Blog Post 8 (problem statement)

Our Social Action Project is addressing the issue cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is a major issue in today's society because the technology that we have access to. Over one-half of teens have been cyber-bullied, and one in ten teens tell a parent that they have been cyber-bullied. An estimated 4,400 teens commit suicide every year because of bullying. There are over 100 suicide attempts for every successful suicide attempt. Suicide ranks third when it comes to what causes the most death in young people in America. These are young people who haven't had the chance to truly experience life yet and they see no other way to escape their bullying other than taking their own life. Cyber-bullying needs to be addressed more in today's society because these young people could be the next world leaders and scientists but because they are bullied so badly they decide life isn't worth living that way. What my group and I plan on doing about this is we plan on making accounts throughout social media to post statistics. We plan on making accounts on Instagram, Twitter, and posting through Yik Yak. Also we will post flyers throughout campus to encourage students and faculty to visit out accounts. Cyber-bullying needs to be taken more seriously in America so we can save lives.

Sources:

http://nobullying.com/suicide-statistics/

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

Blog Post 7

One of the most popular social justice issues is racism. racism is defined as "the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others; abusive or aggressive behavior towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief." Racism played a big role in the history of America because not only did we take part in it, but we also supported it. for the majority of our history white Americans were able to own African American slaves to do hard labor for long, hard hours without any pay. While many slaves were used for working in fields and doing extensive hours of hard labor, some were used for just everyday household clean-up. finally, 1865 The United States ratified the 13th amendment that abolished slavery. However, racism would continue on for many years. Even today in the year 2014 racism is still around, and is a well argued topic in our society. Social media, however, plays a big role in stopping racism. Social media has the power to send idea, pictures, messages, and videos across the country and the world in a matter of seconds. I see videos and pictures of African Americans being racially profiled and interrogated by white Americans quite frequently and it is quite disturbing. Just recently a African American foster kid was pepper-sprayed him for suspecting him to be a robber. This then went viral over the social media and people were able to see what happened and the issue would be able to be talked about on news channels.

Sources:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/black-teen-in-white-foster-home-pepper-sprayed-by-police-who-mistook-him-for-burglar/

Social Action Project Proposal

I believe that the social justice topic we should protecting the environment. My social action project will respond to protecting the environment. Recent topics in our FYS class have been E-waste and the article about Silicon Valley. In Silicon Valley chemical waste was flowing into the water supply of nearby towns. This contamination causes birth defects in babies, and was even linked to cancers. By addressing this issue we can raise awareness about how these chemicals can have an effect on the environment and the people that live in it.

I have decided on the idea that we should show a movie that is based off of the main issue of the environment dealing with chemicals from waste. The movie I would like to show is “A Civil Action.” This movie is based on a true story and a non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr. This movie is based off a court case about environment pollution that took place in Woburn, Massachusetts in the 1980’s. The court case revolves around the issue of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent. A lawsuit was filed over industrial operations that were linked to fatal cases of leukemia and cancer as well as a wide variety of other health problems among the city’s citizens. The movie is directed by Steven Zaillian and features John Travolta as the main character. The movie was released on December 25, 1998 and is approximately 115 minutes long. The move made $112,215,759 at the box office. The summary of the movie is listed as,

         John Travolta plays the lead as a civil ligation lawyer and his decade long case against an American corporation in a water pollution dispute brought by citizens of a Massachusetts town where two drinking wells supplying water to the town are found to be contaminated with industrial solvents. Residents soon realize that pollution by local factories is the reason for the unusually high rate of leukemia deaths amongst the town’s children. Based on a true story and non-fiction book.

The movie is rated PG 13 so there should be no problem showing it in front of the school. This is an appropriate way to show the issue of protecting the environment because it gets the audience’s attention through a movie and has a powerful message; also it is based on a true story.

Discussion 6 Questions 10/8/14

1.) what is the significance of Silicon Valley?

2.) Sara Clara County, California was formerly known as what?

3.) what is Silicon Valley is known for?

4.) How did the pollution effect surrounding cities and people?

Blog Post for 10/3/14

Poverty in America has been an issue for years. In 2012, there were forty six million people in poverty and there was a poverty rate of fifteen percent.  Poverty is a serious issue that is not talked about because there is no solution for it. Not only are forty six million people suffering from poverty but fifteen percent of Americans are also suffering from food insecurity. This means that fifteen percent of Americans are struggling everyday not knowing if they were going to eat or not. The fact that the news would rather cover missing airplanes and foreign affairs than the problems in our own country is appalling. We should be helping out our own people rather than worrying about other countries people. I do not have a solution to this problem; however no one else has a solution either. Most of these people work more than one job in order to provide for themselves and some have to provide for their children also. I couldn't even imagine what it’s like to live everyday not knowing if you’ll be able to eat or pay for your roof over your head. This is why we need to find a way to help these people out.

Sources:

Title: Hunger in America: 2014 United States Hunger and Poverty facts.

Link: http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm

Date: October 1^st, 2014