Iraq war veteran uses rap to treat his PTSD

Leo Dunson was discharged from the army in 2008 and has never been the same since. The war severely scared him and he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Leo refuses any mental help and resorts to rap as a different form of therapy. Leo raps about the hardship he faced during the war and all the twists and turns in his life. Developing PTSD after the war isn't rare, 1/6 war veterans that served in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered from it. Some refuse help like Leo and others either commit suicide or receive the proper mental health care that they need.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-15/Iraq-veteran-rap-PTSD/54970280/1

Debt inequality is the new income inequality

Americans are resorting to credit in order to maintain their standards of living. The wealthiest people are investing more money and the rest of Americans are going deeper into debt by buying on credit. The top 5% put money back into the system, making more credit available for the bottom 95% of Americans. For every dollar the working class earns they go $1.48 deeper into debt. The wealthy Americans only go into debt 64 cents for every dollar earned. The working class goes deeper into debt to keep up with the rest of the nation.

Romey an "economic savior"

Romney's senior adviser Eric Fernstrom said that voters are most concerned about the economy and he believes that voters will see Mitt Romney as an economic savoir. With the upcoming election this November the economy will be a major deciding factor on who wins this election. Fehrnstrom also predicts that younger voters will support Romney because there number one focus after getting out of college is getting employed and right now every 1 out of 2 college graduates are unemployed. Many people blame Obama for how the economy is now, either bad or good but all we know is the better Obama does with the economy until his term is up the worse Romney's chances are of being elected.

Is Unemployment Decrease real?

I read an artical on CNN about the fall in the unemployment rate. At first that looks like a really good thing but economists say that teh only reason this is actually happening is because people are giving up on finding jobs. There is many diffrent reasons this may be happening. One reason is that a single parent cant afford to pay for someone to watch their child. Also there is the possiblilty of the teenager who just got out of college and cant find a job to pay of their loans. What if were are left with the povery stricken people giving up on finding jobs. We need to find a way to make it easier for the poor and unemployed to get jobs.

Barack Obama introduces --> "Buffett Rule"

About 25% of wealthy people pay a lower effective tax rate then millions of lower class Americans. Barack Obama introduced the "Buffett Rule" to establish unfairness in taxing Americans. Also this bill ensures wealthy Americans like investor Warren Buffett cannot continue to pay a lower tax rate and that they have to pay 30% of income taxes. Do you think Barack Obama's "Buffet Rule" is a great idea even though some of though wealthy Americans make money from there capitals thus paying a lower tax rate?

Child Labor Abuses

The plight of the 13-year-old child maid in India, locked up in her employers’ home and treated like a slave, is not unique to India (“Maid’s Cries Cast Light on Child Labor in India,” front page, April 5).

The International Labor Organization estimates that nearly 30 percent of the 50 million to 100 million domestic workers worldwide are children. The Indian girl’s employers dispute her claims of abuse, but Human Rights Watch has documented many such cases.

In countries like Indonesia, Morocco and Guinea, we have found girls working 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week, for a fraction of the minimum wage — if they are paid at all. Many are subjected to physical and sexual violence, and few ever attend school.

A groundbreaking new international treaty offers some hope for addressing these abuses. The I.L.O. Domestic Workers Convention, adopted last year, prohibits domestic work by young children and entitles domestic workers to days off, minimum-wage coverage, limits to hours of work, and other rights that most workers take for granted.

Already more than a dozen governments are reforming national laws to strengthen protections for domestic workers. Implementation of the new convention could improve the lives of millions of women and girls.

Yahoo Layoffs and a new CEO

The article I read from CNN was about the 2000 workers who will be laid off scheduled for April 17th by the Yahoo company. The bold decision came from the new CEO, Scott Thompson, who said the job cuts are "an important next step, toward a bold, new Yahoo--smaller, nimbler, More Profitable and better equipped to innovate. The part about more profit, $375 million a year, is the part that stick out to me. In this difficult economical time I think the already rich business owners should be using their advantageous position to help the economy, not contribute to unemployment. This article relates to the early 1900's because the business owners back then seam to have controlled everything. In 1890 the wealthiest 10% of people owned 73% of the wealth, in 1990 it was at 68%. In a century the number barely changed, this means that when you control the money, you control the power as well.

Millions hoddie walk

My current event was related to Zack's. Trayvon was killed in Florida for acting sketchy and wearing hood after buying a piece of candy at a store. The Millions hoddie walk was held in New York on March 21, 2012. Hundreds of people showed up wearing hooded sweatshirts and also to show their support for Trayvon and his family. Trayvons mother and father made a speech at the march. The participation who walked wanted to make an end to racial profiling. The guy who killed him still today is not got any charges. Do you think that this walk was a good idea? Do you think it would of been different if Trayvon was white?

