Humor for the last post. Rated R

Dave Chappelle is a black comedian who uses racism and the mocking of blacks to portray the world he lives in. In one of his skits, he was a white supremacist, that was blind. Being a black man, this gave the world the perspective of how our community can easily stereotype blacks and how easy it is for people to follow the traits of racism. I think this video is self-speaking so enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQtysS7fB4k

Black Shopping

In regards to my last post, here is something that drives me nuts. Racial profiling while shopping. Recently, a bunch of black people have been recording themselves shop in various stores to profile how the people working in the stores treat them. From being followed around the entire store, to be denied service because the manger or clerk feels as though the item may be too expensive for the black people. Racial profiling is well and alive within the shopping world and here is a clip to prove it. This vine famous black male shows us exactly how he is followed in a store because the worker has suspicion of him stealing something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q32NhDy4ZQg

"I live in two worlds"

Anwar Sanders is an African-American police officer who feels as though he lives a double world. This is a vey interesting perspective with the events that have been occurring lately in our country. His double world is that of a black man, and that of a police officer. He makes remarks about how he is followed around convenience stores because the owner is suspect of them committing a crime, to old women being scared of him walking past with bags because they are scared he will take them. But little do these people know that just hours prior, he was protecting them from harm in the streets.

Anwar Sanders spoke out and gave the U.S a very interesting perspective of a man who lives a double life. One of fear, and one of protection. Here is the link to the cnn interview, it is truly moving.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/opinion/sanders-police-officer-ferguson-garner-protests/index.html?hpt=ju_t3 

Why teach it?

Racism is a terrible act within our world today, but why is it something we teach? If our education system didn't remind the youth of our past with blacks and white, would racism still exist today? I have had this same thought for a while now, and just the other day I found a video of a very motivational person who feels the same way as I do. Here is an awesome clip of Morgan Freeman on his thoughts about racism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2d2SzRZvsQ

I feel as though this is how everyones brain should work these days so we no longer have an issue of racism.

White Like Me in class Movie

     In class, we watched a movie that was based upon the different beliefs among current american citizens on the topic of racism. The main focus I felt as though was the 2008 election of President Obama. Reporters and newscasters would make remarks such as "this broke the barrier, racism will no longer exist." This sparked much controversy because it is still evident in present day that racism still exist. Prior to the election, the movie highlighted an interview with a white male that said "I would never vote for a black." This statement and interview really exemplified the belief that racism truly does exist.

Another portion of this movie that was very interesting was the breakdown of the votes in Southern states. During the 2008 election, it was found that the majority of people who voted against Obama were older white men in the southern states. Some were on the democratic side but still would not vote for him because he is a man of color.

     This movie was very appropriate in class because of the current events going on in Ferguson. Riots and protest have sparked because a police officer was not charged with the murder of a young black male. I feel as though it was appropriate because it took us through time and projected multiple events that racism was a major part of. The trial in Ferguson will be one that will go down in history and portray a world in the year 2014 where people still face the challenges of racism

Trump firing shots at President Obama

     During this worldwide outbreak of the fatal disease Ebola, the actions being taken by some people are being heavily questioned by others. If West Africa is heavily affected by the disease right now, why is it that President Obama is sending 4,000 of our troops over there to help. This question has sparked debate among very wealthy and powerful people in America. A couple of days ago Donald Trump, one of Americas wealthiest, posted a video on Instagram calling out President Obama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKBcZ70fKrU 

     The debate this brings up is whether or not we as a country should be helping West Africans while they are in the midst of a catastrophe. Donald Trump voices the opinion of millions of Americans who feel the same way. Other major people in the United States like Sen. Rand Paul have voiced their opinion on how they feel as though sending our troops over their is ridiculous.

     " Right now 4000 U.S. troops are stupidly heading to West Africa to help fight Ebola.No help from China, Russia or wealthy African oil nations" @DonaldTrump

This tweet was released on October 9th and sparked much controversy around the country about what actions we should take to fight this disease. Arguments are coming from both directions. Some believe that if we don't help, than we are at risk of the disease making a much larger problem. While others feel that if we don't help, we are going to be fine and have a minimal amount of Ebola cases.

