THE ROCK IN MY STOMACH, THE RACISM IN MY BLOOD
"If nothing ever changed, there'd be not butterflies." –Author Unknown
Change, it usually leads to beauty. Then why do I have this rock in my stomach, why am I so confused, so worried, so frightened? Could this beautiful butterfly turn out to be a moth? Change, was a word heard every day during this historical election. On every poster in yards, in the debates, and in their speeches. "The Change We Need."
Obama and McCain both preached this message and the crowds would go wild. That is what everyone seemed to want, same with me, I wanted change, but did I get a little more than I bargained for? I got America's first black president, one of its youngest presidents, with brand new radical ideas. One I feel is a new idea, and I don’t really agree with is Obamas idea of taking from the rich giving to the poor. I believe, along with my family and what other presidents enforced, in the trickle down effect, the traditional method we have used for years, and that those who work hard for their money, deserve it.
When I saw Obamas votes rise further and further above McCain's I froze. It finally hit me, we aren't going to have another white haired, old wrinkly, republican president. At the age of 16 this is all I know of and for many others have known.
Change, "Change is never easy"- Naomi Judd. I have always believed this, and that humans are afraid of drastic change, naturally, that is just who we are, but at the moment I feel as if I am the only one that feels this way. Could I just be the typical Republican, who stereotypically believes in not that much change, believes in tradition, or could it be more then that?
Could these feelings inside me go back decades ever centuries? My family has never really been associated with black people, not purposely, it has just seemed to happen that way. We have never really had good friends that were black, worked with many blacks or even go to school with many. My grandfather was never fond of them, didn’t like working with African Americans when it the army. This isn't his fault but he was raised in the south, raised with these racism beliefs. His and also my family tree could have had slave owners in it.
I had never had anything against African Americans, at least I thought I didn’t until this election. Once I heard we would have an African American leading our country, I felt that rock in my stomach, my very trustworthy gut feeling. I was scared, and didn't know why. I was worried with no explanation. Could this rock in my stomach be there because I have racism in my blood? I always listen carefully to my gut feeling. It isn't my peers or family’s beliefs that were fed to me, it isn't my hard head blocking my thinking, it is my unconscious feelings, which are fully pure. Could there really about to be something bad coming from this or do I just have my elders blood.
Change, will he change it all? Our whole lives, the stock market, the housing market, the job opportunities, and the taxes. We have heard his plans, and for some reason I don't trust that he will stick to his plans, for some reason I feel he has been lying about his plans this whole time, just giving his amazing speeches to get into office and then change some of what he said. This could also just be the racism in my blood, this untrustworthy feeling towards him, is that also all from my elders blood. The racism inside me I just can't really control.
Change, "After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look over it carefully. After five years, look over it with suspicion. After ten years throw it away and start all over." – Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July, 1958
Maybe this is true, maybe we do need to throw it all away and start all over. Coincidentally the year of 1958 was the year of Brown V. Board of Education, which was the beginning of the end of racism. Could it be time for change? Will a beautiful butterfly come from these years in a dark cocoon?
Am I just blinded by the fear of change and see a moth instead of a butterfly breaking from the dark cocoon? Except I do feel it is deeper then that, I do feel some racism arising inside me, and my love for tradition is just the cherry on top to bring on this fear of a African American leader. Do I still look down upon them, do I must still feel that whites should rule.
This is hard for me to say and probably hard for others to hear, but way deep down I do feel racism inside me, and this is where my fear is coming from, I am afraid of a black president. The racism in my blood is not nearly as strong as my elders, as if mine was filtered only leaving a little left in me, just enough to fear a black person with great power. Just enough left, that this conflict inside myself was just now brought up during this historical election. I must filter more of that racism out, so that I don’t doubt Obama, but support him as the next president of the United States, because I am ready for change, I am ready to see butterflies.
-Emily Stellick, 16
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Historical Campian
Today, Election day, but not just any election day, today is the election day that will make history. We could have our first black president, or our first vice president that is a female. Today it finally just hit me that we could have a black president, I was fine with it through this whole election until this morning, when it really came right down to it. I got scared if Obama did win, what would happen. I have never judge anyone by color, but I guess I am afraid of that much change, I want, and am comfortable with another old, white man, who has been in politics for a long time.
