Advanced Essay #3 Improving Police Brutality

Introduction: My goal for this paper was to present an understanding of different causes for police brutality, and things that could be done to improve it. Throughout the process the main idea or argument of my paper had shifted a little bit. In the beginning I was planning to focus specifically on the causes of police brutality. Instead, I ended up focusing on the causes, as well as ways police had claimed they were improving, as well as ways that police could improve.​

Police Brutality is a controversial subject that is talked about often in America. Often times race, or being of a certain minority has a big impact on this. We hear about racial issues all the time that occur between Police Officers, and a citizen who couldn’t help the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or the religion they practice. Police Brutality is not indeed inevitable though. Things can be done to fix  this, there could be better monitorization of the police officers. Technology also helps so that people can be held much more accountable. There have been certain acts of police brutality that have been caught and publicized. Shedding light on these issues, does everyone a huge justice. There are so many ways for fixing and/or improving police brutality . Activism is among the many important ways that issues like police brutality are resolved.

An example of activism that has been very important is the Black Lives Matter movement. According to an article from “Brookings.edu”, Black Lives matter protests as much more likely to happen in areas where police violence has been a significant issue. This shows that members of the community have tried to fight against issues with police in a nonviolent and civil manner.  Although members of the community have worked hard to try and improve police brutality issues, it is hard to know whether Police forces are working hard for this also.

A program that has been a great advocate for the improvement of the relationship between police and citizens is called “Campaign Zero”. Campaign Zero introduces numerous solutions to improve police brutality. It also provides a lot of facts about police that many people are unaware of. A small example of something their website mentions is that Police can prohibit people from recording them. This seems unreasonable, and unsensible.

In a section of Campaign Zero’s website called “Fair Police Contracts”, they talk about many corrupt policies that are in place to protect police officers.  Officers are given many privileges in the judicial system that citizens aren’t. Police officers can wait 48 hours after an incident without being interrogated, they can decide not to take a lie detector, and often times have a “statute of limitations” on complaints against them. This means that officers can’t be held accountable if an issue with them isn’t reported within 100 days of it happening.

Often times people would consider police brutality to be a result of things like racial profiling, and prejudice. Although this is true, police departments around the country are arguing they are trying to improve this. They claim that new policing techniques have allowed for an improved relationship between them and the community. According to Steve Erly from Yes Magazine, “More communities are now taking a closer look at what’s going on in their own police departments and whether it meets their needs, including on issues involving race and diversity,”. A major issue that we face here in Philadelphia is that Police officers are “Stopping and Frisking” people based on their appearance. In order to fix this, high-up law officials claim they are putting the proper policies in place in order to ensure patrol officers aren’t overstepping their boundaries.

In recent years, police have began to use new technology, and Body cams have become mainstream among police officers. Police officers often times feel that the Body cams provide them protection, and keep them safer. Other police officers don’t like the body cams, because they allow for constant watch and observation of them. In general it seems that police officers are held more accountable. There are some officers that will take advantage of the body cam, and use it as a method in order to intimidate members of the community in which they are interacting with. It seems that as time progresses, and the training in which police officers receive regulations will be much better.  Body cams will provide security for citizens rights when it comes to dealing with authorities. This will lead to a much more comfortable environment for both Police officers and citizens.

It seems that a negative connotation has been formed around police officers especially in minority neighborhoods. It also seems like the role of police in these neighborhoods is made into something it shouldn’t be. The technical role of an officer is to maintain safety, and public order. Sometimes it seems like police officers are taking advantage of the authority they are given. In general there is a lot of responsibility given to a police officer. Many police officers are phenomenal, and typically have ‘the people’s’ best interests in mind. Their are a few that could get distracted from that at times. Their job’s require them to be ethical and uphold the law. In certain communities they have a terrible time connecting with the community. Especially in high crime, and low income areas.

In conclusion, it can be determined that there are multiple reasons communities have a tough time forming a relationship with the police. Police are often times not held accountable in necessary ways. It seems as if the law doesn’t apply to them entirely. Police forces in different places, and cities around the country are taking different approaches to try and fix this. Certain major confrontations between the police, and people in society could have been avoided.

Works Cited

Williamson, Vanessa, and Vanessa Williamson. “New Data Show That Police Violence Predicts Black Lives Matter Protests.” Brookings, Brookings, 17 May 2018, www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/05/17/new-data-show-that-police-violence-predicts-black-lives-matter-protests/.

“Solutions.” Campaign Zero, Wetheprotestors, www.joincampaignzero.org/solutions#oversight.



Darlenny Rodriguez Capstone

My capstone was at senior sports banquet held on the SLA Cafe. I got the idea from a goodbye party I threw for the seniors of the softball baseball team at the end of last school year. I realized how big of an impact it had on them and thought that all the the athletes for all of the sports deserved that, not just baseball and softball. With the help of my mentor Ms. Siswick, I was able to pull of the entire event. I bought decorations from party city, my friend Ashley provided the pizza at a low cost and my partner in my capstone Amaris catered the event, providing pastries. I printed out certificates for the athletes and contacted the cached to say something on their behalf. It was a bit hectic because the day of the event three of the sports, including my sport softball. Because of this, had to rearrange the event to fit everyone's schedule. I learned about planning and all of the small things one has to worry about when it comes to big events. I also learned how big of an impact even the smallest detail has on a person’s life. I smile on all of the athletes faces showed me that I was really able to do something that had an impact of them.

Link To Bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kabf30LPkhUm8Rn1fPk1q04pfZSgvqRHUtlJ2-bLwCk/edit?usp=sharing


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Lord of the flies essay

If the the president was not living in the white house and didn't have the constitution with him and was living in a boat house would you think he was powerful and take him seriously or would you not. Some people say that certain people are powerful by themselves, like the president or our government. But That's not true it what objects they have that define what power they have.


What I mean by that is some objects  hold more power over us than the actual people. For an example think of the conch in Lord of the flies. When anybody on the island had it like ralph they had power to speak and do what they wanted and nobody objected cause they had it. Like the constitution this is what they had that gave them power.


Another object that has a lot of power is the nuclear football. This object is a briefcase filled with papers to authorize a nuclear strike when they are away anywhere. Like the conch people do what it says and nobody objects because the person has the powerful object. This object gives the president power and make people take him seriously. But if he didnt have it he wouldn't be taken as seriously as if he had it.  



As all people know “with great power comes great responsibility.” Well when Eisenhower and his group had power they had to use it  responsibly to help stop a war. But it came at a cost of losing some power. When we used it we had lost power because of what it brought. It brought death which hit hard from eisenhower and us. Which showed what comes from abuse with power. This shows that any objects hold the power and not people like the president.


Advanced Essay #3 - Video Games and War

When studying the history of the world, war is one of the most impactful things on societies and cultures. War still continues to go on today in the world, but do we go to war for the same reasons as we used to? Do we even view war the same as we did a few hundred years ago? One of the main things that change the way that we view war is the entertainment industry. From video games to movies, the seriousness about war has changed into something enjoyable to play or to watch.

One example the ways images of war are packages of entertainment is the games in the  Call of Duty series which allows you to play online with others. When playing the game, the things that are visible on the screen is a gun in your hand, a scoreboard of how many kills each team has on the right-hand side, and a timer, and the environment. There are different game modes in the game, but I will be talking about Team Deathmatch. The name alone shows how we see death as entertainment. The goal of the game mode is for one of the teams to reach a certain kill score, usually 75 kills, before the other team does within the time limit. The first team that reaches that score wins the game. Everyone's objective in the game is to get as many kills as possible, while also dying as little as possible. After each game, your character gains xp, which is experience points, from the match and more game currency, which allows them to rank up in the game and buy gear. The higher your rank, the more and better weapons and gear you can obtain with the game currency. Colors and designs on guns and armor also become unlocked with rank or the number of kills or headshots you have obtained. There is a Ted Talk by Peter Mantello which speaks on a similar topic, in which he said, “So the more you kill, the richer you become. The richer you become, the more weapons you can buy. The more weapons you can buy, the more powerful you can become.” There is no point in time where the game makes you question the killing of other people. The objective is very clear, kill. In order to stay alive, kill. In order to look and be cooler, kill more. Another game that is like this is Fortnite, which is currently still one of the biggest games out there right now. It is a battle royale game where you can play with a team or by yourself in order to kill everyone and be the last man standing. The more you level up in the game, the more things you unlock. What’s interesting about this is that when I use to play Fortnite, I questioned the whole idea of the game, which is having people skydive from hot air balloon school bus and search for weapons scattered in the world in order to kill each other. But interestingly enough, I continued to play the game. Even after looking at the game from the outside for a short period of time, I continued playing it. What I liked about the game was the costumes, the dances, the objects. The way you were able to play the game with your friends and compete against people online, and I liked it just because it was popular and I wanted to have fun just like everyone else. That’s what kept me hooked.

