White Like Me

Today in class, we watched Tim Wise's video titled "White Like Me" and I felt that it made some very interesting points. My favorite point that Wise made was when he spoke about how when Barack Obama was elected, people around the nation made claims that racism was now behind America because of this one event. This was clearly a very stupid thing to assert considering people still made atrocious comments about our president's background. Another topic that Mr. Wise made was how as white person, you never really think about what exactly that means. This video has made me reflect on what exactly it means to me. Looking at it, I really don't think being white should mean anything in particular to a person just as being black shouldn't mean anything in particular to  someone. This however, has clearly not been the case for our country as was illustrated when the video played a clip from "Black Like Me." It is truly appalling to see how a man, who was white, was judged so harshly because he portrayed himself as being black. people were flat out cruel to him, not because of who he was as a person, but because of his portrayed skin color. I certainly hope that in our near future this kind of racism really will be gone forever.

Sunday Night Football

This Sunday, November 30, the St. Louis Rams beat the Oakland Raiders with a score of 52-0. This may sound like any old game, but the Rams actually did way more than just play a good game. Five of the players, including Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook, Stedman Bailey, and Chris Givens, walked onto the field and did the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture that has been a popular choice for protest about the current Ferguson situation.

Rams doing "hands up, don't shoot" gesture before Sunday night game

This may seem like a small gesture to make, but it has caused quite the shake up. St. Louis police officers are demanding an apology as they feel it was disappointing and uncalled for. Although it may have been unnecessary for these players to do this, I think it is absolutely protected by the First Amendment. They don't owe anyone an apology for exercising they're own rights.

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Clearly Not Protected

The Supreme Court will be taking on a First Amendment case this Monday, December 1st. The case concerns Anthony Elonis, a man who posted very violent, graphic rap lyrics on Facebook in which he  reportedly spoke of, "killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent." Elonis was convicted of violating a federal crime that makes it illegal to threaten others. He claims it was all a joke but because his words would make any reasonable person feel threatened it is still considered illegal.

Elonis continued to mock the court after being convicted.
He posted on his Facebook page, "Did you know that it's illegal for
me to say I want to kill my wife?"

I think this is a very far-fetched case that does not really have a place in the Supreme Court in this day and age. It is clear that his words are not protected by the First Amendment because he threatened several people. I certainly hope that this man is put in his place for his disturbing actions.

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Homeless=Crime?

I recently came across an article in the Huffington Post titled "Colorado Communities Are Making It a Crime to Be Homeless." The author, Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, explained that communities across the nation have recently passed a wave of statutes that ban people from sleeping in a car, sitting or lying down in public areas, using a blanket or other shelter in a public area, or peacefully asking for donations. These restrictions are borderline cruel and do absolutely nothing to solve the problem at hand. They simply forces the issues onto a neighboring community which then does the same, causing a chain reaction.

Many restrictions will make this a crime.

The article went on to explain that these laws are practically unconstitutional under the First Amendment, something I never would have thought. Looking at them in this new perspective, however, I would have to agree that they are. Just because these people are homeless does not mean that they do not have rights and we therefore cannot treat them like this. Rather than temporarily solving the problem in such a harsh way, we should work to end homelessness forever.

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Texting is Acceptable but Religious Conversation Isn't?

While home for the holiday, I was shocked to hear about a recent lawsuit in my home state, Colorado.  The case originated because the principal of Pine Creek High School, James Lucas, told a senior, Chase Windebank, that he could not pray or converse about religious matters during home room time.  This time, however, can be used to text, eat, or talk about any other nonreligious topic.

Chase Windebank, Senior at Pine Creek High School

Although I would not consider myself a religious person whatsoever, I am slightly shocked and disappointed to hear this. The First Amendment clearly states that schools must, "permit speech as long as it is not materially and substantially disruptive." Considering that students are allowed to do almost anything else during this time, I cannot fathom why the principle thought it was acceptable to end Windebank's religious group. I am very interested in how this case turns out.

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When Pigs Fly...

A recent event on a US Airways flight has proven that pigs really will never fly. A women boarded a plane traveling to Connecticut with a 70 pound pig on a leash that she proceeded to tie to her armrest. It was reportedly very smelly and wandering around. The lady was permitted to do this because of a 2012 guideline that the Department of Transportation passed allowing certain animals, including pigs, to fly if they were an "emotional support animal." Despite this, because the animal was disruptive, the women was asked to leave the plane. 

This comes off as a slightly discriminatory practice, considering that smelly or noisy dogs are frequently on flights. Not to mention that many people can be allergic to them. I think the Department of Transportation should re-see their current procedures for these kinds of things before they are accused of animal discrimination, as silly as that sounds.

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Brown v. The Board Recap

Last week in class, two teams battled the opposing sides of the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. This is a consolidation case, meaning it was actually five separate cases that were all argued in supreme court together. The cases were Brown itself, which was filed in Topeka, Kansas, Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Gebhart v. Belton, and Boiling v. Sharpe.  

The case mainly concerned the question: can schools be separate but equal? One side argued that this segregation is acceptable because the education the students are receiving is equal and not separating races would harm both the blacks and whites.The opposing side argued that the segregation creates inferiority, violates the 14th amendment, and does effect the students. The judge (Professor Smith) finally declared a tie.

Newspaper Headline from May 17, 1954

In the real case, however, the court determined that segregation was, in fact, unconstitutional. This overturned the infamous 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, clearly making it a very important case in America's history. It is truly incredible that this racism was still accepted only half of a century ago. 