Mock Trial of Plessy v. Ferguson

     For our second mock trial during class, Professor Smith chose to use the famous case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This case is a model case of the 13th and 14th amendment which preserve equality among the people. The problem was that Plessy purchased a white "train car" ticket, therefore he was going against the "Separate car act." The separate car act made it that train cars were separate, determined by race, but equally nice.
     Arguments brought up during the trial were that of color and segregation. Plessy was a man who was 7/8th a white man, and only 1/8th a black man. I believe with this being the case, the overrulling color should be that of the person. Therefore, there wouldn't be a problem with Plessy to go on the white persons train car. But because he was 1/8th a black man, he was kicked off the train car prior to getting to where he was headed. Another argument was that of any type of segregation is illegal and there shouldn't be any in the train cars. This argument was opposed because it is stated that Louisiana had the right to do what they wanted to do with their rail road cars within the states boundaries. During the time, there were law distinctions among blacks and whites, but it was never stated that blacks were lesser than the whites. So there is segregation, but according to law, it is equal. This case was important in history because it was a model for the "separate but equal" law.  

Ebola Hits the United States

     Ebola has officially been diagnosed to a person within the United States. According to who.int, ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. There has been a breakout in Africa recently of the disease and people have feared that it would be brought over to the states. Well, it happened. Just today, the CDC confirmed that a man who was traveling to the states from Liberia had brought the disease with him. The man who was diagnosed with Ebola currently is in Texas in an isolation chamber so the disease can not spread. Doctors say that people who were on his flight to America should not worry about catching the disease, but the people in his family have a chance of catching it. Hospitals have been preparing for Ebola to come here and also lawmakers have been too. There goal is to make sure the disease doesn't spread to hundreds and hundreds of people like it has in Africa. Luckily, this disease can only be caught by liquid interaction among people. So no, being around someone with Ebola will not get you infected. This disease has been in the minds of all Americans recently and could have a major impact if the disease does spread throughout the country. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/30/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0HP2F720140930

     With the biggest current event being the attacks on Syria, Professor Smith introduced me to an interesting article that speaks about what is going on. Never would I have thought that the actions of our commander and chief would be illegal and go against his constitutional rights. My interest in this topic initially started when I spoke to Professor Smith about how he felt the U.S was reacting to the beheading of our citizens. Prior to speaking with him, I never thought of the U.S as a country that would commit crimes that relate so much to terrorism. Now with us bombing Syria, it just makes it look even worse. So far, the U.S has reported 10 innocent civilian deaths within Syria. We, as a country, are taking the lives of innocent people because we feel as though we can. The biggest problem with this situation is how it was brought about. President Obama used the approval for the attack on Al Qaeda after the attacks on 9/11 to launch this act of war against ISIS. The approval that he used is over a decade old and was only intended to act upon those who were part of the attacks on 9/11. ISIS did not even exist at the time of 9/11.  Therefore, the act of war that President Obama activated is illegal and could lead Congress to impeach him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/opinion/obamas-betrayal-of-the-constitution.html?_r=0

Mann vs. State Case

Today in class, we attempted our first representation of a trial in a case involving a "fee" for a slave-owner harming his own slave. The court included a judge, 4 prosecutors, and 4 defendants. The prosecutors stood strong during their prosecution and had some valid points that easily could've provoked the Judge to stay with the initial fee. But the defendants were very sturdy with the information they provided to the court. Using the Bible and the 3/5 of a person rule dramatically helped them defend Mr. Mann. I felt as though simulating a court case really helped myself learn about the time period and how people would defend something that today we would think was wrong. The main argument was that an African American is only  3/5 of a person, more so just property.

http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~ras2777/amgov/slavery2.html

The link above is to an article about the events surrounding the compromise to make a slave 3/5 a person. It speaks of ideas/choices that the North and the South strongly disagreed upon. It also talks about the rules and regulations with slaves and how they should be treated in some situations.

1st Article - ISIS fights back

Please read this portion first, then continue to the second paragraph.    
     The article that I have attached is one that looks at the point of view from Vice President Joe Biden. While reading this article, think about how you would feel about what is going on overseas. How do you feel about this? Is it terrorism? Or is it just a repercussion for our actions?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/03/world/meast/isis-beheading-videos/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

     During the war on terrorism, the United States has been dropping bombs on the Islamic State in Iraq better known as ISIS. This terrorist group is responding in a very vicious and vulgar way. So far, they have sent the United States two videos of American reports being beheaded along with a message for Obama to stop the bombings. The way that America looks at this situation is that they are a terrorist group killing our people. Well, what about how the ISIS people think about our country? Our army has been dropping bombs on their community killings innocent people, including children and their mothers. So the real question is, does the United States deserve this? Is ISIS actually a terrorist group? In my opinion, after listening to what Prof. Smith had to say, is that we caused this all on our own and they are just fighting back. The United States feels as though we can kill innocent people without any repercussions. The ISIS people are trying to send a message to us and if we do not stop, the heads of our people will be no longer. Our country has put us in a situation in which we do not like, but now we know how the families of the innocent people that we kill feel like.