Welcome Home Vets

On March, 31 2012 North Carolina held a welcome home ceremony for their Vietnam veterans. A few decades after the war the veterans are finally getting the welcome home ceremony they deserve. When they originally came home, they were greeted with protests and disgust. I find this to be horrible. These men went off to fight for our country; some of them even gave the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom. I do not understand how anybody can treat them the way they were treated. Sure, it was not a popular war with the people back home, but that is no excuse. They were chosen at random to pick up arms and ship overseas to fight for our freedom. Many of the soldiers did not agree with the war and felt the same way as the people back home. The way Americans acted was not fair to the men fighting for them. There is nothing wrong with being against a war, but at least show some respect for your fellow citizens who are fighting for you. The protests and lack of support shown by the American people damaged the morale of the young men fighting. When they returned home, they should have been greeted with open arms and plenty of thank yous from their neighbors. The past is over with, but that does not make it right. Many people realized that the treatment of the veterans was wrong. I think it is even worse that it took America this long to correct our mistake. The war in Iraq is becoming the next Vietnam. Soldiers are coming home completely unnoticed. Veterans are sometimes left on the streets unemployed, just like in Vietnam. More has to be done for our soldiers who are coming home. Support for the war has dropped and so has support for the troops. I do not agree with the war in Iraq, but I strongly support the men fighting there. I know that it is not their choice that they are over their fighting for questionable reasons. I strongly believe that support from the people back home is what brings a soldier home alive. I believe that if we support our troops, more of them will come home and feel a sense of accomplishment. Their morale might be boosted enough for America to win the war, which was not the case in Vietnam. To all the veterans, thank you.

Sexual Harassment and Date Rape

I believe that sexual harassment and date rape are often over looked on college campuses, by the administration and the students themselves. Sexual crimes have been occurring for a very long time, but now they seem to be pushed aside. I am getting the impression that often times women are not believed. Laura Dunn’s story is mentioned in an article, the writer of the article gives the impression that they do not believe her. The writer says “alleged rapist” implying that she made her story up. I think that victims are sometimes overlooked because of how society views women. Women are fighting for equality and they have made much great advancement, but I think popular culture dehumanizes women. For example, in many rap videos women are dressed in revealing outfits and shown in seductive ways. In the actual song itself, women are often referred to with derogatory terms and as possessions rather than people. Popular culture glorifies sleeping around making sex in general more acceptable. I think that popular culture causes sex crimes to be viewed as miniscule. On the college campuses I feel that even though the women are victims, I feel they are not completely innocent. In the articles I read, alcohol was always a factor. In one case, the victim had no idea if she gave consent or not because she was too intoxicated. I feel that the victims often, but not always, put themselves in situations where sexual crimes can happen. I am not trying to accuse the victims at all, I sympathize greatly for them, but as a little helpful criticism, more can be done to prevent these kinds of situations. In two articles I read, the assailant was an athlete. Both competed in tough contact sports. I think that this is not a coincidence. I think that the assailants were fueled by their ego. Being an athlete in excellent shape makes them “better” than the average person. I believe that this realization boosted their ego and caused them to believe that they can do anything and get away with it because they are better than everybody. In the cases I studied, the college administrations and police departments avoided the situation completely. Victims stated that the police were reluctant to investigate and did not keep in contact with them. The administration did not give out punishments (or at least it was not stated in the article). I think that this gives a message that sexual crimes are acceptable and little will be done to stop the assailant. I think that anybody accused of sexual crimes, with supporting evidence should be expelled, and a full investigation by local police, not the rent a cop college police, should be carried out. The assailant should not be treated with any sympathy. They should be punished to the fullest extent the law will allow. Their actions should be nationally known and they should not be allowed on any college campus. I think that there is a lot of work to be done regarding the seriousness of sex crimes, and the majority of authority figures are not doing enough.

