Civic Duty: All Americans Should...

I think all Americans should pay taxes and complete jury duty. I think the answers can vary due to the uncertainty of who an American is. America is made up of immigrants and so many different types of people that I think only paying taxes and jury duty should be required of them. Something  that I do that I think other Americans should do is recycle because it is clear that we are reaching the end of he usable life of some of our resources. I think jury duty is a civic duty because it allows Americans to be involved in the justice system. Paying taxes is our way of saying thank you to our government and everyone should do it.

America and Intergration

Integration is America is only present in certain places. The idea that America has become a fully integrated nation is a myth. Yes we do allow several different people to live in the United States but there are still people that do not like having foreigners here. If you look at the diversity in the nation as a whole we look pretty great but take our city as the shining example of the truth. By majorities: African American on the South Side, Whites on the North, and Hispanics on the West side. As divided as this city is I do not consider it segregation, but instead separation. I think that by nature people want to be near people that are similar to them. This idea is also seen in our very own 5th period philosophy class. I don't think people do it on purpose, but maybe they simply do not want to stand out by bring in a group of people that they don't look like. This is why in Chicago we have Chinatown and the Black Belt, people feel more comfortable being around their own race. No this doesn't make people racist it simply makes them human, everyone has been guilty of doing this, I certainly have. If a African American walks into a classroom where they do not know anyone they will naturally gravitate to where one or more African Americans are seated. This will be the same case for other races. I think that Chicago is simply a victim of separation, they are not segregated.

Is Poverty a Choice?

To do this blog I surveyed a couple of students at Whitney young and surprisingly most of them came to the same conclusion as me, poverty is a choice. The students all came to the similar consensus that the world is full of possibilities and opportunities and if you want to have a good life then you will take advantage of it. We all acknowledge that some people have struggled in live and had some misfortune, but that doesn't mean that they cannot prosper. This blog coincides to the report I did in Contemporary US History about Oprah Winfrey, she rose from poverty to become the only African American on the Forbes 400 List. She is living proof that if you work hard and take advantage of our opportunistic world then you can become successful in life.
I think that people might be more inclined to try to support themselves if the government removed their crutch. Welfare shows people that they don't have to work when the government has to provide for them. I am a big believer in some people need to hit rock bottom before they realize that life takes a lot of work.

Malcolm X

I've found it difficult to read this book and I believe it is because I am so engrained in Dr. King's teachings that to accept anything of the contrary is hard. I so far don't agree with what Malcolm is saying. When reading his background I couldn't understand why he was so against whites when he had special treatment from his father for being light skinned. I understand that his father was believed to be killed by white supremists but at the same time I believe that not all white people were inherently evil. I think that some generations simply followed in what their parents taught them. People are not born racist they are made racist whether it be by their environment or by what they are told. Malcolm got involved in a bad lifestyle and blamed all his misfortunes on white people saying that they made the ghettos but I do not believe that that is true. I think that Malcolm holds a lot of pent up aggression and I don't believe that it is all justified.
A problem I have always had with activists like Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, or Dr. King is that I never understood what gave them the right to define a black person. What gave them the right to tell blacks how to live their lives? This is not a sign of disrespect or criticism on them. I personally have never been a follower and for me to have to listen to someone telling me to go back to Africa or fight nonviolent isn't something that I'm going to eagerly do because I don't understand what entitles them to say these things.

Is King still king?

I think that in today's society Dr. King isn't being talked about as much anymore. I think that most African Americans take for granted the freedom that they have now and do not realize the sacrifices that he made for us. We treat the Monday we have off as just a free day from school and not the day we are supposed to honor him. For our grandparents Dr. King was a martyr for his people and most of us aren't even sure of the facts of his life and his actions while he was living. I think that we should devote at least one week in our history classes to studying in detail his life and activism.

Music Review

The song that I will be reviewing is Fingerprints by Katy Perry. The first time I heard this song was on the way to my eighth grade graduation and I immediately put the song on repeat. I realized that the eight years I spent at that school did not impact the school. I would just be another student. I decided that when I got to high school I wanted to be known by something that I had done. I wanted everyone in the school to remember me and know that I had impacted the lives of every single person there. But when I got to Whitney young I realized that that was almost impossible. Now at my senior year I see that I haven't reached that goal. But I have done something else. Impacted the lives of those closest to me.

Solitude

I have never had the opportunity to enjoy pure solitude. I live in a house with 7 other people: my grandma, aunt, cousin, two brothers and my parents. Not to mention our dog. Any silence in my house is very rare and very brief. I have my own room, but with a lock that my 8 year old brother can open in two seconds it's safe to say that I have no privacy either. With my grandmother being home almost 100% of the time I never have a moment of peace. In my house doing anything that involves focusing is hard. I can only focus and do homework in school in the library where it is quiet. As I'm writing this now all I hear is my grandmother yelling, as usual.

Imagining what I would do with even a couple of hours of solitude is hard to say. I would probably focus on my writing. I never have the time or space to actually sit down and write so I think if I was able to get away from everything and focus for a while would be great.

Or maybe I would work on editing my photos since I have gotten behind on them since school has started. With my schedule and course load I don't even have time to sleep. Right now would be the perfect time to have a weekend when I can just relax and work on what's important to me in peace.