Abortion

On the organization's, National Right to Life website they show the baby on an ultrasound growing from month to month. I do not believe they should have this on their website. It would just guilt a woman into not having an abortion. A woman is already going through a lot by having to make this decision but to show this is just guilting them even more. They also talk about the complications they can happen from having an abortion but they refuse to talk about the fact that most woman who undergo an abortion have no complication whatsoever. The pro-choice website lays out everything very well. They do not hide anything about having an abortion and it gives a woman places where they can go to talk or a hotline to call to find a doctor or clinic where they can have an abortion. As a 17 year old, I believe parents do not have the right to know if their child is having an abortion. They do not have the right to consent to it. Now that their child has had sex and is now pregnant they are now an adult and can make their own decisions. If they made the decision not to use contraceptives while having sex, then they can make the decision on whether or not to have an a abortion. If they were adult enough to have sex, then they are adult enough to make their own decisions.
I believe that the father of the child is allowed to have an opinion but overall it is the womans decision because it is her body and she gets to decide what she wants to do with it. I would hope that a woman would take her husband or boyfriend's opinion into account when making that kind of decision but in the end, it is her decision and if she does not want to hear his opinion, she does not have to.
I agree with Illinois's law saying that a woman should be able to make her own decision on having an abortion. Something I disagree with is some Insurance companies including medicad will not pay for a woman to have an abortion. Why should having an abortion be any different from having an appendectamy? It is needed by the person either way.

Speech Codes on Campus

The article, Jim Crow on Fraternity Row, is very disturbing to read about. It is horrifying to hear that these college students were using very offensive and disruptive conduct. The pictures showed them painted black and dressed up like the KKK, pretending to hang "black" people. This kind of behavior should be outlawed at the school because it is very offensive to the point where it disrupts people's lives. I believe these kids knew exactly what they were doing and they knew it would be offensive to people. I don't believe they were trying to make a point, they were just trying to get on people's nerves. Their actions also threatens  the lives of any student on campus. By putting a rope around a "black" persons neck, it promotes a threat to any black person on campus. There are certain restrictions to freedom of speech.
At the University of Oregon, their speech code says that any harassment or speech because of another person's race, gender, color, national origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status is strictly prohibited.
 

Students Right to Free Speech

As we talked about students rights to free speech, it made me think a lot about what students should be allowed to say and what they should not. There are so many things in this world that can offend someone and people need to learn about that, which is why schools cannot restrict everything that may offend someone. Students need to learn about what goes on in the real world and what may happen. On the other hand, there are certain topics that need to be restricted because some issues may offend people to the point where it disrupts their learning and the point of school is to learn. In a case that we read during class, kids were wearing black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The school stated a policy saying that if kids wore the armband, they would be suspended. The case went to court and they agreed that it was unconstitutional. Students should be allowed to express their opinion and they were not disrupting other students when wearing these armbands. They were merely stating their opinion and part of learning in school is that kids should learn about other opinions in their school and in the world. I agreed with the courts decision because I believe that there are so many opinions in this world that may offend someone but people should get used to that. This was not disrupting learning and if it was offending someone, they need to lean to ignore it and find a way to deal with it.

Israel

Israel is my second home. I have over 150 cousins who live there and I have been there 7 times. Some people who I have talked to have a huge issue with going there because they feel it is not safe. When I go there I have never felt safer because everywhere you go in Israel there are soldiers. I believewe could learn a lot from Israel and their culture. After high school, people are sent to the army.Women go for two years and men go for three.They have the choice to fight or to do other jobs including teaching, cooking, and so many other things. After they finish their time in the army, they have six months to travel or just figure out what they want to do for the rest of their life. After those 6 months they have the option to go to a university. I believe this is much better than our lifestyle in America because most people don't know what they want to do with the rest of their life at 18 years old.

"Do the Right Thing" Response

What similarities / differences do you see between Do The Right Thing and "How Bigger Was Born"?  What are the specific ideas and examples used by each text to make their points?  What conclusions can be made as a result of this comparison / contrast? 

Some similarities and differences between "How Bigger was Born" and "Do the Right Thing" are that in "How Bigger was Born" Richard Wright talked about the way society can impact an individual and their actions. In "Do the Right Thing" Sal, Vito, and Pino made a huge affect on society and society had a huge affect on them as well. In one of the scenes Sal and Pino were talking in the restaurant and Pino was talking about wanting to leave this town and moving on to something else. Sal said he didnt want to move because he grew to love the place and the people in it and it was his home. Throughout the movie, many black people came into the restaurant that Sal had built and they provided them with food and they generally liked to hang out there. Some of them became friends with this Italian Family and they had a huge affect on the town.

What are your personal (emotional, critical) responses? What are your feelings, at the movie's end, for Mookie, for Sal, for the police, for the community, for Radio Raheem? Who does--and who does not do--"the right thing"? Whose actions seem meaningful, purposeful, humane? What has been earned, learned, or lost?

In the movie, "Do the Right Thing" I saw a lot of anger put out from blacks towards the Italian Family. There was a black man named, Buggin' Out who got very upset at Sal when he saw on the Wall in the restaurant that there were no black people on it, there were only Italians. He told everyone in the town about it and he protested against the restaurant. I believe that Buggin' Out was just looking for an excuse to get angry at Sal and his family and when he found something to get angry about he overeacted and caused a riot. I believe it was the fact that this Italian family was white and he wanted to make them out as bad people. At one time during this movie everyone did the right thing. whether it was Sal and his family building a restaurant in this restaurant and serving these black people or when Mookie threw the garbage can at the window to keep from Sal, Vito, and Pino being hurt by the people in the town. When I first saw the scene, I thought Mookie had thrown the garbage can out of anger but when we discussed it in class and someone brought up this point, I really believe that was the reason. I believe that Mookie did see them as family and he wanted to keep them from getting hurt so when he threw the garbage can the other blacks took out their anger on the restaurant rather than Sal, Vito, and Pino. Every character in this movie learned a great lesson from this family and they did have a huge impact on the town.

Document 3-Demands

In this document, two black organizations called the Chicago Freedom Movement and the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations got together and protested the segregationist policies of Chicago school superintendant, Benjamin Willis. They wanted economic oppurtunities for blacks. On July 10, 1965, King led a march from Soldier Field to City Hall with a list of 17 demands for Mayor Daley to keep everything equal and nonviolent. They made a stand instead of sitting back and not dealing with the conflicts or inequality and violence.

two societies-Document 1: King in Watts

Martin Luther king always tried to make compromises with white people to try and give black people a better life. "King promised to do "all in my power" to persuade the police chief and mayor to talk with residents." In this document white policemen stopped and harrassed two black brothers and a crowd of black people reacted in an extreme way and started a riot that lasted for 6 days. King felt compelled to go to Los Angeles and encourage peace. He convinced the crowd that a riot was not the way to make a point. In the end he brought peace between the whites and the blacks.

What is a riot? Why do some incidents become riots?

A riot is a group of people who feel the need to start a protest and bring destruction to make their point. A riot starts because when people try and make a point and they dont get to the point of peace, it can become physical and it can bring destruction.