What people don’t realize is that the concept of these games may have a deeper meaning than simply playing with your friends and having a good time. I don’t want to bash the games completely, because I’m sure that the creators didn’t have any bad intentions when making these games (I hope), but when you think about a simulation where you put a group of humans in an environment just to slay and kill each other, that’s kind of brutal and downright savage. Is that really something we want our youth playing? For the people that are going to defend video games like this, I understand that a lot of people have the common sense not to do anything of these horrific things in real life, but what about the people that don’t? At a young age, children absorb and mimic a lot of things they see and hear. Knowing this trait of children, there is a good possibility that video games like Fortnite and Call of Duty can be the kickstart for violence in their future. Parents need to make sure that their child understands that they should never do any of the things they do in the video game in real life, or just not allowed their kid to play the game at all.

Video games were made for entertainment, and games like Call of Duty and Fortnite can be fun. But people need to be aware of the hidden symbols and meaning in video games that involves war. We cannot allow ourselves to be negatively influenced by these games and allow them to change the seriousness of war.


How Violence Affects Children

This essay is about how violence affects children and how adults can help create solutions. I would like you to notice my solutions because they are very simple but effective to traumatic experiences.


Violence does more damage to a community than what people realize. Children being exposed to violence at a young age can affect them in their journey of life physically and emotionally.  Any type of violence can result in an aftermath that will last a lifetime. Places where violence is something that happens very often have a higher effect on the children that live there. When someone is exposed to something all the time it becomes a norm to them. The children who are exposed to violence regularly become accustomed to going through traumatic experiences. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an result for some kids that see violence regularly. Dealing with violence is a lot for anyone but children specifically need a support team that will give them the help they need to move forward with their lives.

Dr. Spivack found that children who live in inner cities experience higher rates of PTSD than do combat veterans, due in large part to the fact that the majority of kids living in inner-city neighborhoods are routinely exposed to violence.” Children who live in the city should not have higher rates than people who fought in actually wars. Being a child you should not be exposed to violence regularly. A routine of violence will start to make children believe that violence is ok.  Also it will make them believe that violence is an solution to problems which it is not. Children repeat behaviors that they see. So all the unhealthy behaviors that they see in their environments will eventually be apart of their behaviors. It is very true that people are a product of their environment. If a child's environment is constantly filled with violence then what do you expect a child contribute to their community. Feeding children garbage such as violence in their most impressionable years will end up hurting society because children are what you shape them to be. So if society feeds the children good things like healthy problem solving skills and love then the future will be totally different.

As a child finding the most healthiest way to express how you feel isn't the easiest. Not only because you don't know but because you are still a child and learning how to deal with so many other things in your life like growing up in general. You are still figuring things out and finding out who you are. But for most children you also have to figure out how to survive in places that meaningless violence happens on a regular. This is where mentors and good examples for kids come in.  helping kids with traumatic experiences would make lots of kids feel better. “Kids know what happened. Keeping it a ‘secret’ or making up a story about it may only add confusion and mistrust. Kids may fear talking about it because it is a “secret or forbidden topic.” To create healthy dialogues, we can invite children to ask adults any questions they might have about what happened or about themselves and their loved ones ( Azmaria Maker,Ph.D).”  When violence happens people think letting it go unspoken is better than talking about it will be better because then the children won't cry. But in reality talking about traumatic experiences will relieve children and won't leave any unanswered questions or thoughts about things that happen in society. Having an open dialogue about the things that happen will let kids know that the way  they feel towards situation are okay and help them eventually move on and be the best version of themselves that they can be.




Advanced Essay #3

There are many forms this illness can take, and it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise. There are many theories about what PTSD is and its effects on the people that suffer from it. However, some people in Eastern culture insist that this is not a viable diagnosis of the issue. Instead, they suggest that some peoples lives are simply worse than others, therefore it is their reality and not an extreme disorder. PTSD, however, is a real issue in all areas of the world, not simply a western invention to dramatize a situation. It eats away at a person, rips apart relationships, and can ruin lives when gone untreated. These all point towards a severe issue that demands immediate attention.

Many studies have been conducted about emotional trauma and the responses to these traumas. One of the most significant of these was done about implicit emotions that are not registered consciously. This study showed that we do not know about all of the damages our brain receives in high-stress situations. Psychologists Kirsten Ruys and Diedrick Stapel found in their study that “Humans do not need to be aware of the event that caused their mood or feelings in order to be affected by it… humans have evolved to respond quickly and unconsciously to stimuli, they should be able to react to an emotional event without full awareness.” With this new information, it can be concluded that trauma can be experienced without being fully comprehended. This would allow for surface level tests to come back inconclusive, leading people to believe there is no reason for a person to experience PTSD. However, this does not mean that a person doesn’t have PTSD, it simply means that the stressor is subconscious. This internal reaction could be fairly common in a culture where emotional expression is not very important, but it does not make the reaction any less valid or important than anywhere else in the world.

PTSD takes many forms and is caused by numerous factors. There are five specific types of PTSD widely accepted by the field of psychology, these include Victim-related trauma, Natural-disaster trauma, Survivor trauma, Perpetrator guilt, and PTSD not otherwise specified. All of these different sub-categories of the disorder are unique in their own ways and require different forms of treatment. One of the leading PTSD recovery facilities, Sunrise House, goes on to say, People with PTSD might have some or all of the symptoms, but the PTSD they have might not be similar. Medical professionals believe these specific subtypes of PTSD impact people differently. Those subtypes need different treatments or therapies in order to get better.” These recovery centers recognize the causes of this disease and approach it accordingly. Places like Sunrise House’s purpose is to ensure that people there receive the treatment they deserve and serve to get people who have experienced extreme trauma back on their feet. Not only do countries in Eastern Culture deny the existence of PTSD but they deny the people suffering from it help. It’s estimated that 23% of people in Palestine suffer from some form of PTSD, however, due to the ignorance of people in positions of power, there is no way for them to get better. This seems more like government skirting responsibility than a made up disorder.

Recently the head of mental health for Palestine, Samah Jabr, has said that PTSD is a western concept. A large number of people in this country, whose psychological welfare Samah Jabr is supposed to be looking out for, are currently suffering from the illness she denies the existence of. Jabr was quoted saying, “A Palestinian in Gaza whose home was bombarded, the threat of having another bombardment is a very real one. It’s not imaginary… There is no ‘post’ because the trauma is repetitive and ongoing and continuous. I think we need to be authentic about our experiences and not to try to impose on ourselves experiences that are not ours.” The idea that there is no “post” in the situation she describes takes an extremely broad view. There may be a general threat in that area at the current time, but people are not under constant attack. If someone encounters a scenario, such as the one described, there is time before another similar experience would be had. Emotional trauma is registered very quickly after it is inflicted, causing the “post” part of PTSD to happen very quickly. People can start to suffer from PTSD as soon as they are away from what caused the trauma. Is it realistic to say that there is no way PTSD can be experienced if there is any possibility of that event occurring again? The answer is no, it isn’t.

PTSD is an illness that does not care what part of the world you are from. It creeps into the mind of anyone who has been through real trauma. It is not exclusive to one country or one demographic. It does not only affect a battered US veteran. PTSD is a real problem for countless people across a global population, and we can not continue to only serve people from one section of it. A greater effort must be put forward to address this problem and get help for the people who need it most.


Advanced Essay #3-Do They Go Hand and Hand?


Poverty In America:


Rates of violent crime in the United States have declined significantly over the past two decades, but disparities persist. Violence is still a recurring issue we face in our society. Many of the crimes that occur tend to happen in an area that is socio-economically disadvantaged. It could be said that violence is associated with poverty. The rate of poverty has been linked to the rate of violence in many ways. There is a correlation between violent crimes and poverty because of the unemployment rates in major cities, the culture of poor areas, and the list continues. There are many examples of poverty that can contribute to this violence yet there is still a debate as to which factor are the most significant. There will always be a crime, but urban crime tends to always be located in high poverty areas.

Violence can be described as behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Since we have cleared the meaning of violence we can see how this can be easily related to poverty. If people are violent, it’s usually because they are poor, because when you are poor, your opportunities to escape poverty are limited.  When you are faced with the lack of funds to pay rent, buy groceries for your family, or you yourself. You're faced with a decision. Due to the circumstances, you want to find a way to provide. This usually means turning to crime, and more often than not this usually means selling drugs. The chart below shows the types of crimes based on annual income.




In each category, the people that fall into the category of 15,000 or less were more likely to be victims. They took the lead dramatically in each category. This example proves the point that they are more likely to experience this thing because they more exposed to this rather those who make 75,000 or more annually.  Persons in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000). This not because they choose this but this. this is the life they were born into. It could be said that people use this as an outlet. individuals living in poverty see the benefits of committing a crime to meet their basic needs is worth the risk of getting caught

There is a counter agreement. People with higher income also experience violence. Just at a different level. They experience less of crime because there was more focus placed on this social class. In an article about the crime rate in America it states “when someone receives more education, they are less likely to commit a crime” this brings us back to the cycle that has been created. They placed people in these social class and provide them with little resources and still expect them to rise above it. Leading them to decide how to make ends meet, therefore, turning to crime. In higher income housing this is more of an emphasis on education rather than a lower income neighbor and that plays a huge factor. A neighborhood starts to get a reputation all because they were neglected from the beginning.

