Drug War Facts

      The Book Drug War Facts by Common sense of drug policy talks about facts and claims that were made for the so called "Drug War". To put things in better perspective, Statistics given by the book shows how the majority of people using drugs are in fact not Colored and Hispanics but White people. From 9.9million Whites(72%), 2.0million for Blacks(15%) and 1.4million for Hispanics(10%). People have done the research and these are the numbers of people using drugs in America. The book makes another very important claim  and it is; That in 2001 statistics shows that the chance of a person of Hispanic and Black decent were more likely to be imprisoned, but it was the lowest for the White person(32.2% Blacks,17.2% Hispanics, 5.9% White). Don't you think  we should rethink our ways in the system? isn't it important for us to know these facts instead of feeding us the wrong idea. Why is it that stop and frisks  happen a lot more for people of color?  But this shows that White people use a lot more illegal drugs than those of color. This is important to know but why don't we really hear about this? Are we pushing the idea of a stereotype a little too much, to the point that we are color blind.

       They did another study for people using and dying from illegal and prescribed drugs. It is quite amazing how the book talks about these information. I would never have thought about these things by my self. The book shows an over all estimate of 17,00 deaths in the year 2000 for people dieing from using illegal drugs. but whats surprising is that, also the book points out that approximately 32,00 hospitalized patients dying from adverse reaction to the prescribed drug, possible 106,000 for the whole USA. This means that because of the harsh medication or allergic reaction the body is unable to coup up with the pressure it just shuts down and kills the person. Its important to note that although drug use kills alot of people from over dosing them selves, why is it that there is no law towards prescribed drugs that can be lethal towards a person health. Even though it is prescribed by a doctor, id be left with a question; Am i putting my life or a loved one in the hands of doctors that can kill with harsh medications. What would happen then if that would happen?

       finally there is one last remaining fact that the book talks about. It shows that 4 out of 10 convicted murders that are in jail or state penitentiary, half of that who were convicted or in probation had alcohol in their system. alcohol played a big factor towards these crimes. its as if they were not  drunk they would not have committed those crimes.

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Common Sense for Drug Policy

`Chinese Girl in the Ghetto reactions

In her memoir Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, Ying Ma expresses both resentment and a feeling of superiority towards everyone in her community.  She thinks she is better than other Chinese people because she chooses to fight back against the system of racial oppression rather than turning the other cheek. Even while she participates in the violence of the "ghetto" she feels like she is above other students because she excels in academics. She thinks she's better than other students in her academically gifted classes, who are mostly financially privileged and white, because she struggles against a lot more odds to succeed academically. Ultimately her book comes off as self-righteous and arrogant and she seems unable to see her own racism because she is blinded by her own experiences.

After getting into a fight with a Latina girl in which none of her Chinese peers intervene, Ying Ma seems to feel that she is the only fighter in her ethnic community. She takes pride in the fact that she fights back against people who make racist comments about Asians. In her experience other Chinese people do not fight back, but instead stay silent in the face of racism. She herself frequently takes this stance, but her ethnic pride comes into play when she violently retaliates against racist comments. In this instance she stands alone, showing that she does not feel ethnic pride in connection to her ethnic community. Instead her pride separates her from her Chinese peers and makes her feel superior to them because she stands alone against the system of racial oppression.This is a very individualistic version of ethnic pride, which is almost contradictory because we think of ethnic pride as being proud of a group to which you belong. In her case, she does not show that.

By John Oco, Yanping Tan and Clara Leonor Cruz

Responsibilities and Stress for a LaGuardia student

                        Being a student is never an easy task, you will be constantly challenged on a daily bases. let me assure you that there will be a lot of "staying up late". but you wont be partying, instead you'll be studding, procrastinating on an essay that's due the next day, studding for your midterms, reading articles that are so long and so boring; you cant do nothing about it but read it. these are some of the stresses that a LaGuardia student faces, these are the stresses of being a student.

                       Being a LaGuardia student is always a challenge, alot of us including me come from a middle class family the "Working class" as they would say it. My parents can barely pay the college tuition, i do not have financial aid and my parents are paying cash every month till i graduate. Yes i wont be stuck with debt when i graduate! That's if i graduate. See a lot of kids from the minority cant stay in College because of  high tuition. That's a big stress for us students, and now Im hearing that the tuition is suppose to go up. We as students need help for our education. Now i my self is a working student, you know to help out the parents buy my own books, buy metro card for school, some money in my pocket. But an increase on my tuition. i don't know if i cant still go to school by then. Like a lot of students like my self, it might be too much for us financially speaking that is. For the CUNY system are we not entitled  to our education? is a college degree impossible for to acquire?


