Race In America

After reading two articles from CNN and one article from the Chicago Tribune, my feelings toward the racism in America have only gotten stronger. Before learning about this in issues, I had always felt that there was some racism still in America, but I now realize that that is a great understatement. The first article I read was from CNN called, "Behind the Scenes: Life after San Quentin." This article told the story of a ex-convict, who had sold crack-cocaine, but was now trying to change his life. He has tried to get a good job, however the only jobs that he has been receiving are ones that are not enough to pay the bills. He originally had only a 4th grade education, father had left him, and his mother was a crack addict. This is not the type of surrounding where someone is more likely to succeed. He is very tempted to go back to selling drugs as an easy way to get money because no other job will give him enough money to get buy. It is sad because this is a man trying to change his life around, get a proper education, and a good job, but all the odds are against him. The second article I read was very startling. Also from the CNN website titled, "Study: Black man and white felon-same chances for hire." An experiment took place where people sent out fake applications with equal education and experience, but different races (white and black) for real entry-level jobs. They found that white applicants were twice as likely to get the job as black applicants. Even worse was that white applicants with felonies had the same chance, if not a higher chance, than black applicants with equal records. This brings up the same things as Andrew Hacker was saying that black people are born into America with a disadvantage. The people hiring the applicants may not look at themselves as racists, but self-consciously they racially profiling these applicants, favoring whites over blacks. The most surprising article that I read was from the Chicago Tribune titled, "Blacks better off during slavery." This was a very extreme short article that baffled me. He felt that because blacks have been struggling in America, they were and would be better off as slaves because they will serve more value in America. This article in itself shows the problems of racism in America. The fact that this man thinks that blacks would be better off with no freedom shows that not only should this man not be in politics anymore, and that there are clear racial problems that people are afraid to address because they do not want to look like racists. There is a lot of hidden bias in America, and it is limiting black people to their full potential. People do not want to admit that it is there, but these hidden biases clearly exist in America, and I am not sure when they will ever stop.

Mock Trial Recap and Response

The first trial that we heard from in class was between a couple who had been dating for a while, and one night the boyfriend wanted to have sex with her, but she did not. It started to get physical, when finally he had sex with her. It took her a day to realize, but then she thought about it, and felt that he raped her. In the end, the jury, me included, decided that he was not guilty of raping her. Some of the compelling facts to this case was that in the past during their relationship, she was never very clear about when "No" meant "No." There were times where she would say no and wouldn't mean it, so it was hard to determine whether she meant it or not. Another point that the defense brought up was that she may have had other motives to say that he sexually harassed her. There was a note given to him by a student in his class. This note was an inside joke about their class, but she misinterpreted it, and got very angry. This was a big fact in the case because this whole case could have been a result of jealousy. This changed the motives of the case. Not only that but the man in the relationship was thought of by many of the witnesses as a great guy that would not harm a fly. The case seemed to iffy, and it was hard to tell if it was just a case of jealousy, so I still feel like this is not a case of sexual harassment. The big problem with the plaintiff was that their expert witness did not really seem like a real expert. If the examination would have gone better with him, then maybe my opinion would have gone differently.
The second case is a much harder decision than the first one. To be honest I am still swaying between if the District of Columbia is guilty of sexual harassment, or if they are not guilty. Elyse Roberts was someone who was very hard to deal with, and even though the District of Columbia handled this problem in the wrong way, it did not seem like Ms. Roberts handled it very well. This case seemed, and was described as a childish problem that the two could not solve. Some key facts of the case were that Ms. Roberts' transfer was not a promotion or a demotion, and eventually would be a better fit for her because she was not a very good trial attorney. Not only that, but Kevin Murphy was one of the best trial attorneys, and very well liked throughout the office. This is one of the reasons why it was such a tough case because either Ms. Roberts was misinterpreting Mr. Murphy's humor, or unlike what everyone else in the office thought, Mr. Murphy had taken it too far. One of the biggest key facts of the case was that every other woman in the office liked Mr. Murphy, which made it look Ms. Roberts was just being sensitive. However I will admit that the Sports U.S.A. issue was definitely handled poorly. In the end I feel like everyone in the District of Columbia handled this poorly, and this could have easily been avoided. They could have switched offices, Mr. Murphy could have apologized, or Ms. Roberts could have been transferred because she was not a suitable trial attorney. Any one of these options could have solved this case, instead of going to trial.
Sexual harassment is an issue that I don't think people take too seriously (and maybe I am an example of that). A lot of times people just look at it as a women being too sensitive, however women should never have to feel uncomfortable at the workplace or at school because they should be considered equal. It is hard to say what is considered as sexual harassment and what is considered as just a women being too sensitive, which is why these cases become very complicated. I don't think sexual harassment is that big of an issue at DHS because the administration is very strict on the subject, and punishments can be very severe. The culture at Deerfield is that sexual harassment is very frowned upon. Even though it may exist at times, people are very conscious about the issue, and try not to make people feel too uncomfortable, which is why it is not too big of an issue at DHS. These problems can be addressed by teaching kids about the problems of sexual harassment and the punishments for harassing someone.

State of the Union Address

Even though this speech was made awhile ago, there are still a couple of things that President Obama addressed that I was very happy about, and others that I am a little worried about. The main point that President Obama was trying to stress was the importance of the future. Things may be looking down now, but if we all work hard then the future may not be so bad. One of the things that he talked about a lot was teachers. When there are better teachers, it produces better students, and with better students, it creates a smarter America.

Over the past years more and more countries have been testing higher than students from America. Obviously America strides for being number one in everything that they do, so it is important that we move up as students in the world. There are many schools out there that do not have updated books, proper teachers, and facilities. In a country like America, we would expect that everyone deserves a proper education, but this is not the case. Which is why Obama stressed the importance of teachers and how teachers should be considered as one of the most important jobs in America. And when you think about it, you come to realize how important teachers are. They are the backbone of every school, and a person's school stays with them for the rest of their lives.

The only thing I did not like about the speech was the hundreds of goals it seemed like President Obama had. It is important to have goals as a President, however when you set so many, it seems nearly impossible to complete all of them. As usual President Obama pumped up the crowd and the rest of America with his signs of hope of an incredible future, but once again we are all still waiting for this incredible future. I do like President Obama, and i think that he is a great speaker, however I feel that there are times in his speeches where he brings false hope to the people, and I just hope that he will be able to complete at least some of the goals that he has set.