U.S Poverty Rate Reaches New High

One in 6 Americans live in poverty, poor families have been in the worst shape sense the 1990s. With no college degrees it makes it harder for a person to get a job but the minority groups struggle the most. 27% of African Americans were in poverty in the 2010 census. The average poor person by definition has a standard of living higher then most people imagine. This article challenges the census bureaus results. The U.S has struggled with poverty through out our history. Should we use big government or less government to try and lower the poverty rates in the U.S?

http://hmcurrentevents.com/u-s-poverty-rate-reaches-new-high/

Unemployment Benefits due to expire

On April 10th, 2012 the extend benefits for unemployed workers will expire. The extended benefits is provided if someone needs more money until they find a job but it doesnt last forever. When someone exhausts there benefits from the state completely the federal government steps in and provides an Emergency Unemployed Benefits. EUC has been set to expire in January of 2013. There has been many people pushing for the government to renew the policy that says these benefits need to expire.  People are hopeful that a new government will do just that. Is it fair for the government to just take the benefits away? If they extend them how long should it be extended for?

Florida family seeks justice

17 year old teenager gets gunned down by a neighborhood watch captain because of he says he was acting suspiciously. Even after police says to stand down he ignores this and confronted the teenager. Is race a factor of this happening? If the roles were reversed a black neighborhood watchmen and a white teenager would this have happened?

I think that it is more a case of black students having different discipline and behavior at home and it is too different from what is expected in schools. In order to fix this i believe that schools with high expulsion and suspension rates should have role model programs to help the problem students learn how they are suppose to behave in a school setting without being in trouble.

Whites outliving blacks

On average white males live about seven years longer than black men in the us. This shows american that health care improvement is a great necessity. Why do you think health care for blacks is still not as good as whites?

Black Students Getting Punished More.

In schools around the world black students are getting the big portion of the suspensions and expulsions. The black students take up about 18% of the population in the schools in the United States but account to 46 percent of the suspensions and 39% of the expulsions. This, however, may not be because of what we are bound to think. It could be happening because of other reasons.
For many reason Black Americans have been forced to live in the poorer more dangerous sections of the United States. By having these challenges black families have a tendency to get a divorce and studies show that kids from a seporated family tend to be more violent or act out in school. They also believe that within black communities black teachers teach black kids and they think that the black teachers have a tendency to be a little more strict to their students.
So, after hearing all this, do you think it is more because of racist teachers making them get in trouble or do you think there is another reason to why these statics are out there? What should we do to make a change?

Race Data

Click here to view three documents that provide insight on race relations in the Commonwealth.

When analyzing the data, determine trends that continue to appear with regard to connections between race and class.  Comment here, by group.

Kerner Commision Reports on US Racial Inequality

Many of todays Politicians ignore racial and minority issues and arent adequetly addressing problems faced by minorities like whether they should reduce or increase racial inequalities because of the kerner commision in the past. Lyndon B Johnson warned america was leading to two different societies one black and one white. Seperate and Unequal. President Johnson never acted on this in 1968 and now people think this is to blame for not taking action now on minority issues. Do you think by not acting in 1968 affects the us with minority issues from today?

more blacks leave NYC, Chicago for south

trecently there has been a high number of african american that are migrating to the south. after the great migration in 1910 the share of blacks in the south hit an all-time low of 53€ percent and has been raised to 57 percent. blacks tend to vote democrat, how could the large number of africans americans moving to the south affect the elections.

VACATION ASSIGNMENT! Due Monday February 27th

We have been learning about Non-Violent Resistance as a means of social change. We have studied the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi, as well as the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Your job this week is to investigate the Occupy Wall Street Movement--a modern-day act of protest happening right now in many parts of the country. Learn all you can about the protest, and then determine if it could be deemed an effective act of Non-Violent protest. In a comment to this post:  Check out this website for more information. 

• LIST 5 things you've learned about the protest (Think W's here...Who is protesting? What are they protesting? Where?). 
• Next, based upon what you know about the tenets of non-violent resistance (non-violent demonstration, exposing of injustice, raise public consciousness, and forcing of government intervention) determine if you think the Occupy Wall Street movement is adhering to those tenets. 

