en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4269931 Comments by ashleylugo20 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/16/george-zimmerman-vs-marissa-alexander/#IDComment342108993 After reading the article, I can honestly say that my opinions have changed in regards to the George Zimmerman case. In the beginning when the Trayvon Martin case came out I thought that it was not racially motivated and that the main injustice in the case was that Zimmerman was not arrested. My reasoning for that is based off the fact that a person on neighborhood watch is not allowed to carry a gun especially if they do not have a permit for the weapon. He was also told NOT to follow Trayvon but took it upon himself to continue pursing him. How are you acting in self-defense when you are the one that started following him? An innocent woman who was actually “Standing her Ground” (the main reason why this law was created) is going to be sentenced to twenty years in prison for absolutely no reason. All of her actions were justified and the facts leading up to the decision to be made should be in her favor. Her gun was registered, she had a permit and most importantly she was acting in self-defense. It is obvious that she was being threatened and had no choice but to respond the way that she did. In this case she was actually afraid of losing her life and had no other choice but to fire in the air as she did. Another thing that I find very unsettling is that no one would know about this case if it were not for the Trayvon Martin case. Why hasn’t this story been making headlines like the Trayvon Martin case? After speaking to a few friends of mine that are media studies majors, their opinions as to why there has been no coverage regarding Alexander’s case is that the Zimmerman case gained publicity because of people campaigning and bringing the injustice of him not getting arrest to light. In the case of Marissa Alexander, it is another domestic violence case. Domestic violence cases are not often on the news unless a death or something horrible happens as the outcome. My personal opinion is that Marissa Alexander’s case has not been in the media because she is a black woman being charged. Although all the facts prove that she indeed was acting in self-defense and protecting herself from her abusive husband. A case that is similar only due to gender but different in the circumstances of the case is the Casey Anthony case. All the facts of this case has led everyone to believe that this woman did in fact murder her child but she was dismissed. One thing that sticks out to me is that not once did Casey Anthony testify during the trail. That is suspicious because what if she truly did nothing wrong why wouldn’t she take the stand and speak on her behalf. I am almost 99.9% sure that if Casey Anthony had been a black female she would have been charged with murder. My opinions of the Zimmerman case have changed in that, that if Zimmerman had been black and Trayvon had been white I can almost guarantee that he would have been arrested almost immediately after the killing. Before I was a bit hesitant to say that but now I am pretty much thinking clearly. In this day and age we say that racism/discrimination rarely exists anymore. That is far from true. It exists all around us; we just chose to ignore it. Yes, we have come a long way since back than but we still have a long way to go. Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:04:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/16/george-zimmerman-vs-marissa-alexander/#IDComment342108993 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment336845493 I honestly think that if I was one of the bystanders witnessing what was happening in the video, I would not be able to stay quiet. If I see something being said or done unjustly and I was there I would have to call the person out. I would probably think to myself what would my parents do in that situation and automatically come to the answer. My mother would react exactly how the people that argued back with the worker. Knowing this it would make me respond the same. In situations such as these you have to put yourself in the other persons shoes and think, wouldnt you want someone to stick up for you? Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:15:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment336845493 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment336844521 I honestly think that if I was one of the bystanders witnessing what was happening in the video, I would not be able to stay quiet. If I see something being said or done unjustly and I was there I would have to call the person out. I would probably think to myself “what would my parents do in that situation” and automatically come to the answer. My mother would react exactly how the people that argued back with the worker. Knowing this it would make me respond the same. In situations such as these you have to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and think, wouldn’t you want someone to stick up for you? While watching this video I couldn’t help but feel outraged by the ignorance of the people that cheered the worker on. I commend the older man whose son had a term in Iraq for being so bold and sharing his story with actor although he was obviously being ignorant. An example of this hatred toward another culture could be the blacks going up to whites and beating them up or talking down to them because white people once owned slaves. That can be similar to this case because the bakery worker is putting all Muslims into this category when in reality they are not tied with the people we were fighting in war. I do not think that someone calling another person insulting names and being so discriminatory towards them makes that person a better “American”; you should actually be more ashamed of yourself for that. People come to America in pursuit of a better life and a chance to become “free”, who are we to point fingers and just others when we as “Americans” are just as bad. Take for example the war in Iraq, earlier in the class we watched the clip of the American soldiers destroying the property of the civilians and abusing their power just because they could. I read an article on soldiers who were murdering innocent civilians and taking pictures with them just for their enjoyment. What kind of message are WE (Americans) sending about ourselves? And if others were to judge or discriminate against us because of what they were doing we would be insulted and offended and hope that someone would stand up for us; which are just how that innocent Muslim woman probably felt standing in that Bakery. I have a voice and I know that it will be heard. In these types of situations you have to think about all the other people that walked into the bakery and did not say anything, if we keep letting that happen the issue will never be solved and it will just continue to go on until enough of us correct it. Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:13:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment336844521 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/20/voices-from-the-classroom-124/#IDComment322142752 I do not really understand the question being asked but from what I got from the video was that when we were younger we embraced everyone’s individuality and as we get older we learned to push that aside. My response to this is that everyone is different. We all were raised differently whether that is from the location of which we reside, to the way we were raised and the views of our parents. As young children we were ignorant to a lot of things going on in the world aside from what our parents tell and or teach us. I think that society and the people that we chose to hang around have a huge impact on the decision we make and our thought process. For example, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, which is a very diverse area. In my classrooms there were all types of people but we weren’t ignorant to the fact that we were different. I think that at some point you should ask other people about their culture and beliefs because that is how you learn. When we were children we were mostly concerned with what we were going to have for snack or our play dates we did not think, “O this person is brown and I’m light”. Although, depending on how your parents raised you, you did think that way. If a parent raise’s there child to only talk to one type of people and hate others, a child is not going to question their parent they will just do what they are told. Until we get older and see things for ourselves. My parents encouraged me to learn about other heritages and cultures so that I could become educated in these sorts of things. I appreciate that they did this because I now see other cultures as fascinating and something to appreciate. So going back to the question/comment made, I think that to an extent we change and look at ones differences more as we get older because in my opinion when we are young we just do not look for those types of things but as we age there is this need to question and conform to society. I appreciate the fact that I am from New York City because I was introduced to different types of people, food and cultures. When I came to Pennsylvania and asked someone have they ever had Japanese or Chinese food and a good amount of them replied no I was shocked since that is like all I eat at home, which goes back to the fact that it really depends on how your raised. It was sort of a culture shock to me by encountering so many people that were oblivious to the different cultures in the world because to me everyone knows about everyone when in reality, that is not the case. Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:22:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/20/voices-from-the-classroom-124/#IDComment322142752 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-121/#IDComment317966960 After watching the videos in class yesterday I don’t really know how I feel about this topic. War is necessary when we are fighting for something we truly need or if we are just helping one of our allies. What I do not agree with though is war on terrorism. Fighting terrorism with more terrorism isn’t going to accomplish anything but just make matters worse. When president Obama pulled our troops out of Iraq I thought that was a good yet bad idea. It was a good idea because we’ve been there for about nine years now but a bad one because Iraq is in no shape to be on its own. We touched a lot of different bases during our class on Thursday and I remember someone mentioning was 9/11 a conspiracy or not. I can see both sides to that. I can understand why some Americans feel betrayed by their fellow Americans by saying that they are not defending the country from which they are from and reside in. My honest opinion about this is that this could have been a conspiracy but we as citizens would never know nor would the troops. The government has plenty of secrets that they are not going to go around telling people. So I can easily see how people would question the credibility of our government. In regards to war and the videos we watched I think some soldiers got a bit carried away and power crazy. I believe that some/ majority of soldiers signed up for the military because their loved one’s had passed away in the 9/11 attack and they felt the need to get retribution and this was the only way they could see it actually get done. When the panel of veterans were asked for their reaction towards the videos from what I remember two replied to the men stealing wood and trashing the car by saying that at the time they probably would have done the same thing because they were ordered to and they have to follow their orders. This leads me to question the type of people we have running the military. If they are telling them to take all costs necessary what if the troops think that murdering someone is okay because they said “all costs necessary”, they wouldn’t be questioned it would just be as nothing every happened but the same way that innocent lives were taken on 9/11 we were doing just the same exact thing. Torturing someone for the fun of it is just cruel and heartless and I know for a fact that some soldiers did do this. Going to Iraq with one mission only, to kill, is not going to accomplish anything. Because as I said before at the end of the day it is just fighting terrorism with more terrorism and I know that the war was not just about terrorism but also about oil, if you were to ask a classroom of students why were we fighting over in Iraq the majority will just say to fight terrorism. Sat, 17 Mar 2012 01:08:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-121/#IDComment317966960 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-96/#IDComment283266987 I personally have no problem with interracial marriage. My mother is a very fair skinned Puerto Rican and my father is a brown skinned Dominican. Growing up my grandfather resented the fact that my mother married a Dominican man and refused to attend my mothers wedding (before I was born of course =]). He often used the stereotype that Dominicans just want your money or a green card to try to get my mother not to marry my dad. It wasn’t until my father became successful that my grandfather began to favor him. When I was younger and my mother took me out no one believed that she was my mother because she is white and I have brown skin. I often get that I look black but have white