Fraternity Brothers Aren't Real Brothers

Fraternity Brothers aren’t real brothers


I was walking home from school one day when I got a call from my mom saying that one of my friends was in the hospital, I asked why and my mom said that when he was going into college he decided to join a fraternity and was hazed. He drank to much beer and had to go to the hospital where he could have died. My friend is also my neighbor so this hit me pretty hard. Ever since then I have been very serious about the end of fraternities.


Hazing is an “initiation” to a fraternity using sexually humiliating, physically abusive, and/or forcing alcohol types of strategies to the hazing victim to show brotherhood to the fraternity, but it is really just torture. Hazing consists of the other fraternity members handing the person being initiated so much beer that it could be lethal, and some fraternities paddle whoever they are hazing which leave very explicit marks on the victim to such an extent that the victim can die from that as well. Hazing is a huge problem because hazing occurs 76% of the time when somebody new joins a fraternity which is 3% more than in gangs.

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/file.php?path=/images/CQ_Researcher/r20040109-whohazesmost.gif - This is an image of the percentage of people who get hazed when they join one of these social groups.


A huge misconception about hazing is that people think that it is a very rare occurrence that doesn’t do much damage to a person or society when it is committed, but in actuality hazing happens a lot, and when it happens it does hurt. As in almost every fraternity hazing happens when new members join, most times that this happens the victims get sent to a hospital, and at least one hazing related death per year with seventy deaths since 2000, so hazing is getting worse. Somebody named Timothy Piazza who was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity died because of hazing last year. Timothy  was given eighteen beers in 82 minutes, Tim fell down the fraternity houses stairs, fractured his skull, went through irreversible traumatic brain injuries, had his spleen ruptured in multiple ways which caused extensive internal bleeding and hemorrhagic shock. Tim then died after being left at the bottom of the stairs for twelve hours. This incident not only killed Timothy, but ruined every other fraternity “brothers” life because themselves and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity have been charged with 850 charges including involuntary manslaughter. The shocking part bout this case is that the fraternity that Timothy joined was a “reformed” fraternity, which means that it has a strict behavioral policy, a no alcohol policy, and adult supervision with security footage. This was shocking to me not because they weren’t supposed to do these things, but because nobody knew this was happening, not even the adult who was supposed to be supervising the fraternity members. After I researched this case and others like it I became shocked because I thought that what happened to my friend was the worst that it could get, but I became scared and thought about “what if that happened to my friend?” I would have been devastated if my friend died, which made me devastated when I heard that many other people have died and made me hate fraternities even more.

https://www.unilad.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/111007_brandbox_americanpie.jpg.CROP_.rectangle3-large.jpg - Picture of students being hazed or “running the gauntlet” at a fraternity.

Fraternity deaths are getting more numerous which makes fraternities get more known which reveals more of the horrifying truth about fraternities to the world. Right now people are considering shutting down fraternities because of all of the deaths that fraternities have caused and the side effects of fraternities that affect the members, such as, being more likely to become a rapist, alcoholic, drug abuser, and much more.


Help fraternities get noticed so all of the deaths and ruined lives can stop. Fraternities are very close to coming to an end such as Timothy Piazza’s fraternity, and some schools are already banning fraternities from their campuses. We can help shut fraternities by working together and maybe even getting into contact with schools. Stand up against fraternities!

          http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/embed/public/2017/05/15/timothy-piazza.PNG - Picture of Timothy Piazza, the person who died at the hazing incident at Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.


If you would like to see my annotated bibliography, click here.


Littering is Not Good !


Littering Is Not Good!


An issue that is going on in the world that I am passionate about is littering. Littering is an issue that I am passionate about, because littering is a danger to the earth and other living life forms. Everyday when I walk around north philadelphia all I see is trash all over the ground. It is very peevish to see a lot of trash on the ground and especially when there is a trash can near by. I feel like their actions should change immediately. This issue should matter to people because they are living on this earth too and it is important that they keep their planet clean too so we can live clean and keep the Earth green. This information that I am going to be giving is significant because this information will warn people the possible danger not only to our environment but us as well.


Statistics of Littering

There are a lot of statistics on littering and these statistics is saying  that people need to stop littering and keep the Earth clean as possible.The article I was reading was called “11 Littering Statistics Of America” and this website gives facts and statistics on littering that happens in America and it tells how much the world produce littering.  This website says that, “50% of all littering is from cigarette butts” This tells us that half of the world litters cigarette butts, which is not good at all. This is also a safety hazard, because if a cigarette is still burned up, someone could step on it and could get them hurt. Cigarettes butts also leave a horrible smell and that's something people don’t want to smell.  Another part of littering is there is a lot of fast food on the ground. With fast food being littered on the ground, it starts to rod and animals start to eat it. According to the website it says, “Fast food products account for a full third of all litter that produced around the world. That includes the food itself and the packaging materials.” This source tells us that people throws their garbage on the ground, instead of throwing their garbage in the trash. Brandon Gallie is the author of this article and he says, “If we allow our trash to pile up, we’re going to destroy our local ecosystems just as quickly, if not more quickly than climate change can.” This quote stands out to me because Brandon is saying that if trash is being put on the ground, it is going to destroy the ecosystem.

This picture gives us information on how much of different types of garbage is littered. If you press on the link it will take to this website having different posters having different statistics on littering.


Littering In General

Everyone knows that littering is against the law, but people still do it. Since people are continuing to litter, it shows that they don’t care about the environment. It angers me that there is so much on the ground, which is why littering needs to stop. According to the website, “Illegal Dumping & Littering”, it says, “94% of people who says littering is bad still litter.” This shows most people are against the fact that other people litter. Since people are littering so much,  they don’t even know that they are ruining the ecosystem. The website, “Conserving Energy Future” it states, “People still litter, largely for the following reasons: Laziness, people don’t realize that with littering, there do come consequence, the garbage can is too far away…” These are really the main reasons why people litter and people is going to have to start paying attention to what they are doing and fix their mistakes. I always wonder what the world would be like if no one littered at all. If there was a world where people actually cared about what they are doing then the world would be so much cleaner.

This picture of the beach being filled with trash. This is a way that wildlife that live near the beach could be possibly hurt


Here is a picture of what people do with their trash even when there is a trash can there.

If you want to see my sources here is the link to it.


The Punishment of the people

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13wTzYcJCdMGtSsozTe1VAUYwjLW3z1r577zruis1Vrw/edit?usp=sharing

One of the many problems plaguing America today is Police Brutality. In the year 2017 1,147 people were killed by police officers in the U.S. statistically speaking the races most affected by police brutality are Caucasians with 392 African Americans with 191 and Hispanics with 159. There are many possible reasons for police brutality such as inadequate training and beliefs on how others should be treated.Image result for police brutality pictures

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-New-Years-Eve-Protests-in-Chicago-Against-Police-Brutality-20151231-0028.html

Did you know for every 1000 that are killed by police officers 1 officer is convicted of a crime.The Washington Post and Bowling Green University published a vividly thorough informative study about police officers who have killed people in the United States since 2005. The study found that among the thousands who have killed at the hands of cops since that year, only 54 officers have been charged. The Post reported that most officers were cleared or acquitted in the resolved cases. Police brutality not only affects those in the moment of the situation, but the families affected by what can be a horrible moment. Police Brutality is not a new problem that is starting to impact society Police Brutality has progressed for over 53 years and has only continued to get worst. Many stories you have all seen or heard of about police brutality could have all been prevented. In my day to day life I leave the house everyday not in fear, but in caution and in disappointment the men and women who are supposed to live by the motto to protect and serve do the complete opposite, the horrible actions committed by the officers are alienating us from them which makes a bad environment for you and me.


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By Africa Jackson on July 9, 2016 / @AfricaJwrites /  Like the Tempest

Police Brutality happens everyday in the year 2017 2% of Police brutality in America was in Pennsylvania, That in total is 23 on December 28 Isaiah Christian Green was killed at the age of 20 for gun possession, On December 27 Dennis Plowden was shot after being stopped by police while driving his car. What I am trying to say is while compared to the other 49 states whose numbers of murders related to Police Brutality are higher than the state of Pennsylvania they all could have been prevented. After the number of shootings happening all around America former United States President Barack Obama said during a press conference, ¨This is not just a black issue. It’s not just an Hispanic issue. This is an American issue that we should all care about, all fair- minded people should be concerned.¨ I want to end this with what could be done to prevent the high number of people killed by police brutality which is rather high. To prevent another horrible death we as a whole have to confront our past as a united people to learn what has to change, some things in life your able to sweep under the rug but this is something that we will one day have to face. Moving on from this I hope you all never forget the many people we sadly lost, We all have to remember to take care of ourselves and others Thanks for reading.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/05/12/how-dismantle-racism-and-prevent-police-brutality/101481438/


ASK ME ABOUT SWEATSHOPS

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By definition sweatshops are factories or workshop oftentimes located in third world countries where the people are employed at very low wages for very long hours and work under poor conditions.  What do most Sweatshops do though?  They are most known for the clothing industry.  Sweatshops are all over the world  but mostly found in Central America, South America, Asia, China, India and some parts of Europe.  