NAACP Warns Black and Hispanic Americans could lose the right to vote

In the article I read from The Guardian, it basically said that the government was thinking about taking away voting rights for the minority groups in America. Mostly blacks and hispanics .One of the ways they were thinking of taking away those rights is by making everyone bring a photo ID to the voting booth. That would hurt a lot of people because as of right now it costs zero amount of money to vote, so that means anyone who has a social security number can come and vote. If the government makes it so a person has to bring a photo ID than many people who can not afford to buy the nessesities of life will not be able to vote. This is a problem because this will also hurt many white people who are poor, so our own government will be taking away voting rights for more people than they would hope, but it will eliminate the ones they were aiming for to begin with. The article also stated that the states of Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia are not allowing anyone to vote if they have convicted a criminal offense. In Florida even when someone has finished their time in jail they have to wait an additional five years before they can register to be a valid voter again. This is keeping many minoritys the right to vote because many of the felonys that are commited in Florida are by black Americans. So they are forcing black americans to wait a minimal of five years to vote which will make them miss on vote because a president can only stand on office for four years. So after understanding this topic do you agree with the government taking away voting rights for minority groups? What is another way that the government could limit the number of voters per election?

The U.S. census shows that a majority of black people are moving from the city to the suburbs for better jobs and safer environments. Some people are concerned with the shift in blacks political power. Do you think this is true?

Byron Thomas Says He Doesn't See Racism Just Southern Pride

Sunday, January 29, 2012

In the past we know racism was between the North and the South, The white people always seemed to have the power over the Blacks. Byron is 19, a freshman at S.C College, he is a proud southerner. He was asked to take down a Confederate Flag that he had put up in his dorm room because it had got a lot of complaints. He said " I know its weird because Im black but in this flag, I see pride, respect not racism. Its ignorance that gave the flag the bad name like the KKK. He ended up having to take the flag down. His roomate claimed he was one of the nicest people he knew. No matter what you say or do there is going to be someone who will feel offended. Byron felt violated to the racist code. To prove a point he asked if he could put up an American Flag and they said he could so he said  "their could be Native Americans who would get offended because of the American Flag so what would the difference be?"  Is it fair that he could not hang up an confederate flag IN his dorm room but could hang up an American Flag?

-Kendra Boyle

SPA Image Analysis

Take a good long look at the image below titled, "Slavery Through Reconstruction" painted by Aaron Douglas in 1934.  Your task is to analyze how the content of this image could be symbolic of our discussion regarding Garvey, DuBois, and Washington.  See the SPA handout for more specifics on the assignment.

Homework Calendar

Hi Everyone!  Please take a minute to view our new homework calendar at our course website!  This will help you and your parents keep track of assignments and their due dates.  We hope this helps!  Bookmark it!

Discrimination against aids

To stop aids and HIV we have to stop discrimination first. Haveing HIV can bring loss of status, discrimination, and economic disadvantages. When people lack the access of medical care they have a higher risk of contracting full blown aids because they can not get the right medication. Black woman getting HIV is 15 X greater than white woman, and for Hispanic woman it is 3 X higher. Do you think if we stop discrimination against minorities that it will lower the risk of contracting HIV in these groups?

Native American Tribes Struggle For Recognition

More than 20,000 Native Americans are living in Maryland, but these tribes are bereft economic and cultural benefits compared to other Native American tribes who have obtained recognition. The main idea of this is to get a legal process called recognition, and this means to be able to identify themselves as Native Americans without having to worry about the regulations. To be able to get recognition you have to identify yourself as a Native American tribe that has existed before 1790 and you can not belong to any other tribe. The down fall of this is it is very expensive and time consuming because you have to hire a historian that can trace records from two centuries ago. But once you get recognition it is worth it because you will be provided help with money and essential things you need. Is this a fair process for Native Americans to do to get help? -Kendra

Women gets Recognized

For my current event i did my article on a women getting recognized for all the good things she has done. This lunch will take place in May 2012. She has made a big influence on the people California. People from California are honored to award her for everything she has done. D you agree that she should get a award for everything?

Women in the Buisness world

My article that i read basically said that women are now becoming a big part of our society. There was a pole done and the results showed that there are just as many women in the buisness world as there are men. Do you feel this is a good thing that is happening to our society? And also what might be some reasons why this is happening at this point in time?

Racism in the Presidentail Election

Ron Paul, who is running for president, has had his past racism viewsblow up in the media. He has had statements such as "I think we can assume that 95 percent of the black men in that city [Washington DC] are semi-criminal or entirely criminal" Ron Paul has tried to say these statements in the media were not written by him and were written by journalists who were working for him at the time. All of the articles containing these statements were titled with Ron Paul's name. Do you think it is right of presidential candidates to lie about views they had in the past?

Ron Paul A cusses Judicial System of being Racist

Republicans today are accusing the Judicial System and police departments around the country of being prejudiced. Many states arrest more blacks then whites and put more blacks to death in the electric chair. Ron Paul believes that the Democratic party is brain washing black voters to vote for a democratic candidate. Do you think there is racism in the Massachusetts Judicial System today?