In Donald Trump’s run for president, he makes many speeches giving his opinion. In one speech he talks about future plans when he becomes president. In this speech, he talks about tactics he has planned for the next four years. He specifically talks about addressing violent crime and poverty. he states that his administration would be more than willing to pour resources into battling both crime and poverty. He then continues to say “But to break the cycle of poverty, we must also break the cycle of violence.” (Donald J. Trump’s, 2017) when he says this it is almost as if he is blaming them when he creates this relation between the two things he says that there is one because of another. Which is true but it seems as though he is not willing to help us he address both our hand and hand which I don't think would be perfect. If in fact, the two go hand and why would you not want to help the poverty rate in America so that the crime rate in America would go down as well. If you know that they consider why not take the initiative to fix this. Instead if just stating the problem that is at hand, do something about it.  

To end, when we have this poverty vs. violence debate there is always room for other opinions. There will always be bias against lower-income neighborhoods due to their relationship and thus the reason why the cycle continues. Individuals living in poverty see the benefits of committing a crime to meet their basic needs is worth the risk of getting caught. Violence can occur in both high and low-income housing it is just more publicized in the lower. They do not go hand and hand but instead one leads to another. Faced with signs of poverty this leading you to commit violent crimes. This does not mean that the person is violent.

Advanced Essay #3: The Unnecessity of Violence

My goal for this essay was to focus on a topic that is not always talked about when it comes to violence, which is its alternatives. My initial thought was to write about a specific type of violence we see, or how violence impacts lives, but I'm glad that I decided to challenge my initial thoughts, and find a more interesting idea, that I actually support. I am happy with the overall topic I chose to discuss, and the way I was able to connect my topic to a scene of memory from my past.

Violence, although not always necessary, has become a ubiquitous force in the United States. Police brutality and shootings have become a major issue in our society, and oftentimes, violence is used unnecessarily in these cases. Police officers commonly argue that violence is used out of defense, when in reality these officers were never the victims of these situations. It is not difficult to pinpoint the reason for why police officers feel the ability to commit these acts of violence. They are given guns to brandish as they please and with minimal consequence.

The issue of police shootings goes hand in hand with school shootings and other general gun violence. But the difference is that the role of a police officer in society is that of a protector, yet in these instances, they are doing quite the opposite. According to the Washington Post, there were 994 people shot and killed by police officers in 2015. Since then, there have been nearly 1000 shootings by police officers each year. Although some of these cases may truly be defensive and arguably “defensive,” there are other ways to calm a situation so that it does not escalate to death.

When I was young, I attended a Unitarian Universalist church. I was a reluctant attendant, but every so often I tried my best to listen to the sermon that was given to the congregation. On one particular day, I recall the cushion on top of the pew under me was no match for the hard wood of the pew itself. I sat next to my mother, gazing up at the colorful stained glass windows. The images in the glass depicted biblical scenes, even though this was not a Christian church, and I was never taught about the bible. For me, church was not a tool used to teach about religious beliefs, but more so about values. On this particular day, our minister spoke with sadness in his voice. As he paced up and down the stained red carpet aisle, his signature beige suit creasing as he walked. He was talking about a recent tragic event. People died. I didn’t know the weight of what that meant. But the point of the sermon was that violence is not necessary to win battles. Our minister took a moment and pointed to the place where Martin Luther King Jr. had stood and preached in our church. A golden plaque hung there, commemorating. He had preached about nonviolence, just as our minister reiterated to us decades later.

In New Haven, Connecticut, a police recruitment center teaches a nonviolent philosophy to its recruits, created by civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. The philosophy has several principles that define it, the first being, “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people: It is a positive force confronting the forces of injustice, and utilizes the righteous indignation of the spiritual, emotional and intellectual capabilities of people was the vital force for change and reconciliation.” By saying that “nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people” implies that it is easier to use violence than nonviolence. This practice not only shows that there are alternatives to using violence, but it provides hope that people will see that violence is overused, especially by police officers. This concept of reconciliation through nonviolence is essential to moving in a positive, more fair, society, where police fill their designated role correctly.

Nonviolence doesn’t always work, but neither does violence. The true role of a police officer is to keep people safe, and by using violence unnecessarily, they violate the description of their role. Rather than being trained in how to operate a gun, police officers should be trained in nonviolent methods of communication and conflict resolution, so that the number of deaths from gun violence we see and hear about goes down to zero.


Advanced Essay #3

​Introduction
I want the realization of double jeopardy in our country to be known. I want the hypocritical thinkers to realize what our criminal system is putting the black men through our country through, but getting away with. I want the generational cycle to end. I want our black men to be free from the any previous offense committed by their ancestors.
Double Jeopardy

Double Jeopardy is the prosecution of a person twice for the same offense. We’ve seen this brought up in the courtroom many times. It was created to stop the arresting and prosecution of men for the same crimes using the same evidence. However, it’s shifted into a facade, or front. Black men and minorities of this country are facing the same accusations/offenses with nearly the same evidence, in an instance, for nearly all of the crimes that we’re witnessing on the news or the media. Not only do they go to jail for the same reasons, but their brothers and cousins are all doing the same. We’ve failed to give them the benefit of the doubt and immediately think they deserve this. Our country has crucified minorities to the prison systems that have now created mass incarceration. When we really sit to think what may cause this, we blame it on the hoods. We blame the minorities who aren't given a way out for their actions. We blame the weed and the drugs for playing a role in these harsh environments. We do all, but blame the government, the police, and inequality itself. There's a clear role on how white supremacy plays into the ideologies police officers are told to heed by.

Minority men are not given the same privileges to maintain jobs or create careers for themselves. It’s a generational cycle that has been created by the white man during the 1900’s. A system where the black man has to fight ten times harder to make something out of themselves for their families. Although one man does it, it does not change the fate of the rest of their families. It’s all tied down to the government having their own preferences to who they seem to want and not want in their fancy housing developments or their private schools. These ideas of the black man being dangerous is the evidence being used against them in their everyday trials. When a black man applies to a job, he is being tried for the offenses of previous black men. When a black man applies to college, he is being tried for the offenses of not being smart enough or not having the capabilities to succeed. When a black man puts his hand in this pocket, he is being tried for the offenses of fear initiating the death of the black man. “You’re guilty until proven innocent” is a systematic phrase that’s being used to create excuses to keep them incarcerated until finally evidence is found. There’s over a hundred cases of men who have been in prisons or jails for more than 3 years over a false accusation. The list goes on with evidence tampering that affected these trials just to get a conviction. Not to mention the amount of money they have to pay for a good lawyer, but are stuck with a half ass public defender. Don’t get me wrong public defenders can do their jobs to the best of their ability, but imagine the amount of cases they are facing with minority men that are all facing the same charge; drugs, assault, attempted murder, etc. All of these cases are immediately attached to a black man. These ideas that are put into their heads to believe that it’s a black man who must of done this proves the double jeopardy that has been placed on their backs.

We see crime and we cry for our cities. All of America is fighting for this big change that can somehow make our cities and our neighborhoods safe again, but are not fighting the oppression that is being placed within our cities. We fail to realize that as minorities, we are being tried for the same offenses as our ancestors and will continue to fall short on the pedestal. Steve Early wrote, “1. Rewarding cops for connecting with the community, 2. Hiring for Diversity, 3. Partnering with activists and city groups, and 4. Staying away from guns” as steps in his article on police violence. (2014) As America, there should never be steps that we have to take to stop police violence. In the face of double jeopardy, black men are all convicted with one piece of evidence. Police? All seen innocent against the killings of black men. Why? Double jeopardy. White policemen have seen black men as a threat since the beginning, as soon as they attempt to put their hand out or make a movement it falls under “I thought they were grabbing a weapon”. Not only do we justify the killings with this one phrase, but Philadelphia has created Stop-and-Frisk allowing policemen to stop a car basically by preference. “As many as 20,000 people were stopped in 2017 without a justifiable reason,” is one of many statistics taken over the years since this has started. All statistics that prove to why we should not continue to allow this form of double jeopardy. They’re all being stopped from previous offenses.

To conclude, America has failed to stop their cities from conducting these malpractices and overlook the convictions that took a little too much like the other.


Cited sources:

https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/police-violence-is-not-inevitable-four-ways-a-california-police-chief-connected-cops-with-communities

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004027684/a-conversation-with-police-on-race.html?action=click

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/beyond-vietnam

https://www.aclupa.org/news/2018/01/08/analysis-philadelphia-police-stop-and-frisk-data-shows-illeg

Advanced Essay #3: Patriots of War

Introduction:
My goal for this essay is to prove that Patriotism can be a slippery slope. It can start as something innocent and pure like the love for someone's country, but then it slips into more harmful mentalities. How one thing can lead to another thing drastically changing for better or for worse.


