JFK

The brutal assassination of John F. Kennedy was a huge changer for the American people. It shocked the nation and it shook the faith of many Americans in their institutions and way of life. My answer for part one is that I do believe that innocence was lost after John F. Kennedy was killed because after it happened people were questioning many different things including why someone would do such a thing as killing the president of the United States. In the article we had to read it mentioned though Lee Harvey Oswald, a lone communist, shot John F. Kennedy, many Americans nevertheless blamed themselves for the death of the president. There was a sense that Americans had been tolerant of violence and bigotry in their midst. This had a big psychological and sociological effect on the people, causing them to over think things and to start questioning America and the people in the United State. I also it made people all around the world judge America and the American people in it. What is happening to our country was a very common question for many Americans. Many people also believe that the assassination of John F. Kennedy was the start of a big conspiracy and that our government was corrupt with agents in the police force, the F.B.I. and that even major leaders in our country were a part of. It also even tell today makes people wonder what else has our government done that was wrong and got away with it? What else have they done corrupt or wrong? Who else have they eliminated, or killed, to keep things quiet or to keep things the way they want it. I believe that John F. Kennedy’s assassination was not the only wrong thing that was done in order for the people behind this conspiracy to get what, or where they wanted.

On September 11, 2001 an event happened that will be remembered forever by people all around the world. It is the day that Al-Qaeda terrorists took over some planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, also known as the Twin Towers, killing so many people that were in the two buildings and some that were around there when it happened. I do believe that people were devastated when it happened I don’t believe that people felt the same way about this tragedy in history as they did about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. For both events the people of America wanted someone to pay for the even that had occurred. But the reason for me saying that the American people weren’t affected the same way was because it was an American that killed President John F. Kennedy and it was terrorists that crashed into the World Trade Center. I believe that the American people were affected more by the assassination because it was done by an American. Not saying that it was more devastating than the crashing of the Twin Towers because that affected people and families all around the country because of how many people, family members, were lost in that attack.

              I don’t know who the person was that pulled the trigger on the fatal head shot that killed President John F. Kennedy but after watching the movie on his assassination and reading articles I don’t believe he acted alone. I believe that the whole thing was a conspiracy and that there was more than one shooter at the time of the president’s death.  From watching the movie and listening to some of the evidence, there is absolutely no way that one shooter could have pulled it off. Plus there were more than a dozen witnesses saying that there were shots coming from a different direction than what the police and government were telling them. Then if you look at the tape you can see that he wasn’t shot in the head from behind, he was shot from the front which means that the bullet couldn’t have been fired from where the government and police told the people it came from. It had to have been from a different place which also proves that it was a conspiracy.  I believe that John F. Kennedy was shot because of his beliefs and what he was trying to do in office for America. He wanted peace for everyone but I’m guessing that other people didn’t agree and they wanted a war so they eliminated him and put someone in his place that wanted the war. I also believe that is why they shot John’s brother RFK, because they wanted similar things and didn’t want the war. The people behind the killings just kept on killing the people in their way and all the threats until they got what they wanted at that time. People today are still searching for clues and answers to this assassination and the conspiracy.

Flat Tax or Flat Tire

           As of now the United States uses a progressive income tax meaning that the higher incomes get taxed at higher percentages than lower incomes. It has always been this way but throughout time it seems to be becoming less and less popular to the American citizens. According to a debate on the subject, the American citizens are siding more with a flat tax with a 66 percent lead leaving the progressive tax with 34 percent. A flat tax is a tax where everyone is equal. It would make all people pay the same percentage taxes no matter if you make 100,000 dollars or 1,000 dollars. The people that want this think that it’s only fair to have the same percentages across the board, otherwise the wealthy pay less and less percent the more they make.

