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Ayesha Abdul-Fattaah’s Topic Reflection: Homelessness

Posted by Ayesha Abdul-Fattaah on

One social issue that interests me is homelessness. This issue interests me because I have seen homeless people all around the world, from California to China, Philadelphia to the Philippines, New Jersey to Nicaragua, and so on. I feel like we, as a society, have grown so comfortable with this issue, it has become an acceptable injustice. Growing up in New York City, I have been exposed to homeless people for as long as I can remember. My attitude towards homeless people has changed throughout the course of my life. When I was younger, I was more influenced by those who raised me, like my mother, grandma, and father. My grandma told me to not give money to homeless people who beg because they will just spend it on drugs. My mom never said this, but I also never really saw her give money to those who begged. My father was the only adult I saw who would interact with and help homeless people. I later became aware that my father, and even my mother, was homeless at some points in his life, and have realized that some friends of mine have been homeless before too. The issue of homelessness had felt so far away when I was a kid, as if only a stranger, someone with no connection to me, could be homeless. As I started middle school and began to travel by myself, I was always inclined to give to those who beg. Even if I myself needed the money or the food or the water or the sanitary napkins, I still was aware that their need was more dire. Today, I am still like this. By writing and researching about this topic, I hope to learn about the reasons people become homeless, the demographics of those who are homeless here in the United States, how does the government play a role in keeping homelessness alive and well and vice versa, what can be done to help homeless people in my communities, the history of homelessness in America, how racism, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy have an effect on homelessness, and other attitudes people have towards this issue that I may not know about.

Essay #1 Topic Reflection: Abortion

Posted by Alice Liu on

Abortion is currently one of the most controversial topics in the United States. People are divided between pro-choice and pro-life, with no in-between. Between the two groups, there is the debate as to whether or not abortion should be legal or illegal, considering how there is the argument of whether or not the fetus is considered a living being, and whether or not it is morally and religiously right, and if a woman has the right to choose exceeds the rights of the fetus. People who are pro-life believe that the fetus killed in question, is a living being, therefore they have the right to live and when one decides to abort, they are essentially murdering another living person. People who are pro-choice believe that they have the right to decide how to live their life and some of them believe that the fetus is not a living person.

This social issue is a topic of interest for me because it is a dilemma where everybody–regardless of gender, race, and religion, can participate in for a discussion and choose their stance on this topic. Furthermore, and it does make me question myself on what side I choose and if there is a possibility of a middle ground between the two sides, and if that middle ground would be if someone was raped or if the fetus is a product of incest. How would that affect people’s opinions about abortion? I hope to learn more about both sides and I hope to see if science would be the one to end this argument. The major argument for the pro-life side is that a fetus is a living person. But, what is considered a living person? Based on science, a living person is one who not only breathes and is conscious and aware of their surrounding but also has the ability to think. Is a fetus able to do that? There is still no answer to this, but when one looks at the sonogram of a fetus at around the age where abortion can be conducted, the fetus looks a lot like an infant. Only time and research will tell whether abortion is right or not and whether it should be legal or not.

Topic Reflection- Essay #1

Posted by Fahmida Akter on

A social issue that interests me is the discrimination against religion. It is not an issue that everyone talks about, but it definitely is one of the major issues throughout our country and many others. People makes jokes about Muslims in the US almost every day. Most of them throughs their disrespectful comments about someone’s belief at them with something like “It is just a joke”. Even though freedom of religion is part of our 1st amendment a large amount of people faces discrimination in a daily basis. By making little comments, people create even larger issue then they intent to. There have been many situations where people were rejected from jobs, places, groups because of an item of clothing that is a part of their faith. Personally, I was asked to not wear hijab at my workplace because it is against the company’s rules. I demanded to keep it, because of the shortage of workers they were imposed to keep me. However, I find it really disrespectful to have to demand a right that is given to me by our amendment. Today’s date is a tragedy for the American history, which killed thousands of people, it also left many more under the title of “Terrorist”. I have been asked if I am hiding a bomb under my hijab many times with the phrase “it Is just a joke”. However, America is not the only country that is not taking any step against actions like these. Cristian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu and many more are facing this problem all around the world. There is a genocide happening in China where the government put over millions of Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and many more ethnic Turkic Muslims in Concentration camps. It is destroying lives and families. This camp was created months ago to torture Muslims to neglect their religion. People of different religions are facing issues regarding their belief and people with the most power are not doing anything to change it. We live in a modern world where we have many people who has influenced others’ lives in many ways. I want to know if those influential people are taking any action. I also want to know what we can do so people can stop discriminating each other based on their religion.