Patriots of War

What does being a patriot means to a be full-blooded American patriot? For many, the stereotypical image of American patriot includes a pickup truck with an American flag waving in the wind as he (because it’s usually a white male) trucks down an open highway. Or, it could be dressing up as a Marvel superhero and claiming you are the symbol of freedom. Although tacky and painted with a broad brush, some people who are patriots fit this description.

Looking from the outside in, people see us as a pot of hooting and hollering greasy Americans. To those observing, patriots are always “hoorah hoorah America,” who will defend their countries name no matter what.  When it comes to militarism and fighting for your country, what role does patriotism play? A person's’ love for their own country is a beautiful thing, right? The expectation that you would do anything to improve it as a productive member of society. Pay your debt for living in such a place through taxes, and sometimes pay with your life when fighting for freedom. Many of the wars that are fought on U.S. soil have been for freedom. Some examples include the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812, and WWII. In no way is Patriotism inherently a bad thing but we do see instances where it is misused in War.

In order to understand something we have to know the history. When America was first being formed, Nathan Hale, a soldier for the continental army, laid down the new America. His last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”. The relationship between patriotism and can be a very slippery slope. It is most dangerous when it slowly becomes a reason for war instead of serving as a reason to conserve peace.

It is safe to say that it flourishes as deep love for your own country but it can become something more harmful when you introduce means of violence and force. A good example of this is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the terror attacks of 9/11, America has been on the watch for similar instances ever since. The war first established to combat the terror attacks but quickly became about fulfilling a duty: preserving America’s freedom which was in no way threatened. For around twenty years, this was being fought on the basis that those who loved America would be willing to die to protect it. As the US occupied Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places in the middle east, it was evident that al Qaeda controlled the majority of the country. The toxicity of patriotism comes into play because of a lot of what we believed the war was being fought to counter terrorism. But in reality, I would say that it was truly being fought for a democratically controlled government, or at least something relatively close to it. Anything closer to an ideal American for in government would be enough for America. Both sides loved their country dearly as one should. David Noise from Psychology today says, It’s been called the last refuge of scoundrels. “It is undeniably linked to“us-against-them” tribal impulses, rooted in emotion and often impervious to reason. It feeds nationalism and militarism,...” The war fueled by patriotism took nearly twenty years to come to an end and even now, people are confused to why it was fought in the first place.

An integral part that plays into who we are as people is what we take in from the media. We have stations like ABC, FOX, and CNN reporting on the horrors of war and how “our troops are fighting” for our freedom. Not only is it about what the news is reporting, but also who they’re reporting on.

In our current political climate and all of the controversy surrounding government politics, the center of it all has been President Donald Trump. If you tune into a news station, it’s more than likely you will see the President speaking about a new policy that will, “Make America Great Again.” For Trump, part of that work included praising America’s military. “[Trump] famously tried to get the Pentagon to throw a massive parade for Veterans Day, with missiles and tanks and flags rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Tina Nguyen a reporter for The Hive newspaper writes. That parade would reportedly cost 92 million dollars. Of course, other Trump supporters fully supported this idea because their leader thought it was a great idea, but also because they are already conditioned to love the military, that’s what America is all about. True patriotic behavior.

As Americans, we should not continue this culture of blindly following ideas that might leave questioning ourselves or this country. In no way is patriotism a bad thing. It just so happens when left to interpretation, it can easily become dangerous and violent. Treading the line between good and evil is not enough to call our country inherently good if whenever we get into the affairs of others it turns out bad. Patriotism can be molded into what Americans want it to be, to serve whatever purpose for whatever reason. But love for something should never be the reason we go and destroy something else.


Work Cited:

Advanced Essay #3: [They are Human To]

They are Human To

During the summer of 2002, the army base at Fort Bragg's was under fire. Four soldiers had killed their wives and two of them had ended their own lives. Everyone was in a frenzy to point fingers and find the culprit behind all four murders; what had caused these soldiers to kill their wives in cold blood? What has caused them to snap? There have been many experiments done on soldiers, marines, and those that serve in the military to see the effects that boot camp and just being in the military in general has on them mentally. Most times they come to the conclusion that nothing really changes other than their anxiety levels, however, how do we explain four murders from four soldiers who had experienced war first hand, who had been to Afghanistan, who had gone to boot camp? Now the question at hand is, how does the military, and more specifically, boot camp, affect those mentally?

When recruits enlist into any of the following five branches: army, navy, coast guard, air force or marine corps, they are forced to attend boot camp for eight weeks. During these eight weeks they are put through rigorous training, meant to break them down and dehumanize them. In an article written by the University of Washington, the author quotes Joshua J. Jackson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences. He conducted a study on the behavior of soldiers and found that for soldiers, “from the moment you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night, someone is actively working to break down anything that’s individual about you and to build up something else in its place” (Gerry Everding  February 9, 2012). Imagine someone actively working to break your very essence, what makes you human and replace it with something else, a killing machine. This would be more than enough to cause someone to snap, making them perhaps kill their wife.

Now, when wondering what goes on inside actual boot camp a research article written by Sage Journals, breaks down what happened and what they found inside a boot camp, recounting stories of, “cadence calls ranging from sexist to sexually aggressive to misogynistic were heard shouted by troops in formations. The rationale for training soldiers in this manner is the belief that young male soldiers will be trained to desire combat instead of fear it. When used in an environment that tolerates sexism, the tactic can also teach soldiers to link sexual aggression and violence with the denigration of women.” (April 1, 2003).  In boot camp like these, they are training their men to crave the violence, exploiting their masculinity and forcing them to associate aggression and this desire for violence to the abuse and degradation of women. The first few weeks they’re given a taste of the cruelest and hardest part of the military experience and it only gets worse from there.

In camps where it is only men, often times their masculinity trait is exploited to the maximum. They are being trained to become something else, to obey when given a command. I had the opportunity to talk to an active member of the marine corps to get more of a first-person insight into the realities of boot camp. This marine shared with me things that he witnessed and lived through when he was in boot camp and even now on base. When we were talking about bootcamp and his experience during his first eight weeks he described them “ mentally and physically exhausting ,” he told me about things that had endured throughout the entire process “ the first three days they didn’t allow us to sleep. Once we hit the third day some of us started hallucinating. I fell asleep walking once.” He talked about activities that they would be forced to do, “The officers would force us to fight each other, I watched multiple people get their heads slammed on the floor.” When hearing these things my mind immediately went to how prisoners are treated. Like a prisoner, the effects of what they experience and live through is often reflected after they leave the military. In a article written by the University of Washington, the author quotes Joshua J. Jackson, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences, on the effects that life after militarism has on them, saying, “men who have experienced military service tend to score lower than civilian counterparts on measures of agreeableness.” This saying that after they leave the military and return to being a regular civilian their character is not the same. They can have a hard time making connections people or maintaining relationships and even obtaining jobs or positions within. This can lead to higher anxiety levels and mild levels of depression setting in. This is a sad fact, for many veterans this is the route that their life took and have not been able to make better.

A human is not conditioned to live under these situations and certainly can not function properly if they are malnourished and tired; they are weak. They are stripping their soldier, marines, sailors, and airmen of their identity, what makes them human, through actual physical torture and then they are just leaving the shell behind, a simple body. Then, after they are done with them they throw them back into society and expect them to go right back to their normal life after all the trauma they have endured. We need to realize that they are humans, they are not robots, they have emotions, we need to help them and allow their minds to heal. Disorders like PTSD have been linked to soldiers who had been to combat. They are sick and have to be treated as such.