For a great overview of the case, Click Here

Ebola Craze Going Too Far?

Ever since Ebola got to America back in the middle of September, people have been going crazy. However, this past week, it reached an all new high. A Texas school, Navarro College, denied Kamorudeen Abidogun (a Nigerian man who lives in Texas) admission because of Ebola. The rejection letter bluntly states, "Unfortunately, Navarro College is not accepting international students from countries with confirmed Ebola cases."

Rejection letter Abidogun received. Tweeted by Idris Bello.

I cannot even begin to understand why staff from this school would think this is acceptable. It is blatant discrimination. Firstly, there have been no new Ebola cases in Nigeria since September 8th. Meanwhile, America has had two new cases within the past week and the school is within an hour of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan died at the beginning of the month. The college is simply perpetuating racism based on Ebola.  

Furthermore, the school has only come out with one poorly written statement that did not correct the situation since the incident.

To Read The Statement, Click Here.  

Does Amendment 67 Go Too Far?

With elections coming up, there has been a lot of controversy over Amendment 67 in Colorado. The official ballot question will read: "Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution protecting pregnant women and unborn children by defining "person" and "child" in the Colorado criminal code and the Colorado wrongful death act to include unborn human beings?" The original initiative for this amendment began when a women who was eight months pregnant was hit by a drunk driver, ultimately killing her unborn child. Due to the fact that the term "person" does not include an unborn fetus, the person was not charged with murder.

When I heard this tragic story, of course I would immediately think to vote yes on this amendment. After doing some further research, however, I realize how much this amendment undermines women's rights. Firstly, it will make all abortion illegal in the state of Colorado, even in the case of incest and rape. It will also ban certain forms of birth control and restrict in vitro fertilization options.  Furthermore, and miscarriages or still births will be deemed suspicious and could be put under investigation.

In my opinion, all of these things go entirely against the privacy standard that was set in supreme court case Roe v. Wade. If this amendment gets passed, we are not moving forward in anyway whatsoever.

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First Amendment Support Rising

Last week, the results for the annual Students on the Future of the First Amendment survey conducted by the Knight Foundation were released and have they have caused quite a bit of surprise. Contrary to popular belief, the survey demonstrated that today's high schoolers actually show more support for the protections of the First Amendment than ever before. This year, more adults than students believe that the First Amendment goes too far, 90% of students believe that unpopular opinions deserve a vote, and more students than adults believe they should have a say in the classroom. Additionally, students believe that they should have privacy from government surveillance and businesses should not be allowed to track their activity.

As a teenager and student, I do not find any of these things to be shocking. I think it is great that young people are aware of the protections the First Amendment grants. I do, however, find the order that students ranked the protections by importance in a little surprising. The majority felt freedom of speech was most important at 65%, which I agree with.  The second one was freedom of religion with 25% of the votes. These are followed by freedom to petition the government, freedom of the press, and freedom to peaceably assemble with 5%, 3%, and 2% respectively. I am truly surprised by religion's reasonably high percentage in a day and age where religion is not a huge focus.

Overall, I found this report to be a very revelatory and interesting read.

Click Here To See The Full Report

State v Mann Recap

The focus of our class this week was a mock trial of the case State v Mann. The defendant in this case, John Mann, was charged with assault and battery after shooting a slave, Lydia, who he'd been renting. In the original trial, the jury ruled against him and fined him five dollars. This is shocking to me considering the jury was made up entirely of white, Southern men. Mann appealed the case, saying that a master assaulting their slave is not punishable because the slave is their property. Eventually, the case made it to the North Carolina supreme court where Mann won. This decision remains notorious in the legal field to this day.

I found it very interesting to listen to what arguments each side chose to use in this mock trial. They all would have made perfect sense to the jury when this case took place in 1829 but now they just sound ridiculous. You definitely can't look at these cases with a presentism attitude.

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13 Years Since 9/11

I recently read an article on a court case concerning the Establishment Clause that I find very interesting - American Atheists, Inc. v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This lawsuit began in 2011 as an attempt to keep a 17-foot steel cross recovered from the rubble following the terrorist attacks on September 1, 2011 from being publicly displayed at the Ground Zero museum. 

Metal cross found in the rubble at site of 9/11.
Picture found on the blaze.com.

The case was unanimously dismissed and for good reason. The court explained that, “the Establishment Clause is not properly construed to command that government accounts of history be devoid of religious references.” The groups then demanded that there should at least be equal religious representation and a plaque concerning atheists involved in the traumatic event should also be displayed at the museum. This request was denied because there is no atheist-related artifact and the First Amendment does not require one to be manufactured for "fairness."

Now I am by no means a very religious person, but I do not understand why this would cause so much controversy. The cross is simply an artifact included in the museum that conveyed a message of hope, not some push to convert everyone to Christianity that needs to be banned. 

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Attacks on Journalists

The recent outbreak of protests and looting in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager has attracted mass amounts of media attention. Police, however, are not overly fond of this attention and have therefore been ordering journalists away, barring them from entering the city, and even arresting them. This has caused many people, including myself, to question how well the First Amendment really protects journalists - and the rest of us -  in this day and age.

The free press clause guarantees that people can "publish any lawful material without fear of punishment by the government, even if the material is critical of the government." By forcefully removing and detaining journalists in order to prevent them from reporting controversial stories, officers are clearly not abiding by the First Amendment. The arrests that the police have done are downright illegal, disappointing, and make me very nervous for how well the First Amendment will be held up in the future.

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