Love Has No Labels: To Kill a Mockingbird

Love has no labels

         Racism is a word used to describe the act of discriminating someone based on their ethical background. Races are groups, created by mankind to help organize humans based on similar physical characteristics. According to science every person has been made through evolution, meaning through this process one person was created, who started this reproduction cycle. Due to the fact the cells in our body evolve and change, different races are created.

      In this video it shows how being different is not bad. Inevitably if a person takes off their skin, whether it be an African or Muslim, it is the same as another beings. People tend to forget the fact that everyone is a living breathing organism. Once they see a different completion they start acting in a rude manner. For example, in World War II Hitler was given power over a large mass, Germany. Due to the fact he was racist, he did not trust people of different completion, such as the Jewish. He believed that people who looked differently were not human. In result, he executed over 6 million Jews. Events in the past help shape the future, but if everyone keeps advocating racism then events like the holocaust will be foreshadowed.

     In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, everyone sees Tom Robinson, the black man charged with sexual assault as a burden to society. He is overlooked and discriminated due to his complexion. In the start of the book, Bob Ewell, a racial prejudice, accuses Robinson of raping a white women, Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch, the lawyer, takes on the case and helps lead Robinson to justice. During the process, a lot of people tell Atticus to neglect the case and continue on with his life. For example, Aunt Alexandra, his sister, exclaimed that if Atticus continues with the case, it will ruin the families image. Nonetheless, Atticus ignored everyone and continued to help Robinson.

     The video and the book, relate to one another as they both emphasis how wrong the idea of treating people differently due to their dissimilarities is. In the book it shows how racism can impact someone drastically, for example the innocence of Robinson was corrupted due to the evil he encountered during the court session. While in the video it demonstrates that love has no boundaries. In both contents people are breaking the barriers society put up and doing what they please. Throughout the book everyone told Atticus to reject the case, but he did not as he believed that Robinson was being faulty accused. Just like in the video, no matter what society said about certain people being together, no one cared, instead they advocated it in front of a large mass. Showing that everybody, no matter who they are, deserve to be treated with respect and love because in the end everyone is the same.

Society Under Threat

Racism is Poisoning Our Society

           This news article, Racism is Poisoning Our Society by Sharon. E. Watkins is about how the intense conflicts that take place in communities are mainly caused by racism. "Racism is more than what is in the heart of an individual person at the moment of a particular act. Racism is the cumulative history of all those thoughts and acts," said Watkins. In the article it explained how individuals are blind to the ways society treats colored people. For example, studies show that approximately the same amount of whites and blacks intake marijuana, yet blacks are more likely to be incarcerated because of it. Moreover, when a white individual does a drug it is seen as an "escape from reality" but, when a colored individual does it, it is seen as a burden to society. This shows how the two races, white and black, are still being treated differently 

           In my book, To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the protagonists, Tom Robinson was convicted of raping a white girl. No matter how much Atticus Finch, the lawyer, or Robinson tried to explain to the jury that they were innocent, no one listened. This is mainly because at the time a white jury could not defend a black who was opposing against a white. The article links to my book because it explains how unfairly blacks or colored people are treated in society. If a white person was to rape a girl, the jury would consider both sides, yet if a black committed the same crime the jury would ignore their side.  

           Although racism has relatively died down, it is still there. In areas, such as the law, racism has not disappeared completely. Even though the government purposes that everyone has equal rights, some receive less than necessary. If no one takes action to eliminate racism for good, it will once again poison the society. 

Leadership Skills

A key trait a leader should possess in order to be effective in his/her position is fairness. This is because when someone works with and listens to the viewpoints of others, they become enlightened and more knowledgeable, learning things they might have otherwise ignored. When people collaborate, the end result of the collaboration is an idea which would be very difficult to perceive individually. If a leader does not show fairness, and does not allow all ideas to be presented, it could result in ill-advised decisions. For example, in the book, Ender’s Game, Graff makes most of the decisions on his own, without the help of anyone else.  Although, at the start of each chapter the use of two different viewpoints from Graff and Alexander portrays the sense of fairness, in reality Graff is forcing Alexander to trust his ideas, which happens to involve Ender, showing the lack of fairness as Ender has no saying in a issue regarding him.  As seen in chapter 9, as a result of the suffering Graff causes Ender, he begins to gain rebellious traits, such as distrust, causing him to question the system. This is mainly because throughout the book Graff switches Ender from army to army, isolates him, and manipulates him, which is different from the way Graff treats the other kids. Seeing how Graff decided Enders faith on his own demonstrated his lack of fairness, as he did not take any input from Ender when deciding what to do. If Ender had worked alongside Graff to find a solution to help make him capable of fighting the Buggers, the result might have been completely different, as Ender would not hate himself. Yet, Graff manipulated Ender into committing actions that were against his beliefs, which caused hatred to build up inside him. Also, later at his desk, Ender received a message from Valentine, his sister, which made him further question the system, and made him grow angry at himself for becoming more like Peter, his brother. This shows that fairness is crucial for a leader because without it the ending result is often worse than the problem.  

