Blog Post #13

Observation: Over 250,000 people are without power after the ice storm last night in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

            Nelson Mandela passed away yesterday, December 5, at the age of 95. Wreaths have been hung, songs have been sung, and prayers are being whispered at his home in South Africa. Now that Mandela has passed he is being mourned all over the world, but in many of the articles I have read I am reminded of the way he was viewed by many in the past. One article I found on The Daily Beast in particular spoke of one of the keys points made by him which is, “America isn’t always a force for freedom.” He was put on America’s official list of “terrorist” groups by Reagan in the eighties, was voted against by Dick Cheney to be released from prison in 1990, and was called a communist for the Soviet Union being the ANC’s chief external benefactor.  

            While Mandela’s ties to communism sometimes caused him to ignore communist crimes, you cannot ignore that, “the ANC was a genuine, multiracial movement for democracy.” It was those Americans that supported Mandela in the early days and freedom for South Africa, who realized what freedom meant to the United States was not necessarily the same around the world. One of the most powerful quotes I got from the article was that, “American power and human freedom are two very different things," and while they sometimes coincide with one another that is not always the case. It is important for us to still be able to tell the difference after Mandela’s death. While we will all always remember the inspirational things that he did and what a great man he was, it is important that we do not forget the reasons why he fought so hard for his country and what he wanted to accomplish.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/05/don-t-sanitize-nelson-mandela-he-s-honored-now-but-was-hated-then.html

Blog Post #12

Observation: Thousands of people flocked to stores Thursday and Friday to save big on Black Friday sales.

            Two arrested in Walmart parking lot stabbing, violence at Walmart, Las Vegas shopper shot on way home, New Jersey man pepper sprayed, and Madness at Macy’s are all articles describing the crazy events that occurred this Black Friday. As early as Thursday night there had already been shootings and stabbings reported at multiple retail stores all over the country. So what is the fascination with this event that follows a day where we are all supposed to be thankful for what we have? It seems like we spend the whole month telling everyone what we are thankful for in order to not feel guilty for going to Walmart or Best Buy on a Thursday night to buy new televisions and laptops from employees who wish they could be at home with their families. But it has not gone further than just saving money, and has led to violence.

It is easy to blame this on the people who attend instead of the corporations that create and profit from it. They see this as an easy way to promote big deals to those who may not be able to afford gifts for the holidays otherwise. What kind of ideology are we promoting by supporting holidays like Black Friday? People are literally being injured and killed because of this, and there has of course been no mention of stopping it all. How many more people have to be hurt in order for us to realize how this is not just an issue of greed and power, but has turned into a safety issue?                                                                                                                                                                                          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/29/black-friday-violence_n_4360899.html

Blog Post #11, No Human Being is "Illegal"

The Young Conservatives of Texas planned to hold a “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game on campus this past week, but the Chapter Chairman, Lorenzo Garcia, ended up canceling the event because of safety concerns for their volunteers. The event was scheduled to occur on Wednesday, November 20, and it would have involved people walking around wearing shirts that said “illegal immigrant” on them. If someone was to “catch” one of these volunteers they would have to bring them over to the Young Conservatives table in order to receive a $25 gift card as a reward.

As soon as the event was created there was instant backlash by thousands of students. A Facebook event protesting the game was created mere hours later with a plan to meet at the UT Tower at noon on Wednesday, wearing shirts that said “undocumented” on them. An approximate 500 people attended the protest, with speakers like America Ferrera and students who spoke of what it was like to be an undocumented immigrant on campus.

I do not understand what kind of conversation the Young Conservatives were trying to create by holding such a dehumanizing and racist event on campus. There are approximately 65,000 undocumented students that graduate from high schools in the U.S. each, and about 600 of those students were reported to be in attendance at UT in 2012. Many of these students came to the U.S. at a very young age, without having much choice in the matter. These students went to school with us, grew up with us, are friends with us, so what is it that makes them so unworthy of living and receiving a higher education other than the fact that they do not have a paper to prove that they “belong” here.

Observation: There were more than 500 formal complaints submitted regarding the game, more than for any single event on campus.  

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/article/Hundreds-protest-canceled-Catch-an-Illegal-game-4996381.php

Blog Post #10

Observation: We were told in our foundation of social justice class that 5,000 volunteers were needed to help those affected by the flood in Onion Creek, but they were far short of receiving that much assistance.

