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Eight Bright Nights Hanukkah Card

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Eight Bright Nights Hanukkah Card

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Crash

This was originally an assignment for Sociology, but after reading it- I thought it would be a good idea to post. I know that Crash was a great, some might say- controversial, movie but I thought it gave a great message and here's my (formal) reflection. Enjoy.

         

  After watching Crash, I realized that everybody is under the influence of some type of racial prejudice. Some people are considered racist pigs that need to review their values. However, thankfully, it’s more of a subconscious feeling in most people. Even with this fact, I was scared that I already had a racial filter in front of my eyes. I was comforted to later find out that it is simply impossible for a Homo sapiens’s brain to not pass judgment when looking at a stranger for the first time. It is our evolutionary instinct. It’s in our DNA. But now that we have grown up by thousands of years and the cautious watch for danger is not so urgent, this judgment can be utilized in harmful ways. This movie opened up my eyes to how large of an impact something as simple as your race, social status, or job can have on your life.

            In many ways, this movie reinforced stereotypes of all kinds. When Jean told Rick to change the locks in case her Latino locksmith gave the new key to his “gang-banger homies”, she had already made a judgment, decided it could have a negative effect on her life, and then acted upon it. Or at an earlier time when Anthony assumed the worst as Jean reached over to cuddle Rick. (In the movie, it is unclear whether she moved to “cuddle” her husband or because she felt “threatened” and wanted “protection”. Either way, Anthony definitely thought it was because she wanted protection from the oncoming black men [referring to him and Peter].) These instances show that every day, we constantly assume and judge based on what people look like without actually giving them a chance to prove whether they are as negative or positive as originally perceived.

If I heard the same judgments that Jean made about Daniel every day; I know I would want to rip my skin off just so I could be perceived and therefore, treated better. This leads me to my next point that says Crash challenges racial and social stereotypes. One of the few examples of this was when Daniel returned the new set of keys to Jean so there would be no temptation to give them to his “gang-banger homies”. Although Daniel Ruiz also made racial judgments (all of which were mostly inferred by the viewer), he was one of the few characters in Crash that stood up to judgments, tried to break stereotypes and change people’s minds about what being Latino really meant. Besides for Daniel, I think Crash opened a lot of people’s eyes to what being racially prejudice means and how harmful the affects can be on everybody. This is the final reason why I though this movie challenged stereotypes. Because I know of at least one person who is now conscious of her “filter”, constantly checks herself to try and rid prejudices in her life and strives to meet everyone’s gaze with the same openness as she would treat a friend. Me.  

I hope that you will accept my challenge and do the same. 

The Hague Has Kony's Name On It

The Hague: the capital city of the province of South Holland in Netherlands. Home of the International Criminal Court AKA the ICC. These guys aren't with the UN, but they're still considered very good at policing international crime. 

The first man that was ever put on their list of criminals is named Joseph Kony: the one that no one seems to care about.

His crime: abducting children in Central and Eastern Africa to fuel the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) he runs. He transforms the boys into killing machines and the girls into sex slaves. These children have no choice but to obey for fear of their lives. These kids end up murdering their parents, because no one in the whole wide world ever gave a care: until now.

Actually... it's been about 9 years since Invisible Children (a group of people focused on bringing Kony down) started to raise awareness and help fight Kony. Recently, President Obama sent 100 military advisers to Uganda serve justice once and for all.

Here's the issue: Invisible Children is a non-profit organization that fundraises money to help the cause. (Recently, they've built radio towers to alert remote villages if the LRA has been spotted. This not only saves families- it saves lives.)But... there's speculation as to how much money actually goes into the cause. According to stats, only 32% of the fundraised 8 million dollars last year, made it to Uganda. That is where people stop reading the article. The thing they then fail to see is: the other 66% goes to two other things: awareness products and programs, and it also helps go to Central African programs (like the ICBC or Schools for Schools etc.) 

 Don't trust me? See for yourself: [Click on the picture if you cannot read the fine print.]

So no, I'm not concerned whether I'm supporting a group that doesn't really care about what they're doing. Three, middle-class, white guys devoting their lives to this cause until it's over: I think "passion" is an understatement. 

If you want to help this cause, watch this video to learn more. It is probably the best way you can use your time if you're reading this blog: I would rather you watch this video right now then read the rest of the blog- it's that important. It's okay though: I'm ending the blog with one last thing to say:

Are you willing to fight for this cause: "Where you live SHOULD NOT determine whether you live" 

I know I am.  

Want to learn more about the ICC? Go here:
http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/About+the+Court/
Want to learn more about Invisible Children and how to help? Visit this website:
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

Go. Make change. It's the best feeling in the world (trust me).