What inspired me to choosing this topic was when I was in 8th grade my math teacher, Teacher Vinh would alway start a unit in math by introducing a problem we had in our world.  For one of the units we learned about Sweatshops, his goal, besides teaching us math was for us to understand where all of our clothes and shoes come from and to remember that there is someone that is suffering behind the stuff we own.  I remember in class he wore his favorite pair of Nikes and in class he said something more so like “You guys are probably going to think i’m crazy for doing this, but i’m going to write on my shoes to honor all the people who worked hard to make theses shoes for me.” By the end of the unit we learned that as consumers it’s hard to stop buying the items you want but the ultimate goal that we all learned was to now think of the people behind the items we buy.


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This issue is significant because it’s simply isn’t fair for a human to be treated as if they aren’t people.  A huge problem with sweatshops is not only how they treat their workers horribly and pay them horribly but they also support child labor.  I read this article about a girl named Meem working in a Bangladesh sweatshop and she told her story to reporters.   Meem is a young thirteen year old girl that was taken out of school so she could work at a sweatshop sewing and making clothes. Meem had no choice but to work at a sweatshop because the family had ran into a hardship.  Her mother was pregnant and unable to work, the family needed another person to bring home something.  In every country that has sweatshops the workers all get paid differently but in Meem’s experience all workers would works around 12 hours with only a lunch break, by the end of the moth they make a total of $23. “It was back-breaking, it was finger-numbing. It was particularly rage-inducing,” said Meem.


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shoe production price graphic 700px
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Where did sweatshops originate from?  In England as early as the 1850s, the word sweater was used to describe an employer who worked many long hours for very low wages.  Then the word “Sweating”  was spreaded in the 1880s when immigrants from eastern and southern Europe provided a cheap labour in The United States and Central Europe.  In the 20th century we saw sweatshops come into parts of Latin America and Asia and have been having a increasing demand of consumer goods in the West.

Throughout my research I have learned some of my favorite companies endorus child labor. A few companies I found were Nestle, H&M, Philip Morris, Walmart, Victoria Secret, the GAP, Apple, Disney, Forever 21 and Hershey’s.  Though all theses companies will deny endorsing child labor however it’s a cheap way for them to make a lot of money off of these kids while paying them no more than $20 a month. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries. 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America. In Indonesia, workers earn about $3.70 for a pair of shoes that later sells worldwide in store for about $180.


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sweatshop_redux
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Many of these children are forced to work. They are denied an education and will never know what a normal childhood is. Many of the children are often beaten if they don't work fast enough. Some are denied the right to leave the workplace and go home to their families. Some are even abducted and forced to work.  Most children working at sweatshops are as young as 8 to 14 years of age. A lot of the stores we love to shop at hide things from us.  For example in 2013 at a Bangladeshi sweatshop, 1,100 workers died in a building collapse in the Rana Plaza.  This would have never happened if the workers never physically forced to enter the dangerously cracked building which was run by gang members.


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Simpsons-sweatshop

I’m still learning about my topic and it saddens me when I find out more and more about my topic, but I don’t just want to teach my teachers and classmates about sweatshops.  I want to spread the word about the truth of sweatshops and actually make my peers think about the everyday items that they’re buying and ask themselves, ‘Where was this made?, Who made this? How are they being treated? If they aren’t being treated fairly how can I help so they can get their human rights back?

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Seeking Education Not Debt

The topic that I chose is college tuition. This particular topic interests me because recently I grew an interest in economics and then I wanted to see how education affected the economy and both neighborhood and ethnicity-based communities.When I was in 6th grade my sister was getting her college acceptance letters and due to insufficient funds, my sister couldn’t go to a college if she didn’t receive a scholarship. My sister being a medical major wanted to attend some of the nations top schools but due to the pricing of higher education, her options were limited.My sister eventually got into a private university for a full scholarship, however, if she didn’t get a scholarship she would graduate with 673,390 dollars worth of student loans. this is the cost of school excluding textbooks and overlooking medical school cost. Sometimes when I’m on the train I think about my future, I want to be an engineer that changes the face of technology and I want to attend MIT. I being an overachiever I also want to attend to Harvard for a law or business degree and thinking about these difficult goals I tell myself that if I ever want to see at least one of them come true I would have to work day and night and with a large amount of luck is the only way I can achieve one of my goals and with rising tuition cost and a fragile economy I can only wish for the best. We can try to change the problem as much as we possibly can by contacting our local politicians. During this research, I learned that the idea of free college was first really paid attention to when the Obama administration said Community College should be free if you have a GPA of at least 2.5 and parents who make less than $200,000 a year.



The problem with colleges is not that they are only expensive even though that is a part of the problem. The cause of the issue of tuition all starts with the name of the school for example when people hear the name Harvard they don’t usually tend to think about a lower middle class or working class individual , rather they think about the white male who wants to get a degree in law or business and this is a problem. According to the crimson Harvard is one of the leaders of colleges when it comes to accepting students who parents are making more than 630,000 a year at 15.1%.When we look at colleges we see the spectrum from best to worst. We all learn that the cream of the crop gets into the Ivy Leagues followed by the world-renowned schools such as Stanford, MIT, and CalTech. Then we hear about state schools and state schools and finally community colleges. To argue my point of why college tuition should be drastically lowered or be free to certain colleges is the numbers behind the scenes. The New York Times suggests that when the number of people graduating college increases the economy grows and expands. This eventually creates jobs and those two reasons are good enough reasons to start on lowering tuition. One of the main problems with college tuition is that it scares graduating 12th graders and this can be a problem not only to those students but to our society/economy as a whole. When one in four teens look at the cost of college they would give up on aspirations of becoming a doctor, engineer or lawyer. However, if we look at that student’s record we see that he gets straight A’s and has a solid GPA of 3.9 then we start wondering why is this student giving up an achievable dream of becoming a doctor.The tells us that even if he could get a full ride to college at UPenn he won’t be able to afford medical school so he decided it’s better to start working than hoping. Okay that’s perfectly okay a student with a GPA of 3.9 would find his/her way around the workforce and get a decent job. However, that’s a problem in itself . A majority of jobs offered to people with high school diplomas are factory jobs this would be a problem because if there is an ever decreasing number of factory jobs in the United States and lets say 4 million other students look at the price of college and one fourths of them decide to not attend college that will be another million people looking for the same job as our first student, a factory job, and that means that more workers, higher cost for hiring companies and when left with no options they would move to different countries for lower cost. Then, when we go back to the U.S where those 1 million with dreams of college lose their job, and now it would be harder to get accepted to any other jobs without a college degree and when this happens the economy loses money and the unemployment rate increases.


In contrary let's say that the full 4 million students can afford to go to college and when they graduate looking for jobs as highly qualified individuals they would attract incorporations from other countries and when this happens the economy goes up and the unemployment rate decreases because people are now able to go back to college for their degree since it’s cheaper and even if the individual is still not qualified for the job they want, they have more job options to choose from because of the new companies coming to the United States. Sometimes the largest issues in today’s society can be solved by one proposed bill and when that happens maybe somewhere out there a 5-year-old boy with dreams of being an engineer, who can’t afford it today might be able to look at his acceptance letter and think of his dream that still awaits him rather than think of the debt of chasing his dream.

     

Annotated Bibliography: here

Crumb Rubber In Astroturf


Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

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Picture of person running on astroturf field and crumb

rubber jumping out of the grass. Click here for the image source.


When I play baseball and when I used to play at soccer camps, I noticed these fields made up of artificial grass and crumb rubber. I noticed while playing and watching that every time somebody stepped, slide, kick, or made some kind of frictions with this grass, little black rubber pellets would spray up from the ground to the air and fall back down. My first time playing on astroturf it was in the middle of the summer and I was in Maryland for a baseball tournament. I remember sliding into second base and feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I looked down and my arms was red and starting to bleed. That was not the only problem, It felt like it was two- hundred degrees. According to my own experience, the  little black rubber crumbs absorb heat and can make the whole field one-hundred degrees hotter then what the temperature is. I want to learn about all of the problems with this crumb rubber, find all of the solutions and substitutes to each problem because I know their needs to be something done.


This topic matters to me because crumb rubber in astroturf is a little substance that is always overlooked and not thought of. When humans play on these crumb rubbers, it is risking their body and health. Over thousands of kids play on astroturf fields with crumb rubbers in them every day and many of these people are not aware of the risks of playing on these fields.

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Zoomed in picture of the many crumb rubbers in the artificial grass.Click here for the image source.


The majority of fields consist of natural dirt and grass which take many hours to maintain. This job is extremely hard, having to watch over it, make sure not to many

people are using it, cutting the grass at a constant rate, making sure the dirt is clean and even, and so on. Many field owners are either giving up on these natural fields, limiting a place for kids and other people to have fun being outside, or trying to find a substitute to the fields. Even though astro turf costs a ton of money, after many years it becomes equal to all of the hours spent fixing the field and buying different materials to maintain the field with. I want kids to have the opportunity to go outside and play on these beautiful clean fields. If all of the fields are in good conditions, it is a great site to see but when people when people stop maintaining and caring about these fields, it is a waste of space and a waste of an opportunity for people to be having fun. I want for everybody to be aware of the possible risks of these crumb rubbers in astroturf and try for a change.



Annotated Bibliography:



https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit




What My Color Tells Me: Stop Discriminating And Start Appreciating!

