Blog #3: Alcatraz

The movement that occurred on the Alcatraz Island was one that helped change the lives of many Native Americans. In 1969 the takeover of Alcatraz fueling the rise of modern Native American activism. This movement sprung awareness to the American public, along with our nation’s government about the unfair American Indian rights issues. This movement brought many American Indians together to fight for their rights. It brought hope and empowerment to those affected by the unfair ruling toward our native people.  On the website http://www.pbs.org/itvs/alcatrazisnotanisland/activism.html, Russell Means proclaims that,

“Before AIM [American Indian Movement], Indians were dispirited, defeated and culturally dissolving. People were ashamed to be Indian. You didn't see the young people wearing braids or chokers or ribbon shirts in those days. Hell, I didn't wear 'em. People didn't Sun Dance, they didn't sweat, and they were losing their languages. Then there was that spark at Alcatraz, and we took off. Man, we took a ride across this country. We put Indians and Indian rights smack dab in the middle of the public consciousness for the first time since the so-called Indian Wars.... [AIM] laid the groundwork for the next stage in regaining our sovereignty and self-determination as nation, and I'm proud to have been a part of that.”

This statement proves how scared this group of people became. Showing how tired of fighting against everyone that they would give up their culture and beliefs in order to try and get by without harassment by others opposing them. The saying ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ comes into effect in this case.

                Before this class I was not aware of this movement. I feel that while in middle/ high school you are not taught about many movements. I think the reason being not because they do not care, or do not want to talk about these types of issues, but because there is not enough time allotted in school to cover issues like these when more simple items are critical to learn such as math and literature. At a younger age, such as elementary school, I do not think that a child could comprehend the complexity of these types of issues. This is why we have higher education, to be able to take classes that can broaden ones perspective from their everyday lives. Issues like these are not brought up outside of school in everyday life because they are in the past. I feel that most discussion I have on a daily basis is not in bringing up past events, but talking about what is happening now, and worrying about the future. So with an event like this, unless you were personally affected by this, it would not be something you would really talk about. I am glad to be in this class though and learn about these events that I was not aware of before.

                 This movement was great for our country to learn more about the culture of American Indians. Like I stated previously many people will tend to focus on their own lives, and seclude themselves from the world around them; especially if they are not aware of the instance. The affects of Alcatraz made it possible to get the word out to the public to be aware of their culture and become more accepting of them as people. Like many issues surrounding culture barriers, I feel that the real problem influenced is the misunderstanding, or lack of knowledge people have towards each other.  Obviously, there are people who are aware of issues, and do not care to help in anyway. But that thought does not reflect the rest of the population.

Blog Extra Credit: "The New Face of Homelessness"

The effects of homelessness take an extreme toll on everyone in the family who is involved. The article "The New Face of Homelessness" by Kelly Cobiella focuses these effects on the children of these families. The children she interviews are all in school. School itself, for a child, is an obstacle to overcome. Especially in middle and high school the average child is constantly teased, and gains many insecurities about themselves. This alone can easily cause depression, which affects their school work and who they become friends with.

            This fact does not include any hardships that these children face in their home life. To add this factor of homelessness, this will just add to the schooling of these children. Breanna Martin, a 13-year-old claimed “I have like no clothes anymore because I lost them all. So basically I wear whatever I can find. I’m wearing right now my grandpa’s shirt and my grandma’s pants.” For a middle school student, image and social status is all that is thought about. They constantly judge and are judged throughout the day. This creates insecurities that can psychologically affect children at the deepest level. These children who already start in poverty; no clothes and no money does not help matters at the least.

           

Another issue that was not mentioned as much is in this article is hunger. With the little to no income these families produce, food is going to be their number one priority to spend their money on.  Many who are involved in this situation are not eating as well as they need to. It is good that public schools try to help in this matter by providing free lunches for those who did not bring one or do not have money. Though these lunches are normally just a simple P.B.J.

Blog #2: U.S. Youth and Resistance

For this blog I read the article “8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance”, by Bruce E. Levine, found on this website: (http://www.alternet.org/vision/151850/8_reasons_young_americans_don%27t_fight_back_–_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance?page=entire).  After reading this article I cannot say that I agree with everything that Levine had stated. Although many of his statements are true, I do not feel that they can be correlated to this idea that today’s youth is not able, or wanting to resist. For some points, not all of the facts of each situation are stated, so a valid analysis cannot be met. In this blog I will be addressing the points that the author has written about and give my own opinion on the issue.

I do not agree with Levine when he states that “The nature of most classrooms, regardless of the subject matter, socializes students to be passive and directed by others, to follow orders, to take seriously the rewards and punishments of authorities, to pretend to care about things they don’t care about, and that they are impotent to affect their situation.”. I feel that what is taught in school is not to follow orders, but to be respectful of their elders, and their peers. What is taught in school should not take away from your own opinion about different topics. Even though you need to have respect for those around, you should be able to come to your own conclusions on a subject matter. Schools teach respect, and facts, along with debate. For most schools, their mission is to teach facts to their students. They try hard not to add their own personal opinions into the subject matter, but instead to teach the different sides or ideas of subjects baring multiple theories. Though, this is not always the case in schools. Not all educators are able to keep their own beliefs away from the subjects. This can greatly affect the students in their own ideas about life and other subjects. Children’s minds are easily molded. So to have an authority figure tell them one thing (that they strongly believe in) is true, it is only logical that the student would right away believe in or even change their mind about the subject.

The author also talks about how surveillance takes away from one’s wants to rebel. At one point he refers to the surveillance starting at a young age with parents watching their children’s activities closely. I think that this has increased over time because it has followed the change in technology and availability to the younger generations. With these increased changes parents have to work harder to keep their children safe and pure for as long as possible. Society has changed in this sense very rapidly over the years. For instance the media’s idea of sexuality and what is accepted may not be the same for most parents with their children.

Another point made was Levine’s idea that the reasoning of this lessening resistance upon our newer generations is because of society’s outlook on being “followers” rather than “leaders” I feel is not the complete truth. I can see how some of that reasoning would reflect on some of the choices that one would make. Though, I also feel a big part of this decreasing need for resistance is simply because the need is not there. If there is no conflict, there is nothing to face.

The Article “Is American Youth Too Coddled To Revolt?” by Nikki Arena is one I think can easily blend both my opinion and that of Bruce Levine. I think this article is true to the social trends of our youth and has good explanations for them; Seen on this website: http://goodmenproject.com/on-occupywallstreet/is-american-youth-too-coddled-to-revolt/.

The author mentioned that people in other countries such as Egypt and Iran have recently rebelled to the extent of being killed to get there point across. These actions are taken because they are trying to fight for freedom. But here in America we already have freedom. Many countries and peoples want freedom as well so of course they will give up everything in their power for it. America has done so many times. If America had lost its freedom, I am positive that every one of us would go out and fight for it. That kind of liberty is definitely something that people would die for. And is something that many still do today in America, the only difference is that we have created a system so that our young are not subject to pay the price for it. Resistance should not be a characteristic of a person, yet only an emotion when it is truly needed; you should not set out to find something to resist just because you as a human have the power to do so.