underlying tension between poor black communities and the surrounding society, with the police serving as a symbol of that society: The very complex, diffuse, interrelated, but still independent nature of the social, political, and economic institutions within American society, supported by layers and layers of public and private bureaucracies often manipulated by elusive, anonymous power brokers, perpetually frustrate the attempts of Black Americans to modify and reorder societal arrangements in their favor. Therefore, the â€Å"system† is identified as the culprit (Wintersmith, 1974, p. 2). The fact that the police are the most likely target for black hostility and aggression, however, does not mean blacks do not have a real reason to fear the police or the rallying cry of â€Å"law and order†: For Black Americans this slogan connotes oppression, police occupation of Black communities, inequitable and selective police treatment, disregard for human and constitutional rights of Black citizens, and continued denial of equitable opportunity (Wintersmith, 1974, p. ). Community Policing is a program that links the actions of the police with citizen participation as part of an overall effort to solve the problems of the community by involving the community, and such an approach can help inform the public and gain public acceptance for the minority hire program a well. The community policing model is based on that sort of assumption and on the view that crime has many complex causes and that police departments cannot keep the streets safe by themselves. If crime is to be controlled, police must reach out to other local institutions, and indeed to the broader community at large, and create partnerships. Among the features of such a program are integrated investigations, team and neighborhood rather than a shift and divisional basis for officer deployment, foot patrols, and community service as a focus along with problem-oriented policing instead of mere crime-fighting. Programs of this sort mean a different structure for the police as well as altered functions, allocations of resources, and general attitude. This can be a challenge to traditional police department structures because the traditional method is to respond to citizen demand rather than to try to ascertain the underlying forces creating patterns of problems. The community policing method is proactive rather than responsive. The approach also calls attention to the degree to which the police are dependent on the public for support, information, and cooperation. A recent study suggests that the benefits of community policing may have been oversold to the public, but there are also indications that community policing needs to be given time to work and that the police and the community must become more comfortable with one another to create a better atmosphere (Moran Bucqueroux, 1995, p. 1057). One way for the police to learn more about the neighborhood and the residents is to be residents themselves. Requiring officers to live in the community is seen as a way of enhancing the community policing effort in a variety of ways and of adding to the comfort level on both sides. Police and citizens should see themselves as part of the same community. Informal and casual contact between police officers and the public occurs at different rates in different communities. Often, members of the public keep their distance from police officers out of concern that they will be investigated or somehow drawn into police activity or because of a general distrust of the police: â€Å"American studies show high social isolation of police officers in comparison with people in other occupations (Guyot, 1991, p. 279). Some see the police as having isolated themselves intentionally, leaving them open to charges of abusing their authority by coming into neighborhoods in which they have no stake and using their power unwisely. Community policing is seen as a way of reversing this. Wilson and Kelling (1989) note of crime, â€Å"Most crime in most neighborhoods is local: the offenders live near their victims† (Wilson Kelling, 1989, p. 46). This makes people in these neighborhoods feel less safe, just as they can be made to feel more safe if police offices live in the neighborhood. The officers need to be comfortable with the victims and to understand the perpetrators, and living in the community they serve. Bringing more minorities into the police department is also often emphasized as a way to reach and include the black community. The proper model for bringing new hires into the department and for finding more qualified minorities is recruitment rather than hiring. Most departments emphasize hiring, which means that applicants come in on their own and ask to join the department, after which they are evaluated. Recruitment involves seeking out qualified applicants and selling the idea and the department to them. This is a practice approach that can be conducted throughout the community, for individuals of all backgrounds, and this also avoids the quota stigma while including more minorities by identifying those who would fit the needs of the department. This still leaves a barrier in the form of the requirements for qualification, which need to be more flexible in order to emphasize training after acceptance rather than having the skills needed before applying. This idea would also extend the reach of the recruiter more deeply into minority groups (Carter Radelet, 1999, p. 173). The development of a proper plan for implementing recruiting means determining need on several bases, including short-term needs, medium-term needs, and long-term needs. For all, the department needs to develop â€Å"a marketing plan for recruiting that includes operational, tactical, and strategic objectives† (Carter Radelet, 1999, pp. 174-175). Developing a plan for hiring more minority officers can begin with analyzing what other departments have done to address the same issue, and some of what is found in a survey on the subject includes good recommendations for an approach to take. For instance, an Action Plan offered by the department in the Canadian city of Brantford includes noting that the minorities already in the department can be a great help in recruiting new minority hires by serving as the face of the department in certain communities. For instance, these officers can be depicted in recruitment materials in the law enforcement role whenever possible to encourage potential female and visible minority candidates. These officers can also be used to give active encouragement for the recruitment of potential candidates. They can also represent the department at high schools, colleges, and universities to attract potential candidates through continued participation in such things as the student co-op placement program, anti-vandalism program, and the High School Resource Officer program. These officers can also work with groups in the community representing the community diversity to build relationships and encourage potential candidates, which will also involve sitting on police liaison committees and hosting Citizenship Court (Recruiting Process, 2004). Allen (2003) suggests that the only way to keep police departments focused on minority hiring is by instituting an affirmative action program, but given recent court rulings and public attitudes, that is not a viable solution. Allen does note that keeping up with minority hiring is a problem because what is required always changes, as noted with reference to mesa, Arizona: The minority population is slowly yet steadily increasing. Both the increase in population and changes in ethnic demographics have affected the city’s public safety needs and contribute to the department’s difficulty in becoming more diverse (Allen, 2003). Among the problems noted for programs to hire more minorities are resistance from within from officers who feel threatened by change, community resistance, suits from those who believe they have been the target of reverse discrimination, and simple difficulties in finding qualified applicants. Programs useful in police hiring can be adapted to the specific needs of minority hiring. In order to improve the quality of police recruits in general, programs have been set up at the college and university levels in order to recruit better-educated officers. Such programs can be used effectively at traditionally back colleges and universities in order to garner attention and attract minority recruits from that population. Such an approach would also be key to bringing in more recruits who would be good candidates for advancement in order to improve the mix in managerial roles. One of the complaints leveled at some departments when they use affirmative action for minority hiring is that the level of recruits goes down, but this would not be the case with recruits attracted from minority colleges. Within the department, a mentor program can be created to empower existing minority officers to give assistance, training, and advice to new recruits, a program that would help all officers and the department as a whole and that would also be especially useful for keeping new minority hires on track so they do not get discouraged and resign, as often happens. The mentors also serve as role models of what advancement brings. Once the department is on it way to a more varied and advanced status, it can offer incentives to minority officers from other departments to transfer. This can be another way of gaining qualified recruits, especially for the management level, as such a move up can be offered as the incentive that attracts them in the first place. They can then serve as mentors to other minority applicants and help expand the reach of the department. Their experience can also be invaluable. Once these programs are in place, they must be maintained in order to keep the department fresh, at a proper level of minority employment, and at a high level of community involvement and service and a high level of overall competence. The degree of change in the department in terms of the makeup of the force will show how well the program is working, just as normal evaluations of the work performance of new hires and old will show that the change is beneficial to the department. This analysis shows that there is a need to consider race first in terms of the community and second in terms of the make-up of the police force. In both cases, this is because race remains a dividing issue and one that is exacerbated by most poling programs. Community policing offers at least the chance of improving the system and reducing both the threat to the community and antipathy from the community. How to cite The Needs of American Cities for Policing Policy, Essay examples