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Racial+and+Ethnic+Inequality
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Ever wonder why people are considered unequal or some are classified into a system where people are at the top and some who are lowly regarded are at the bottom? Why is power derived from sources, then used against people? Ethnic Inequality is the answer. I am interested in this topic because Ethnic Inequality is a major issue and always was in today’s society and is a major flaw in history. I am also interested in this because Racial Discrimination is like dust, it's everywhere and it's difficult to get rid of.  The only way we can somehow stultify it is to work together to help loosen that mentality everybody has on Discrimination. No one wants to be a victim of racism, but it can happen to anyone. Racial discrimination can be so painful that it can leave a scar and anger that traumatizes the victim.

How can we fight this social issue of racial discrimination in our society? We can stop racial discrimination by fighting for their rights and standing up for those people who were victimized because we care for them and our future generations along with making a change.

The people today can make a great impact on how to end this. Furthermore, we can start by educating the people and children in our home and in school. If we express our thoughts to those who are learning, that this is not an acceptable trait, it can make a big difference. We need to teach this to narrow-minded people who believe that their race is better than others and to appreciate not discriminate. Too much discrimination exists in this world, and it seems like it only gets worse by the second. 


While researching I learned that ethnicity is clearly distinguished from race due to countries like North America, Africans, People across the border, or any descendant of the Latino culture. From this link, I learned that housing, employment, and health has been one of the main reasons why racial and ethnic inequalities have continued. “Families of color were, in effect, excluded from receiving these mortgages. While white families took advantage of them and prospered, other families were left behind and are still trying to catch up.” This line right here from the link below shows that ethnic and racial inequality is real. It’s not really about what you are going to get out of it, but what you’ll learn and how you can better that issue so there won’t be any problems in that community or society.    http://www.futurity.org/racial-ethnic-inequalities-united-states-1467732-2/

Did you know that less than half of black families (41 percent) and Hispanic families (45 percent) live in owner-occupied housing, whereas white families are 71 percent? This is economic discrimination. Economic Discrimination is discrimination based on economic factors. My question is how can people speak so poorly about people of “Low status” when the reason why they are classified in that position or order is that of Racial Discrimination? That’s like making an assumption about a person's personality, and automatically ranking them as this type of person without knowing who they are. 


This topic matters to me because there are probably others who have stories and may not want to speak out on this issue, so therefore I’m here to address this, and also I’m passionate about this because I want to bring it to people’s attention what’s going on. I noticed that Ethnic Inequality and Racial Discrimination are sometimes swept away because of other issues that are constantly on the news.  Discrimination is like a noose, preventing people from making smart decisions. It restricts people from making their own personal choices. Nooses are occasionally unfairly put around innocent men's' lives for their death, controlling those people and their future.

This issue is important because our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white separate and unequal.” The commission blamed white racism for the riots and urged the government to provide jobs and housing for African Americans and to take steps to end racial segregation. More than four decades later, racial inequality in the United States continues to exist and in many ways has worsened. Despite major advances by African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color during the past few decades, they continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites in education, income, health, and other social indicators.  Biological race is impossible because there is no genetic or DNA make-up difference from one race to another. Racial inequality is a very big issue that the world is dealing with, especially the United States. People tend to discriminate because of the way someone looks or where they are from. These could be an example prejudice which is the act of prejudging a person because of their appearance, thoughts and/or ideas. Also stereotyping, discrimination, and racism goes hand in hand with a lot of things. 

It’s sad how we look to policy and law enforcement for situations like these to be “solved” when we can’t even do it ourselves. Perhaps talking to people who care about this topic would be a good idea, and make things easier. The policy really won’t make things easier, instead, it will just make people more paranoid, and more stigma will happen. Because of low health care and employment, something like “lower class” exists. I think this exists because they are not just more likely to be born into families with less wealth, education, and income, but they are also more likely to live in poor neighborhoods where high-quality schools are more difficult to find, crime is high, and other high and safe things are unavailable. 

How can we fight this social issue of racial discrimination in our society? We can stop racial discrimination by fighting for their rights and standing up for those people who were victimized because we care for them and our future generations along with making a change.

The people today can make a great impact on how to end this. Furthermore, we can start by educating the people and children in our home and in school. If we express our thoughts to those who are learning, that this is not an acceptable trait, it can make a big difference. We need to teach this to narrow-minded people who believe that there race is better than others and to appreciate not discriminate. Too much discrimination exists in this world, and it seems like it only  gets worst by the second. Racial and Ethnic Inequality along with Discrimination is real, It’s not just happening here, it's happening in other countries and places too. Racial slurs, discrimination, racial classification is terrible. Stop classifying people by their skin, and accept them for who they are.

islamophobia.


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Photo:  http://www.missionislam.com/discover/basic.htm


Growing up as a Muslim, I get to experience the bias towards my people and our religion first hand. One time, I was at the Mosque (a place where Muslims go to worship god) and I was located in the women’s area while my brother, cousin, and dad were in the men’s area. After everyone in the Mosque prayed, we were all about to go home when a non Muslim man came into the building screaming at all of us telling us that we are brainwashed terrorists. He said that he doesn’t blame us for being that way, he blamed god. Now I’m not sure if he was an atheist or just believed that Muslims worshipped a different god from everyone else, but what he said made me realize how people actually viewed me based off of the piece of cloth I wear on my head. My parents spent their parenthood making sure my siblings and I were proud of who were and to always believe deeply in our religion no matter what society had to say about it. I chose to write about this topic specifically because I need to know more about islamophobia. I need to know what made people hate me and fear me because of my religion. I know my religion, I know that it’s based on peace, mercy, and humbleness. The media and society want to believe that Muslims are such bad people destined on earth to destroy everyone’s lives. My question is, why?


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This picture represents society blaming the Muslim girl.

photo: https://missmuslim.nyc/islamophobia-not-medical-condition/


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Another photo representing the little Muslim girl as the “blame”


photo: http://eltecolote.org/content/en/features/surviving-the-new-terrorism-islamophobia/


One of the main reasons why islamophobia is on the rise is because of Donald Trump. Aside from calling for a ban on Muslims entering the the United States, Trump has said that “Islam hates us,” and accused American Muslims of protecting terrorists. Trump is president, and a lot of citizens actually listen to and take in his arrogant remarks, reporters find that hate crimes towards Muslims increase as Trump shades them publicly and feeds false information into the brains of his supporters. In America alone, 48% of incidents are Muslim bias incidents, the highest percentage out of any other type of incident. From July 1 to September 30 of 2017, The Council on American-Islamic Relations received 753 reports of potential anti-Muslim bias incidents. The top five trigger factors of a Muslim is their ethnicity/national origin, headscarf/hijab, if they are perceived as a Muslim, place of worship, and other Muslim activity such as praying. In return for simply being a Muslim, we receive abuse such as hate crimes, harassment, employment issues, CBP harassment at airports, and sometimes FBI harassment. All we do is worship god and have different beliefs than other religions. By different beliefs, I don’t mean how islamophobic people see us or how Trump sees us, I mean that we believe in our prophets and the words of Allah.


Society wants to believe so hard that Muslims are the blame for every terrorist act. People are individual, they do what they want and it just has to reflect on their people and what they stand for. One dark toned person could rob a store and all black people are cheap and dangerous thugs who god forbid cross paths with an old lady, they might mug her. One lightly toned person could shoot a bunch of innocents and every white person is a sensitive school shooter who god forbid ever gets upset with anyone, they might kill them. One person with a headscarf or kufi could bomb a building and all Muslims are terrorists who god forbid ever cross paths with non Muslims, they might kill their entire family. Biases are everywhere, but it is an individual’s job to believe what they want, but it’s my job to portray the image of my people, the real image.


Image result for islamophobia




The statue of liberty is holding this Muslim girl showing her that she is welcomed and is not how society portrays her.






photo:

http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/03/04/my-experience-with-islamophobia-as-an-american-muslim/



Check out the link to my annotated bibliography..

 


The Truth

The Truth

Image result for homelesshttp://theapopkavoice.com/over-2000-determined-homeless-central-florida/



Although I was told to make a project where I would research on a specific topic of one of the worlds problems and create my feasible solution. I feel as though I take this project as a step closer to my goal in this world. My goal is to create peace in this world and what better way to do that by starting to solve one problem at a time. I will start by helping the homeless so that they can get their life together and help others in need like they have helped them. I chose the topic about the homeless because I believe that there is a misconception about the homeless because they are commonly seen as lazy, drug addicts, and people who take advantage of their situation. I can’t stand the fact that people nowadays point out the problems of this world and complain, but they don’t want to do anything about it. Sure the homeless need support but what they really need is for people like us to motivate them so that they can get their life back together.  They will be motivated because they will feel like they are wanted in this world and people are truly motivated when people trust them to become better. Based on my experience in the U.S and other countries, most of the unfortunate always appreciate what they get. When i was in Colombia, I noticed that the less fortunate wanted attention more than valuables. This brought me to the idea that we people need to connect with others because we need love and that is the only thing that will keep us motivated to keep moving forward.

