Social Justice Event: Rwandan Genocide

For my social justice event, I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda, directed Terry George, that starred Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, and Nick Nolte. The movie is about the Rwandan Genocide, and details the majority group, the Hutus, going after the minority group, the Tutsi. What was interesting was how this relates to how immigrants are being an example of a minority group and are being marginalized against. I'm not saying that I agree with illegal immigrants being allowed to stay here without going through the process of becoming a citizen, but that doesn't change the fact that it is happening.  

The article "All Lives Matters" pretty much counters the who idea of kicking immigrants out, with the main idea of it being that all lives really do matter, and also that we shouldn't look down at others just because they are a minority, unlike what the Hutu did to the Tutsi. 

McIntosh argues the idea that the "black lives are not being respected in our community." This is a similar situation with immigrants, with Republicans wanting all illegals to be deported back to their own country. 

Johnson liked to focus on the terms power, privilege and difference. Specifically looking at power, majority groups seem to have much more power in the world. The Hutus had so much power that they were able to kill off a majority of the Tutsi. 

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/individuals-and-society/discrimination/a/examples-of-discrimination-in-society-today
https://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/islamophobia-anti-muslim-prejudice-definition-discrimination-government-prevent-dominic-grieve-a7820486.html 

"The Problem We All Live With"

In this podcast, the speakers talked about the idea of integrated schools, and how beneficial that they are to students. While thinking about what this podcast was talking about, I wanted to see what my classmates were thinking about this topic. I read over Emily's blog to see what her thoughts on this subject were, and many interesting points were brought up. The thought that really resonated with me was at the end of her post, saying that "The kids that are doing better in school can really influence students who have worse grades." This really does make so much sense. In my high school, it seemed like a lot of the times, education and grades were seen more as competition between students, rather than a focus on helping everyone succeed. And me being not the best student in every class seemed distant from others. However, it was enjoyable when my friends that were far more academically gifted than myself helped me out and made me a better student. 

Question: What other type of problems with integration are found in today's public schools?

In Service of What?

In this article, authors Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer merits the attention of teachers, policy makers, and academicians who take seriously the idea that learning and service reinforce each other and should come together in America's schools. While I was reading this article, what caught me attention was the thought of how teachers want their students to think politically, with the authors writing, "Our goal is not to replace consensus with conflict, but rather to point out the various ideological, political, and social goals that can be promoted by service learning activities in schools." This got me thinking about my first year at RIC, and how one of my teachers would do something similar to this. I'm not going to use any names, but this teacher would talk the first 20 minutes of some of the classes about her political views and would bash the president and others. Honestly, I didn't pay this much attention to when she/he did this, and would sometimes leave the room when this happened. In my own opinion, teachers should not be allowed to do this type of thing; they should keep their political views to themselves. It seems morally wrong, to me, for a teacher to insult a political officer and try to get her/his students to support them.

http://www.nea.org/tools/52576.htm

Question: What are the limits to what a teacher can talk about politics to in a classroom?

planned parenthood

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1K39smbqkWLPVsuK_u_V74XMG25KjWZzhDSAsnM1WGC4/edit#slide=id.g441a1db850_0_55

Gender and 2018 Election

In the articles "Stacey Abrams Didn’t Play It Safe. Neither Do These Female Candidates" by Susan Chira and Matt Flegenheimer and "Jill Soloway on Donald Trump, Locker Rooms and Toxic Masculinity" by Jill Soloway the topics mainly focusing around the ideas of gender and their roles in politics and our democratic society. 

In the first article, Soloway talks about the idea of "toxic masculinity," which she describes as "why most violence on this planet is done by men to men, why nearly all of the sexual violence is done by men." She also talks about the common misconception that has integrated itself into our society: "Boys will be boys and this is just the way it." When she said this, I thought back to the article talking about the childhood movies and cartoons that we watched. That article talked about how we view things in a certain way, based on shows we watched from 10+ years ago. I have learned from that article that that way that we think sometimes, almost subconsciously, is wrong and must change, just like the "toxic masculinity" Soloway describes. Both must change. 

