Tomas Idoeta
Communication & Culture
COMM 160
February 1, 2017
January Blog Post
“I was of those white middle-class girls who sometimes talked back and often got punished for it. But that didn’t stop me from talking”. I pulled this from the article of Reflections on Accountability, by Ann Russo. This statement made by her really stuck out to me, because I feel like it is extremely relevant in today’s world with everything from Women’s March, the new President of The United States, and to the whole black lives matter acts that happened and that are still happening. I pulled this sentence out, because we are always told an overused term of “freedom of speech & freedom of press” but yet as soon as we speak up for ourselves about a controversial topic like Ann said, we are often punished from it. How is it that we put this sort of phrase and preach it from the day we are born till this very day, but yet it has so many flaws to it. Leaves us with asking ourself about what can we do without getting punished, or looked frowned upon? The recent topic that happened in this years NFL situation is taking a “knee” by Collin Kaepernick. With racial issues and controversies occurring at high rates within months, or even weeks of each other it then led to creating social activism groups such as Black Lives Matter. After the Trayvon Martin case in 2012, it was then created for working to rebuild the black libertarian movement. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes. Which led to athletes of the world standing up and then expanding the conversation with Black Lives Matter with them advertising the slogan with the apparel they represented so the whole world could see. With all these recent issues have happened with the professional athletes of the world taking a knee while the national anthem was being played, and caused a lot of conversations that led people to then create the conversation whether they are right or not for standing up for what they believe. I would side of the players who are taking a protest on this social issue, if you think there is no oppression in this world, you are blind. With the police brutality, and the mass shootings happening in the world there needed be a stand for what is right. You are sitting there watching this stuff happen, the media getting a hold of this evidence showing the brutality happening is just sickening and needs change. Being friends with a variety of races, and ethnicities create a culture of acceptance, and I believe it starts with the family and the environment you live in on how you grow up and being told the importance of acceptance of all races. Being surrounded by different races, I have been in certain situations where they have been treated differently because of their race rather than myself who is white, who did not get the same treatment they did. ”Data backs up his concerns. For decades, the modern U.S. criminal justice system has proven to be consistently unfair and deadly for black people. African-Americans are 30% more likely than whites to be pulled over by police, as well as three times more like to be searched, twice as likely to be arrested and twice as likely to be shot by a law enforcement officer”(Obama). As mentioned by Ann, “Talking, speaking out, demonstrating your knowledge, and making yourself known are often taken as the signs of “real” engagement”. Talks about racism is a much needed topic to converse with your friends, family, and teachers etc. It is topic that a lot of times is pushed underneath the rug in a sense, because it is an awkward thing to talk about for others. That needs to stop, in America we need to make even more awareness for the communities inside our states, and treat racism how it should be treated. America as a whole is afraid of conflict, and tend to avoid it as much as it can. 2016 has been a very tough year for a lot of races, and it is sickening that not much has been done to help. Start the conversation!
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