            China decided that they would increase their assistance to the Philippines from $100,000 to $1.4 million in relief supplies, $100,000 in cash, and $100,000 from the Chinese Red Cross after being criticized by nations and a newspaper in China. Qin Gang, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday that he had adjusted the amount given based on the need at the time, and that it was subject to change based on that. Before this statement Gang remained firm on the initial $100,000 saying that China had also suffered from Typhoon Haiyan, with eight deaths.

            The seemingly small donation is thought to stem from the strained relationship between China and the Philippines. In September, after an earthquake killed 500 people in Pakistan, China gave $1.5 million. One factor which determined how much they would give to the Philippines was the hostility towards foreign aid that many Chinese commentators shared on the internet. When a professor at the Foreign Affairs University in Beijing asked his students what they thought of the hostility, particularly from the internet, they described it as “irresponsible and irrational.”

            This brings up an interesting point, and that is how much do politics stand in the way of helping those who are in need. It is clear that China chose to donate so little initially because of their relationship with the Philippines, clearly not considering the millions of people impacted by the Typhoon. It is optimistic to wish for political agendas or beliefs to not interfere with the needs of a country and how willing other countries are to help them. While I do not know the entire past between China and the Philippines, there is no need to punish an entire nation of people suffering for political differences. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/world/asia/chinese-aid-to-philippines.html

Blog Post #9

Observation: The Senate passed ENDA on Thursday.

Yesterday the Senate voted to approve ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against someone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identification. The final vote was 64-32, including 10 Republicans. There are currently 29 states that do not have laws protecting LGBT individuals in the workplace. ENDA was first introduced in 1994 by Senator Ted Kennedy, and version of ENDA passed in 2007, but it did not include those who are transgender. An amendment was made to the bill just before it was passed, religious institutions who are exempt from the bill protection against discrimination and penalization.

While the bill is waiting to be passed in the House of Representatives the LGBT community has been pushing Barack Obama to issue an executive order which would bar contractors from discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. According to the White House the president would like to see this passed legislatively than through an executive order.

It is amazing to me that we are still having a discussion like this in 2013. You would think that in a country that boasts freedom and equality that we would not allow a group of people to be discriminated against so harshly. I hope that once the bill makes it to the House that they will make the right decision. Here is a quote from Barack Obama urging the House to pass the bill:

"One party in one house of Congress should not stand in the way of millions of Americans who want to go to work each day and simply be judged by the job they do. Now is the time to end this kind of discrimination in the workplace, not enable it. I urge the House Republican leadership to bring this bill to the floor for a vote and send it to my desk so I 

can sign it into law."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/enda-vote_n_4228502.html

Blog Post #8

Observation: The SNAP program was cut by $5 billion starting November 1.

Starting today, millions of Americans will be expected to get by with less after the cut to food stamps. Over the next decade the farm bill plans on cutting $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps as it is commonly known by. This will reduce the amount spent on food and non-food items, and will most likely impact the amount of food being consumed. A family of four will be receiving $36 less a month and an individual household will lose $11 a month. This may not sound like a lot, but when you compare how much the average individual had for each day before the cuts, $4.50, it becomes a significant amount.

Before the start of the recession there were 26 million people on food stamps, but there are now 48 million, which is about one-seventh of the U.S. population. There was an increase in the amount received by each person in 2009 that was meant to be temporary, but the expiration has been delayed with researchers saying that in general the more money that is given to lower-income individuals the stronger the effect on the economy. It is estimated that every dollar spent on food stamps generates approximately $1.74 in economic activity. How are people who already have difficulty getting through the month with what they were previously receiving expected to survive on this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/us/as-cuts-to-food-stamps-take-effect-more-trims-to-benefits-are-expected.html?hp&_r=0

Blog Post #7, My Body, My Life

            There is an article in the Huffington Post written by a woman, Petra Collins (writer and photographer), who had her Instagram account deleted, although her picture did not violate the terms of use. It was a picture of her from the waist down wearing a bikini. What people were so upset about was that the picture showed her unshaven bikini line, something that is not usually portrayed as feminine in our society.

           Collins talks about how she, and probably most of us, have become used to the ways in which women are portrayed and talked about in the media: women’s bodies being edited to look thinner or lighter, songs that talk about taking advantage of women, women being slut-shamed and being called fat. As she goes on to say, none of us should be used to this. No one should be shamed into looking or acting a certain way in order to prevent the media from judging us.

