Lines in the sand.

That’s how it all started. The world that we live in is not divided by anything other than the lines that we divide ourselves by. An image that has always fascinated me is the view of the globe from space. When looking at the earth as a whole from afar, you don’t see and boundaries that separate one county from another, all you see is the land and the water. No flags, no political boundaries, no sense of separation, just the land and the water. Over time it seems that the conquest for power and “order” over social control has caused humans to develop these lines in the sand to organize and control some of the uncivilized actions of man. We’ve established boarders to separate Americans form Mexicans, the English form the Irish.

With so much that divides us, stories like this bring a refreshing reminder of the humanity that every person posses. Many people find it hard to hold the door for the next person exiting the coffee shop, but this story of one man donating part of his body to another person –another person who he had no immediate connection shows the real power of the human spirit when challenged. Two things amaze me about the human condition; One, that we can learn to hate so blindly. Mass genocide comes as price of one people who simply can hate another for being different. History has taught us that the cost of human life can be measured by the desire for one person to rule another, without the regard for human life. Two; that acts of human kindness like this may happen far more than we know, and other are not regarded as news worthy.

I’m far from a bleeding hear t liberal that wants to sing and hold hands around the campfire, but I understand that random acts of kindness are needed in the world more now than ever. The case of young love that is described in the second video is so cool because it knows know boundary of the way things work, how things are “supposed” to be. It is innocent; it is unknowing of the realities that past generations have caused.

Did you ever take the time to stop and think about little things in life that can cause tension between people, and then realized how strange and dumb that they are? Isn’t that what this entire class is about? Looking outside of the box, from that OTHER point of view that you may seem to fighting against. I don’t have all of the answers, that’s for sure, damn, I don’t even have some. All I know is that this class has made me think, and a better person for it.

Maybe we can all learn something from these people.

It’s hard to find compaction for someone who is serving life in prison. The majority of the blog replies have stated how awesome it was for them to find that someone is prison could right about something “deep”. I need help with this however, given that by nature I feel that all criminals are the “animals” that most people think that they are. I’m a Crime, Law, and Justice major here at State, and I have worked with criminals during internships and such over the track of my college career. No doubt that these people are real human beings, I’ve seen the emotion of families that have been separated by people incarcerated in the court room. Not only just with lifers, when faced with the prospect of incarceration many people and their family members cannot handle the reality and lose their posterity in the courtroom becoming violent or irate. Here’s the idea that I can’t wrap my head around. Why do people feel compaction for people that have been incarcerated?

I understand that this blog and letter are not about generation of sympathy for those convicted, but rather about how persons convicted of crimes are people too, and they demonstrate human characters even after being convicted. OK, so they still have emotion. But, that emotion can and will be used to manipulate in a prison society where humans operate on a basis as animals, where the strong survive and the weak perish. A close family member of mine was a CO at a state prison for over forty years; I grew up every day with him coming home from prison. It’s hard not to bring that home with you when everyday it’s your job to preserve order amongst the dysfunctional of society and stop this population from killing each other, or the other CO’s that help maintain the order. So please understand me when I say that it seems that I have little sorrow for someone who ends up spending life in prison. I understand that true Shaw-Shank Redemption stories do exist; I’m not saying that our justice system is perfect. What I am saying is that the person who committed whatever crime they did to spend the rest of their life in prison is means to an end for their punishment. Someone who commits manslaughter should have thought of the repercussions of their bank robbery before they committed the crime. Some of the worst punishments ever, such as not being able to see your family grow up, or missing the birth of a child, or even a high school graduation are all what needs to be considered before the act occurred. What about the families of the victims? They may have lost the life of a family member due to the crime that was committed by the convicted. It’s not black and white, but shades of gray, many, many shades of gray.