Advanced Essay #3- Light on the Shadow

Violence. A word that has a negative history. Death, war, strife, anger, sadness, loss, brutality and many more are things that all can come from violence. But just because violence has negative associates doesn’t mean it is a negative thing. Look at this definition for violence, “Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” (Violence in the Media and Entertainment, 2016).Violence is something that must be inflicted on someone but if you read that definition, the word evil or bad is not used. Does this mean not all violence is bad? Short answer, yes. Violence can be used in a positive way like to entertain or teach. It can also be used to get a positive outcome like arresting a murder. Violence is seen as a negative in the world but it is not always negative. As stated before, violence can be used to entertain. In the movie, Box Office, as of April 27th, 2019, Avengers Endgame is breaking records for the amount of money being made from people buying tickets. The movie is about superheroes who lost their friends in a war for magic stones by an alien titan and must fight to get their friends back. The movie is oozing with violence, but are people leaving that theatre traumatized? No, they are leaving entertained, and hopefully, they enjoyed those three hours. Another example is Boxing and MMA fighting. Those are sports where two people engage in hand to hand combat willingly. According to HBO, roughly 820,000 on average are watching a boxing match in person or live.”The most widely watched live bout on HBO of 2018, a middleweight title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Vanes Martirosyan, drew 1.3 million viewers.”( HBO Says It Is Leaving the Boxing Business-nytimes).People pay good money to see them fight and the fighters get paid good money to fight. People who watch fights are entertained. They have repurposed something negative and made it positive. Violence is also used to teach. One way to discipline a child when they were being naughty was with a good ole wack on the cheek or hand. Or in some cases, a butt whooping. Speaking from my own experience I know I am a better, more sensible person because I received the occasional spanking. Not only parents but teachers used this method as well, back in the day when kids would misbehave, it was normal for a teacher to wack a child with a ruler on the hand. I bet a lot of you teachers reading this still wish it was. Violence is even transferred to our children shows. Shows like Power Rangers or PJ Mask; These shows and many like them are made to teach children about friendship and morals. When the bad guys do bad things or put others in harm’s way, the hero’s fight to bring them to justice, even in cartoons that air on Disney junior. In shows like this, violence is used to show kids that if you do bad things you get disciplined; not groom them to be criminals. Acts that may be seen as brutal or cruel are usually not unprecedented, meaning there’s always a meaning behind it. Violence can happen for both good and bad reasons. One good reason is self-defense. There are many situations where self-defense is warranted like breaking and entering, robbery, bullying, protection of others and self; the list can go on. Although some of these issues can be “talked out” or worked out in a non-vicious way it is not certain and since we are a violent species we will naturally gravitate o the more ungoverned method. Humans often succumb to their primitive nature when riled up or follow instincts when scared and before we were civilized, we were like wild animals. According to research by Steven Stinker, ” bodies and brains have “direct signs of design for aggression,” and that men, in particular, bear the marks of “evolutionary history of violent male-male competition.” (black Slate, 2002, Steven Stinker); the things that usually got us to that state was wild animals. Usually, wild animals are vicious and dangerous so when you see one in its natural habitat, you need to be ready to defend yourself. You are in their world and in their world, it’s kill or be killed. Wanting to live warrants violence and it is those ideals and mindsets that transfers to today when we feel threatened and feel the need to defend. Violence is like Thanos, (WARNING AVENGERS ENDGAME JOKE!!!!!!)is inevitable. It’s apart of our everyday lives. The average adolescent has an 80% chance of witnessing violence on their phone or TV (Violence in the Media and Entertainment ). Violence can’t be deleted. Just like Sir Isaac Newton says:” for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”. Where the there is good there is bad, where there is light there is dark, where there is sausage pizza there will be pineapple pizza, and where there is peace there will be violence. Instead of trying to take it out our society we should embrace it so that we may control it. Allow the light to shine over the shadow. “I would rather control the weapon then not have it so that our enemy can” (Jayden Tull 2019).

Sources: Gabbatiss, Josh. “Are Humans Inherently Violent?” Theperspective.com/, 21 Mar. 2019, www.theperspective.com/debates/living/humans-inherently-violent/.

Matthews, Wallace. “HBO Says It Is Leaving the Boxing Business.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/sports/hbo-boxing.html.

“Violence in the Media and Entertainment (Position Paper).” AAFP Home, 19 Mar. 2019, www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/violence-media.html.

“Why Do People Deny Violent Media Effects?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/get-psyched/201302/why-do-people-deny-violent-media-effects.

Advanced Essay #3: Groomed to be Violent

What if we lived in a society built on non-violence?

    Violence is everywhere in modern day America. Fortnite the biggest game in the world with, according to Shacknews, a trusted resource in the gaming community, over “200 million registered players,” is a game where the goal is to eliminate all the other players with an arsenal of weapons to be the last man standing. Violence is the mainstream.

One thing people say about Fortnite is that it’s “kid-friendly.” This is due to it’s cartoonish graphics and silly characters that the player can choose from. Kid friendly. Violence is so prevalent in America that a game where the player runs around finding and using different guns can be seen as “kid friendly.” All you have to do is get rid of the gore and replace the word kill with “eliminate” and suddenly violence is acceptable for all ages.

In American kids are groomed to be violent. The leader of our country even advocates for violence when he deems it necessary. In a speech Trump made in 2016 while in Cedar Roads, Iowa he told his supporters to “knock the crap out of them, would you? … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees,” in regards to protestors at his rallies, some who had been throwing tomatoes. All humans have a flight or fight response to certain circumstances. Yet in America the perception is that the fight response is for the strong and the flight response is for the weak.

If someone disrespects you, you fight them. Fight, fight, fight, over nothing. In 2015 nearly 6,000 african-americans were killed by other african-americans according to the Daily Wire. Violence doesn’t have any boundaries. In America people who look like each other, talk like each other will destroy each other over nothing. The weapon of choice many times being a gun.

The easiest way to carry out violence is with a gun. In America according to the Gun Violence Archive there have already been 10 incidents classified as “mass shootings” this month. In May. Six days. There are many different opinions on why gun violence has become such a problem in America. Some say that guns are too easily accessible. That if we had more protocols in place in regards to ownership less crazies would have access to guns.

Others say that mental health is the problem. That everyone has a right to a gun and the lack of help being provided to these people is the true problem.

These are two valid arguments but there’s a piece missing. America loves violence. In media, in our culture of not letting someone disrespect you, violence is everywhere. How can we expect some people not to take that to the ultimate extreme when it’s been all around of them from the time they were born.        

How would our culture change if it was rooted in non-violence? What if guns were looked at as a privilege to own and not a right? How can we truly get better at connecting with one another enough to put more value into the life of another human?

I think one thing we must do is put more effort into working on breaking down the “us vs them” barriers that divide Americans from Americans. We have too many instances of police killing young black men, the poor struggling against the rich, bigots degrading those they believe are below them. And yet they don’t mourn, because they feel no connection to those they have hurt. Anne Frank who wrote a diary during the Holocaust said that “we all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”

Love must be preached in schools, in media more. Caring for one another has to be made more of a priority. As was highlighted before not only is there violence to the us vs them concepts that flow through America but there is also violence among those who look and talk the same. We have to fix this.

Imagine if American culture was infused with ideas like this. What if we valued our fellow man enough, to the point that violence would be looked down upon because it would result in the pain of our fellow man.

Violence is too big of a part in American society. It’s present in entertainment, American children get exposed to it as children, it’s even present in presidential rhetoric. No wonder why violence acts have become such a common occurrence in America. Violence is everywhere. To end this cycle of violence it it essential that we put more of an emphasis on caring for one another. Violence only tears us apart.




Works Cited

Bandler, Aaron, and Aaron Bandler. “7 Statistics You Need To Know About Black-On-Black Crime.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 13 July 2016, www.dailywire.com/news/7441/7-statistics-you-need-know-about-black-black-crime-aaron-bandler.

Elworthy, Scilla. “Fighting with Nonviolence.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence?language=en#t-314454.

“The Greatest Diversity Quotes.” Greatest, www.greatest-inspirational-quotes.com/diversity-quotes.html.

“Gun Violence Archive.” Gun Violence Archive, www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting.

Hawkins, Josh. “How Many Players Does Fortnite Have?” Shacknews, Shacknews, 4 Mar. 2019, www.shacknews.com/article/110261/how-many-players-does-fortnite-have.

Understanding How Truth & Fiction Can Overlap

​Introduction:

My goal for this paper is to open people's minds to my idea of how something can be true and fiction at the same time. This should help us understand other people's ideas and the problem as a whole. I'm proud of the deep analysis I wrote for this paper because I feel like I really explored and explained an idea that's not widely thought about. I hope my essay influences you guys to ponder on this idea of truth and fiction.



Essay: 

We hear numerous stories from different people all the time. Whether it’s drama, one’s experience, breaking news, or just something made for some laughs. But how can we know if someone’s telling the truth? Can a story be true only based off of one’s person’s point of view? Many people may question someone’s reliability because they believe there’s only one truth but it’s actually possible for a story to be true and fiction at once simply because one person’s truth can be someone else’s fiction and vice versa. This is different for everyone as we all have individual opinions and beliefs that affect how we process and react to certain things. But society made us blindly believe in things that are simply not true. Because of this, people aren’t truly understanding what they are being told, restricting them from other thoughts, ideas, and opportunities.

For example: police brutality. There’s a lot of rumors that policemen have been abusing their power and have been targeting people of color, which is gradually becoming true over time. According to a WITNESS.org article by Madeleine Bair, in 2014, a 36-year old woman named Kianga Mwamba was attacked by the police for recording them beating a man in handcuffs. She was tased and charged for an attempt of running over a police officer. When she was released from jail, the video on her phone that recorded everything was gone. Police officers have this armor that protects them from initially being accused of a crime because their job is supposed to do the opposite. This led to Mwamba being falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Luckily, in her case, her truth was unveiled after discovering that her phone had backed up the video automatically but even with the truth out, she hasn’t been able to seek disciplinary action against the police officers who assaulted her.

At first, this story was only told from a police officers point of view. The information was biased in a way to make them seem innocent and for the woman to be guilty. But why did we believe them in the first place? It’s because we grew up believing that it’s okay to trust the authorities. Their story may have told what happened but not the entire story was explained and this is where truth and fiction overlaps. In the officers’ world, this is what happened; this is their truth. For the woman, it was only partially true. Her intentions were not to hurt the police officers, but to share what’s really happening behind the scenes of these police officers. The video recording is another truth to the story as well as it reveals the events that lead up to her arrest. Charges were dropped against her but the officers remain untouched. The power of the officers’ truth had affected her more than the actual truth and this is where the problem is in our society. A story must be laid out completely from all angles in order to thoroughly understand how to take action upon it.