I wonder why I was feeling this way, I didn't understand, then I started to think, can a human have it engraved in their brain what happened in history, do I as a white person unconsciously still look down upon blacks, because of our history of slaves, and racism. Is that were this feeling of not believing Obama can correctly lead us. Then just think of the change of someone being younger, not looking like the old wrinkling, man with white hair sitting in office and leading us. We all want change, but do we truly, or do we go back to what has possibly been unconsciously engraved that we still look down at blacks, we still don't want this change when it really comes down to it.
This reminds me of even our human body, lets say you were stabbed in the leg once, if anything ever comes near that area that you were stabbed, no matter how many years later, your body will protect itself however it can from it happening again. Are we afraid of racial issues starting again because of a black president, and I am trying to protect myself.
I am back typing after an hour or so and Obama has 338 electoral votes and McCain only with only 127, therefore Obama won. I am the only person who had this feeling? Do others now have it because he is actually president? I am the only one with this feeling because of what my family believes about him? Or because I am a republican? Can we all truely handle this much change all at once? Or can just I? Should I be worried, is it right, does it mean I am racist? Others will probably think that way, maybe I am just afraid of such a change, and I am attatch to my own republican belief.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
What Ones Are At The Top Of Your List? Do You Agree Or Disagree With Me?-------(My Top Three Amendments)
A life with out these three amendments, would be a mess, would not be fair. This is why I feel that the three most important amendments in out Bill of Rights, besides the first amendment are the sixth, the ninth, and the tenth. First off, the sixth amendment guarantees the right of an accused person in criminal cases to a trial by jury, representation by an attorney, and a speedy trial. The promises the amendment makes to the people of the United States is that they are represented by an attorney, even if you can not afford to be, one will be assigned to you. This I feel makes a fair case, and a fair fight. Another part of this is that you actually get to go in front of a jury to plead you case. The last guarantee is a speedy trail. Can you imagine if you were accused of a crime, that you didn’t actually commit, and they postpone the trail for years and years. Without the promise to a speedy trial you could be stuck in jail for all those years and not even actually be guilty. It would only get worse if you couldn’t have someone defend you because you cannot afford an attorney, then you would have no chance of being free, you would end up stuck in jail because you don’t have enough money. And without this amendment to make it worse is if you didn’t even get the right to plead your case in front of a jury, meaning you will just get stuck in jail, with no evidence of a crime, no chance to fight against it. There are three extremely important rights inside this one amendment that promise a fair fight, for your freedom, if you really didn’t commit a crime.
Another amendment that I feel is important is the ninth amendment that declares that people have rights beyond those mentioned in the constitution. It is important, especially as days are changing that we can create new rights that every American citizen should be guaranteed. Such as the right to property, and the right to health care. The constitution sets what all laws are based off of, these are what few rights everyone has, and cannot be taken away, and we base almost everything off of these, but we still should be able to expand.
Without this amendment we would not have some rights like to health care, property, and a right to education. These are only three rights not written in the bill of rights. If health care was not a right everyone had, we wouldn’t be able to get into the hospital if we were seriously sick or injured, just because we can’t afford it. Should we get incredibly sick, of badly injured and have to deal with the pain, or maybe even the chance of death because and what if we can’t afford to get help. This is a right we all deserve, and shouldn’t be based on the amount of money one has.
The right to property, is important because it is only human to protect our property, to have valuables that cannot be broken into on our property, to feel safe from robbers breaking in, to protect our hard earned work, all the money we put into our houses, our cars, to know it is ours and that it is being protected by the government and this right that isn’t mentioned in the bill of rights but one that everyone should have.
The last right that I will discuss that is very important to us as people, and the reason we have it is because of the amendment stating that we have rights beyond those stated in the constitution, is the right to education. Education is important to everyone, and everyone deserves a equal chance to a life with a good education. This has been denied to blacks during slavery, and in some other countries to women. We are lucky to have the right to education, to not be denied a successful career, not be denied to learn, to read wonderful books, reach our full potential as possible writers, mathematicians and scientists. Without the eighth amendment, we would not be able to expand on the rights inside the Bill of Rights, therefore possibly denying these few examples of a persons right to health care, property and education, plus many more which were not discussed.