Over the past 100 years the world has increasingly become a smaller place. It seems that as history has passed technology has acted as a catalyst that has increased the speed at which the world shrinks. International relations in all facets of the work place have made the demand for multilingual individuals even greater than it has ever been. This can be seen in the relationships that form between different businesses and the parts of the world that they primarily involve. We see this in example how Chinese (particularly Mandarin) has moved to the third most popular language for the AP test according to the College Board. This shift can be accredited to the current economic situation that the United States faces and its strong tie to the Chinese Government and economy caused by current political international relations. Chinese has become the second language of business, the way that Spanish has for the longest time been the second language of the Criminal Justice System.
A second language has become a standard option for high school students across the United States, exposing students to new cultures and languages that may allow them to excel in whatever field that they tailor their education to. Once again our example of how Mandarin is the second language of business further emphasizes this. Figuring I wanted to be a Criminal Justice Major in my high school days, a logical choice for me was to take Spanish as a second language. Once I completed my two years I had no desire to further my second language skills (I feel to the tribute of a poor instructor) but being bi-lingual in Spanish and English is almost a guaranteed high ranking position in the Criminal Justice field. (At least my two years may let me know when someone is talking about me.) The point being that relations today between peoples of varying language types is so common due to the now small global market, and high school is the place to start not only offering second languages, but encouraging their importance in many of today’s mainstream job markets.
The world shrinking as it has, it is important to remember that the primary language is still English, and not the proper Queen’s English (colour, etc.) is the main staple of all of international relations. This may be very ethnocentric, but if you come to the United States of America, lean to seek ENGLISH DAMN IT! It is the dominating language of the world because the United States is the dominating superpower of the world! I would not go to Germany and expect for the people there to cater to an English speaking American, so I would lean German. Second languages are indeed a useful tool that can open doors and break down barriers. So, if expect to be a business major learning Mandarin would be a good idea, the same as a Crime, Law, and Justice Major learning Spanish. They may be very use full someday in the ever shrinking world.

There has been a lot of people taking sides on the issue of the U.S. 2010 Census is offensive or not. Some seem to think that whoever is in charge of designing the census did not take the time to accurately assess the questions (particularly #8 and #9) and are concerned that some people might be offended due to a racial issue. The other half of the opinion seem to think that the Census is just a survey that needs to be filled out so that the federal government can take an accurate measurement of who is living where, and in analysis of this information to distribute funding. We’ll I guess that I’m on the side of the people that say just fill the damn thing out and mail it back. Seriously, if you’re losing sleep over what box to check on the Census from, than you really need to get a life. This is a Government designed form that has been constructed to get a measurement of people, not make sure that they feel OK about checking one box or another.

Some people might be concerned that they don’t know what box to check because they come from a mixed race family and may have difficulty picking one box or another. If I was in this situation, I would pick the box that closest represents who I am and move on. If you’re really concerned about it, check both boxes and let the Census counters figure it out. There is a clause in the beginning of the form that if you provide your phone number they will call you if they need to ask questions about your responses.

The purpose of the U.S. Census is to count people, and to use that information to distribute funding to where it’s needed based on where the people are. It is so open ended that being offended a choice that needs to be made. If the Census offends you it’s because you choose to let it. I really don’t hope that the Census makes you feel rejected or confused, and if you do, I really don’t think that the government should care. Your letting a piece of paper ruin your day because you can’t make a decision about checking one box or another? Sorry to hear that. I hope that’s not your biggest problem today.

We Can't Move Forward Until You Mail It Back.

(Unless it offends you, then I guess we’re moving backwards.)

The Native Hawaiian culture has fallen casualty to the most common episode of the American landscape. Just the same as the native peoples of the lower 48, the European expansion and domination of the Americas has become the common root of American settlement. In a nutshell, the Europeans came to America and calmed the land as their own, eliminating the competing indigenous population through disease and gunpowder. What population managed to survived has been forced onto reservations managed by the Federal Government, that at one time was the deciding body of their genocide. This same Federal Government that governs all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii has now been challenged to grant the same “rights and privileges” of Native Americans in the lower 48 (and Alaska) to the Native Americans of Hawaii, allowing them to establish their own government on their native soil of the Hawaiian Islands.

With the legislative act all but law, the establishment of a Native Hawaiian government will be reality not soon before long. Based on the premise of the establishment of Native American governments for the Native Americans of the lower 48 states and Alaska combined with the current liberal Congress and Presidential positions, establishment of a Native Hawaiian Government seems very likely. The only hindrance that would contribute to the abolishment of the bill becoming law would be the cost of funding for the newly established government. Even in the midst of a national recession, most likely enough pork will be added to the bill to convince the needed conservative vote.

One part of this story that I don’t like is the emphasis that the Native Hawaiians deserve some type of restitution for the overthrowing of their empire in 1893. The establishment of the Native Hawaiian government itself is a throwback to the “wrong” that has been committed by the government in the natural history of the nation. We know the state of affairs the American Indians live in the lower 48, and I hardly doubt that the conditions for Native Alaskans are any better than that of Native Hawaiians. So by establishing a government for the Native Hawaiian people some advancement is being made to fortify the existence of the Native Hawaiian population, however this “advancement” will find the Native Hawaiians in the same position as all other lower 48 and Alaskan Native Americans. – Placing them at the lowest position in our American society today.

So now we find ourselves asking the same questions that we had when discussing how to solve the problem of white guilt for the taking of red land, that is all Native American land from the native peoples of all 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii included. Establishing a Government for the native peoples of Hawaii is a step in the right direction, but as will all US Government actions for Native Americans, more like a band-aid on a broken leg.