People don’t know the truth behind homeless people. Most homeless people served in the military and when they retired, they were left with nothing. Over 57,00 homeless people are retired veterans and only 60% of them are in shelters, the rest are out in the streets. People who gave their lives to serve one’s country should not be living in the streets, they should be given the help they need by the government and not forgotten.  Others suffer from mental illnesses and need help, we could help these people by providing them the assistance they need. We the people need to take action because it is evident that our government never cared about truly coming up with a solution of themselves to end this problem. They want to just ignore this problem by amending laws to suppodsley help themselves and the non-homeless people. Not only that but about 138,000 homeless people are kids under the age of 18. This says a lot because this can affect the future generation by not given them the education they need, not letting them experience what it feels like interacting with different people, and it can lead to very long and sad depression problems. Based on what I’ve read, it seems that the main reason people go homeless is because they can’t find an affordable place to live. This mostly means that people don’t have enough money to pay monthly for a house. This can be because of the job they have, being robbed, recently getting out of jail. Being in jail and then being released is also a main reason people go homeless. When they start their life again they are left with nothing and have no support. Some were abandoned by their families, some never had family, some were seperated, and some were already homeless before they went to jail. Many others go homeless not only because they don’t have family members or money, but because of physical abuse. Sadly, 90% of women go homeless because of domestic violence.




Image resulthttps://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-life-changing-lessons-that-helping-homeless-people-taught-me/





This is a problem because the homeless isn’t only one problem but there are other problems that affiliate with being homeless. We need to understand that we can’t alienate the homeless because just like most of us, they have dreams and aspirations. They need to stop being seen as animals and start being seen as people like us because that’s what they are. This is only the start of my journey. I will continue to grow my knowledge so I can build a better understanding of the homeless. With the facts that I discovered my idea about the homeless has changed dramatically. At first I knew that the homeless were different from what people said but I didn’t really care about the world I lived in, I just had a closed mindset. I became more open minded before I started researching this topic but my idea on the homeless is now that, they need support from us just like we need support from others and that they worry mostly about being affiliated with others more than the money. They aren’t selfish. I wonder that if we all worked together to help others, would the homeless finally live the life they dreamed about? Will our government stop us yet again from achieving true peace? Since this is only the start, I hope to learn more about the homeless stories and how I can help them feel wanted and motivate them. And when helping others, it’s not so much about how much you get but about how much you give.

Bibliography

Image result for homeless helping other homelesshttps://www.lllcf.org/program/help-the-homeless/


Homeless Shelter Crisis in America

There are more than 500,000 homeless people living in America today. About two thirds of those are living in homeless shelters. What you may not know about these shelters is that they could be even worse for their inhabitants than the outdoors. To hear the testimonies of many people who formerly resided in these shelters is jarring. Many tell stories of how they had been raped, had their belongings stolen, were forced to sleep in the cold with no blankets, and more.

As a citizen of Philadelphia, I see and interact with the homeless on an almost daily basis. While they need money and shelter, sometimes you run into someone who just wants a hello, or to listen to some music. I think that many find it easy to forget that the homeless are people, and when they’re not being ignored and exposed to the harsh outdoors, they go to homeless shelters which can be shockingly even more dangerous. The evidence is everywhere. After only ten minutes of sifting through Google reviews I found complaint after complaint of theft and neglect by employees and inhumane sleeping conditions. Of course some of these locations have close to no bad reviews but others are almost unbelievable. One location, “Gaudenzia House of Passage”  had multiple reviews saying that the people staying there had to “sleep in a chair in a cold room” for three weeks before being admitted a cot.

As bad as these shelters may seem, things only get worse for minorities. Especially for transgender women.  This can be shown in the pie chart below.

TransDiscrimination-webfig1Pie Chart Link

While LGBT identifying people make up about 11% of the total population, estimates of how many homeless people are LGBT range from 20% to upwards of 40%. In an equal society this would not be true. Many queer people are forced out of their own homes because of their sexual or gender identity, most notably trans women and gay men. Let’s talk about race. As seen in the following pie chart, black and African-American people make up the vast majority of the homeless population. Black people only make up 13% of the total American population. That’s a percent increase of over 6 times.  

Pie Chart Link

Clearly our problem, as a nation, is not only with the state of homeless shelters or with xenophobia creating poverty inequalities but both; they intersect. To make homeless shelters more hospitable we need to somehow terminate the fact that there are these systematic inequalities and vice versa. From here I would like to personally interview some of the people affected by the homeless shelter system in America and more personally, in Philadelphia. The research I have done so far has been eye-opening to say the least and has only pushed me to continue studying and to try to make a difference in this issue.


Annotated Bibliography Link


Sexual Objectification & Mental Health


                   The Effect of Sexual Objectification on Women’s Mental Health

Moriah Lahr

2/14/18

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lJ6B8PTnw_vgVb6aBkCLC_DRJA1BjmPpT_-KwdDTSdg/edit

I want to focus on the topic of the effect of sexual objectification on women’s mental health. I experience sexual objectification daily. Whether it’s seeing a music video of half naked girls dancing around a guy or getting catcalled on my own block. Both which can make me feel bad about myself. A goal I have in researching this topic is to be educated on the different types of sexual objectification and the different health issues it can cause. I want to help make a change by getting women’s different point of views and stories of being objectified and getting the word out there to people who can’t see that it’s a problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3673099/Man-confesses-checking-mediocre-women-Reddit-good-deed.html

This woman is shown walking past a man while he looks back at her curves. What this photo actually came from was a website that had a married man saying he checks out mediocre women to “compliment them” as if we enjoy being gaped at.



I am interested in this topic because as a woman in this culture, I have been objectified many times in many different ways. This topic matters to me because I have many friends who have been catcalled or checked out etc. and I know first hand how scary it feels to me and my friends. When I’m out with my friends, we have to talk about what if a guy comes up to us and starts checking us out and saying creepy things to us. We came to a conclusion that if that happens, we’ll just say we’re a couple. I think it’s truly sad that girls at a young age are so scared to just walk outside because we get looked at and taunted. Some men even think checking out girls is a compliment when it really makes us feel worse about ourselves.We are not outside for your benefit. We do not look in the mirror every morning hoping this outfit will get a guy to silently follow us down the street for five minutes after saying, “God bless you mami… Damn.”


http://www.eatthedamncake.com/2010/06/14/getting-checked-out-by-guys-with-wives/

This woman is being shown in the camera view at an angle that only shows her body and shows two guys looking at her body. This shows how much women’s bodies are sexualized and lusted over. It’s showing her body as if she doesn’t have a face or a personality.


In the research I found, I learned that sexual objectification comes in many forms such as catcalling, getting checked out, sexual assault, rape, pornography, television, etc. These things can cause not only men to look at women as objects but cause women to look at themselves as objects and make them want to look a certain way to fit into the culture's view of a “perfect body”. This causes mental health issues such as body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, etc. It is important for people to know about this and be aware of it because some men are raised to think it’s okay to objectify and they just don’t know any better. Knowing the research behind it might really change the way we are looked at and the way we look at ourselves. The details of my research that can educate readers is what the different types of objectification there are because some people might not even be able to realize it when they see it or do it.

http://websterjournal.com/2014/12/01/catcalls-arent-compliments/

This photo shows a woman that is covering up and looking insecure as people are cat-calling her all around. This happens on a daily basis to women. Men's calls make us feel insecure like all we are is a body.

My research so far has impacted my understanding of sexual objectification because I never really focused on looking at the mental health side of things and how it affects people. Now I can see better why some of my friends and I have the self-image issues that we have. I’m objectified on a daily basis so I feel like this is a personal topic that I have actual experience to backup my claims with.





 


Lack of Sleep for Students: Is It The Schools Or Ourselves??

Usually when a teacher asks the class if you’ve had a great night’s sleep, they would most likely be expecting “yes”. But nowadays, the only response teachers get are “meh” or just a plain, simple, “no.”

As a teenager who currently goes to school, I have gotten less sleep than I have ever gotten since I have started high school. Usually I would go to sleep around  9:00-9:30 pm and wake up at 7:20 am, which would be about 8 hours of sleep. Nowadays I would sleep around 12:30-12:50 pm, and wake up at 3:00-3:10 am. That’s roughly about 3 hours of sleep.

I believe that this is a very important topic to discuss because there are many scholars that are lacking sleep because of electronics and/or sleep issues in general. Most people say the reason that teenagers get so little sleep is because of how we get distracted by our electronics, but we say that it’s the schools.


This image shows the recommended amount of sleep each age group should have.


According to The Atlantic, it is said that “teenagers need a least nine and a half hours of sleep each night.” But on a poll from the National Sleep Foundation, it is said that less than 50% of American students get at least nine hours of sleep each night, and that 58% of teenagers from the ages of 15-17 usually get less than 7 hours of sleep on a daily basis.


This graph shows the amount of sleep each different age group gets on a regular basis from the year 2014

This image shows how much do people use their electronics in their bedroom and how much do people leave their electronics on at night.


Now, I know that nowadays teenagers get so distracted by electronics that they lose track of time and sleep, which results in the teen coming into school late and tired. In all honesty I am on my electronics at night, but I usually leave on my electronics more frequently than I am using it. But back to my main topic. It is really the students’ fault, or the schools’ fault? In my defense, it’s the school’s fault. Sure, I’ll admit I am on my phone late at night sometimes, but even so I still managed to get enough sleep for school.

