This video clip contains a report on political power shift. During this report, Andrew Beveridge, a professor at Queens College, was asked a question in regard to who is counted in the U.S. census. While speaking, he was naming those who are now counted after the 14th amendment was set in notion, but he called Blacks “slaves”. He even had to correct himself once he realized what he had just said on national television. This has now reached social media and is well known by much of the population. When first seeing this, it seems sort of funny, but when you really think about it, that was beyond disrespectful. Those times where African-Americans were brutalized, killed, and treated less of a person are long over. People with this mindset are a big explanation as to why we as people have not sought equality amongst all races because last time I checked "Slave" isn't an option that you can mark on checkbox to reflect the race I identify with. I refuse to be called a slave or anything besides a person. Too many people have paved the way and given up everything they have had and their lives; therefore, I will not go back in time and take on a name of such hatred and evil. So I don't want to hear that “it was an accident” or “he didn't mean to”; people’s attitudes need to change now or nothing is ever going to change. Jada Copeland
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Current Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, may be changing her policy approach in the area of private schooling. On September 28 during a speech at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, she said that the federal government should not create a new private school choice program.
“I wholeheartedly believe the future of choice does not begin with a new federal mandate from Washington,” Devos explained. This is far from what she has expressed in the past. Prior to being Secretary of Education, Devos spent two decades defunding and destabilizing public schools in Michigan. Her past track record, along with President Trump’s policy to cut after school, summer, and child nutrition problems, stands as a huge threat towards the Black community. Public school is a highly utilized resource in this country, as well as after school programs. According to the After-School Alliance Initiative, the total number of children in the United States participating in after school programs has been on the rise since 2014. One in four families have a child involved in an after-school program, lower income families more frequently show a need for after school programs due to 11.3 million children being without supervision from 3 and 6 pm, and Hispanic and African American parents are two times as likely to have children enrolled in these programs. Based on Devos’ record, her plans for the country’s education will cripple the African American community. These free after school programs are a major part the education system. They provide an environment for students to continue their academic endeavors. These programs also prevent children’s involvement in crime related activities and keeps many off the streets. The change in Devos’ tone may mean a change in her previous policy. Maybe after school programs are safe, or maybe this is simply rhetoric used to pacify people opposed to President Trump’s policy. Alexandra Harris On Monday of last week, racial slurs were discovered on the dormitory message board of five black cadet candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School located north of Colorado Springs, CO. The mother of one of the candidates posted a photo to her Facebook page showing that the phrase “go home n****er” had been written on the whiteboard outside of her son’s room.
In an interview with the Air Force Times, the father of the same candidate said that his son was doing well as the word “has zero power” in their household.[1] The father went on to conclude that the real victim of the written slurs is whoever wrote them. “That individual,” he told the Air Force Times, “is going to lose a promising career in the military [and] is going to go home disgraced.”[2] In what has become a viral video, shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, the academy’s new superintendent condemned the slurs. Lt. General Jay Silveria, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985 was announced as the replacement for Lt. General Michelle Johnson, the school’s first female superintendent. “There is absolutely no place in our Air Force for racism,” Silveria said in his videoed statement. Surrounded by administrative colleagues and all 4,000 of the preparatory school’s cadets, Silveria affirmed the Air Force’s commitment to diversity. Before concluding his statement, he gave everyone present a moment to take out their phones. “Keep my words…share them and talk about them,” he continued as spectators filmed him. “If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.” Lt. Col. Allen Heritage, director of the academy’s public affairs, has said that the academy’s security forces are investigating the incident. No additional information can be released at this time. Watch Lt. Gen. Silveria’s statement here. Yasmine Palmer [1] Air Force Times [2] Ibid. Tragedy struck on Sunday night as a gunman opened fired on a crowd of 22,000 people at an outdoor country music festival near the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. The rapid-fire barrage of bullets claimed the lives of over 58 people and injured more than 500 others in what is being described as the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Country artists Jason Aldean and Jake Owen, both of whom have confirmed their safety, were in the middle of their performance when the audience heard what witnesses say sounded like fireworks. Only after the second round of gunfire did people begin to realize that they were hearing was gunshots. Chaos erupted as concertgoers, performers and band-members alike began to run for cover. Online videos of the attack show people pinned to the ground, screaming. Some can be heard instructing others to “Get down!” Witnesses report that hundreds of shots were fired in rapid succession. Owen reported that he could still hear gunshots from inside his tour bus, where he eventually found shelter. “It wasn’t something that was quick. It was chaos for a pure seven to ten minutes,” Owen said. The gunman has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada. Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on September 28 and had an “excess of ten rifles” in his hotel room, according to police reports. He opened fire from his room on the 32nd floor of the high-rise hotel. Paddock was found dead in his room by police who believe that he took his own life. A motive has yet to be formally established. Police believe that he acted on his own and have not identified the mass shooting as an act of terrorism. “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!” President Trump tweeted early Monday morning. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has reported that the White House is “monitoring the situation closely,” but that Trump’s planned Tuesday visit to Puerto Rico is still set to occur. This massacre comes just over a year after the 2016 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, when 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, wounding 58 people and killing 49. Yasmine Palmer Referenced sources: https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/las-vegas-police-investigating-shooting-mandalay-bay-n806461 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/02/police-shut-down-part-of-las-vegas-strip-due-to-shooting/?utm_term=.e170ed9482cb http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/02/politics/nevada-dean-heller-brian-sandoval/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/02/police-shut-down-part-of-las-vegas-strip-due-to-shooting/?utm_term=.c4e7d6608d18 Photo source: https://abrilclaudia.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/gettyimages-856536570.jpg?quality=85&strip=info |
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