Affirmitive Action

                I believe that affirmative action was created for good causes, but I feel that it has an effect other than what it was meant to do. It was created to give minorities a better chance in college admissions and create a more diverse learning environment. When I first heard of it, it sounded like a good idea, but after more research and examination, I realized that it doesn’t work the way it should. I feel that affirmative action unintentionally hurts white students. Schools that are looking for minorities to enrich the educational process prefer people of different colors over minorities in the white race. For example, take two different people from a poor neighborhood who both apply to the same college. This college is mostly white, but they are trying to diversify the learning environment. One of these students is white and the other is black. Imagine that they have the similar grades and decent comments from their teachers. The white students grades where minutely better. They took the same amount of classes at the same level. They both received similar scores on the act, but the white student’s score was a little higher. The admissions committee reviews their applications and chooses the black student even though the white student’s score was higher. The college did not intend to cheat the better student out of his college education, but in fact, they did. The black student was accepted in order to help diversify the university. I think that a university should focus on accepting the best students in order to have the best level of academics and encourage better education. I feel that the black student could have a different point of view from some of the white students, but so would the white student from the example. It is true that these two students would have different experiences because of color, but I feel that color should not matter to universities. I understand the importance of having diversity in a university, but I feel that academic excellence outweighs the need for diversity. I agree that when affirmative action was first created, it helped level the playing field for all races, but I think that it is out dated now. I believe that every race has a more equal chance of success in modern times and that affirmative action is actually hurting students. I think that academics should come first and diversity second.

White Like Me

I read the chapter “Privilege” from the novel White Like Me. I agree with Wise’s belief that people are affected because of the color of their skin. I agree that black people are burdened because of racism, and white people benefit from it. Even if a person is not racist, the racism of others will treat them higher than the black population. For example, in the school system, Wise claims that there is racism. He states that he has stats proving this, even though he does not actually include them in the chapter. He claims that white teachers are easier on their white students and are willing to make more exceptions for them as well. Teachers may admit white students into a test late and not allow any black students to arrive late. Wise says that studies show that teachers do not think that poor black kids are equal in their ability to learn as white kids. The curriculum itself is centered on the accomplishments of whites. Sure, a black person may be mentioned but there is no in depth study of their achievements.  On another note, Wise states that there is also racism involving the law. He says that he has broken plenty of laws, but he was never punished because he was white. The parties in white neighborhoods with drugs and alcohol even violence were never broken up. At the most, an officer would come up and ask them to turn it down. In the black neighborhoods these parties were never even allowed to start, with or without drugs. I think that there is some truth to what Wise has said, but I do have some doubts about it. I would be a much stronger believer if Wise had included the stats, which he supposedly used, to support his claims. In my experience, I have not experienced very much racism because the area I live in is almost completely white. However, I have heard plenty of racist comments and even witnessed a few incidents involving racism. I cannot validate the claims Wise has claimed because I do not have the opportunity to experience the things that Wise speaks about because of my location.

If I Were a Poor Black Kid

I think that this article is completely wrong. I feel that the author wrote what he would do as a middle-aged white man pretending to be a poor black child. He says he would do all the things that middle class white kids do. He says he will do everything in his power to succeed. His ideas are in accurate. I’m sure that poor black kids want to succeed and move on to do great things, but it just isn’t possible. The writer assumes that he would be the best of all the kids. He assumes that he will have the knowledge he has now. What if he wasn’t? Poor children of any color face issues every day, sometimes they are a matter of life and death. I think that if the writer really was a poor black kid he would have a lot more on his mind than just doing well in school. For example, he may have to worry about getting to and from school safely, or when his next meal will be. I think that the writer forgot that being a poor black child doesn’t mean that you have the intelligence of an adult, and that life does not allow you to only focus on school.  I agree with the responses to this article, at least the ones I read. They all said that the article was inaccurate and extremely unlikely. They noted that he assumes he will magically know everything about how to apply for financial aid and things of that nature. One response even accused the author of writing this article in order to receive a pay check. Personally, I do not find this accusation to be farfetched. I feel like there was very little thought put into it. I think the title could have been “If I was a Middle Class White Kid” because there is little insight into the author actually being a different color or limiting himself to the resources that poverty stricken families are stuck with.