I can understand why someone would be surprised to find a Jewish community living in Zimbabwe. Would you really expect to find a group of Jews living there? According to oral tradition of the Lemba, their ancestors fled the holy land over 2,500 years ago bringing with them Jewish culture from where we would expect to find it in modern day Israel. Although hard to believe, the science that had confirmed this tradition through DNA evidence is concrete providing more than an oral legacy for the Lemba people of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Practicing the traditions of the Jewish people through their food selection and preparation as well as the non-typical practice of circumcision the Lemba have found a niche in Africa that does not follow the typical culture. With their sacred payer language having roots in Arabic and Hebrew, the Lemba continue a tradition that has been handed down from Israel and Yemen. One of the most intersecting features of the Lemba is how they have adapted to practice other religions whale maintaining the Jewish culture. Not only are this people descended from people from the holy land, they chose to practice different religions other than the Jewish faith and still maintain the Lemba identity. Some Lemba are Jewish in culture, but Muslim or Christian in faith, yet adding to the complexity of this group of non-typical Africans.
Another point of interest is the “ngoma lungundu” that the Lemba keep in their possession. Although not as old as the Ark of the Covenant, the replica that is kept in their position is more than 700 years old, confirming that the tribe has been established for some time. How did the tribe manage to remain for such a long time however? Such a small population in relation to the surrounding area had to have made the preservation of the religion somewhat of a struggle without the majority being married off to another religion or the newer generations becoming more liberal. Maybe because the newer generations are more liberal the tribe continues to flourish and maintain a culture.
The concept of a transplanted Jewish culture that is more than 2,500 years old is not that hard to believe once you take into account the scope of world religion that has existed in the past. Marco Polo brought stories of Christian communities that existed in the Buddhist Asia more than 2,000 years ago, and some of those communities still exist today even if they are by far not part of the majority. There is no doubt that the Lemba are an example of a sub-culture that is a mixture of tradition and new thought that represents how diversity will show up where you least expect it.

What if a black man wanted to start a black hockey league? The sport of hockey is dominated by white people the same way that basketball is dominated by black people. If a black man or woman wanted to form an all black hockey league of which the players had to meet qualifications that deemed them all black somehow (now we get into the question how much black is black, yikes) that would be OK.
We have the Miss Black Penn State pageant that competes every year to represent an unrepresented group, and by forming a black hockey league you would be doing the same. So in a sport that is dominated by all black people Don “Moose” Lewis is advocating to start an all white basketball league to represent an underrepresented group. I think that if Moose wants to create an all white basketball league, let him do it. What is the big deal? Let someone else make an all black hockey league to represent black people in a sport where they are underrepresented too.
If you’re offended by something like this, my question is why? We are many years past the civil rights movement and segregation, everyone has a fair shot at whatever they want to do, so let them go and do it! Don’t hold anybody back, equality is the key. Even when this is true, people are going to excel in some areas in not in others, and band with other people that have similar interests as you do. Obviously some sports are dominated by blacks and whites, what is the problem with that? Just because a sport is dominated by one race of people or another doesn’t mean that all races can’t participate. I bet there are a lot more white hunters than there are black hunters, because it’s traditionally been a sport that has been carried out by rural people that are dominantly white. That doesn’t mean that black people don’t hunt and fish, just a lot less of them do than white people.
Think about when you were back in High School and you had to pick a lunch table to sit at. Different groups of people self-segregated themselves in small clicks that usually sat together all the time. That didn’t mean that you couldn’t sit where you wanted to, you just did so and that’s the way things worked out. Maybe an all black NASCAR division should be established and an all white NFL. In my opinion this argument is ridiculous and even though race has become one of the most important issues of any sport, segregation of any type is a step backwards.

Sorry I had to brake up my comment, I remembered to do it only in time to submit it on a computer without Fire Fox.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t know a lot about Native American culture, but I was under the impression that the American Indians worshiped the earth as something spiritual in itself. That being said, how can drilling it and pumping millions of gallons of oil out of it be considered OK for them to do? If someone was to be stealing this oil out from under the Native Americans, I would assume that they would use the argument that whoever was harvesting the oil from the ground was killing the earth in doing so. If I am right, (which I may not be) isn’t this an irony not only that the Native Americans have become rich on a piece of land that was deemed out-of –the-way for the people who put them there, but one in the fact that they are making money by robbing the earth of a resource, and that resource causes pollution that in return once again kills the earth?
Funny the way stuff like this works out.

If the work and money that is brought into the community is of a bust nature, what will happen when the oil bubble pops, so to speak? Is the community ready for the consequences of the downturn of the income and job level? How can we prepare a people that have been deprived of so much for so long for that? Is this too much of a good thing at one time for the Natives that live in this area?