Another example where a truth is not entirely told is from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried novel. This book was about the Vietnam War and the experiences of what the soldiers went through before, during and after the war. A quote by him states, “I have been accused of ignoring the Vietnamese in my fiction, ignoring their concerns and so on. It's not a question of ignoring, though, but of not knowing. It involves the question of point of view.” For the author to tell a story from one point of view is telling one part of the story, similar to the Mwamba case. On a surface level, it influences the reader to only think about what is being told but on a deeper level, the reader is slowly believing this one side and not acknowledging the other.

Although this novel is fiction, the author was able to execute a story that made it seem very real. The stories of these soldiers were detailed and personal which made it believable. Emotions and certain characteristics can influence what we would or wouldn’t believe. The way a person shares a story is another way that truth and fiction can overlap. It’s possible for a person to completely convince another person with a made up story, and for a person who’s telling the truth not be heard.

The question of the idea of the truth and fiction overlapping is what do we truly believe? We tend to only remember things that make an impression on us and that means that it’s significant in some way. It’s okay to believe one side over the other but it’s about respecting the other point of views as well as your own. This mindset is not often applied to the justice system which is why people are constantly being mistreated. Also, it silences the voices who are already so small to begin with. We need to understand that there’s different sides to everything and that it’s not always about pinpointing things to the root but about how the idea grew to be. We should also explore the idea that it is possible for something to be true and fiction at the same time, it’s just the matter of how we choose to perceive it. With that, we need to take a step back and look at it as a whole.


Works Cited:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Advanced Essay #3

Introduction

My goal in this paper is to try and relate how the police system, and police violence ties into having an authority figure and what that means. It may not be realized until the end, but the majority of what im trying to explain is that authority hinders the ability for some to act out a reform a system, or more specifically how the police system hinders the people. But at the same time I also want to emphasize the fact this is the product of american culture, because of the history of how violence has been used to make a statement. 


The Police System

As a society we often perceive violence as something that we can use to counteract other violence, or as means of making a statement. Violence constantly surrounds us, and as a result many might perceive it as a normal aspect of life that is part of our world, and is therefore “used to it.” Society, however, assumes that violence is somehow this inevitable force that has occurred due to human behaviour. Although people perceive violence differently, and how to approach it, I am going to question whether or not the decisions that are made within the police system can be improved, and if police violence, specifically, is inevitable?

There is a multitude of layers within the police system that explain why the police use violent methods to control or counteract a situation; One of the methods used to counteract violence by the police system is gun use. The police are told that one of the methods to keep a situation under control, is to use a gun, however, in many other countries, guns are not easily allowed to be used by police officers, let alone citizens. In the U.S we have the right to bear arms, but having everyone have access to a gun, in a sense, invites violence.Instead, if gun use is  abolished completely, in the hands of the people and within the police system, much more methods such as using taser could lessen the amount of unjustified shots made at people. Magnus, a police officer from California proposed different methods in which the police system can use. “Magnus has consistently promoted new training programs and the acquisition of non lethal weaponry, including Tasers and pepper spray, designed to minimize the use of deadly force.” There are many methods that can be used in opposition to using a gun, which can decrease the amount of violence that is being used. Often times, people have their own biases against other, so eliminating the ability to do a major violent act, that can be done by the use of gun, perhaps police violence wouldn’t be viewed as inevitable.

Placing guns in the hands of people, however, sort of hints to another large issue. Why is it that we need to place a figure of authority with power for others to listen? Is that not what police are placed to be in our our society? To be an authority to which people should listen to, to establish peace? Having figures of authority in a societal system is not bad, if that figure of authority uses their power for the wellness of the people. By listening to a lecture done Scilla Elworthy, I think that she discusses how fighting someone with authority can be difficult, since that person with authority will most likely use violence to make a statement of fear. She expresses, however, that people do have the ability to fight violence with peace even though it may be difficult. “And I see that we, ordinary people, can do what Aung San Suu Kyi and Ghandi and Mandela did. We can bring to an end the bloodiest century that humanity has ever known. And we can organize to overcome oppression by opening our hearts as well as strengthening this incredible resolve.” What  Scilla says about overcoming oppression is that by doing it as an organized people, and practicing the method of approaching overcomings with peaceful methods, that we would be more used to peaceful methods, rather than resorting to violent methods.

Police violence, and figures authority are however not inevitable aspects of our society. In fact it may just be a product of american culture. Looking through past histories of how certain overcomings were delt with, a majority used violence as a means to make a statement. As we look back to one of the most well known protests in history, the boston tea party. Before resorting to throwing tea of the boat, many protested against the tax on tea by not buying in it, but as that continuously did not work, people resorted to more violent methods.

In conclusion violence is not at all inevitable, in fact there are many ways in which we can avoid it by replacing the methods that we use to counteract it. By having  figure of authority in society, those figures can be used a means to instill a sort of fear amongst the people. Authority makes people afraid to act out, but at the same time invites violence. So it just does end up being a continuous cycle when violent methods are being used. I don’t think that dismantling a whole police system is necessary, but rather a reformation f it. The system is already so set in place, that perhaps the best way to actually fix it is to implement more peaceful methods of dealing with it.


Cites

https://www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence?language=en#t-314454


https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/police-violence-is-not-inevitable-four-ways-a-california-police-chief-connected-cops-with-communities



The Affect That Violence Has No Families and Veterans

In the society that we live in, violent situations such as war, is a big controversy topic. Some agree it is needed to end conflict and some disagree because a lot of people lose their life to a bullet or much worse. Not only can violence kill somebody but destroy families. But if you go deeper into it you will come across many ways that it is more bad than good. For example, the person who you were before a war isn't who you are after. This is because they are put through many obstacles that will break that sympathetic human creating someone who is very cold. This can impact families who have to deal with a veteran who is mentally damaged with survivor's guilt or PTSD.

According to a study/article done by Guidhi “My faith in nonviolence” discusses how in many situations the law of love has answered more than the law of destruction. This means that the use of sympathy and communication problems were solved better than ones with violence. Guidhi states = “My daily experience, as of those who are working with me, is that every problem lends itself to solution if we are determined to make the law of truth and nonviolence the law of life. For truth and nonviolence are, to me, faces of the same coin.” In other words, violence cannot occur if situations were solved more consciously instead of quick action. The truth will set you free from many situations. This supports it because if families are more rooted they won't have to deal with a loss or the need of a father/mother figure. A family being rooted and together is very beneficial for many reasons; the kids will be secured and not always having to wonder where and when their Father/ Mother will be back or if they died. It's a lot to deal with at a very young age.  

Now for the people who will be life savers and believe violence is the only way world problems are solved will go into the veterans blindsided. The reason why they are blindsided in my opinion is because they do not know what they are gonna be put through; tests that destroy a individual creating somebody they were never meant to be. It sometimes can be a character trait gone or worse like PTSD or soldier’s guilt. When researching how veterans are affected by warfare I found a source written by  MAGGIE PUNIEWSKA “ Soldiers guilt” discusses what goes through a veterans head and how it may impact a family. “Some of these soldiers describe experiences in which they, or someone close to them, violated their moral code: hurting a civilian who turned out to be unarmed, shooting at a child wearing explosives, or losing trust in a commander who became more concerned with collecting decorative pins than protecting the safety of his troops. Others, she says, are haunted by their own inaction, traumatized by something they witnessed and failed to prevent.” In detail of what Maggie is trying to get across with this statement is majority of the time soldiers who seen situations that couldn't be prevented or their own inaction may trigger soldiers guilt. It may lead to that because they will blame themselves for something to the extent of becoming very depressed and on edge. This connects to my claim on how violence can destroy families because soldiers guilt is something that is connected to PTSD just a bit worse. Since it's similar to PTSD symptoms such as loss of interest or pleasure in activities, guilt, or loneliness. This may take a toll on the children's life because they need to be engaged with their parents to feel and know they are loved and not a burden. Loss in interest can cause a lot of issues in a relationship because they are too damaged to sometimes acknowledge they are still in a relationship.

In conclusion violence has had more of an affect on veterans and families than it has on the main problem`w. Violence affects veteran mental health causing them to feel guilty due to situations they had no control over; PTSD that can lead to suicide. Not only the veterans are impacted due to warfare but their families have to deal with this issue that will restart every single day. What I mean by this is that PTSD is something that need more attention and patience to deal with because the feel as if they are still under attack.  



Sources used:

https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/veteran-mental-health/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/07/healing-a-wounded-sense-of-morality/396770/

Paper Article written by Guidhi  


Advanced Essay #3: (Music On Society)

Introduction:

My goal for writing this paper was to bring up a topic that not many really think of. We don’t realize how much it could be affecting us and this topic is how violent music can be influential to society. I’m proud of the research I found and how it worked really well with what I was trying to get across. Music is such an important part of who we all are as people. It is used for many different aspects of life and knowing that it could be doing no good to society is important to pay attention too.