This image represents the different proportions of children and adults who experienced difficulty getting a good night's sleep due to various factors at least once in previous weeks in 2014


Now why is that? Most people would say it’s the amount of time I spend on my electronics, I say that it’s the school’s fault.  I say this because of the early start times and the amount of homework we get daily. To me, it’s not really the start time of school, but its the homework. But of course, it’s the early start times as well. It’s is said that the teenager’s mind is fully active around 10am. But back to my main issue, homework. The average time to spend working on homework is a 3 hours. According to U.S. news, it is says after surveying 1,000 teachers, it has been confirmed that most students are spending 17.5 hours on homework each week. The teachers think that the time spent doing homework is worth it, but I believe the students beg to differ. As said from teenink, homework can cause students’ mental and physical health to worsen. We as the students are putting our health at risk trying to finish our homework on time. “Teens who have more homework than they can handle may become disillusioned with school and may lose the motivation to work hard,” says Gerald LeTendre, the head of Penn State’s Education Policy Studies department.

Let’s work hard but not too much, this is a serious issue for both parents and teenagers who are suffering from lack of sleep, like me.


​Click here to see my bibliography



Straws, Something You Find Everywhere

Straws, Something You Find Everywhere


Everyday, we are slowly drinking up our oceans and polluting the Earth with straws. Although a small and slim tube may not sound much of a problem, straws have been growing to be one of the biggest contributors to litter problems. For my You & The World project, I have decided to focus my ideas into littering. Litter is something you can find anywhere and everywhere and there are many causes and dangers that could happen.

Photo of straws collected near a beach that could have harmed many animals

I grew up seeing trash everywhere I walked. The world isn’t perfect but the amount of trash left on the streets was much more than I’ve seen in other places. In one moment of my life, I went on to the beach and found many littered items. One of them happened to be a straw and I had seen it around a trash bin but it may had fell off by the wind. Later on, I saw a bird go by and suddenly, my natural reaction was to scare the bird away. It was strange but now that I realized it, I might have saved that bird’s life. Ever since then, I feel some type of way towards littering which is what led up to this point of my life.

Knowing this, littering has been one of the topics that has not been brought up to many people and often times ignored. What we’re doing is ruining the future of our planet and by doing this, we are slowly hurting many animals besides us humans currently. In addition, one of scientists’ main purpose of looking out into outer space is to find a new planet that can support life which wouldn’t be needed if we could conserve and help Earth. Nonetheless, I plan to start small and build up to bigger goals that are possible. By beginning with straws, we are able to start small and have a gateway to solving greater problems with littering and plastic pollution.

The amount of straws being used is enough to fill the Yankee Stadium over 9 times a year

Straws are commonly found in fast food places or diners where it is unnecessary to have a straw for a beverage. A place where plastic straws are commonly found and most dangerous to animals are near beaches. Plastic straws end up being caught in the ocean and there has been a video of a turtle with a straw was stuck inside one of its nostrils. This was only an example of what happened with plastic straws but the journey to end plastic straws starts now.

Photo of the straw in the turtle’s nose

Knowing this, littering has been one of the topics that has not been brought up to many people and often times ignored. What we’re doing is ruining the future of our planet and by doing this, we are slowly hurting many animals besides us humans currently. In addition, one of scientists’ main purpose of looking out into outer space is to find a new planet that can support life which wouldn’t be needed if we could conserve and help Earth. Nonetheless, I plan to start small and build up to bigger goals that are possible. By beginning with straws, we are able to start small and have a gateway to solving greater problems with littering and plastic pollution.


An image of litter in Philadelphia

Plastic straws have specific problems as to why they are bad for the environment and living organisms. One of them is because straws are not biodegradable, meaning the plastic will only get broken up into small pieces which could be consumed by living organisms. Another problem is that straws can only be recycled once and only little amounts of the straw makes it through to be used again. Lastly, plastic straws still exist as one contributors to the amount of plastic that is in the air, ground, etc. Overall, plastic stays in our environment because there is nothing in nature that can biodegrade plastic which means stopping the use of plastic straws can be a gateway to solving bigger problems with plastic.

Now, you may ask what can you do now? The answer may sound tricky but you could actually just do less. If we prevent the use of plastic straws, then we can slowly help the give out a message that plastic straws are not healthy for the environment. In addition, there are many alternatives to plastic straws such as reusable straws. Typically, plastic straws are used once and then tossed into a trashcan where the light, small tube is blown away into the environment.


Overall, I plan to further my research on my ways to help bring the numbers of litter down. I want to first focus on straws to use it as a gateway to start small and simple. One of my goals is to avoid the use of plastic straws nearby my neighborhood and everyday life.


Annotated Bibliography




Social Decline////(Vincent Cammisa)

As a human millenial in the 21st century, an object that we all use in our everyday lives are phones, computers, tablets, and so on. With these items in our lives, we are all bound to use the one thing that people in America have. Social media is a base where people online can communicate with friends, share posts. These things can influence people in various ways, but the most noticeable in every situation is the negative effects. In the year 2015 there was a census taken,and a little more than 75% of households had either a laptop, desktop, or handheld device. This just shows how much technology is taking over our lives, and like I’ve said before, with technology, comes social media. With knowing what social media can do, I though of an overall goal, for me to be able to present enough information  that it will stick to your mind.

Being involved, I never thought it was a problem. Time passes and, I started to notice how it affects our lives and how we are constantly connected. “By 2020, there will be over 5 billion internet users, with over half of them accessing the internet over handheld tablet devices and 80 billion connected devices worldwide." . I think this subject is definitely important. Our world  turning into a place where all we rely on is the technology we own.


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                                                        look on the growth in internet use

One thing that I have found with the research is 2 effects social media and technology has on the world that we can improve or fix. The first one being sleep more specifically the the loss sleep and the second one being depression, all due to the use of social media. Depression is very real and, especially with social media, there are so many ways to get access to things that will trigger depression. “A similar study conducted in 2016 involving 1,700 people found a threefold risk of depression and anxiety among people who used the most social media platforms.”  This just gives you a brief overlook. Instead of sleeping, many people are up on their phones.


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U5dquegVaS3wGpiQhiC8PsMDTcTHdq7_1680x8400

this is a picture that gives you an idea of what I am talking about
                                              ( may not be factual.)
Specifically teens since we grew up more with social media we have experienced the most negative effects of them all. I can vouch and say that my social skills have taken a lot longer to develop. I took some time to get comfortable with my friends, elders, and mostly girls, yes girls.” Today’s youth miss out on critical social skills development when they spend the majority of their free time connected to and interacting through a screen.”. This shows how having social media can hurt our social skills.


psychological-and-longterm-effects-of-social-media-8-638
psychological-and-longterm-effects-of-social-media-8-638

This gives us a look on percentages of how kids/teens lack social skills.(link can not be achieved)


Writing this has really shown me what I have to watch out for in the future while participating in social media and really looking out for those whose social media has brought negative circumstances upon themselves. We all can have social media and we all can enjoy it but we all have to look out for the negative effects it may have on us.


(an-o-tay-t-ed) (bib-leo-o-a-gruhhhh-feeeee


suicide awareness in teens and adults

Did you know that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall, in people ages 10-24 it is the second leading cause of death. My goal in doing this is to bring light to a subject that a lot of people don’t like to talk about and generally push it under the rug. However, pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away and will most likely make the problem worse. This topic is important to me because it is a very close and personal topic for me to talk about.

My friend has recently tried to commit suicide and I’ve battled with the thought of it for years because of my anxiety and PTSD. It’s hard to go through that problem and it’s even harder when people just tell you to stop feeling that way or pretending that it’s not happening.  Even my own family have done this, it is not an uncommon reaction. This is a significant problem because more people than you think have tried to commit suicide. It is an important topic to talk about because a lot of people give off warning signs to other people that go unnoticed. This is either because people ignore it or simply don’t pick up on the hints that the person is giving.

http://www.hiltonheadhometheater.com/suicide-awareness/
http://www.hiltonheadhometheater.com/suicide-awareness/

Around 8 out of 10 people will give off signs that they are planning on committing suicide.If we learn what the warning signs are and how to help, we can lower some of the 40,00 suicide cases per year. One warning sign that a person might be planning to kill themselves is the person will not talk about their future a lot. They will be very vague if asked and won’t go into much detail. Also, the people will usually talk about how feeling trapped and feeling as if there is no way out, stop talking with family and friends, and might also change their eating or sleeping habits. They have felt what it has been like ot be at the lowest of lows and they often don’t know how to get out of their situation.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/suicide-prevention-apps,review-2397.html
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/suicide-prevention-apps,review-2397.html

My research has validated a lot of things that I have felt throughout this time and have been able to put it into words. People who are suicidal could be around so many people but still feel so alone.  Family conflict, relationships, grades, sexual identity, and the loss of important people can seem impossible to deal with. Many people just feel alone and need a shoulder to lean on for a little bit.  I want to research further into what causes these feelings and why certain people have them. For example, two people in the exact same traumatic event could react significantly differently and I want to figure out why that is. In conclusion, suicide is a terrible issue in which we have to learn more about t be able to fix. If we shy away from a problem like this, It will only make it harder to find a solution.



annotated bibliography


Unity With The Move

Moving schools is hard, and that us exactly what I am going to have to do. My school Science Leadership Academy (SLA) will be moving into Ben Franklin High Schools campus, due to our lease being up. Their school is very different from mine. So I thought that it would be a good idea to bring up the issue of how we are going to get along. My hopes are very high going into this new situation, everyone has to adjust but I hope it will all go smoothly. That being said, there might be a few bumps along the way because of how different the two schools are. I want to fix any problems that might occur in the future.