3 Bodies Found Dead, Killer Unknown

3 Bodies Found Dead, Killer Unknown 
Mahida Khalid

DUBLIN - Last night, March 4 in Dublin, three killings took place. After examining each body, it was shown that all of the murders had been committed with the use of a gun. 

Several local bystanders explained how the war between the Free Staters and Republicans might have led to the killings "The conflict has been intensifying daily, it is most likely to find dead bodies," declared a women, age twenty. 

Investigating detectives explained to the media, "We examined almost everything, and it is clear that the same person murdered all the bodies from that roof." They pointed at the building forty-five meters away from two of the bodies.

The detective in charge of the case, Adam, informed the public "We found ripped clothes stained with blood, indicating that the killer was also shot." "Seeing they both were attacked shows it is possible that the war might have triggered the intense violence," he further explained.

An anonymous bystander later stated, "It was dark outside and all I heard was a bang! I looked outside and there laid three dead bodies, it was horrendous!" Many of the locals are confused and scared by this event.

The police and detectives are working together to uncover the identity of the killer. Several clues have to come to like, but are classified. The police have asked the community to come forward with any additional information, and to be more alert in order to keep safe.

3 dead bodies were found dead on March 4 on O'Connell Street.  

Kids Using the Internet

             The internet is a world wide tool for communication. In today's society almost everyone has at least one way to access it, from phones to laptops. Today's youth is so preoccupied with their daily use of the internet that schools have taken away the old fashioned way of writing and replaced it with typing. For example, in my school a lot of teachers expect students to have their work typed and submitted online.

            The worst thing that has happened from this overuse of internet is that elementary schools, kindergartners, have access to the World Wide Web. At such a young age being able to access the internet can lead to several different problems. For example, my cousin who is in Jr. kindergarten does not know how to properly write his name because of the teachers providing him nonstop technology. Writing ones' own name is something that a kid, his age, should know by this point in his life. Peel had said that because of the rapid advancement into the digital world, younger students should be able to handle it earlier to avoid possible problems. Yet, the problems are already starting. Kids who should have 20/20 vision are forced to wear glasses because they never get a break from looking at their screens. Studies show that the average percentage of kids who use vision correction tools has increased to a solid 25%. Additionally, the use of the internet is making young kids, who normally should be open to new people, antisocial. Being preoccupied with digital devices is distracting their little minds from communicating with others, which is restricting them from obtaining certain learning skills.

          Overall,the internet is both a good and bad thing, it helps our knowledge expand but it also distracts us from more important things. Even though it is a good tool to use, someone at a young age should not be permitted to use it at all times, because it can cause problems for them in their future.

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Babies and Mockingbirds

In the book, To Kill a Mocking Bird, the girl, Jean, learns several different lessons from her dad, Atticus, that help her delve deep into her character development. One of the lessons her dad teaches her is that to kill a mocking bird is a sin. This is more explained when Miss Maudie, the neighbor, says, “mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn-cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This lesson links to the idea of slaughtering a baby. A baby is a symbol of pure innocence; they do not commit crimes or hurt anyone emotionally or physically. A child is the main source of happiness, they radiate good energy. Just like a mockingbird, when they sing their hearts out only to please the people. Thus, killing a baby is like killing a mockingbird, because in both cases you are killing something that only brings happiness and joy.

Killing something that causes no harm ties with the social issue of the book, racism. This is because when being racist a person is not looking at the others personality but their outer appearance. In my book Tom Robinson, the black man who is one of the mockingbirds, was accused of raping a white women. Previously, he used to help her by completing some of her chores, because he had seen that she lacked friends, thus he wanted to help her emotionally by befriending her, just like a mockingbird. Later, she accused him of raping her and that his intentions were wrong, which shows the idea of killing someone who only aimed to please. Accusing someone of rape has the ability to change that person internally, which is almost like killing them.

Slam Poetry: What a Cruel World?

There stood the colored man,

Ripped of innocence, accused of rape.

“You have no worth,” the crowd cheered,

The man held his place, muted,

As though his bones were connected to remotes,

And his soul was a unwanted mistake on a paper.

In that moment,

It is clear that the pale white had done the felony,

Yet, the black was guilty.

And then we say, “What a cruel world?”

As though those four words alone can change the world,

Don’t tell me it’s a cruel world,

When you have the audacity to prison a black man because of their completion,

We tie our self’s around this blanket,

Trying to hide our insecurities,

We blame a race for everything as if that can mend the problems,

As though, the problems would disappear once a man of color takes the blame,

And then we say, “What a cruel world?”

As you discriminate the man begging on the road,

Trying to get money for his daughter,

Who can’t get an education due to the skin she wears.

As you seat the black kid at the back of the class,

Because “he might be contagious,”

Yes, it is a cruel world.