European countries take step toward oil embargo on iran

European countires want iran to stop enriching uranium for civilian purposes. Western leaders argue they are trying build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies they are building a nuclear bomb and they refuse to stop enriching the uranium. American and European countries have sent series of military threats that iran has responded to and iran has test fired a missle and announced a production of 1st nuclear fuel rod. Iran has also warned american aircrafts not to return to the persian gulf or they will be shot straight of hormuz shipping which will drive price of oil up 50%. Do you think american and european countries should keep tempting iran to drive the price of oil up 50%? why or why not?

Catholic Bishops disagree with birth control

Link! http://www.now.org/press/12-11/12-06.html

The church is against woman using contraceptives, therefore they are convincing Obama that he should refuse birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act allows young adults to have affordable health insurance. The organization N.O.W its trying to cease the exemption altogether. Since the church is on private lands, that aren't owned by the government the government has no control because they have their own right to express their religion.

Is it okay for the Catholic Bishops to disallow birth control for woman just because they are private owned?

NOW against Obama's plan B restrictions

Obama planned on passing some restrictions on the Plan B or Morning after pill. For those you don't know, the morning after pill/plan b is a form of birth control, and it basically makes the woman sick and kills the sperm/egg combination. Obama wants to put a restriction that makes these forms of birth control have an age restriction and make it so you can not buy it over the counter. In class, Mr. A said that you have to be 16 or older without a prescription to get it, and anyone under 16 needs a prescription. NOW (National Women Organization), found Obama's restrictions to be unconstitutional, and want the restrictions to not be put into effect.

Do you think these restrictions should be placed on birth control?

Iron Jawed Angels Mindmap

Create a mindmap of the events depicted in the film, Iron Jawed Angels.  We imagine this will be a timeline of sorts, but feel free to get creative (remember the examples we showed you).  Begin your map with the creation of NAWSA and end your map with the passage of the 19^th Amendment.  You should document all of the important events, concepts, and themes illustrated.  Include details (words, images, phrases) that you took from the film.  For example, each mindmap should include a section that examines the role of black women in the movement.  You can find a synopsis of the film here if you need a refresher.  This can be constructed on 8 ½ x 11 paper.

Women's Studies Essential Questions

Which of the following questions would you like to focus on when writing your final unit assignment?

1. How have women’s roles changed throughout American history? How have they stayed the same?
2. How has our society’s power structure affected gender roles?
3. How has women’s inequality been established/enforced throughout American history?
4. How have women’s rights evolved over time?
5. How have feminist social and political activists created change?

Police arrest 62 as occupy protesters target lobbyists- Sean Cabral

Police arrested 62 protestors for blocking off several blocks of K street in Washington. In the constitution it says that one of the rights we have is to peacefully protest. Was the right of these people to protest violated because they were arrested?

Self-Determination Acts

Follow this link - once there, download the document titled, "Self-Determination Acts".  Use this to write your Alexie SPA paragraph.

NOTE: you can also use Johnson's "Forgotten American" speech to show how the reality of reservation life falls short the promise of self-determination.

Tribal courts lack power over non-Indian abusers-Matthew CE

In the article they talked about the lack of power in the court system.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tribal-courts-lack-power-indian-abusers-14928720#.Tsas3z1Fuso

In the article there is an event that the Reservation feels that they should be able to handle but federal courts say no.

What do you think that the court should do regarding handling altercations on and off of the ?

S.A.V.E. Native Women Act

Do you think that the tribal courts will be able to handle more cases and will it be better for the reservation community to be handling more cases with non-Indians.

Oil Pipelines Facing Natives with Possible Harm

TransCanada is creating an oil pipeline stretching 1,700 miles long. This pipe will carry 700,000 barrels of oil a day and would reduce U.S dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Native tribes are beginning to protest because the pipe route crosses the Oglala water supply system where they get their water from and could end up polluting it leaving the Natives with no water and possible health concerns. The natives accused them of eminent domain (using private property for public use), but they said it is too late in the procedure to move the route but they will be very careful and the likelihood of their being a spill is very low.

Based on the Natives point of view vs. TransCanada's point of view, do you think the pipeline should be further constructed? Yes/No, why?

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QKRVUO0.htm

Obama budget proposal marks overall decrease in Indian Affairs

On Monday, President Obama released the federal budget proposal for 2012. In the proposal he wants to decrease indian affairs to $2.5 billion($120 million dollars less than previous year). Officials say that "tough cuts still need to be made". Although there are tough cuts being made, president Obama is looking to save $89.6 million to improve the conditions on native american reservations and tribal land. He is also looking to increase funding to help nation-to-nation relationships, to protect indian country, to improve trust l;and management, and indian education. There is also supposed to be a significant increase in criminal justice programs involving tribal areas. Do you think that this budget proposal is enough to help Native Americans with the troubles they are having with their education system, conditions of tribal land, criminal justice etc.