Science Leadership Academy is a public high school that holds about 500 students. SLA is project based, which means we are inquiry driven where we learn by doing major projects rather than midterms or finals. It is a different process to get into SLA than other schools, because you have to do an interview. SLA not only wants to see that you can make and present a nice project, they also want to get to know you and what new students can offer to our community. Our community is something that make us special and unlike other schools, because everyone who goes to SLA is quirky and unique. SLA gives a lot of freedom to be who you are and also a lot of privileges. For example, our laptop program, where all students get a laptop to do school work on. With this comes a lot of responsibility, and teachers know that they can trust us. SLA has achieved above average on all of their test scores. Not only are our academics are great, but  according to Great Schools, SLAs rating is an 8/10.

This is a picture of Science Leadership Academy


Ben Franklin High School is very different, they are a public school from grades 9-12. This school holds about 700 students, which is a couple hundred more than SLA. They have a very strict dress code, unlike SLA where we have total freedom to wear what we want. Including everything from a logo on the shirt, to making sure you have a belt. Ben Franklin's test scores are 56% below state average. Which is very low compared to SLA’s. Also 100% are low income students.

This is a picture of Ben Franklin High school


Ben Franklin’s mission is to “provide a high quality education that prepares, ensures, and empowers all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential.” SLA’s mission is to “provide a vigorous, college-preparatory curriculum with a focus on science, technology, mathematics, and entrepreneurship.” Ben Franklin's vision is to  “become successful and socially responsible individuals” and also go to college. While SLA’s core values are “inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection”. As you can see, these schools are very unique in their own way.

Once my school moves into Ben Franklin's campus, we will have access to many more things. For example like a gym and more learning space. With that being said Ben Franklin High School is making big adjustments, into their curriculum and their campus. Knowing that these two schools are not very alike, all the students and staff are going to have to figure out a way to get along. Not only will the SLA students have to teach Ben Franklin students about how we learn, because they are going from there curriculum to being project based. Both schools will become so much closer to each other because they will share a some of the same spaces. I know that this might be difficult to some, because of how the schools are like opposites. So far my research has showed me that we can really help Ben Franklin improve on things and how much they can benefit from us. I want to bring both schools together and make the situation easier for everyone.


This is my annotated bibliography.


To do what NASA does best. Explore!


Apollo 11 Launch: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/50thgallery/1969-07-16-5.html

“Ignition sequence start! 5. . 4. . 3. . 2. .  1. . 0. . All engines running!  Liftoff!”  The Apollo program was the pinnacle of the American space program and the moon landing exhilarated the nation.  However, since then, NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration fell from grace.   Currently, NASA receives about 0.5% of the US National budget, or to put it in a different light, about $10 of your individual income tax dollars goes to NASA each year.  In this chart describing the 2015 national budget, NASA is included in the sciences section, but still only received about .5% of the total budget.

Discretionary Spending 2015. National Priorities project. https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/

 NASA’s peak funding occured in the 1960’s, when the US landed a man on the moon.  During that era, NASA received a max of 4.41% of the US budget.  Currently, NASA is managing a variety of programs pertaining to space and aeronautics, such as satellite imagery, commercial satellites in space, and the International Space Station.  This chart shows how NASA’s budget was allocated in 2014.

NASA Budget allocations.  Sarah Scoles http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2013/04/11/nasa-publishes-its-proposed-2014-budget.aspx

 They’ve been tasked with managing more programs in space than ever before, but their funding slowly decreased from the 70’s and 80’s, when they developed the Space Shuttle, and despite it being a very expensive vehicle, NASA was forced to borrow most of the money for it from the Department of Defense, the most funded sector in the US Budget.

This topic is important because every dollar spent on NASA adds $10 to the economy.  Most of this comes from technological innovation and new companies formed to make this new technology from NASA spaceflight.  Some of these technologies include ATMs, GPS, dialysis machines, and CAT scanners.  All together, NASA technologies have accounted for over 1400 products created.  One example of a technology indirectly helping populations is a satellite named SMAP, which monitors soil moisture levels on earth.

Artist’s depiction of SMAP:  https://www.nasa.gov/smap/overview/

It costed $900 million to build and launch, but if that money was used as a direct donation, it could feed the entire continent of Africa for less than one day.  SMAP on the other hand helps its population by improving crop yields and allowing the global population as a whole sustain themselves at a higher level for as long as the satellite is in service, which may be decades even.


Despite this, many people believe that NASA should receive less funding than it already does.  They don’t believe that money should be wasted on outer space and should directly be spent here, on earth, or they believe that NASA gets more funding than it actually does.  Some people may believe that NASA is not capable of going to space anymore and is too entangled with politics to do space exploration.  After doing research on this topic, I feel like I have a better understanding of the “why?” of the issue of funding in the space program, but I am still wondering what kind of role private companies are playing and how that would affect funding if they are successful.  I hope to learn more about the growing private sector of space, along with other people’s opinion on the topic and how much of a problem it may be.  


Annotated bibliography Here


Bullying in Schools

In middle school, I’ve witnessed a lot of bullying. To see students get bullied, it’s heartbreaking to me. My middle school was a one race school. As I looked at some of the students I was around, I noticed how unhappy a lot of them were. I heard things like, “You’re ugly” or “You’re not wearing brand shoes.” Today, students are getting bullied for their looks and/or what they wear. The bullying I’ve witnessed, causes students to skip class just so that their bully won’t bother them. Something that attracts bullying is when one person bullies someone else, and then more and more people will do the same. This is a serious issue. Through my journey, I want some questions to be answered. What can we do to help make this problem into a solution? Also, how can schools stop this issue from occurring? Finally, is there something that I can do to encourage others to make a change? This is something that I will learn as I take you with me on my “You and the World” project to help with bullying in schools.

The image above, is an image of statistics of middle school vs. high school bullying that occur in schools. By looking at this bar graph, it shows that more bullying is happening in middle school, rather than in high school. Click here to learn more about bullying statistics!  


More than 160,000 kids that are getting bullied choose not to come to school. According to The Atlantic, “More than 160,000 students missing school every day because they’re afraid of getting picked on, taunted, or beaten up.” This source proves my point about students not wanting to go to school, because they’re getting bullied every single day. The real question is what’s the point of bullying? Isn't it pointless to bully someone to the point where they become suicidal? According to Stop Bullying, an organization that has lots of information and solutions about bullying, it says, “Research indicates that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior.” This source shows that there are actual causes for students getting suicidal. No one deserves to get bullied at all. This situation is not getting any better. Everyday, there is someone getting bullied for what they look like, what they have on, or how they act in general. How can we show these bullies that what they are doing is wrong?


The image above, is a presentation slide on why students feel the need to bully. Click here to learn more about bullying!


Based on the research I’ve done and the background information I gave, we have a big issue in our hands. From this issue, we need to find a solution. Finding a solution towards bullying, that is happening in schools, will educate people, and even ourselves, about why this bullying is getting bigger and bigger. Also, we need to find a solution that will help students, that are actually getting bullied, fso that they won’t feel terrified to come to school everyday. After doing lots of research, my big question is: What can I do to make prevent bullying from happening? I am ready for this journey to take action, so that I can make a difference in the world about making schools an anti-bullying society.



Click Here to see my bibliography!






We Need to Talk


There is an unspoken issue in the Latino Community. We put others down for their skin color. Some of us do not see others as equal with the next Latino. The issue is Colorism! I have heard of the saying  “Mejorar la raza.” This means to “improve the race.” The elders are basically saying to “fix the rac.” What they mean is to marry lighter people so their kids can come out lighter. These beauty standards fit more into the European standards; blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin, and straight hair. Their goal seems to be to whitewash or to blanqueamiento our culture and to make the next generations of Latinos “prettier’’ , AKA lighter.  One of the first thoughts I had was - Why? Why aren’t we accepting our people? Why aren’t we embracing how different we all are? We have the kinky hair, straight hair, wavy hair, light skin, dark skin, light eyes and dark eye. Why can’t we all love and accept each other for our variety?


This picture shows three generations of a family. The grandmother is black, the daughter is mulatta, and the grandchild is fair skin. Showing three generations of racial hypergamy.

As a member of the Latino community I want everyone to be united, especially in my culture group. This doesn’t seem like a big problem, but it is. Afro Latinos are growing up, thinking that they aren’t beautiful because their skin isn’t light or their hair isn’t straight. Imagine growing up watching Spanish TV, seeing all the similar looking Latinos, realizing that you don’t look like any of them them.  You don’t seem to  identify with anyone you are supposed to look up to or want to be like. The media doesn’t represent dark skinned Latinos with kinky curly hair. They seem to only show the ones with light skin, light eyes, and straight no-frizz hair.


Not only is the media a big part of this problem, it’s an epidemic in our own families. Family members praise one child for their light skin while the ones who don’t have light skin are being mocked. Lifting up one person for being something they have no control over, and overlooking the next, doesn’t make any sense. The one who is praised sees themselves as superior. While shame can consume the “undesirable.”  Having that type of mindset is causing racism and hatred among our people.  “Children aren’t born racist, they learn racist behaviors as they grow. We have to be mindful of how language describes us, how we talk about others, and what we teach our children. We perpetuate the stereotypes that diminish the unmeasurable value of our multicultural ethnicity — we shouldn’t be glorifying one race over the other.”