The tenth amendment I feel, is one of the most important out of the three I picked, it declares that powers not specifically given to the federal government belong to the states or the people. This is what democracy runs off of, that one person does not have all power and the people have some and that is split across multiple governments, including state and local governments. If the government were to have all the power we would have no say in our lives, in the laws we have to follow, in creating laws to make a better country, we wouldn't get to have a say in anything. Everyone gets power hungry, it is only human nature, with this amendment we can hold back from the amount of power one person gets, creating our democracy. Without this amendment we could become a place ruled by unlimited power, becoming a country with a government system of monarchy, a place where there is one leader, controlling everything. If would be possible that we become a communism, our leaders are greedy for power and money, with the government system of communism, where we are led by one group, who also controls our economics. So much could happen, and the way I see it, the way our country is ran can only get worse with out this amendment holding back our government they could take over.
I think that at times the tenth amendment is being violated. That our government is getting bigger and bigger. It seems that all the time, we are adding more laws, therefore needing more government officials to make sure everyone is following them. This makes our government system larger and larger, seeming to watch and control a lot that we do. I think we should have more freedom and watch out for ourselves. I don’t know if other see the government growing larger and larger, but I think it is happening and I also believe that at one point it will become to big and powerful and the only way to fix it, is to get rid of all our laws go back to the basic amendments and start over.
This is a good question I think for everyone to answer, do you think our government is growing bigger and bigger and sneakily over time gaining more and more power with out us much realizing it. The other part of this is, are the people making it happen, I mean we are the ones proposing new laws, and also voting for them, so is it all the people of this countries fault and will we just have to deal with it, once if it happens they are controlling everything.
Another amendment that I feel is important is the ninth amendment that declares that people have rights beyond those mentioned in the constitution. It is important, especially as days are changing that we can create new rights that every American citizen should be guaranteed. Such as the right to property, and the right to health care. The constitution sets what all laws are based off of, these are what few rights everyone has, and cannot be taken away, and we base almost everything off of these, but we still should be able to expand.
Without this amendment we would not have some rights like to health care, property, and a right to education. These are only three rights not written in the bill of rights. If health care was not a right everyone had, we wouldn’t be able to get into the hospital if we were seriously sick or injured, just because we can’t afford it. Should we get incredibly sick, of badly injured and have to deal with the pain, or maybe even the chance of death because and what if we can’t afford to get help. This is a right we all deserve, and shouldn’t be based on the amount of money one has.
The right to property, is important because it is only human to protect our property, to have valuables that cannot be broken into on our property, to feel safe from robbers breaking in, to protect our hard earned work, all the money we put into our houses, our cars, to know it is ours and that it is being protected by the government and this right that isn’t mentioned in the bill of rights but one that everyone should have.
The last right that I will discuss that is very important to us as people, and the reason we have it is because of the amendment stating that we have rights beyond those stated in the constitution, is the right to education. Education is important to everyone, and everyone deserves a equal chance to a life with a good education. This has been denied to blacks during slavery, and in some other countries to women. We are lucky to have the right to education, to not be denied a successful career, not be denied to learn, to read wonderful books, reach our full potential as possible writers, mathematicians and scientists. Without the eighth amendment, we would not be able to expand on the rights inside the Bill of Rights, therefore possibly denying these few examples of a persons right to health care, property and education, plus many more which were not discussed.
The tenth amendment I feel, is one of the most important out of the three I picked, it declares that powers not specifically given to the federal government belong to the states or the people. This is what democracy runs off of, that one person does not have all power and the people have some and that is split across multiple governments, including state and local governments. If the government were to have all the power we would have no say in our lives, in the laws we have to follow, in creating laws to make a better country, we wouldn't get to have a say in anything. Everyone gets power hungry, it is only human nature, with this amendment we can hold back from the amount of power one person gets, creating our democracy. Without this amendment we could become a place ruled by unlimited power, becoming a country with a government system of monarchy, a place where there is one leader, controlling everything. If would be possible that we become a communism, our leaders are greedy for power and money, with the government system of communism, where we are led by one group, who also controls our economics. So much could happen, and the way I see it, the way our country is ran can only get worse with out this amendment holding back our government they could take over.