The second article describes the journey of Stacey Abrams, who became the first he first black female major party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. Chira and Flegenheimer talks about how Abrams spent the first couple days of her initial campaign just "defending my right to run." She talks about how her race and color throw people off, and how they would focus more on her race than her political views. This made me think back to the ideas that were presented back in Allan G. Johnson's "Privilege, Power and Difference." Just the title of this article can be used to relate back to Abrams issues during her campaign. Candidates who are white and part of the majority don't have the same problems that people that are part of the minority (races) face, and such, they have more power and privilege in society. However, I also remembered the wheel that Johnson used in his article, with the inside factors being unchangeable, while the outside factors were changeable, and race was in the middle. I never viewed this as something that could change or not, however. I viewed this as the outside topics will more likely generate argument and conversation rather than someones age or physical abilities. It's because Abrams is black that people had a problem with her running, not because she is a woman. Basically, someones race, as demonstrated with Abrams, will cause more commotion than gender, which is how I really believed these connected. 

So that raises the question: besides for race, what will cause more commotion and argument in a political sense? 

https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/what-we-mean-when-we-say-toxic-masculinity 

 

"11 and gender fluid: suits, ties and other staples from my daughter’s closet"

In her article "11 and Gender Fluid: Suits, Ties and Other Staples From my Daughter’s Closet," Erin Zelle describes the struggles that her daughter faces in her life, because her style of clothing is "gender fluid." While reading this, there were many interesting quotes that stuck out to me. 

1. "I find myself furious and frustrated. It seems so basic to me: Let her be who she wants to be. I remind myself that kids fear what's unfamiliar."What makes this quote so interesting is more towards the end of it. The part that says "kids fear what's unfamiliar" i believe can be said about anybody. We, as humans, can't help but be afraid of what we don't know about. During the Age of Exploration, we feared what was across the ocean because we didn't know anything about it. We fear things at the bottom of the ocean because it is very unfamiliar to us. 

2. "A lightness followed. It was as though Sullivan's skin finally fit, gloriously and comfortably, and she was finally her own — exactly as she wanted to be." This is just something that strikes home with me personally. I believe that everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin, and not allow anyone to tell them that their style sucks, or that they look horrible or ugly. I understand this. I'm not the a fashionista, nor am I the most handsome person in the world, but I really don't care. I like how I dress and how I look, and everyone should feel this way about themselves. Never try and change who you are or what you look like in order to please others. 

3. "This summer has been difficult and she has had a particularly rough time at the day camp she's been attending in Altadena. A common and heartbreaking refrain caps off most days, "The girls tell me I'm in the wrong bathroom and don't believe me when I say I'm a girl," she tells me. "They ask me to leave."This is part of the problem. People shouldn't be mean to someone just because they dress differently than you, or if they look different. It's just so insulting and low to be mean to someone based off of their looks. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRz0WRaQwmw

"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"

In her article, "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us," Linda Christensen talks about the role that the media plays in of giving children early hints of racism in certain books and TV shows. Christensen argues that the media plays an important role in planting certain ideas of racism and stereotypes in children, based on what they watch in TV and in reading books. She uses multiple questions that she asks her students about the roles of different characters, saying "How does the film portray overweight people! What about women other than the main character? What jobs do you see them doing! What do they talk about! What are their main concerns! What would young children learn about women's roles in society if they watched this film and  believed it!What roles do money, possessions, and power play in the film?Who has it? Who wants it? What would children learn about whats important in society?" She utilizes these questions in saying that minority groups such as blacks and Hispanics often play the roles of servants and poor people, whalst the rich and affluent are often played by white men and women.

I think that children are often taken advantage of with all the shows and childish movies that they are shown on channels such as Disney and other animation companies. I often remember that nearly every single thing that Christensen said was true, with the blacks and Hispanics are playing the poorer people in society. Also, it was interesting to see with they teach us about attraction and love. As shown in the cartoon below, Disney believes the best way for men to attract women is to be rich and handsome, rather than focus on being nice or appreciative. This is not the way that we are taught when we all grow up and learn different things.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/movies-that-defy-gender-stereotypes