Universal Declaration of Human Rights 12/8

Summary:The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is made up of 30 different articles all stating different declarations. The preface of the declaration is about rights that humans have all over the world. Basic rights that humans have would be freedom of speech and the right to be treated like a human. In order to sum up all the articles they all state that a human is human no matter their ethnicity, color, race, skin color, sexuality etc. Every human should be treated fairly no matter what . Many of the articles talk  about liberty. There are also many articles that mention that harassments and punishments are not allowed.

Comment: Reading the Declaration was very interesting. These articles mention pretty much all the rights that we have as humans and its crazy to think that now we do not see people getting all the rights that they deserve for being human. Many of these rights seemed to just be looked over now, people do not really respect these rights at all anymore. Although the articles were very informative they were also very repetitive. I don't think there had to be 30 articles because they basically all said the same thing. I feel like everything could have been summed up into only a few articles.
  

Invisible Hands 12/6

Summary: The first interview was on Kalpona Akter who was born Chandpur,Bangladesh. She grew up in a tin house, but her family was forced to sell it because the house was in a really good area. Her father became a middle man and her cousin worked for her dad. Her cousin ended up stealing all the money from her family and left her and her family with pretty much nothing to live. Her father had two strokes which caused her family to have many financial crisis because of all the hospital bills that they had to pay. Her father wasn't able to talk and he wasn't able to control half of his body. She starting working at a factory, both her brother and mom worked at this same factory. When her factory refused to pay her for her overtime she decided to strike against the company. At the age of only 17 she got married to someone who also worked at the factory. She eventually divorced her husband and got a job at the union in order to help the factory workers get justice. She was thrown in jail because people didn't want her advocating for other factory workers, they didn't want them to have any rights. The second interviewee was Hye-Kyeong Han who was born in Gangwon Province,South Korea. After high school he decided to work for Samsung. She began to feel very sick one day so her mother took her to the hospital and this is when they found out that she had a brain tumor. They started giving her treatment for the brain tumor. Her mother fought that it was the company's fault, but the company would not take responsibility for her having a brain tumor. 

Comment: These stories were very similar in regards to how they worked and all the things that they went through. It is always nice to see when someone stands up for what they believe is right. She wanted to fight for her rights and the rights of others. Reading this also shows us how easy it is for companys to get away with mistreating their workers. In these situations there isn't really much that you can do. The most you can really do is fight for what you think is right, and for what is right for other people. 

Refugee Hotel and High Rise Stories 12/1

Summary: The first interview was about a couple Mahmmoud and Farah. They were both born in Iraq and lived there during the war. Mahmmoud's father was killed by the military because he was an engineer at a University. Farah ended up getting pregnant, so she said she was a refugee and she moved to the US in order to raise her daughter in a better environment. She obviously wanted her daughter to be safe and live a better life than she did. Although they both miss Iraq they are happy that they are able to be free in the US. The second interviewee was Felix Lohitai who was born in Rokon, Sudan. When the war was going on between the North and the South he decided that he wanted to join the rebel army so that he wouldn't have to fight against his own people. He and his family moved to refugee camps trying to stay safe. He faced many problems with money and transportation, but he finally made it to the US. The third interviewee was Dolores Wilson who was born in Chicago,Illinois .She lived in an apartment and had to move because of her husbands job. Around this time MLK had just been killed so there was chaos in the streets. Her son was killed by someone with a sniper and the cops did not worry about bringing the killer to justice. Although it was dangerous she loved where she lived and where she came from. When she was very elderly she had to move due to some construction, and she lost a lot of memories. The last person interviewed in this section was Yusuf Mosely who was born in Columbia, Mississippi. He worked in the fields but obviously his parents wanted him to live a better life than that, they did not want him working in the fields. Where he lived people were very racist, they did not like black people, but they did really like black women. When he was walking on the white side of town he was called out because he was black. He flipped the man off, and the guy decided to try to hit Yusuf with a bat. The police was called and Ysufu was taken into custody even though he wasn't the person that started the problems. He was part of the freedom riders, and then was convicted for murder and thrown in jail for a while. When he was released he had to work in order to get his life in the right direction again.

Comment: I think the interview that bothered me the most was the interview with Yusuf. What he had to go through was sort of unbelievable. I don't understand why people need to be racist. He was arrested just because he was black and the guy that actually started the problem was white. Our community even now is a lot like this. There is a lot of problems concerning police brutality and how the police handle certain situations especially with people of color. I think we as a community can do a lot more to help these type of things change. We need to stand up for what we think is right and help  people defend their own rights.