 

Topic reflection

Posted by Justine M. Tourdot (She/her) on

A social issue that interests me is abortion. The government should never be able to dictate what you can or cannot do with your personal life, especially when it doesn’t affect other people. I’m pro-choice. This issue interests me because I’ve leaned pro-life. This is because all I was told was that a baby was being killed. I feel religion plays a large part in this argument which is ridiculous because of the separation of church and state. I understand that pro-choice allows for a decision to be made. I feel that my knowledge from both sides helps me in making a more informed decision. I believe that there is a spectrum people fall on for this issue. Some people want abortion with certain restrictions while others want it to be illegal with certain exceptions. There is a bit of an overlap in these sides. On the other hand, there are people on the extreme ends. There are pro-lifers who have harassed people going into clinics. I’ve never understood this hate.

 I have learned that when abortion is illegal and is still performed it doesn’t end very well. Sometimes there is little to no access to the proper equipment to keep the woman safe. Abortion; the word has baggage within itself. It’s stigmatized. I want to know more about the specific laws and regulations regarding abortion. I want to understand the history of abortion because I haven’t tackled it before from that angle. Usually, I argue about moral issues. I also want to learn more substantive arguments from the pro-choice side. 

Essay #1 Topic Reflection

Posted by Chao Hong on

A social topic that interests me is racism. A couple of months ago began a huge protest regarding racism against African Americans called Black Lives Matter. The reason why this topic interests me is because of how racism is universal, it is something everyone can experience, which is not only limited to Caucasians and African Americans but every single race on the planet. Besides, racism isn’t a new concept, despite the recent outburst of racism in these past few months, racism has been a problem not only in the United States but in other countries for a long period of time. Also, racism is the cause of many issues that are occurring in modern history, such as, racial profiling, ethnic cleansings, and slavery. As a minority in America, I have gone through my own shares of racism from people of other races and not only Caucasians, I wish to understand what causes these negative perceptions each race has on other races. I want to learn what causes racism, I myself find it ridiculous to hold prejudice against a particular race based on their physical traits. Also, I want to understand if there’s a correlation between the population of certain races and the direction racism is projected towards. For example, in a country heavily populated by a specific race would the minorities of that country face racism from the more populated race? Finally, I also want to know is how humans can stop discriminating against each other solely based on racial differences, and how as the human race as a whole can move forward from this continuing problem.

“Source-Based Essay” Topic Reflection: Racial Disproportion in Schools

Posted by Hudibel Ovalles on

Even though Brown Vs. Board of Education took place 66 years ago; schools in the United States are more segregated than never. Growing up in my country, I never understood what segregation was until I came here and lived with my own eyes. I formerly graduated from a school with a diversity index of 0, all the students with the same Latin American background: Hispanic students, no whites, no blacks, no Asians, just Hispanics. After researching more, I realize that my school was not the only of this kind. Half of the city public schools are segregated, being them over 90% black and Hispanic schools. It is interesting how people usually don’t talk about this social problem or juts ignore it. When the truth is that public schools are more segregated now than 60 years ago, today. Many black children still attend schools that are racial and economically isolated—represented as 39% are black children from low-income families background, compared to the 12% represented by white children. The fact that families, no matter the background or ethnicity, always look up for the best education for their children to, later on, realize the better schools are predominant by whites or Asians expose a lot of problems in the school system of the country. According to the New York Times, New York City’s public schools were not the most segregated: Public schools in Chicago and Texas are the most segregated in the country, with 75% of their schools segregated. And while people are focused on other social issues or are just ignoring the fact that segregation in schools still exists. The truth is that we are getting far and farther from getting the victory of Brown Vs. Board of education. 

Essay #1 Topic Reflection: Ethnic and Racial Profiling and Violence

Posted by Emily Sanchez on

Ethnic and racial profiling is when someone, like the law enforcement, take action simply based on appearance. Without a trace of evidence, or even any type of investigation, people have lost their lives because someone decided they were doing something wrong or out of the ordinary. Individuals are told to never act a certain way, or to never make a mistake because once they do, it’s a higher chance that they just put their lives at risk. What gives someone the right to point fingers based upon their race, ethnicity, or their demeanor? When did it become justified for someone to shoot before gathering all the facts?There have been minors who don’t even have access to a weapon, but because they look suspicious, someone decides it’s okay to take action. This affects minorities and immigrants, this affects Muslims, Arabs, Latinos, Asian-Americans, etc., this affects different races. Even if you’ve never experienced ethnic or racial profiling, there are people out there who have, there are people who have lost friends, there are people who have been ripped from their families. Some of us have family who we fear we’ll lose because of the dangers that come with ethnic or racial profiling. I want to learn the history behind ethnic and racial profiling, I want to learn what is being done about the matter, I want to read the experiences people have gone through, I want to be informed about the organizations and groups that exist to put an end to these situations, I want to be further educated on the matter.