I think that at times the tenth amendment is being violated. That our government is getting bigger and bigger. It seems that all the time, we are adding more laws, therefore needing more government officials to make sure everyone is following them. This makes our government system larger and larger, seeming to watch and control a lot that we do. I think we should have more freedom and watch out for ourselves. I don’t know if other see the government growing larger and larger, but I think it is happening and I also believe that at one point it will become to big and powerful and the only way to fix it, is to get rid of all our laws go back to the basic amendments and start over.
This is a good question I think for everyone to answer, do you think our government is growing bigger and bigger and sneakily over time gaining more and more power with out us much realizing it. The other part of this is, are the people making it happen, I mean we are the ones proposing new laws, and also voting for them, so is it all the people of this countries fault and will we just have to deal with it, once if it happens they are controlling everything.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Limited Government
Limited Government
Do we still have limited government? It is hard to know if we do, or not because we have so much but is it all actually needed. In the constitution limited to just the amount necessary to protect our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now htere is so much more to granting these rights. We must make sure we are protected from other countries, we all have health care and education. We all have equal taxes, and equal pay for our work. Which leads to the question of do we need all of the government and laws we have today? Did when we had less government we have less to protect? I don't think we did, so why do we have so many laws, and leaders now?
Do we still have limited government? It is hard to know if we do, or not because we have so much but is it all actually needed. In the constitution limited to just the amount necessary to protect our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now htere is so much more to granting these rights. We must make sure we are protected from other countries, we all have health care and education. We all have equal taxes, and equal pay for our work. Which leads to the question of do we need all of the government and laws we have today? Did when we had less government we have less to protect? I don't think we did, so why do we have so many laws, and leaders now?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Democracy
Democracy isn't perfect but it is better then other forms.
I agree completely with this statement. It isn't perfect but what is, we the people get to choose what we want. We get to vote for what we beleive in, this helps us make our country what we want it to be. We also have regulations, and everybody can't be happy, but the majority can. This creates a question of should we just be making the majority happy? What about everyone else, what if their ideas will keep us safer, keep us all happy in the long run, or just actually really be better for our country.
The problem with that is that no one ever seems to listen to the other opinion that is out there anymore only the one that agrees with there own. Can we ever truely have a conversation deciding what is truely right anymore? I don't think we can becuase we have split ourselves up into two seperate groups, or two seperate main groups, democrats and republicans. I don't feel that almost anyone, especially the ones involved in government can talk about what would be good for this country, becuase one can't agree with the other.
Say a republican and a democrat sat down to talk about the war, and just for example it would truely be best if we stayed in the war in Iraq. The democrat would never go against his beleif he was raised on, he spoke upon, and supported, becuase he just can't listen to the other side becuase of how split up our nation. And vis versa for a republican not listening. They will just think of reasons why that wouldn't work and that is all that would come to mind.
Becuase of this we will never know what is truely right for us, and we will never hear the other side, which couldn't be good, and is scary to think we all live in one nation and are yet so far apart and lack the understanding of one another.
I agree completely with this statement. It isn't perfect but what is, we the people get to choose what we want. We get to vote for what we beleive in, this helps us make our country what we want it to be. We also have regulations, and everybody can't be happy, but the majority can. This creates a question of should we just be making the majority happy? What about everyone else, what if their ideas will keep us safer, keep us all happy in the long run, or just actually really be better for our country.
The problem with that is that no one ever seems to listen to the other opinion that is out there anymore only the one that agrees with there own. Can we ever truely have a conversation deciding what is truely right anymore? I don't think we can becuase we have split ourselves up into two seperate groups, or two seperate main groups, democrats and republicans. I don't feel that almost anyone, especially the ones involved in government can talk about what would be good for this country, becuase one can't agree with the other.
Say a republican and a democrat sat down to talk about the war, and just for example it would truely be best if we stayed in the war in Iraq. The democrat would never go against his beleif he was raised on, he spoke upon, and supported, becuase he just can't listen to the other side becuase of how split up our nation. And vis versa for a republican not listening. They will just think of reasons why that wouldn't work and that is all that would come to mind.
Becuase of this we will never know what is truely right for us, and we will never hear the other side, which couldn't be good, and is scary to think we all live in one nation and are yet so far apart and lack the understanding of one another.
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