Children aren’t born racist.


Having light skin tones does not make you better than anyone. Having darker skin tones does not make you inferior than anyone. They are equally beautiful and we must realize that. But how can they realize that if  the subject is taboo and no one wants to talk about it? We must change how we talk about and to each other. It starts with this generation.  It starts with ME. Loving our kinky curly hair and dark caramel skin begins with me.  Our abuelos and abuelas had it wrong.  Social media, novelas, and Spanish TV need to learn how to represent us. We have textured hair, colorful skin and I love it.


ANN BIB


What in the Food Y&TW

                                     What are you really eating?

Most people don’t know what’s actually in their food or how it affects them. My project is mainly based on the documentary What the Health, which promotes eating a plant-based diet, also known as veganism. The reason I chose this topic because both sides of my family have genetic diseases that made somewhat hypochondriac. On my paternal side, the diseases are diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. On my maternal side, there are cardiovascular problems. After watching “What the Health”, everything I thought I knew about these diseases.

Diet is closely linked to a lot of health problems that humans have, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, cancers, and asthma. In the documentary, it demonstrates how those diseases and meat are connected. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) pronounced that processed meat is a Type 1 carcinogen. This is the same category as formaldehyde and tobacco smoke. The American Cancer Society made an article in response to the IARC on their website telling cancer patients to limit the amount of processed and red meat consumed. Why do they advertise limiting the consumption of it instead of just telling them to stop completely? In the article, it states “Colleen Doyle, MS, RD,... says, ‘We should be limiting red and processed meat to help reduce colon cancer risk, and possibly, the risk of other cancers. The occasional hot dog or hamburger is okay,’" but on the website they do not tell you to only smoke one cigarette a day, instead they tell you to stop completely.

Another disease connected to red meat is diabetes. A report taken in 2015 found that 30.3 million American citizens have diabetes(9.4%), and 84.1 million are pre-diabetic. Being diagnosed with diabetes shortens your lifespan by 19 years. Researchers have found that in the next 25 year one out of every three American will have some form of diabetes. Most people are taught that eating sugary food is the main reason for diabetes, but it isn’t. The main source is a diet that builds up a large amount of fat into the blood, such as a meat-based diet. Sugar has zero calories all it is, is excess calories, but when you do eat sugar your body stores most of it as glycogen or burns it off as calories.The main focus has been put on sugar instead of meat causing people to believe sugar is the reasoning for diabetes.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health did a study about diabetes in comparison to red meat. They found that red meat mainly when processed it increases the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. In the Harvard article, it talks the percentage rate that it is increased by, “They also found that one daily serving of half that quantity of processed meat—50 grams (for example, one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon)—was associated with a 51% increased risk.”

This photo shows how much the U.S. spends on research on diabetes

Humans are the only species that still ingest milk after infancy. Cow’s milk has zero benefits for a human compared to any other type of animal’s milk. It is full of hormones that are meant to help an infant cow grow. Therefore, when a person says “ I only get hormone-free milk” it is an oxymoron. Most humans are lactose intolerant, 73% of African Americans, 95% Asian, approximately 70% Native American, and about 53% Hispanic Americans cannot break down the sugars in dairy, but it is still advertised by our government. In schools, food guides/pyramids show everything that you eat which promotes dairy. There is a false conception that milk helps makes your bones stronger but studies have shown the more milk you drink the more prone you are to hip fractures. In HuffPost article, they did a study on men who drank milk, “A recent study found that elderly men who drank a lot of milk during their teenage years actually had an increased risk for hip fractures.”

MyPlate was published by the USDA

After doing my research I hope that people become less ignorant about the topic of their food and start to care more. I just want people to be more aware of how their food affects them and their environment.

Annotated Bibliography



Mistreatment of Orcas


Annotated Bibliography


Orcas in the wild.


During Christmas of 2014, my family took a trip to Orlando for our annual family vacation. We journeyed to Disney World, but we also attended SeaWorld. I was so thrilled because I’ve always loved marine animals, especially Orcas.  I was in awe of how close I was to the large marine animals, but it felt wrong because aren’t large marine animals supposed to be in the deep sea? Not in a shallow clear tank. I chose to pick this topic because after watching the documentary, Blackfish, I was so disgusted. The dangers they face are unimaginable for humans.

Illustration in youtube video of possible locations orcas are sent too.

Since 1961, Orcas have been captured from oceans and forced to be a source of entertainment for humans at parks like SeaWorld. Sean Carmody said in his article that orcas learn their pod’s dialect from birth , in which they remember even many years after captivity. Orcas are highly social animals, they travel in groups (pods). Pods consist of 5-30 females, males, and babies. Mothers are essential to baby orcas as they form lifelong bonds. When capture boats venture to catch orcas, in most pods, male adults swim in one direction so that females and young ones can attempt escape. Capturers try to catch the young orcas because they are lighter to ship. “It was kidnapping a child from its mother.” (Blackfish)- John Crowe, one of the men working on the capture boats. When the young are taken, the other orcas devastated, they swim miles and miles behind the boat, trying to follow the little ones. Humans have emotions, that give us the ability to feel empathy, happiness, anger and etc. Orcas are more emotionally developed, as their brains are five times bigger than the average human brain. There have been instances where orcas would die of shock. In these cases, the men on the boats would cut the orca open, fill their insides with rocks and throw them back into the ocean. They dispose the dead orcas into the ocean because it is easier than throwing them away on land. When orcas arrive at their new home, they are suddenly confined to a super small pool.  It takes an orca to swim around their confined pool 1,400 times to equal how much of a distance orcas swim on a daily in the wild.

At SeaWorld, they provide false information to the visitors. Informing guests that “the killer whales only live up to 30 years in the wild, they live longer here because they get the extra veterinary care”- SeaWorld Employee video of SeaWorld employee (0:15-0:25). It is known after many years of scientific research that killer whales live as long as humans, especially females. Killer Whales in captivity die immensely younger than their natural lifespan. For example, they’re not in their original pod of orcas, which makes their life lonely and makes them agitated to attack trainers. In the wild, orcas are not violent towards each other because of their dominant social rules, and if fights occur, they would swim away. In captivity, there is no place to hide or run away. In the case of Tilikum (male orca at SeaWorld), two female orcas were aggressively attacking him, but due to Tilikum being a larger orca, he had no place to swim away. The water they are held in can be dangerous because it contains too much chlorine. Most orcas don’t survive over 10 years in captivity. Employees explains that 25% of all male orcas have their fins flopped over. Only male orcas can have collapsed dorsal fin. It is proven that in the wild, less than 1% of orcas have collapsed dorsal fins. These stats show some of the things I just covered.

Orcas are apex predators, they are on top of the food chain, and usually preys on sea lions, other whales and some sharks. Other than humans, no other animals hunt orcas. In captivity, they are fed gelatin, in attempt to keep them hydrated but it’s unnatural for orcas to consume so much gelatin in a day. When young orcas are born into captivity, they are naturally drawn to stay with their mothers. But most times, they are separated due to the babies interrupting their mothers performances at shows. When they’re separated, the mother will let out a long unique scream in hopes of having her baby returned to her. They isolate themselves in a quiet place, while they mourn.

Illustration of facts debunking SeaWorld’s claim of mother orcas.

In the last 50 years, there have not been one single reported case of human death by orcas in the wild. Yet in captivity, there have been 70 reported death cases. Males like Tilikum were used for his sperm. Tilikum, at the time, was the only male to breed with the other female orcas. The female orcas started breeding at a super young age. In the wild, female orcas begin to reproduce at age 14.9 years. At SeaWorld, they start breeding female orcas at age 8-10. Most of SeaWorld’s orcas are inbred, meaning due to lack of males or the artificial sperm, they really only rely on a couple of males. “Katina (popular female orca at SeaWorld) are inbred with even some of her sons.”- a source by the name of SeaWorld of hurt. An offspring’s father orca could also be the mother’s brother. Most orcas born in captivity are stillborn, due to difficulty and stress the mother orcas are constantly suffering from. The average life expectancy of captivity-born orcas are 13 years.

Picture of Lolita, the loneliest orca in captivity. Article is very interesting.

I hope to research more and see what I, as a young individual, can do for these mammals. I am looking forward to looking at ways to try and solve the problem and let society get a glimpse of the animal abuse that often can go unnoticed.

Opposition to orca captivity, still inhumane that there even numbers in favor.



The Hidden Costs of Food Waste


Food Waste and Why It’s a Slightly Bigger Problem Than Previously Thought

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/. This is a visual representation of all the food that is wasted per year.One_third_wasted


What would you do if I told you that we have all the means to end hunger worldwide? Every year, approximately one third of all food produced is wasted, which is enough to feed 3 billion people. America contributes a huge number of that waste, as up to 50% of all food in the U.S. is thrown out annually, which is equal to a staggering 160 billion dollars. Every American typically wastes 12-25% of food they buy, which can cost up to $1,500 in expenses per year. Despite all the food being thrown out, an estimated 800 million people live in a state of malnourishment, along with 50 million Americans living in insecure food households, which means they struggle to afford food.