            The act of taking her picture down made Collins feel as though the public was physically forcing her to “succumb to society’s image of beauty.” It is not okay that we are made to feel as though our bodies are not good enough for society. It may sound cliché, but we are all different and we should be accepting of each other’s differences. Instead of putting each other down, we should be building each other up. This not only applies to women, but to everybody. If we allow society to tell us how to think, what to say, how to look, etc., we will lose ourselves in the process.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/petra-collins/why-instagram-censored-my-body_b_4118416.html

Observation: We were asked to wear a pin to represent our support of the LGBTQ community in my foundations of social justice class. 

Blog Post #6, Asking For Help

We recently watched a video of Brené Brown on Oprah’s Life Class, where she is giving a six-week course on vulnerability, self-help, and other social work issues. In this course she spoke about helping others and accepting help ourselves. The main point she made was that if we are not willing to accept help from other people without judging ourselves, then we are not able to help others without judging them. If you think that you are weak or incompetent for allowing someone to assist you, how can you not apply that same thought to the people that you are offering help to?

As a social work major this will be something to always keep at the forefront of my mind. I know that when I am forced to ask for help I sometimes feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. I think one of the main reasons is that I am a woman, and the society we live has made me want to be able to do everything on my own. I fear the looks I may get or the thoughts that people will have if I go to them for assistance. I think one way to combat these thoughts would be to think of the people that I work with at Meals on Wheels and More on a weekly basis. I would never think of looking down on them for needing these services that help them so much. We need to realize that we are all human, and that there are times when we just can’t do it all.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Dr-Brene-Brown-on-Judging-Those-Who-Ask-for-Help-Video

Observation: In my Foundations of Social Justice we spoke about the ways that sexism can discriminate against not only women, but men as well.  

Blog Post #5, "Slum Tourism"

                We recently listened to an interview on NPR in class about a family, Julian, Ena and their children, who swapped their comfortable lives and home for a shack in Mamelodi, living only on $300/month. They decided to do this after visiting their cleaning lady at her home for tea one day. She lives only about six miles away from them, in an entirely different world. They had both heard about two people from India who had done a similar thing, which gave them their idea. While living there they both still went to work, all while trying to adjust to this new, temporary life and a tight budget. They go on to discuss during the interview what they found to be the best and worst experiences during their month in Mamelodi. The husband said that his worst experience had to be the tweets he saw a couple of days before they started their journey. They were told they were glamourizing poverty by young South Africans, and that they were bringing their children into an unsafe environment by doing this from friends.

                While listening to this interview I had similar thoughts to those of the South African people who were upset. They only went for a month, which would not even come close to giving them the real experiences that these people go through every day. While they kept themselves on a strict budget of only $300 for the whole month, if they really had needed to dip into their bank accounts they could have. They had the option of leaving at any point if they felt it necessary.

                I was also confused for their reasoning. They say that they went there; to do this for themselves, to change themselves. This points again in the direction of poverty tourism. They went on to say in the interview that some people would call what they did slum tourism, but that they did not agree, and they did not know of any alternative. In my opinion, the alternative would have been to go there in hopes of trying to help the community. It is great that they wanted to try to immerse themselves in the culture, to understand how these people live differently from them, but they should have gone with some goal in mind to help.

                After listening to the interview I found their blog they wrote during their time in Mamelodi. Most of it was describing their day to day lives living there, from talking about transportation to how they interacted within the community. One post I found titled “A National Emergency” addressed the question of people asking what they were going to do with this information after they were done. They once again state how they went there for themselves, and that they wanted to start a conversation not create action. The part that bothered me the most was when they talked about what would happen if they did try to do something. They are quoted as saying, “Sure, if an Early Childhood Development centre was started, that would be great, but what of the low quality schooling thereafter. What about the lack of electricity to study at night, what about the high rates of drug addiction and alcoholism that pull families apart. What about the exorbitant cost of transportation on the family budget. Even if all of these were addressed, where are all the jobs to strive for in the first place.” While these would all be tough to deal with, that is no excuse for not trying to help.

http://mamelodiforamonth.co.za/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=228482602

Observation: I read an article about homelessness in New York City being at 50,000. This happened despite efforts to lower the homeless population from 38,000 about five years ago. 

Blog Post #4, Homelessness

            I recently read on article in the New York Times titled “In New York, Having a Job, or 2, Doesn’t Mean Having a Home” about homelessness in New York City.  It is becoming an increasing problem, with a record high of 50,000 in shelters. 28% of the families that live in the shelters have at least one person who is employed, and 16% of those who are single have jobs as well. What I found to be the most interesting is that most of the homeless in the shelters are females trying to support themselves and their families.

