controversies
It seems every time one racially-charged incident ends, a gender or religious controversy takes its place; Ruminate on the issues dividing our nation and world.
How Light Pollution Impacts The World
Has anyone wondered how our lights affect the night sky? Just as children and young adults have seen billions of stars beaming across the sky, people are seldom aware of the repercussions that we generate. As shocking as it may sound, the lights we turn on in our houses, in our parks and in our cities consequently affect the annual migrations of birds and the functionality of ecosystems. With help from our friends and neighbors, we should be instead contributing to the end of light pollution.
By Thomas Jang6 years ago in The Swamp
Is Black Lives Matter important?
The Black Lives Matter movement is an action taken my Americans to demand justice for the multiple black people killed unnecessarily by racist and negligent policemen. The movement was fuelled by George Floyd. He was a black man who was suspected to have used a fake/blank check to get some groceries. So, the clerk called the police and they did not give him a chance to explain or talk it out. Instead, all four of them pinned him down and put their knees on his back and one on his neck. He pleaded with them to get off him and said that he couldn’t breathe but none of them budged or gave damn. Derek Chauvin was the killer of George Floyd. His knee was on George’s neck for 7 minutes until George passed
By Miss Anonikitty6 years ago in The Swamp
White Lies and Truth
White Lies and Truth As we look at the chaos in the United States, many people claim to not understand how we got to this point of chaos in our country. It perplexes them and they search for answers to a situation whose answer is so clear, we all look right through it.
By Glenda Davis6 years ago in The Swamp
White Privilege and Jim Crow
White Privilege and Jim Crow. Black history is United States history; likewise, some United States history is Black history.  The only way to understand racism in the United States is to first understand our history – the complete history. Race and White privilege has always been the major issue in U.S. politics.
By Glenda Davis6 years ago in The Swamp
The Red Summer - Ellisville
The Red Summer -- Ellisville On June 9, 1919, a White woman named Ruth Meeks reported that she had been attacked on her way home from her job as a hotel clerk. Â John Hartfield, a Black man, threatened her with a gun, she told police. He then took her to a railroad trestle and raped her, afterwards he took her under a sweet gum tree near a pasture and ran away with her clothes, she said.
By Glenda Davis6 years ago in The Swamp
The Red Summer - Charleston
The Red Summer -- Charleston The history of the United States has to be understood to begin to understand the racial problems experienced by Blacks in this country. Â Lynchings of Blacks and the governmental response to those lynchings play a huge role in the development of the United States. The response to those lynchings play an even larger role because it sets the stage to how law enforcement responds to crimes against Blacks by Whites, both civilian and law enforcement. Â Before we can understand why law enforcement polices the way they do, we have to understand how the United States has dealt with crimes against Blacks.
By Glenda Davis6 years ago in The Swamp
Native American Indians
Hello, I am a Native American man that originally lived in Oklahoma. There are many different tribes that live here in the United States. I am apart of the Comanche tribe. My people are a dying race, our numbers are small and are steadily declining. Native Americans will be in the verge of extinction at some point in the near futur. You may think well we can just repopulate, but it’s harder than that. We are a race that is over looked and mistreated even to this day. We are profiled by many people that know we still exist. I had went to middle school in the country rural area of Oklahoma, and when I went to American history, they talked like the Native People have already died off. The reservations are no place for someone to live, but there are many native people that still live on them. The reservations aren’t owned my the tribe thst lives in it. The U.S government own it. The people on the reservations can’t change or plant anything because they don’t own it, there is no vegetation that grows on most reservations, just dirt and sand mostly. No businesses where people can work to try and make money to leave the reservation exists. When someone tries to leave the reservation for a vacation or to visit family they are immediately stopped by a cop that just basically lives outside of the Rez. There is so much suicid and alcoholism in the reservations because of the depressive state of mind they have to endure. Personally I have been to many reservations throughout the years and have been so shocked every time I drive through and visit one. Leaving a reservation almost every time I get stopped by a cop and then ask where I’m going and then saying “your not supposed to be leaving your home” . I am so disappointed in the United States for treating a group of people like this. We are basically segregated from the world and have no way of leaving a reservation to find a better life. I would go into statistics over the death Native Americans, but I won’t because you can look it up yourself. We are top rated in many things when it comes to death, even tho we are the smallest number of people. My people have been done wrong and I don’t think there is a way to help us now. I am so proud of my culture, but what is my culture going to do when there is no more of us. My people are calling for help and no one is listening. I have experienced racism my whole life, just because I’m Native American. Life is really hard for me even though I don’t live on the reservation, but I do want to make the reservations a better place to live so that there won’t be as much depression or alcoholism or suicide. I join the army and even hear everyone thinks that Native Americans of died out. Once the knowledge of native Americans have been put out there, Then I believe that our lives will be a little bit easier and people start seeing us again in big cities and it won’t be as rare for us to show up to events. Native Americans are so separate from each other that it’s hard to get them all to come together. Native Americans need help I need help. If my culture is gone I don’t know who would care. If my culture is gone I don’t know who would care, because there is no one to preserve it in the first place. Help us. We really need it.
By SammoSun McNugget6 years ago in The Swamp
Empty Playground
Looking at the empty playground reminds me how much COVID- 19 has stolen from our Summer plans. For the most part, we have succeeded in living our best life despite the Coronavirus; however, there is no replacement for high school graduation and Senior prom and the pure enjoyment of children playing on the playground. We can try to re-create some of those moments at a later date, but that authentic feeling will not be there for those people who stay out all night cramming for a test at their universities Will never know the feeling of taking that stage aunt reaching out for their degrees and so forth. You Will never get these precious moments back; however, you are now free to create new memories and put your best face forward and have a positive effect on the world.
By Yvonne Knight6 years ago in The Swamp
All Lives Matter
There was the loudest boom and the vibration of the entire floor , when the tree across from my house fell. The storm that caused this was minor compared to others and still the damage was laying in a pile the next morning. After inspection I see that the entire middle is rotten and that explained the easiness of which it came down. The age of the tree not known to me but I’m guessing that it’s about 50 years old and in this area seen more than its worth of crime. The fallen ones of this community are adding up daily. Murder and mischief is well known to this little neighborhood and I have only lived here for less than a year.
By Chanelle Lahrmann6 years ago in The Swamp
The Red Summer - Carswell Grove
The Red Summer - Carswell Grove The 13th of April 2019, marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the Red Summer, a period of time when more than 30 cities burst into race riots. White communities attacked Black communities, sometimes with the assistance of police and/or the military. There was no media coverage of this tragic event. There was no acknowledgement this event ever happened. It passed with absolutely no acknowledgement from the media, politicians, or even most of the cities it occurred in, but I will make it a point to remind you of the horror that took place between April and November of 1919.
By Glenda Davis6 years ago in The Swamp
Black Lives Matter
Every day we see the same thing, police brutality. Black and brown brothers and sisters downtrodden in the streets because they dare exercise their constitutional right to assembly. Every day we see the same thing. My great-grandfather came from a country, not unlike this one. They were invaded by a populous leader who told his people that what he would do would help them would set their country back on track. What he didn’t tell them was the cost. When the headline read, “Hitler invades Poland,” the German people cheered, and the Polish wept.
By Nikola Tobias Hunter6 years ago in The Swamp