Essay #1 Topic Reflection- Alexa Morales

Posted by Alexa Morales on

I want to stick with my topic on immigration. However, I want to research the common misconceptions around this topic. Probably investigate some stories where the family succeeds with their status in the United States. As I did my last assignment on immigration, I want to stick to what I know. This interests me because I’ve seen my loved ones deal with these issues (but they end up overcoming them). For example, my family has never experienced any issues with the government with their immigration status. Yes, they were born in the Dominican Republic but after all the paperwork they’ve been doing well. My grandfather took more of most of the paperwork and made sure his children can come to this country to gain more opportunities for their future. This is where the misconceptions come in. Some people might think that most migration to the USA is illegal. But this is not true because in 2013, 19.4 million residents in America were naturalized citizens, a process that takes five years. They’re also many families who come to America for more than the benefits. It’s obvious that America may offer them more options than their home country, but it becomes much harder to get these healthcare or education benefits when the government is aware of your status. Therefore, I want to know more about the families that the media does not report on. I want to focus on the families that get far in their life once they come to America. Those families that can prove everyone else wrong. 

ESSAY #1 TOPIC REFLECTION

Posted by Richard on

A social issue that interests me is the issue of how the Covid-19 is allowing anti-Asian racism to grow. The issue of discrimination against Asians is getting more and more fierce starting from just words to the potential of actually killing a person. This issue interests me a lot because it shows a lot more of what human nature and the intellect of a lot of people out there are like. Even politicians are making and convincing people that Asian people are bad for their areas. Many of these acts and voices can be seen on the internet, through social media, and many more other sources for everyone else to see which can only increase the number of racist attacks on Asians. The attacks can range from beatings, threats, racist abuse, discrimination, and much more. I can only assume people think Asians everywhere had planned this or carries the virus the second it came out. People are using the pandemic as an excuse to discriminate against people and it’s only going to spread. The government has to make people realize that this isn’t right, they have to change the way people think otherwise it will get worse and worse. The government has not taken enough action to stop this type of hate but instead fueled it with encouragement through their speech or social media posts. I personally want to know whether or not those government officials that support anti-Asian are going to continue because as long as such people are in some sort of power they will influence other people. I also want to know if the government is going to take some sort of action to stop this discrimination because if it continues this issue will get big enough to the point where violent protests similar to black lives matter will appear. People’s lives could get lost from this in fact people’s lives are already being lost from this so when will it stop.

Essay #1 (Topic Reflection): Ethnic Discrimination

Posted by Edward Quezada on

Many social issues have appeared throughout history and into present times. As society becomes informed, many strive to find solutions in order to improve the wellbeing of victims facing these issues. Racism, being one of many dilemmas, has developed into a widespread conflict that millions of Americans face every year. By definition, racism is considered to be a belief that race determines someone’s traits and capacities and these racial differences lead to the belief of superiority of a particular race. People of different backgrounds experience this discrimination all around the United States. This has become an important social issue that many speak out about through literary works, especially in the most recent years. Americans who identify as Hispanics or Latinos have fallen victims to this issue as have many other Americans from different backgrounds in the United States. Hispanics or Latinos make up about twenty percent of the total population in the United States today. This percentage translates to around 60 million people, making Hispanics the largest minority group in the nation. This type of discrimination has affected the lives of many as they face obstacles caused by others. These obstacles can range from discrimination in a job environment to being discriminated while walking around. This subject has gradually turned into one of my many interests as I become more aware of the different social issues found in today’s world. A rather more specific reason as to why I believe this is an important matter is due to the many ways that I have seen people share their experiences with society, whether it be through the internet or sharing these unfortunate moments with friends and families. This social dilemma has been around for some time and I would like to further analyze the reasons and intentions behind the inappropriate behavior that Americans face around the country. I would also like to read more about how this behavior has developed over time and its effects on the daily lives of the victims. Being able to read and analyze how people have chosen to bring light to this social issue is also essential to gaining a better understanding in this matter.

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