                      

Blog assignment

Race is socially constructed and it is created in a false manner intended to mislead people. I will be writing about racial topics and segregation. Through research three main points come to mind; is race a way to segregate each and every one, race and gender is a very unfair and sensitive topic, and how race is simultaneously constructed by history.

Race is a way to segregate each race from one another. The system operates differently everywhere you go but there is always one common conflict which is segregation between races. Articles like The Black Diaspora in Costa Rica by Bourgos Philipe. He argues how the blacks were more favored in British West Indies than the Latinos. To make long story short blacks were more favored because they had similar cultural ideology, language and values. But most of all they knew their racial structure. They had more opportunities than the native Costa Rican’s blacks had more opportunities they worked in the fields get paid decently and also able to own land. Which also leading to create a black middle class. Another article makes a similar argument. The Indian-white boundary in South Dakota by Thomas Biolsi, he argues how Native American Indian weren't treated as citizens. They were so segregated that they had to negotiate benefits from the American government.  Segregated to the point that a state trooper could only arrest non-Indians, and a tribal officer could only arrest an Indian not a white man. South Dakota government enforced the idea of “the one drop rule”. This means that either you were white or you’re not. This applied to blacks and Indians; one is not a little bit black. If you had black or Indian blood and had blonde and blue eyes you still was considered colored and non-white. 

So yeah i only got to this part.... 

              In the novel Untouchable, we see a world where a caste system is in play and people are segregated into different types of classes.  The novel takes place in an Indian society and is in British rule, it talks about how the British culture interacts with a young "untouchable" man. The main character Bakha the young untouchable man seems to question the Indian society for the caste system that he is in. he is often called such mean and hurtful names which i would rather not mention. He see the British as an icon, he is astonished on how the British culture works.

              The novel highlights the issues of  racial formation by showing Bakhas experience of that. He is often always dealing with the stereotypical Indian people, for he is an untouchable the society sees him as inferior and undesirable. It is important to know that Indian society enforced this paradigm of "caste system" to each and every one. wither British, Hindu or Muslim the ideology of the caste system explains how people act and how they are. The caste system acts a lot like racial formation for it too creates racial categories from a white hierarchy to the bottom an untouchable where Bakha is. For a young untouchable man he too is hungry of power, he is in the lowest class but yet he tries make him self look like the British. based on Bakha point of view he is actually experiencing false consciousness he, should live his own life being a Hindu rather than wanting to be British. he is astonished on how the British culture is, Bakha wants to be like the dominant white that shows how he is hunger of power. His ideology of powers comes from the image of a white man. He sees the white man as an icon but yet the white man are the ones who enforced this idea of racial categories. But also it is important to know that because of how society acts around Bakha, emotions are the ones that make him see the white man as an ideal person. Because in society he is treated harshly, he is blinded by his emotions and that's what makes him desire the white man's life style.

Race and Culture cluster

            It is really quite amazing how college made me realize things i would never have even thought about. How society enforced the idea of race to each and every one of us just to label us different from one another. The Race and Culture cluster made me realize how race is connected to culture it is a very touchy topic. Race is always connected with culture, for culture makes everyone's ideology in life different. and with this difference we are always in differentiated with elite white man". for having white skin seems to have power among other races but all of this was all socially constructed.

           Through classes like Anthropology and Sociology Ive come to realize that me and you are not so different  we may look different but inside we are more alike than people think. it is important to know that we as human species came from one scientific Adam and one scientific Eve. And different cultures that we are exposed to make our unique personalities. In less than 3 months this cluster has made me look at the different side of society. I am excited to learn more about how society operates with each day goes by something new happens.

               
  First of all i would have never found this interesting if it wasnt for twitte. Through Gregory Lobo Jost  realized how the Bronx has a lot of potential, also i always had an idea of how expensive it is to live in Manhattan. But i never really imaged it to be like this, the average two-bedroom apartment is selling for $1.8 million. Now for a two bedroom apartment in Queens it would be i guess in the range of $1,300-2,200 a month, for $1.8million id be set with that money. I wouldn't spend money just like that, thats crazy. now excuse me for my slang "it ain't trickn if you got it" but with what Gregory is pointing out are reasonable prices in the Bronx And actually if i had the money i would invest on it my self. But also i wanna point that I too would love to live in Manhattan, who wouldnt its the richest island i should say.