features, such as my pointy nose and lack of lips. I think that Sam should have asked black people if they felt some way about having a black baby also. I once saw on the Tyra show this black woman that married a white man because she did not want her children to come out with “bad hair” and dark skin. So she married a white man so her child could be light with “good hair”. Regarding the example that Sam used with the white female and black male, I know for a fact that if I have the choice in choosing a sperm I would want the same race as my husband. If your husband cannot have a child at least let him have the opportunity of being similar to his kid. If my husband were Hispanic I would not want an Asian mans sperm because I would feel as if I cheated on him or something. It was just make it more real if the child turned out to be the same race. I think that black women do not necessarily straighten their hair to become more like white women but I do think it has something to do with it. Personally, I feel that when hair is straightened it becomes way easier to maintain than when it is natural. Although I love my natural curly hair I also enjoy it when it is straight. I was talking with my friends about the topics we discussed during class and one of them said she agrees with the idea that black women straighten their hair to become more like the normal hair they see everyone else with but that it isn’t done to be like someone else often times it is done just to fit in. I think white women perm their hair to make it more voluminous and try something different. I know for a fact that although my hair is curly it can be very boring doing the same thing all the time. Sometimes you want to spice it up a bit. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 01:30:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-96/#IDComment283266987 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276461600 When I first saw this video I instantly thought of the American Dream as being the traditional all American family with 2 children (boy and girl; boy being the jock and the girl a dancer), a golden retriever, white picket fenced house, huge backyard,father that is either a lawyer or doctor and mom that either stays home or works at a school. But as I really thought about this my idea seemed to change. In my opinion an American is someone that was born in America. Someone that became a citizen to this country I don’t really see as an American because they were not born here. For example, if someone born in the Dominican Republic moved to America and became a citizen I would still call them a Dominican not an American but I would acknowledge the fact that they are indeed a citizen of here. I believe that immigrants do take the idea of somehow obtaining this so called “American Dream” more seriously than actual native Americans. As an American I can say that we are spoiled. We are a very fortunate country to have all that we do. Although, immigrants come here in pursuit of a better life or in other terms on pursuit of the “American Dream”, they know what it is like to have nothing and they do not want to revert back to that lifestyle. The American Dream is not only for Americans. Anyone can obtain the American dream simply by in my opinion owning a house, becoming successful and having children. That is pretty much what the “American Dream” is to me. I believe that Americans are intimidated by immigrants because they become so successful in a country where they were not even born. I do not necessarily think that the American Dream has lost its value to us but I do think that us as Americans need to strive towards becoming more successful in our careers. If you look at CEO’s , these positions are being taken over by people who were not born in America. Rather than pointing fingers at these people because they were not born here, we should actual start taking pointers from them because obviously they are doing something that we are not. And whatever it is that they are doing ( I believe it is there determination) we need to do the same. Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:45:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276461600 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269131195 Prior to the lecture on Tuesday I already had a pretty good understanding about immigration. Coming from a family that are immigrants from the Dominican Republic I understand the tedious process they have to go through. Not only do immigrants have to deal with the government they also have to deal with adapting to society and all the stereotypes that comes along with being a so called “immigrant”. Many people often say to immigrants that they need to “start speaking english, this is America” but what they fail to realize is that when they say that, they are trying to strip away the “immigrants” culture and values that they grew up with. We are known as the land of opportunities, if immigrants are coming to America they are looking for something better and it is up to us as natives to help them develop that rather than push them away. Writing this blog made me realize that I often times tell my father that he needs to pronounce words better because he has such a strong accent. I did not realize until now that I am doing the same thing that I criticize other people are. Many people often times forget that our country still stands because of the large amount of immigrants that we have. Its very sad to think that the Native Americans were stripped from there land, values, language and families. When the Europeans came to this country they removed the Native Americans by force. This is something that is very difficult to grasp. You want to have a sense of Patriotism for your country but when you learn the actual history on how forceful the Europeans were it makes you feel sort of ashamed and hurt that this happened. I believe that the Native Americans are not immigrants. Native Americans were originally here therefore they could not migrate to a land that they were already on. Although I know that Native Americans exist, I can honestly say they are a group of people that I know nothing about. This can be from the lack of text in school text books. However, I cannot only blame schools for not teaching more about the Native Americans but also blame myself for not taking the time to look up more information about them. If we are looking to see who the real immigrants are we would have to look to ourselves. Each one of us are technically immigrants to this land, if you trace back to your bloodline everyone has some sort of foreign blood that is not originally from America. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:54:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269131195