            

            These women must show high responsibility at their jobs every day, and then return to the shelter where they have a curfew, have to prove they are on the lookout for housing, and show they are saving part of their paycheck every time they get paid. With cheap housing being around $1000/month, and most of them getting paid $8/hour it is basically impossible for them to be able to support themselves and their family while in the shelter, let alone save enough to pay that kind of rent every month. Most of these women are so ashamed that their colleagues have no idea that they are homeless because they want to look as professional as possible to their peers.

            

            In 2004 Mayor Bloomberg came up with a plan to decrease the homeless population, then 38,000, by two-thirds in five years by shifting money from the shelters to create more low income housing. They even went as far as not giving homeless families’ priority in entering the shelter, and made it more difficult for people to return.

This plan has obviously not worked for the city. The homeless population has risen by 12,000, with 21,600 of them being children. There needs to be a different plan of action taken to ensure that these families have a secure place to live. The Bloomberg administration has this idea that by giving more benefits they are just attracting more people to the shelters, but what are those 50,000 who do need assistance supposed to do?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/nyregion/in-new-york-having-a-job-or-2-doesnt-mean-having-a-home.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Observation: The Young Conservatives of Texas held an “Affirmative Action Bake Sale” on campus to show how unfair they think Affirmative Action is to them. 

Blog Post #3, Being the Minority

           In my foundations of social justice class we have been given an assignment in which we are supposed to put ourselves in a position, for half an hour to an hour, where we are the minority. It must be somewhere that makes us feel nervous or uncomfortable, but should not be potentially dangerous. We also have the option of going with someone, like a fellow classmate.  

          When we were first assigned this my initial thoughts were that it would not be difficult to find a temporary place to visit where I was the minority. It seemed easy to me to be able to find a place where I was the only female on campus or in the surrounding area. What I was struggling with was what place would make me feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. I realized, as a white female it has not been an issue for me to feel comfortable and accepted in a majority of places all around Austin. It made me wonder how potentially more difficult it can be for other students in my class. This assignment has made me realize how much I take for granted by being able to go somewhere without getting looks or having people wonder why I am there.   

Observation: When running downtown I notice the nice buildings and well-dressed business men and women walking among the homeless people on the streets. 

Blog Post #2, Power

            Power. What does it look like to us and how do we determine who is in control of it? This was a recent topic of discussion in communities and organizations. We were asked as a class to go one at a time, putting the chairs in any formation, while leaving one chair in a position of what you thought was power. It was interesting to see the chairs move from having one surrounded by the others, to it being isolated away from the rest. There were subtle changes made, from just lifting the arm of a chair to turning a chair around.  

           

            I live in a cooperative, and I found this exercise to be very similar to this kind of living situation. We have officer positions held within the house, and they are allotted to a handful of the people living there. It made me wonder how we manage to come to a decision of who is deserving of each position and who is not. Why do some people run for multiple positions while others run for none? It is true that most of the people who gain a position of power have lived in a cooperative for the longest amount of time, but does that mean experience alone makes someone more capable of that job? As a society everyday we pick and choose who we believe to have power. Is there a set definition, or does it change from person to person?

Observation: I was recently asked on the street if I supported Planned Parenthood. I noticed that a majority of people being asked this question did not stop to acknowledge or answer the question. 

Blog Post #1

        We recently watched a Ted Talk in class with Dan Pallotta, an activist and fundraiser, who has created many charities and raised millions of dollars for those charities. It was about the double standards that are held for non-profit organizations compared to the rest of the economic world. It was surprising to me that I had never considered of some of the points that brought up throughout the talk. It definitely made me think of philanthropy in a whole new light.

        I realized that every time I have heard about an organization giving only a portion of the money raised towards the actual cause it would upset me, just as it upsets many others. If I would have thought to consider what goes into running non-profit organizations, such as paying the employees, maintaining the work space, and advertisement, I may not have judged certain organizations so harshly. That’s what you get when you take things as they are and do not question them. Sadly, there are plenty of people who do not think to fact check what is being told to them, with me included. This is why it is extremely important that we keep ourselves informed and educated on serious issues such as this one. It becomes increasingly difficult to move forward if you do not constantly think of things in a different perspective.

Where would we be if we never thought to question what was being told to us?

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html

Observation:
I was asked to donate to the children last week at Subway.