Inside this Place and Throwing Stones 11/29

Summary: The first interview was about Ashley Jacobs who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was sent to jail because she stole money from both of the jobs that she worked at. When she was sent to jail she was pregnant. Although she didn't show any signs of going into labor she still had to have her baby in jail. She was sort of forced into having a c-section. Shortly after she was forced to have the baby in jail she was released. When she was released she realized that she could do better so she started turning her life around. The second story in Inside This Place is about Theresa Martinez who was born in Los Angeles,California. Theresa has spent her life in and out of jail. At a very young age she was sent to live with her grandparents after she was taken from her parents. She left her grandparents house to go back and live with her mom. When she moved in with her mom she changed a lot, she started going out a lot and started doing a lot of drugs. When she was young she was sent to juve multiple times, then eventually she was sent to prison. She had her baby in prison. It seemed that she did even worse in prison because she would do more drugs. Whenever she got out of prison she wasn't clean, she would be doing worse drugs. All the drugs she did caused her to have many different side affects. In jail the doctors tested her blood and said she was HIV positive but she really wasn't. She was given medication in order to treat the HIV, so that medication affected her body very badly because she did not have HIV. The third interview was about Sergio Diaz who was born in El Jobo ,Bolivar, Colombia. Sergio loved to play soccer. Growing up he lived in a town that was really affected by the military. It was extremely dangerous to live where he lived. One day he went out with his dad and he accidentally stepped on a land mine. The land mine blew off his leg, which caused him to have to learn how to walk with a prosthetic leg. This was very difficult for him. Especially because he loved soccer.


Comment: These stories were extremely interesting. Reading about Theresa and all the things she went through and all the drugs that she did was crazy. She did a lot of different drugs and they affected her body in a lot of different ways. I don't think I could ever do that many drugs and have my body feeling very poorly. I think the story about Sergio was very sad too. I think reading his story made me even more sad because I also love playing soccer. I wouldn't ever be able to imagine losing my leg and having to stop playing the sport that I love.

Ruth Gibson 11/22

          Ruth Gibson came in and gave a presentation on her views on prisons, gun control and the recent election. Her presentation was very interesting because she had a very strong opinion on the prison systems and how they currently work, and how they should work. She made it very clear that she thinks that prisons should no longer be called prisons but should be called facilities. She believes they should referred to as facilities because she wants them to seem like better places, she wants people to to believe that prisoners are able to change their persona while they are in these 'facilities'.  Part of me   agrees with her but part of me disagrees . I don't necessarily believe that people in prison should be given any special treatment, yes everyone should be treated like a human but no one that has committed a SERIOUS crime should expect any help. She was a very interesting speaker with some very good ideas.

Nowhere to be home/Patriot Acts 11/22

Summary: The first story is about Kyaw Zwar who was born in Rangoon,Burma. Kyaw is a political organizer. Growing up he considered his family middle class. The Ne Win government abolished the currency notes so they lost all their money because it was worthless. Some people even burned their money. Students no longer had money for tuition, food, or transportation. Students were very angry and started protesting against the government. The protesting got intense and the army soldiers starting shooting at the students. When he was put in prison they said that there couldn't be any "political prisoners" so they went on a hunger strike. When he was in prison he was beaten and extremely mistreated. The second story was about Adama Bah who was born in Koubia,Guinea. She came to the United States with her mother when she turned 2 years old. She attended public school until she was in seventh grade. She refused to pledge allegiance to the flag of the Unites States of America. She said " I am not an American now. I am a refugee."

Comment: Reading these stories, just like the other stories was very difficult to read. It's hard to think that they had to go through all these things. They were treated very poorly. When I read Adama's story I wasn't really surprised at how poorly she was treated and that is sad. There is obviously something wrong with our country if I was not surprised about that. People do not deserve to be treated like that, especially in our country. People come to this country to be free, and to be able to live a better life. So in my opinion if someone comes here for a better life then we should respect that, we shouldn't have anything negative to say about them. Everyone deserves an equal chance at being happy and being successful. Especially in our country, the land of the free. 

Out of Exile and Hope Deferred 11/17

Summary: The first story is about Achol Mayuol who was born in Marial Bai, South Sudan. Her along with many other children were taken when the Murahaleen attacked Marial Bai. They were told that their parents were killed and that their village was gone. "They were selling cattle at the same location. We were the same as the cattle." She was sold to a rich old man and had four kids. When she was taken into town with her children and her owner she was recognized by some Dinka men which helped free her and she was able to return home to Marial Bai and be free. The second story is about Alweel Kol who was born in Mulmul, South Sudan. Allele was only ten years old when she lost both of her parents. She continued going to school after she escaped and she lived with a very nice family. She got married to a man named Akaich when she was still in high school. When she got married she was pretty much considered his property and he could do whatever he wanted with her. She had a child with him, and not even a year later she got pregnant again but Bkaich claimed it was not his child even though it was. She was raped while in prison and became pregnant due to the rape. The third story was about Pamela and Themba who were born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Pamela grew up in a nice house and lived a modest life. This was during the time of the "Black Market", there were shortages everywhere, even food shortages. When Pamela and Themba had children it was very difficult for them to live. They had to decide to either stay with their children and watch them starve, or leave their children in order to go work somewhere else and send them money for food and other stuff.
Comment:  These stories just like all of the others we have read are very interesting and heart felt stories. Whenever I read these stories I feel very grateful for all that I have and I think about how good I have things in my life. There are also times when I read a story and I am able to relate back to it. One thing I found sad especially in these particular stories is when Achol said "We are the same as cattle." I don't think anyone should ever have to feel like this, shouldn't have to feel any less than human. Something else that I found very touching and that got me thinking was Pamela and Themba's story about their lives and how things changed for them when they had their children. Like every parent they just wanted what was best for their children and I think in those circumstances it was hard for them to actually give their children what they deserved. If I were in that situation and I was't able to give my kids what they needed then I don't know how I would feel.