I think that we should stick with the progressive tax because the people who make that much money work hard to get it. Not saying that the people who make less money don’t work hard it’s just the way things are. There has to be someone to work all jobs even if there is a downside to them. I also believe that we should stick with the progressive tax because it’s the way it has been and for the most part I think it is doing ok. It makes the tax percentage different for people depending on their income. This allows the people who don’t make a lot of money not have to pay the same as those who make a lot of money. I personally would go with progressive tax considering the fact that it allows the people that don’t make as much money not to have to pay a lot of tax, but I also see why a wealthy person with a lot of money would want a flat tax so that they are treated the same as others when it comes to what percentage of their money they have to just give away.

Straight Outta Compton

“Our art it a reflection of our reality.” This was said by Ice Cube’s character O’Shea Jackson, his son, in the movie Straight Outta Compton referring to the music they were producing at the time. Back then and even today some musicians “artists” are afraid to say what they really think. They are too worried about selling their music and pleasing the people in order to keep them popular and liked. But this was not the case for the N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). They weren’t worried about what people thought of them or what they thought about their music. They were just making raps and rhymes about their day to day lives to make people aware of what was going on and to be a voice to those who couldn’t or wouldn’t stand up and speak what they really felt. In other words, they are writing their music based on their reality. The dictionary definition of reality is the state or quality of being real. Writing about what they see every day in Compton, California. What they saw what they did including; the women, the alcohol, the drugs, and even how they were treated. Treated both by other people in the area and by the police. The police would do things to them for no reason just because they could. Police were abusing their power and authority to do what they wanted to who they wanted even if it was not right. Their songs hit like wild fire becoming famous in no time. Soon a group of rappers, artists, that just wanted to make a name for themselves and put Compton, California on the map were way bigger than they ever have imagined.

N.W.A., Niggaz Wit Attitude, started in 1986 and went to 1991 then it started back up from 1998 to 2002. The original group consisted of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube. DJ Yella and MC Ren joined later on. The group’s album Straight Outta Compton marked the beginning of the new gangsta rap era. Then not long after their second album, Niggaz4Life, was the first hardcore rap album to debut at number one on the billboard 200 sales charts. Some other songs they also recorded were “One Less B*_ _ _”, “100 Miles and Runnin”, “8 Ball”, “A B*_ _ _ lz a B*_ _ _”, “F _ _ _ tha Police”, “Findum, F _ _ _um and Flee”, etc. The Rolling Stones also ranked the N.W.A. number 83 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time charts. Later in time the N.W.A. was also nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time in 2012 and a second time in 2013 but finally got it on their third try in 2016.

 During this time the N.W.A. rap group endured controversy owing to their music’s explicit lyrics that many people viewed as disrespectful, glorification of drugs and crime. The group’s music also brought more unneeded problems with the police all around the nation. The police thought that the music displayed bad behavior, violence, drugs, crime, and most of all they didn’t like how the N.W.A. group was bashing the police by their music. This led to cops reacting to the music and to the people going against the police. I don’t agree with all the force that the police used on people including the Rodney King beating. It was beatings like this that started many of the riots including the Los Angeles riot of 1992. Things got so out of control and some of the riots got so bad that the police were ordered to leave the area for their own safety. There was so much vandalism by the people setting fire to buildings, vehicles, and other things. People were also beating each other up and many people were either injured or killed.

Though some people think that the music was bad and promoted violence, drugs, alcohol, sex, and other bad things, people cannot deny the impact that the N.W.A. group had on hip hop music. They left a lasting legacy on music, especially hip hop music, which has lasted even to today. As musicians they did what many other musicians where scared to do. They spoke the truth and spoke out how they felt. They were the voice for many and didn’t care what other people said or thought about them or what they were writing. There are a lot of musical artists out there both past and present that don’t say what they really think or feel because of what they think others will think of them. They want to please the people with their music so they can have as many fans as possible because the more fans they have the more popular they will be. And the more popular they are, the more money they will make. And for some artists it’s all about the money and making as much as they can.

Is culture or reality or is reality or culture? I believe that our culture is our reality. Our culture is what is real about us. It is where we come from, who we are, and what we believe. Relating this question to the movie Straight Outta Compton they were African American rappers that lived in Compton, California where bad things happen. Being from there and being African American is part of their culture and that made there reality bad for them. They didn’t have anything anywhere else so therefore they stayed and had to adapt in order to survive. But then turning this back on someone else, a white person grows up in a safe and friendly neighborhood and went to a good school. Because of that their future looks bright and promising. This is their reality. But even though I believe that culture is our reality, I also think that people can change their reality through hard work, dedication, and they have to be driven to do so. It definitely wouldn’t be easy to do so but it has been done.

