America- The land of the free and home of the brave. A place to live out your dreams. Where you can be who you are and not worry about the government or other agencies taking your rights away as a human. A great nation of intellectuals. Or is it?
I don't want to come off as a communist or someone that hates their country. I love the freedoms that I have and the opportunites that are provided for me in this nation, especially compared to other nations. However, we must never forget that even though this nation has some great things about it, we got our issues too.
I read a story today about this woman from Chester, Pa. She's originally from Guatemala and came to this country at 14 years old. She was following her mother who left their country in search of a better life, this is when she was 5. Now at 27 years old, pregnant with her second child, she is being deported back to Guatemala.
I understand she was here illegally, but when are the lines ever drawn between the legal boundries and morality.
This woman came to this country following the directions of parents. Sure when she was old enough to do what she wants, she could have said I'm in this country illegally so I'm going to go back to my less fortunate country, where kidnapping and human trafficing are apart of everyday culture. And this is where I'm going to raise my children. Or I'm going to turn myself into the authorities, even though I've graduated from high school and took junior ROTC to serve in the military for this country. Sure that makes lots of since! (*sarcasm*)
We as Americans and everyone else do need to follow the laws of the land. However, I ask again, when are the lines drawn between right and wrong lawfully and right and wrong morally.
Now having to leave her 5-year-old daughter, who was born here so therefore is a legal citizen, with her mother, who in 2008 was exempt from immigration and can stay here, to go back to a country that she hasn't been to for half of her life. She must return to a country where kidnappers will assume that because she's coming from America, home of the wealthy, that they can kidnap her and hold her life for ransom.
If something happens to this woman when she gets back to Guatemala, my question is how will the immigration authorities feel then? Probably nothing. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110613_Chester_woman__illegally_brought_to_U_S__as_child__faces_foreign_homeland.html
It's stories like these that make me realize that this country still has a long way to go. There's still many battles to be won in this country. And sadly, when observing some of our youth day, I fear for our future.
With possible republican presidential candidates saying things like "America was a great country before 1965," (the year that the voting rates act was based that allowed Blacks to vote, and the year after the civil rights act of 1964 that called for equal rights of Blacks), I realize that this country is not far removed from the barberic views of the past. http://www.phillytrib.com/tribune/newsheadlines/19811-santorum-gop-savior-or-party-liability-.html
Considering the number one cause of death for Black men today, is due to murder by other Black men, I question are the younger generation of Blacks, especially men, ready to lead this country to be successful and save for our children and grandchildren. It's sad and doesn't make any sense that "some have speculated that more Blacks are killed by other Black men today than were ever killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan during the pinnacle of the Jim Crow era." http://www.phillytrib.com/tribune/phillynewsheadlines/19767-group-invokes-kkk-in-hopes-of-saving-young-black-lives.html
And it's mind boggling to me that even though we do have some great freedoms in this country, but there's still a lot of crap that we as American's deal with that the government could easily help, that people still enlist in the armed forces. To save the lives of idiots who find it funny to post signs in McDonalds claiming that Blacks need to pay an extra charge on food because of recent robberies. http://mediatakeout.com/49117/id.html#.TfXClpWf9U0;facebook
Then when they come back home fighting for this country, witnessing people's heads litterally being blown off, and then the government doesn't even take care of them mentally like they should be. Sure we have VA hospitals, but why is it that "more U.S. servicemen committed suicide than were killed in combat last year in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some 468 servicemen took their own lives and 462 were killed in action." What programs are set in place to help the veterans to make sure they are completely mentally stable to return to society? What programs are set up to make sure that when these men and women return that they will always have some place to turn to for mental and emotional help?http://www.phillytrib.com/tribune/newsheadlines/19812-trauma-ptsd-rates-especially-high-for-black-vets.html
Ok my America got issue's rant is over, for now...
On two other unrelated sidenotes: If you haven't noticed yet, but Facebook has this creeply new feature that recognizes people's faces once you upload pictures. At first I thought it was kind of cool, but then after thinking about it, it's really freaking weird. When will FB and this Mark guy, draw the line with these invasive applications and features. If someone wants to be tagged or wants to tag someone, they'll do it themselves. When will people, including myself, get fed up with FB and their tactics of trying to track everyone and everything? Will it happen after FB is able to see through walls and read your mind to update your status for you? Here's a link to deactive this weird feature... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/disable-facebook-facial-recognition-photo-feature_n_873018.html
And finally, Sylvester Stallon was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame along with real boxer Mike Tyson. The event drew the biggest crowd the induction has seen since Sugar Ray Lenoard was inducted with between 7 and 8 thousand spectators. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/tech/Rocky-Inducted-into-Hall-of-Fame-123737164.html Now that you can be honored in a sport without actually being in the sport, maybe I can get an Billboard award or MTV music award for singing in my car.
I completely agree with the points of interest u brought up. These issues that America has are nothing new, but they are getting worse. I personlly have no problem with immigrants (whether legal or illegal). Half of them take the jobs Americans believe are beneath them and the other half will go to war for this country willingly. In addition, immigrants who are here illegally have to pay close attention to the laws of this country. Most of them have loop holes...you just have too figure it out.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the plight of the African American male - its devestating to think about. Forget the future for a moment, more than half of the African American men in Philadelphia alone won't make it through the present!! Just this past weekend there were 5 murders!!!! It's an epidemic that is based on the corruption of the human mind and spirit. Us a people, firstly, have no support for eachother - whether its spiritually, financially, business wise, etc. It amazes me how so many African Americans can show their disgust for our own race with no problem, but put no effort into a solution...
Final comment lol When talking about Soliders, the mental issue is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's been around since about the 1880's or so and has been called soooo many different names. I just recently watched a documentary called "Wartorn". It was excellent. Not only did it give an accurate historical view of PTSD but the present day stories were fascinating in so many ways as well. One main reason, in my opinion, PTSD has been such a "silent killer" of soliders is b/c most of the symptoms are internal and not visible to the naked eye. Persons who are able to deal with the astroticies of war and return home the same, are seen as true heroes in the eyes of Army, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, etc. But for those, who once they are trained too kill, can not "flip the switch off", ultimately return home in a state of despair - it doesn't just effect the individual but anyone they come into contact with. The rising suicides should be a wake up call to the Army to put some sort of "de-killing" training system in place and help those who are protecting our "freedoms" since not having wars at all would probably be seen as "un-American" (a complete load of crap).
You did it again Anne B. I completely agree. Our society is at the peak of destruction. Our society leaders are at a constant struggle between what is right and what is wrong. But its kind of hard to separate the differences when there is always a reason of good, behind an action thats bad. Our video games shows a person killing a lot of people to kill the REALLY bad guy at the end. Then after realizing that through out this game the person giving your directions to victory isn't even real. Try playing the Call of Duty "Black Ops" and tell me at the end you don't feel different. Nothing is just fun anymore. The fun today has a bigger meaning behind selling the most games. What happened to Sonic and tails? Oh i forgot, they aren't using the latest and newest weapons out in the military to beat Dr. Robotnik and blood isn't flashing all over the screen.
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