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

"Aria"

In his short excerpt from "Tongue Tied," "Aria," Richard Rodriguez describes the troubles that many families face with attempting to become bilingual speaking families, in order to succeed in school systems. Rodriguez stands by the fact and argues that it is important to speak different languages. In his excerpt, Rodriguez talks about his personal experiences with and without bilingual education, saying "Without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid. I would have trusted them and responded with ease," (pg. 1). It was just interesting how he uses his own personal connections in order to build his argument for bilingual education, and that it is something actually needs to be implemented.


Question: What are the big reasons for schools not to have a bilingual teaching method.

https://www.idra.org/resource-center/current-problems-in-bilingual-education-part-i/

"All Lives Matter"

In his article, "The Next Time Someone Says 'All Lives Matter,' Show Them These 5 Paragraphs," Kevin Roose talks about how certain wording of a phrase can often times have different outcomes than how it was intended to be taken. Some of the interesting quotes that stuck out in this article were:

1. "Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment — indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any!" What Roose means by using an example like this is that by simply saying that "I should get my fair share," it can be taken to generally, and given the dad's response of "everyone should get their fair share," often times incorrectly as well. 

2. "That's the situation of the "black lives matter" movement. Culture, laws, the arts, religion, and everyone else repeatedly suggest that all lives should matter. Clearly, that message already abounds in our society." This quote just undermines the entire idea of "black lives matter." With the second part of the quote speaking about how parts of everyday life already agree with this statement, it would also argue that the entire idea of this movement don't seem to make sense. Everyone that I've ever known his respected the idea of everyone of every race being equal, and about 99% of society is in agreement with this. 

3. "Just like asking dad for your fair share, the phrase "black lives matter" also has an implicit "too" at the end: it's saying that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying "all lives matter" is willfully going back to ignoring the problem." What was most interesting about this quote was how it compared to other parts of the article, how Roose spoke about society already agrees with the concept of all lives do matter, and now he is saying that people are finding ways to completely ignore the problem by just saying "all lives matter," and not trying to focus on solving the problem. 

So with all of this said, a question remains: how do we, as a society, correctly address the idea of "all lives matter?" without sounding racist or insulting? 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-damiani/every-time-you-say-all-li_1_b_11004780.html 

Land of Limitations?

In his article, "U.S.A., Land of Limitations?" Nicholas Kristof talks about the socio-economic aspects of America. He begins his article by saying that the term often coined to describe America, the "Land of Opportunity," is not exactly true. Kristof also pointed out that America likes to call itself a land that has people that have made and people that are going to make it. But the overlaying message in his article is that often times if people start off/are born into a more lower economic class, they most likely won't leave that class of  people. This type of thing really resonates with me. My parents, who worked hard during their whole lives, were below the average socio-economic standard and didn't have much when they were younger. But during their lives, they worked hard and broke out from the class they were in since childhood, and now stand as "wealthy, middle class" citizens. This is an amazing case of breaking the limitations, but sadly there are so many stories of people, including some of my close friends from high school, that their parents haven't broken through the barrier into a better class. It was interesting also how the article talked about how the rich are seemingly expecting things to just be handed to them, and how rich children are expecting to be given everything. One article reviewing Kristof's article, written by an unknown author, described it as "thought-provoking" and bashes the Republicans for not saying anything about the growing inequality and class rigidity. In short, Kristof's article describes the socio-economic struggles that face the land of limitations, and how solutions to the problem will not come easy.

So the only thing to really ask is: what are the biggest obstacles facing people that are trying to break out of the "class?"

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/8/9/1410207/-U-S-A-Land-of-Limitations

Introductions......

My name is Christian McElroy,  and I am 19 years old. I am current student at Rhode Island College and reside in Barrington, RI. I am an education major and enjoy listening and playing music in my spare time, or breaking cement and doing martial arts at Rocky Silvas American Karate. 

RSAK logo

For my job, I work as an independent sales representative and assistant manager at Vector Marketing in Cranston, and I've been doing that during summer vacation.

Vector Marketing (my job) 

 In addition to this, I played music with some new friends, relaxed and enjoyed new school for 4 months. I enjoy playing video games with my friends and making sure that no minute of my life is wasted. But the most important thing in my life is my relationship with God and my family. Thats pretty much me!