Essay:

As humans, we don’t think about how influential music may be in society. Music is a form of art. It is a positive outlet for people and a way for people to express their feelings. These feelings can be good or bad and this is where we need to look deeper. Music can dig deep into someone’s emotional status and can lead to certain thoughts or feelings. Now the question is, is violent music influencing our society? This is important to be mindful of because children and adolescents are so into music nowadays. Hip hop, R&B, and Rap are genres that are so popular and there are the ones that can infiltrate violent messages into society the most. Not knowing what is right in front of you isn’t an option. Music can be a part of the reasons why violence is such a problem to society and why people may act the way they do.

Rap is a creative way to form and pair words together to create a hit. Rap music is what most teens listen to today and rap music can often emphasize the idea of violence. An article by, Nakia Jackson, called What Influence and Effects Does Rap Music Have on Teens Today? talks about different ways Rap music can be effective in positive and negative ways. “Rap was born in poor urban communities where violence may be poorly controlled, but social and economic factors can play a much greater role in the prevalence of violence.” This quote is mainly focusing on the idea of how rap music was already created because of the violence that was spread around into society. As mentioned before, music can be used to express feelings and this quote basically says the area where rap was born was just a way for people to explain what they were facing in their community. Also, how she mentions that social and economic factors take a bigger toll in the society which can be true. Lower class communities are where violence takes place the most because as said in the quote, it is “poorly controlled”. There are bigger issues to be aware of that violent music affecting society, especially where the origins of rap music came from.

Some people may view music as nothing harmless. It isn’t something physical but something that means much more in a emotional, intellectual, and spiritual way. A study was done by researchers from Iowa State University and the Texas Department of Human services. The study was published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and it proved that violent music lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and feelings. This necessarily does not have to do with crimes nor creating violence throughout society. This has to do with the fact about how thoughts and feelings can form negatively within a person, leading to physical action. A person who knows someone in a vulnerable place should take this into consideration. Violent music can cause someone to make choices they will later regret in life and knowing these type of facts can prevent that in the future.

Music can be used as a coping method for those who want an escape from the world. In these times, females can be more driven into letting music affect them negatively than men. An article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics goes into depth about how music and all of its aspects can have an impact on children and adolescents. “Female adolescents are more likely than male adolescents to use music to reflect their emotional state, in particular when feeling lonely or “down.” This proves females are more likely to lean on music in their rough times because of their emotional status. As we look at adolescents, it is more important to pay more attention to them since they are still trying to figure themselves out. At times they might feel like no one is truly there for them because they are going through the changes of life and becoming adults. They might feel like music is the only way to uplift them and sometimes even bring out the worst in them.

As a society, we should begin to realize what is right in front of our faces. Certain genres are what bring this trait to music and music artist should see that it won’t always do good for the society. They probably aren’t aware of what they are actually doing to their community. Most violent music is songs about the struggle and the horrible things they had to do to survive. If we don’t want our people to be under the impression then a change has to be made. Science and the Medicine field are giving out proven facts as well. We don’t want our children and adolescents to be mistaken that some of these actions are okay by the music they are listening to. Creators, listeners, viewers, and bystanders need to step in and see violent music does have an impact on society.


War Before and After

War before and after

War doesn’t just come with victory and loss. War comes with a lot of consequences that are permanent in some people's lives, such as, PTSD, destruction, tons of money lost, etc..Civilians that live before war live their life peacefully and in harmony. When a war hits they can’t anticipate what might happen next. War affects a person in a lot of different ways before and after.

One country that has one of the highest rates of mental illness in the world is, Palestine. A quarter of Palestinian adolescents have attempted suicide. About 23.2% have post-traumatic stress disorder (according to a survey of 1,369 over three years) compared to around 6-9% in the US; and the Palestinian territories have by far the highest levels of depression in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Those living in Palestine endure ongoing trauma. Someone who has their house demolished by the Israeli government in East Jerusalem, because it was deemed illegal, must then pay fines to the Israeli government for failing to destroy their homes themselves. (Nearly every Palestinian building is deemed illegal by Israeli authorities.) Up to 40% of Palestinian men have spent time in prison, often for minor offenses such as throwing stones. And many families face the threat of Israeli-army raids and interrogations. All this happens within and out of war. In Palestine there is no, war has ended, war in Palestine is continuous.

Before soldiers go into a war zone, they are healthy. Their lungs are healthy and clear, their minds are stuck only on the mission at hand. When soldiers come back from a warzone or war in general, they have to face things that can not jus go away. They face PTSD, depression, and suicide.

In the film, “American Sniper”, actor Bradley Cooper plays a soldier who goes on 4 tours  in Iraq. Throughout the whole movie Cooper experiences traumatic things such as, shooting a young boy, seeing his partner get shot in the face, and having to watch a brutal man drill into a little boys legs. In a certain scene in this movie, Cooper is at a garage and he starts to start experiencing deja vu from the tools the mechanics use. This film shows how soldiers going in and out of war zones start to slowly but surely have a messed up mentality.

From two perspectives: A soldier going into a warzone and a little boy facing soldiers with guns bigger than himself. The soldier going into a warzone has the mindset of going in and never coming back out, but for those who do come out of a warzone alive they suffer from the mental illnesses discussed before, the most common being PTSD. The little boy facing soldiers has the mindset of praying enough to live or knows well enough that death is coming his way, he will never understand why. The little boy if survived automatically is traumatized, depending on the case he may have lost family, friends, and loved ones.

The conditions after war are inevitable. Buildings are destroyed leaving hundreds of families homeless. Families that are just bystanders in the war are forced to face the consequences brought to them. As an example Palestine is one of many countries that faces this tragedy almost everyday. Some say its a free jail. War affects a person in a lot of different ways before and after. It brings, pain, depression, suicide, PTSD, and a lot more. War is forever inevitable to humans.









Sources:


https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/reel-therapy/201501/american-sniper-0

https://qz.com/1521806/palestines-head-of-mental-health-services-says-ptsd-is-a-western-concept/

https://www.bu.edu/sph/2016/04/10/the-population-health-consequences-of-war/

Advanced Essay #3: Victims of War and Violence

This essay sheds light on the hardships and burdens of war from multiple points of view. There is not only violence and war impacting the soldiers but also the families and innocent people at home. I would like the reader to take  in the information about the refugees who were once everyday people, just like we are. 
For many years, war has caused mass destruction within families, countries, and the economy. When war occurs, the people involved have to endure the horrors of watching their homes and families be destroyed. A common misconception is that the soldiers take on the most hardship, the civilians are often disregarded. 
The expenses from war cause poverty rates to increase, the money supply gets cut off. The civilians then have no homes or safety net to fall on. There are many families in high stress because of the absence of their loved ones. This also increases traumatization in younger children. That increase in traumatization can cause their symptoms to mirrors those of their loved ones. In many cases, soldiers who come home can not reconnect with their loved ones again. The PTSD that soldiers carry with them after the war can go on for the rest of their lives. The impact of violence goes farther than just on the battlefield. Some instances, there is no support from the spouses’, soldiers have even lost their homes returning from deployment. The long term impacts lead to fatal addictions to prescription medications, incurable psychological disorders, and even suicide. As a veteran, those who fought on the frontlines are unwilling to speak horrors of war.
Violence is instilled into the society and therefore we allow war to destroy everything around us. Beyond the physical destruction of homes, the family’s financial stability is impacted after the war.  A present issue in our military is the lack of financial support. The most recent Department of Defense report, from 1999, found that 40 of lower rank soldiers face "substantial financial difficulties. Soldiers require treatment and support recovering from the combat, this level of support can not always come from the immediate family members. Soldiers making ends meet post-deployment has been acknowledged by the military as an issue but there has been no final solution to aiding veterans and their families. The cost of ensuring veterans’ comfort and family after the war can be very extensive. Even the minor factors of war have promoted violence to be prominent in our society, in our human nature to fight and destroy what is surrounding us without thought. Men and women turn to the military in hopes of financial support in the long run, which increases the risk for families at home that can not support the household alone.
On the other side of the battlefield, the families who live within the war zone have been forced to flee from home without looking back. The demands for violence has dehumanized and deprived people of their ability to enjoy life. “War denies civilians agency and voice, disempowering them and transforming them into objects of manipulations,” a quote from Korostelina, an associate professor in S-CAR.  Civilians are overlooked continuously but those very people carry more burden than what is broadcasted worldwide. The intensity of the battlefield causes the displacement and dehumanization of innocent people. Children and infants die from sickness and malnutrition. The record of documented deaths are an understatement compared to the undocumented death of civilians. There is no reinstatement back their homes because of the ruthless murder and desecration. Victims must also endure the deliberate demolition of their economic, social and cultural worlds. Often, the victims of war in their homeland are shown in social media, but not enough attention is being brought to this issue on a more informative platform. Under serious conditions, innocent families have become refugees with no voice or way to help themselves. Violence has become the new oppressor, there is lack if safety or support for the people who truly need it.
War and violence, the common solution to solving our social and worldwide conflict. The continuous impact even after the war is over can destroy and hinder the growth of a nation. Often, we only look at the broad image of soldiers who go through trauma and stress. The  psychological toll it takes to hold a household up with no help, children become overwhelmed with traumatization. This is not only the impact of violence, the innocent have become refugees and displaced from their homes without a voice to say for themselves. 