Extra Credit Qu.3 SDSBVI

              The South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, SDSBVI, has been around for over 100 years. It was first opened on March 1, 1900 in Gary, South Dakota. The campus consisted of the administration office, girls’ dormitory, boys’ dormitory, auditorium, several barns, and a large chicken house. The school also kept a large dairy herd, raised hogs, chickens, and planted large gardens. They used the resources they got from the animals and from the gardens on campus along with selling things like milk, meat, eggs, and vegetables to the community.

                In 1957 there was talk about relocating the school because the town of Gray had a lack of opportunity for city travel experiences and the proximity to a college. So after about a year of searching for a new and better place to put the school, the State Legislature passed a bill authorizing that the school would be relocated to Aberdeen. The State Legislature gave $800,000 to the purpose of building the new school of the blind on the land that was donated to them by the citizens of Aberdeen. The first class in the new Aberdeen building was on September 18, 1961. After seven years of the school being open, they built an activities building. Inside this building was a gymnasium auditorium which gave them space for their students to have physical education, recreation, music, drama, and other fun activities.

                Throughout the years the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired have been continuing to grow and change. They have been advancing in their teaching methods and have been able to expand the limits on who the can teach. For example in 1979 the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired was able to start serving the deaf blind. They were also able to start doing this because of the funding from the state.

                The students that go here do not go to public school and many of them live on campus there at the school in Aberdeen. There are many things that the kids are able to do while attending the school for the blind. There are different school councils and groups that they can be a part of. There are also many different activities they are able to do including music, forensics, goalball, bowling, SPURS (Special People Using Riding Skills), swimming, track and field, Special Olympics, and other residential outings and activities. I think they’re doing a good job teaching the students there how to live as close to a normal life as they can there by letting them do things that everyone else gets to. I feel like their motto really fits to what they are trying to do there to help those kids, Visions of a Brighter Tomorrow through Education.


http://sdsbvi.northern.edu/alumni-history.htm

Big White Ghettos

What does the average coal miner make (wages per hour)?

• $25 per hour

 

Who are some types of people a person might find in the big, “White Ghetto.”

• Drug dealers, drunks, jobless people

 

Why do you think the author calls it the “Big White Ghetto.”

• Because the majority of the people that live there are white and it’s a rundown filthy place

 

What does the author suggests “keeps the underclass in place?”

• Welfare program keep some people from trying

 

The author suggests that “poverty is the natural condition of the human animal.”

 

How does Pepsi play into this?

• They sometimes use Pepsi and other items as payment (currency)

 

List five things/facts you took away from this article.

• Pepsi is used as currency
• There are white ghettos
• People use their kids to get money from the government
• If you live in these kinds of areas you have a risk of dying sooner
• The coal mining industry is moving

President Candidate Muckraker

                In this article it talks about how the some people think that the United States will see the creation of a white ethno-state within the next couple decades. According to William Daniel Johnson, a Los Angeles-based lawyer, he thinks Donald Trump’s candidacy is helping us move in that direction. William Johnson also said that “whether Donald Trump is elected or not, his candidacy is a big factor in helping destroy this middle-of –the-road Republican mindset.”

                Johnson is also the chairman of the American Freedom Party which is a white nationalist political party. He also founded the PAC which he used to encourage people, voters, to turn out for Donald Trump. Trump later went on with his campaigning and shared his ideas about how he wants to deport all the eleven million illegal immigrants in the United States. Though Johnson helped Trump in different ways, he never communicated with him or any member of his campaign. The article goes on saying how “Donald Trump’s campaign may help remind Americans that all genocide, even against white people is evil.” Over all this article talks more about William Daniel Johnson but it refers back to Trump and his ideas and beliefs as he runs for president.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/william-johnson-jared-taylor-trump

NRA / Gun Control / White Privilege

What is white privilege:  Myth or Reality.   Can you connect it to the essay topic?
Who are mass shooters likely to be.  Why?  How does it connect to the essay topic?
What do powerful groups like the NRA do?  What are their political influences?  What is the future? How do all of the above influence gun control laws?  How about the future of politics?  Of us as white people?  Of us when we become the minority.

