“For a few years after 9/11, everybody got extremely scared,” he said. “Since then, religious and political leaders have acted more responsibly. Though the rhetoric has gone into high gear, the reality on the ground has been won, slowly but surely, by cooler heads and the better instincts of the American people.”
"If we're so ashamed of it and we're trying to hide it, people will respect us less. I really believe that when you're proud of your identity and you stand-up for your culture, people respect you more."
With 9/11 anniversary coming up, suspicion of repeated Muslim attacks are a popular topic in news today. The U.S. is taking all precautions they can to keep the country safe and sadly sometimes it turns into stereotyping and singling the Muslim society out. Its been 10 years since September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center was attacked and thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives because of a terrorist attack. In the article I read, it brought to light the controversy with Muslim Americans and how hard it is for them even after all these years. Yes, stereotyping is wrong and hurtful in so many ways, but what we experienced on that tragic day is so much more painful. “There’s a great deal of ‘We want to be Americans.’ They see opportunity here.” This quote from the article is saying that there are plenty who live here who came for better opportunity and sadly get put into the category as a "suspicious one" when they have no intent to harm us. But there are still many who are here pretending to be here for better opportunities but they really aren't. And that's where some Americans have eased up by letting their guard down and feeling sorry for the innocent Muslims, but what about the thousands of innocent Americans we lost on 9/11.
This article was of major interest to me because 9/11 is such an important date in our country's history. It was such a tragic thing that happened and so many lives were taken and after reading this article, really made me think how we need to continue to have our guard up and be very cautious who we let into our country. Not saying stop every Muslim person you see on the street, but just be careful because the reason we haven 9/11 as an anniversary is because we weren't careful and protective enough of our country and the people. The people responsible for 9/11 should be punished...and the people still working for them and still involved, should be ashamed to be a part of something so horrible. I hope to see continued protection for our country.
REMEMBER 9/11
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Child Suicide- Jaheem Herrera
"Psychologists seem to be unaware that when they call for laws against bullying, they are declaring the failure of psychology. It means they have no idea how to solve the problem psychologically, but need the legal system to solve it for them." - Izzy Kalman
"Schools need to be held accountable and forced to take action against bullying, and they need to find ways to prevent it in the first place. Right now. Before even more children see no other way out other than to take their own lives."
On April 16, 2009 eleven-year old Jaheem Herrera woke up acting strangely, not hungry and not wanting to go to school. Prior to this day Jaheem had been harassed and called gay, fag, and ugly numerous times by his classmates. They called him a "virigin" because he was from the Virgin Islands his mom says. Who would want to go to school while being taunted and made fun of? That day, he goes to school anyway and comes back excited and happy. He high fives in mother and shows her his report card in which he made All A's. Later that evening his sister calls him down for dinner but she gets no response. His mom, Masika Bermudez goes up stairs to his room and finds him hanging by a belt in his closet. "He used to say Mom they keep telling me this ... this gay word, this gay, gay, gay. I'm tired of hearing it, they're telling me the same thing over and over," his mom tells CNN. At that age being "different" which I think is better than being normal, you get made fun of by other kids cause you're not normal in their eyes. Jaheem was from a different country and he had an accent. So what? But for 11 year olds thats just something that they see they can feed on and pick on. A lot of times its out of jealousy and sometimes kids are just plain mean. "To hang yourself like that, you've got to really be tired of something."
This was of interest to me because of the relevance it has to do with every day kids and teens. It's so tragic and unfair to Jaheem that he never got to fully enjoy life because he was constantly taunted and made fun of. Kids get pushed over to the edge and some can deal with it but others are so sick of it they just snap. I think its quiet awful when people always say "he's the one who killed himself, not the bullies or the words they said." True, he's the one who hung himself but its because of the bullies and their words and how unhappy he was with his life. The kids who bullied him are the reason Jaheem killed himself. There's no justification for what they did. He never did anything to any of them which made it so unfair that he had to be the victim. Hearing about this really brought to my attention teen suicide. There should be ways to prevent it instead of saying what we "could have done." Use this so that next time a child is struggling you can look at Jaheem's situation and see how to prevent it. I believe every life is valuable and everyone should get to enjoy their time on this Earth and not be miserable. Jaheem's life was ended way too early and hopefully with his story, we can stop this from happening to any other kid in his same situation.
STOP BULLYING!!!!!!!!!!
"Schools need to be held accountable and forced to take action against bullying, and they need to find ways to prevent it in the first place. Right now. Before even more children see no other way out other than to take their own lives."
On April 16, 2009 eleven-year old Jaheem Herrera woke up acting strangely, not hungry and not wanting to go to school. Prior to this day Jaheem had been harassed and called gay, fag, and ugly numerous times by his classmates. They called him a "virigin" because he was from the Virgin Islands his mom says. Who would want to go to school while being taunted and made fun of? That day, he goes to school anyway and comes back excited and happy. He high fives in mother and shows her his report card in which he made All A's. Later that evening his sister calls him down for dinner but she gets no response. His mom, Masika Bermudez goes up stairs to his room and finds him hanging by a belt in his closet. "He used to say Mom they keep telling me this ... this gay word, this gay, gay, gay. I'm tired of hearing it, they're telling me the same thing over and over," his mom tells CNN. At that age being "different" which I think is better than being normal, you get made fun of by other kids cause you're not normal in their eyes. Jaheem was from a different country and he had an accent. So what? But for 11 year olds thats just something that they see they can feed on and pick on. A lot of times its out of jealousy and sometimes kids are just plain mean. "To hang yourself like that, you've got to really be tired of something."
This was of interest to me because of the relevance it has to do with every day kids and teens. It's so tragic and unfair to Jaheem that he never got to fully enjoy life because he was constantly taunted and made fun of. Kids get pushed over to the edge and some can deal with it but others are so sick of it they just snap. I think its quiet awful when people always say "he's the one who killed himself, not the bullies or the words they said." True, he's the one who hung himself but its because of the bullies and their words and how unhappy he was with his life. The kids who bullied him are the reason Jaheem killed himself. There's no justification for what they did. He never did anything to any of them which made it so unfair that he had to be the victim. Hearing about this really brought to my attention teen suicide. There should be ways to prevent it instead of saying what we "could have done." Use this so that next time a child is struggling you can look at Jaheem's situation and see how to prevent it. I believe every life is valuable and everyone should get to enjoy their time on this Earth and not be miserable. Jaheem's life was ended way too early and hopefully with his story, we can stop this from happening to any other kid in his same situation.
STOP BULLYING!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
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