A main culprit of why food waste is so great in America is because of sell by dates. The only foods that are legally required to have a sell by date are baby food, and even the meat and egg products is voluntarily written by the producers. Many people believe in these numbers even though the main reason food companies put expiration dates on their products is so people buy more of their products in a shorter amount of time. Expiration dates are supposed to tell the buyer when the food is at its peak quality, but most people take this to mean that after these dates the food must be discarded, even though most food can last weeks, if not months past the expiration dates. Because of sell by dates, around 90% of food we throw out is not actually expired.


Source: http://www.savethefood.com/. This chart shows the amount of food that is tossed annually by the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand


One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because no one really talks about it.  One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because it is not a widely known topic. People talk about world hunger and how it’s something that needs to be solved, but everyone makes it seem as though the issue is the lack of food and not the distribution of it. Most food waste is created by food that was disposed, not because they were inedible, but because they were not not aesthetically appealing to buyers. Farmers who are growing food purposefully throw out thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetable just because they know it won’t sell. The rational solution would be to donate the “misshapen” fruits and veggies, but because farms don't receive tax cuts when they ship the food out to shelters, it ends up costing themselves more money. Because of this, many farmers choose to throw out their less desirable foods where they go to landfills. Farmers also use 4.5 billion hectares of land to grow food, and because of food waste 1.4 billion hectares of land and 250 trillion litres of water is wasted.


Once the food arrives at the landfill, most people believe that the food will decompose into the ground and turn into compost. However, landfills are not separated by types of trash, which means that the discarded food is mixed with cardboard boxes and plastic bags. When the food is not given a chance to breathe and decompose naturally, the food waste creates a greenhouse gas called methane. Methane is a gas that is 20 times more able to trap heat than CO2 which is one of the main greenhouse gases that contributes to the weakening of our atmosphere. Food waste emits so much methane, that if it was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas producer, following China and America, generating 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2. To conclude, food waste is a problem that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, because everything about it hurts the community and the environment.


If_food_waste_was_a_country

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/ . This graph shows the different amounts of CO2 between different countries with Food Waste becoming its own country






Here's the link to my annotated bibliography.




Homelessness – A Deeper Look

Be a Citizen, not a Tourist in your own City.


Homelessness is the condition of people without a permanent dwelling, such as a house or apartment. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure and adequate housing.


They walk amongst the inner city streets restless, hungry and cold trying to make a few dollars so that they can eat.  However, after hours of embarrassment and public negativity, they hardly make enough money to buy a cup of coffee. In the unconscious eye of the public, the homeless are viewed as scammers and people who due to their outward appearances and their economic status are considered to be a people of lesser value. It is only through the conscience media eye of the public that the problem of homelessness is acknowledged. Unfortunately the homeless only receive acknowledgment during major holidays, and it’s during these periods that we see them sheltered, in new apparel and fed. Seeing the media portray the homeless in this state provides us with temporary justification for all the times that some of us neglected them in the past.

PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia has a high poverty rate of 26 percent, one of the highest in the nations. You see homelessness everywhere, but the difference between Philadelphia and other cities is that our city approaches this issue. Every year, about 15,000 people in Philadelphia get placed into shelters. In 2015, 400 thousand people were found living in poverty, but not much could be done. In 2016, homelessness organizations in Philadelphia reached out to over 6,500 individuals living on the streets, in cars, abandoned buildings, transportation stations, and other places where it’s not safe for humans to sleep. In 2017. Veteran homelessness has not desisted, and youth homelessness is an important problem, especially with LGBT teens.





Main rates of homelessness.


I chose to base my project on homelessness because people without homes are no different from us, they are still human beings. That could have been us if circumstances had been different. Imagine after one last emotional embrace between you and your parents, your dad reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet and hands you a twenty dollar bill, which just happens to be all that he has. As you began to wipe the tears from your eyes, you officially acknowledge that you are now homeless. Although your current situation is depressing, you breathe sigh of relief knowing that at least your children are in good hands and won’t have to carry the emotional baggage of being homeless. Before walking you take one last look at your parents and smile at the thought of how they expressed their love for you over the course of your life. It’s with this overwhelming feeling that you draw strength from to overcome homeless and with that, you begin to walk. Little do you know that living on the streets will test you like no other trial in your life has done before. It breaks my heart writing this, it breaks my heart I was once a naive child that made fun of the homeless. Now I am trying to make a change. It is my passion to help those in need.


By the closing of this post, the reader will be aware of homelessness and the reason why I chose to base my project on this topic. As I said before, the issue that I'm trying to fix, or at least change is homelessness. Goal #1 for this project is to interview at least three to four homeless shelters. Goal #2 for this project is to raise funding to donate to the shelters. Goal #3 for this project is to contact opportunities to add emergency shelter. Goal #3 is to provide care packages to help support the homelessness and the agencies.


Where Are Their Voting Rights?

Do you think everyone deserves to have a right to vote? My You and The World project is about Asian American voting rights and my goal about learning more about this topic is finding out the reasons why this is an issue in Philadelphia or in other cities and states in the U.S. I would like to find a way for Asian Americans to also have a voice in their community and politics. I’m interested in this topic because I volunteer at an activist organization call Asian American United (AAU) and I know they have been trying to help people in the asian community to have a voice in their own community and contribute to the society. For example, in chinatown, they would handle out surveys to anyone passing them and the surveys they hand out asking their opinions about what they want the empty parking lot to become in the future. Because they are handing surveys in chinatown, they have Mandarin translated surveys and English surveys. This allows anyone in that community to have a opinion about their community and how it may improve. Many Asians have a hard to vote because of the language difference. Many Asian immigrants knows very little English, whether it’s reading wise or speaking wise.

My connection to this is that for the past couple of years, my mom would like to vote but she knows that she doesn’t know how to read English so she decides not to vote. Many of the voting booth are not translated into other languages for the non-English citizens of the United States. This matters to me because I know people that have a hard time getting a citizenship and being unable to vote and for the people that are citizens in the U.S., they are unable to vote because of language difference. I think it’s important for others to know because everyone should be aware that not everyone is able to vote even if they are a citizen in the U.S. and people that are trying to become a citizen in the U.S. is harder now especially for immigrants that don’t understand any English.


Asian Americans United in Chinatown tabling for the 2015 primary.

AAU member talks to a citizen about the presidential election form in 2015.

Source:https://caamedia.org/blog/2016/10/27/for-asian-americans-in-battleground-states-voter-registration-is-just-the-beginning/


September 14, 2016: Volunteers are in the ballroom of a chinese restaurant, New Fortune, helping people register voters.

Source:http://reportingtexas.com/language-can-be-a-barrier-for-some-asian-american-voters/


Voting has been an issue for Asian American since 1882. When the first Voting Right Acts law was published, this did not allow specific Asian group to vote. In the year of 1943, Chinese Americans were permitted to vote, then following Asian Indians in 1946. Japanese Americans and other Asian American groups weren’t permitted until 1952. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, AALDEF been known as an expert on voting issues for Asian Americans. They have even discussed with the Congress about the language barrier for citizens that would like to vote and much more. For the past 30 years, AALDEF would observe the amount of Asian Americans that would vote on Election day, they would also look into different Asian American groups like Cambodian, Japanese, and etc. In 2008 during the Presidential election, the AALDEF surveyed 16,665 Asian Americans in 11 different dialects of Mandarin. They noticed and were told that Asian Americans received a lot of racist comments from the poll workers. Some poll workers asked Asian voters to show their citizenship or identification.


50 years of Asian Americans and the Voting Rights Act

This timeline points out important events from an Asian Americans’ point of view.

Source:https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/report/50-years-voting-rights-act-asian-american-perspective

The Voting Rights Act has two clauses that benefits non-English speakers. In section 203, it states that polls can be translated to different languages if it is necessary. Right now, only 22 cities in the U.S. is able to follow that section and translate it to any Asian language required. In section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, it reads that translaters can be brought into the voting booth. Even though, the Voting Rights Act states that translaters can be brought into the voting booth; this isn’t allowed anywhere. Since 1998, twelve counties have been sued for not following section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. As the population of Asians increase, the amount of voters slowly increases too. In 2006, only 2.2% of the voter were Asians and in 2010, there were only 2.4% of the voters were Asians. Although a 0.2% of Asians does not seem much, but bit by bit the population of Asian voters would grow. In 2010, 49.9% of the voters in Hawaii were Asians while only 9.4% of the voters in California were Asians.


Now let’s take a look at this line graph showing voters of different race from 1988-2012.

Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/magazine/27-million-potential-hispanic-votes-but-what-will-they-really-add-up-to.html


From my research, I noticed that voting and getting citizenship has a very close connection to each other. A major issue for Asian Americans to vote is the language difference which causes them not being able to vote. I wondering if there are ways for Asians that are not citizens, but have lived in the U.S. for many years to vote because if they have lived in U.S. for many years they should be treated the same as others since they are apart of this society. My questions will be more focused on individual actions like not allowing translaters into voting booths if the voter does not understand English when the Voting Rights Act allows it. There’s still a lot of information and details I did not learn yet, so in the future I hope to learn how individual people fight for Asian American voting rights and more reasons why Asian Americans are having trouble voting that not everyone knows.