            What is white privilege? White privilege is a term for societal privileges that benefit people identified as white in western countries. It is also something that white people do not create or enjoy on purpose, most of the time they don’t even notice it. It can just happen at any time in everyday life.  There are many ways in which white privileges are portrayed, and today in time most of them can go by unseen and unnoticed by many different people. White privilege provides white people with benefits that we do not earn or necessary deserve. Colored people do not enjoy that because it is unfair to them. It also creates real advantages for white people because we are immune to a lot of challenges that colored people are not immune to. This privilege also shapes the society and the world we live in by the way we, as people, interact and deal with one another. White privilege is definitely a reality not a myth.  It’s a reality that happens even when we don’t mean for it to. It has become a form of everyday life for some white and colored individuals. But white privileges could all change someday. One day white people may become the minorities of the United States and the whole white privilege thing will change and possibly even flip right before people’s eyes. That would change the lives of everyone, especially the lives of colored individuals and the rest of the minorities.

            Today, in the United States, we hear a lot on the news about school shootings and other terrible mass murders all around the nation. There have been quite a few school shooting in the past here in the United States and the rate has been going up. One thing most people notice when they hear about a school shooting is that the shooters are commonly white American males with personal problems and obviously some mental problems. 97 percent of school shootings have been actions of males in the United States, and out of that 97 percent, 79 percent of those males being white Americans that are usually middle class and not too old. In one of the articles it says that “these shootings are a direct reflection of white male privilege and the consequences that occur when groups like the NRA control influential conservative leaders.” The articles also point out that when colored males commit a murder it is usually because they think that the person they were after had wronged them in some way and so they go after only them. These males also don’t commit suicide after committing these crimes either. But when white males do it they have a whole different mindset. They think if I am going to die, then so is everyone else. This is what causes the mass murder suicides like school shootings. They go and kill or injure as many people as they can before killing themselves. School shootings are one of the biggest reasons why some people think we need stricter gun control laws here in the United States. American citizens want automatic weapons of the streets and out of dangerous people’s hands. This is causing a big “uproar” between some of the people and the government. One argument that the people have is that even though you make those guns illegal, doesn’t mean that they murderers and other bad people aren’t going to get their hands on them. It is just like drugs. Drugs are illegal yet almost anyone can get their hands on some if they wanted to. I personally hope that they don’t make new gun laws because according to the constitution we have the right to own them. 

            The NRA, or National Rifle Association, is an American social welfare organization that supports gun rights. They NRA organization started in 1871 and has been going strong ever since. However, within the past few decades the National Rifle Association had been seeing a down fall in there organization. This is because of the people, including the government and the minorities that want more gun control with stricter laws. Though the National Rifle Association has lasted for a long time, it has been said that the NRA organization may not last for much longer. The reason for this is because according to polls, whites tend to favor gun rights over gun control by a certain amount. But whites, who are 63 percent of the population, think differently from other races. African Americans say that gun control is more important than gun rights by 72 percent. With the increase of African American population, gun control is getting more and more supporters. Whites won’t be in the majority for long and when we, whites, become the minorities things will change. So in the future of the United States, there will most likely be stricter gun control because of the minority change that is expected to happen.

I am sure that if whites become the minorities in the United States that there is going to be a lot more change than just gun control and possibly the end of the NRA organization. I could even see white privilege going down and fading away. Becoming the minorities could change the everyday life style by the way we think and interact with each other. I know my life would change if the government took my guns away because of all the fun times I am able to have with others being able to hunt and shoot. Gun control could become way more strict because of not only the school shootings but because of the minority growth and them wanting gun control over gun rights along with the federal government.