Deciding I'm With Her

Like a lot of you, I’ve been feeling pretty disillusioned with the candidates this election cycle.  I know politics and campaigns can get pretty nasty, but this year has topped any year in recent history.  Between the vile, misogynistic and discriminatory language coming from the Trump campaign and the shadiness and dishonesty surrounding the Clinton campaign, even I was starting to avoid discussions surrounding the candidates – primarily because I didn’t want to have to fight anyone.

Which is why I was surprised to find myself feeling proud this week, as our country nominated the first woman candidate for President.  Suddenly, all the controversy surrounding Clinton didn’t seem to matter as much as the glass ceiling she’s worked so hard to shatter.  For just a brief moment she wasn’t Hillary with the email scandals, and Benghazi hanging over her head – she was Hillary, the first woman candidate to be nominated for President – and in that moment, I was proud.  Proud of the fact that although we have a long way to go, we’ve come so far since women first gained the right to vote in 1920.  Proud of the fact that my four year old niece lives in a world where a Black man is President and a woman may be next.  Proud of the fact that my gender just took a giant leap forward.

So my question to you this week is three-fold: First, I would like to know “Do you think this country is ready for a woman President?”  Second, I would like you to take this quiz, which will ask you about your thoughts on certain topics, and then tell you which candidate most closely matches your own viewpoints.  It also allows you to tell it how important an issue is to you. You can access the quiz here:  https://www.isidewith.com/                       Then tell me “Which candidate’s viewpoints did the quiz match you up with?  Did that surprise you, or were you already planning to vote for that person?” 

You must answer all three parts to earn full credit.  Answers are due no later than Wednesday, August 3^rd, 2016. 

P.S.  If you or someone you know needs to register vote, you can register here:

https://indianavoters.in.gov/PublicSite/OVR/Introduction.aspx

America's Black and Blue

**Warning – the video links in this post contain graphic footage.  Viewer discretion is advised.**

July isn’t even over yet and already it has been a month filled with violence, devastation and grief.  It was the day after we celebrated our nation’s independence when Alton Sterling, 37, was shot and killed by police outside of a convenience store.  Police were responding to reports of a man with a gun.  Bystanders captured the shooting on video which you can watch here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/us/baton-rouge-shooting-alton-sterling/index.html

The very next day, another man, Philando Castile was shot 4 times during a traffic stop.  Castile has been pulled over for a broken taillight. The aftermath of the shooting was live streamed by Castile’s fiancée, who states in the video that Castile told the officers he had a weapon, which he was legally allowed to carry, and was reaching for his license when the officer began firing into the car.  Castile’s 4 year old daughter was in the backseat.  You can watch the video, which includes the officer, with his gun still trained on a dying Castile, here:  http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/07/07/philando-castile-police-shooting-minnesota-gringras-pkg-erin.cnn

This wasn’t the first time we've heard about shootings of unarmed, Black men.  You can read my posts and your fellow students’ thoughts on Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2012/04/justice-for-trayvon.html and here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2014/12/hands-up-dont-shoot.html  However, these two shootings, so close together, and with the accompanying video, set off a firestorm of protests around the country.  It was during one of these protests in downtown Dallas, that Micah Johnson, a 25 year old military veteran opened fire on police, killing 5 and injuring 7 others.

My thoughts on this issue are a jumbled mess.  I was raised to respect police officers.  I have friends and family members who are police officers.  I know that each day they put their lives on the line and are forced to make split-second decisions to save lives.  That being said, I also can’t ignore these videos or the countless other lives that have been taken unnecessarily by police officers.  I know that when I’ve been a car with my Black friends, we’ve been treated differently during traffic stops than when I’m alone, or with my White friends.  In some cases, our Constitutional rights have been violated.  I don’t have the answers, but my heart breaks at the thought of all this violence. 

So my question to you this week is, “How do you feel about these incidents?  What has been your experience with the police?  How do you think the country should start to heal?”  You must answer all questions for full credit.  Answers are due no later than Wednesday, July 27^th, 2016.

Choose Your Own Adeventure!

I hope you all enjoyed a nice break.  It's always hard coming back to school after break. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching and being surrounded by all the crazy, creative energy that is all of you. That being said, it's still hard to get back into the grind. So for our first blog post, I'll go easy on you.

This week we started our study of the Constitution and the freedoms that make us uniquely American. You can order your own free copy of the United States Constitution from: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=bookstore&page=freeCopy.cfm

A good portion of this class will be spent discussing current events and political issues that affect our everyday lives. For this post, I would like you to tell me at least one issue that you are interested in studying. To help you out, you can look over the blog posts that we've had in the past several years to get an idea of the type of things we've covered. Many of the topics are pretty controversial and I do my best to not censor the information available to you.

So my question to you this week is, "What is one issue that you are interested in studying in this class?" Answers are due no later than Wednesday, July 20th, 2016. I'm looking forward to a great quarter!