Cited Work: 

Voa, & Voa. (2009, October 29). Thousands of US Military Families Live in Poverty. Retrieved from https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2003-01-15-5-thousands-67286427/380364.html

 “Researchers Examine the Effects of War on Civilians.” Mason Research, 9 Mar. 2012, masonresearch.gmu.edu/2012/03/researchers-examine-the-effects-of-war-on-civilians/

 Carolina. “The Impact of War and Atrocity on Civilian Populations: Basic Principles for NGO Interventions and a Critique of Psychosocial Trauma Projects.” ODI HPN, odihpn.org/resources/the-impact-of-war-and-atrocity-on-civilian-populations-basic-principles-for-ngo-interventions-and-a-critique-of-psychosocial-trauma-projects/.

Advanced #3 - "Violence in Social Media"

As children grow up, especially now in the age of technology they are exposed to a lot of information. While a lot of the media can help with their development and education, there is too much that is promoted on social media that can negatively affect a child and shape their mindset as they grow up. Social media and the internet is one of the first places that many children first encounter violence, just by tapping through videos on YouTube, or scrolling through an Instagram feed, violence is ingrained in most aspects of American life. Children who are exposed to violence through social media at a young age are very early desensitized and normalize violence making them less likely to interfere or stop violent acts as an adult.

In an article called “Does Social Media Induce Violence Among Youth”, by Shreesha Ghosh, she writes on the effect that exposure to social media has on children. The articles speaks on how social media is part of our everyday life and that it can’t be avoided. Yet, violence is embedded into our media and can have many effects on children, from violent behavior, increased feelings of hostility, and  antisocial behavior just as some of the few examples. In the article she quotes a paper by Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center at the University of Michigan that reads Meta-analyses of the unhealthy effects of media-violence have shown that youth who view media-violence on a regular basis are more likely to exhibit... acceptance of violent behavior…  and desensitization toward violent behavior,” The society that we live in depicts violence so frequently that children create a “desensitization toward violent behavior”, this means that they begin the process of normalizing violence at a very young age, which can impede many other aspects of their life as they grow up. One of the the aspects that it can affect is feeling sympathy for victims of violent crimes such as bullying and abuse. This means they are less likely to try and stop a violent act when they see one, they would be “accepting violent behavior” because it’s something that they see everyday.

This normalization of violence from young children then creates what is known as the “Bystander Effect”.  The bystander effect as explained by an article titled “Understanding the Bystander Effect”, writer Kendra Cherry writes “The term bystander effect refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress.” She then begin to explain why the effect is so common amongst people. The first reason is people feel a diffusion of responsibility when there are many other people around and a violent crime is taking place because everyone expects someone else to make the call. The second reason Cherry explains, “The second reason is the need to behave in correct and socially acceptable ways. When other observers fail to react, individuals often take this as a signal that a response is not needed or not appropriate.” which leads back to the normalization of violence. When there is a large group of people and they all are witness to a violent act they do not react because they are waiting for someone else to tell them “this is wrong”. The problem is that no one can make the call because they see this act as unalarming; they feel like they have seen it too many times on social media to care. If a fight were to break out in front of a group of people more likely than not most people would just walk by; they would go about their day because no one else is taking action. No one is taking action because they see fights on social media and believe that it is a normal occurrence in their day. The bystander effect works hand in hand with the desensitization of violence that is developed as a child.

In a TED talk Philip Zimbardo tries to explain how people are able to commit these horrible acts and why people do not report or try to say anything about the situation. He says that when we are children we are not raised to interfere with things that seem unjust if they have nothing to do with us. He tells the audience “Most people are guilty of the evil of inaction, because your mother said, "Don't get involved. Mind your own business." from a young age children are told “mind your own business”, that is feeding into the role of being a bystander, now when children see violence on the media then are told that they should mind their own business, it makes sense to why no one seems to stand up and why most violent acts go unreported. The mix of being desensitized and then being told that it’s not your problem or issue, is the reason that so many adults now have a hard time knowing what needs to be done during acts of violence. Our society and media have made people grow up on the idea that not saying anything is better than intervening and that violence is a normal act. To combat this idea Zimbardo continued to say “Heroism as the antidote to evil, by promoting the heroic imagination, especially in our kids, in our educational system. We want kids to think, "I'm a hero in waiting, waiting for the right situation to come along, and I will act heroically,”. The same way that children are taught not to interfere and not to do anything, they need to be taught that they are capable of stopping any act of violence that they see, that they need to report and they need to help.

The only way to teach a child that violence is not normal is by teaching them the same way they first learned it; by putting more positive videos and censoring part of the violence then children will grow up knowing what is not okay. This will then translate to the way that the act as adults. If they are raised to learn how not to be a bystander then there will be less cases where violence goes unreported.


Advanced Essay #3: Waging Wars

In this essay, I explored the mistreatment of black communities through the use of violence against black communities and the use of violence black communities use to retaliate. 

The enslavement of African-Americans ended in 1865 with the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, but the violence brought on that group persists to this day. With the knowledge that the only reason that so many African Americans are in America today is that their ancestors were sold as objects still brings tension between citizens today. The freedom of enslaved people didn’t mean immediate equal treatment. The era of reconstruction and Jim Crow followed and began with hate groups such as the KKK emerged, spreading the belief of white supremacy. There are people still alive today who have been affected by the civil rights era; the segregation of white and black people has left scars in this country. The internalized frustration of being dehumanized and treated as less than for so long still exists in the minds of individuals. These frustrations in the past have led to extremist groups. The way the government has mistreated black people has led to a country in which the violence and an internal war within the US.

In 1972, a Philadelphia-based black liberation group called MOVE was formed by John Africa. He and his followers all took on the surname Africa; the deeply religious black nationalist group was involved in many violent occurrences in the city of Philadelphia. Their name derived from a quote from the founder, “Everything that’s alive moves. If it didn’t it would be stagnant, dead.” This belief has brought the group to remain active even today. The war between the Philadelphia police and MOVE began during a shoot out in [] leaving [] officers dead and left nine of the members convicted of murder. These members were sentenced to 100 years in prison and denied parole in 2008. The group relocated to a house in West Philadelphia where the end of the war would occur. In 1985, Wilson Goode, the first black mayor of Philadelphia would order for “military grade” weapons to be brought upon the MOVE house. The house was hit with two bombs resulting in 11 deaths of members of MOVE including 5 children. Before the bombing, the police were initially trying to arrest the MOVE members, reportedly saying over a loudspeaker, “Attention MOVE: This is America.” The layers of this statement begin brought to mind the 2017 released song This is America, a song whose imagery brings to attention the injustice that has taken place in black communities

The bombing gave Philadelphia a new name: “The City that Bombed Itself.” The escalation perfectly captures the war between the black citizens of America and the government. The group was formed out of frustration of inequality. Through years of mistreatment the black communities will eventually manifest itself with retaliation. When fighting back, MOVE was drastic and refused to play by anyone's rules but their own, and with that brought the coming of the escalation. The bombing burned down homes across the the predominantly black neighborhood, showing that the government of Philadelphia was more concerned about eliminating the denial of their power than black citizen’s lives and wellbeing. They were more concerned with the power they possessed and the threat that MOVE was to that, then the displacement of hundreds of families and the lives of five children.

In the past and even in recent years, the lack of care for black lives the justice system and government of the US has shown has been jarring. This created unrest and violent riots. In 1992, when three Los Angeles cops were acquitted after the assault of Rodney King, infamous riots erupted throughout LA. Another instance of this occurred in 2014, with the death of Michael Brown, which led to unrest in ferguson. Both cases had video evidence of the violence brought upon the people, however the deaths and assaults were seen through a lens of necessary force. The lack of justice brought to the loss of black lives is a direct contradiction with ethics upheld  in US society. When people die, someone is held responsible, and the lack of action to convict shows that black people are viewed as unworthy of justice. The notion that innocent until proven guilty doesn’t seem to apply when a black life is lost.

The internal war of America has been waged on black citizens that haven’t been equally been treated or considered. The way in which black life is viewed is disposable. Until the government and justice system truly sees the average black citizen as equal to every other person, the war will persist. Essentially causing frustration and acts of violence across the US. The government is meant to advocate for all, but have fallen flat when it comes to black communities.

Work Cited

https://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/524744989/when-la-erupted-in-anger-a-look-back-at-the-rodney-king-riots

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/move-philadelphia-bombing-4175986