Equal Means Equal

I had what I would consider to be a very unique high school experience. The past four years of my life have been spent at an all girl high school. I fully credit Immaculate Heart Academy for making me the woman I am today. As corny as it many sound I believe in girl power; I believe that I am strong and can do any job an man could do if not even better. I want to be a woman in a position of power. Men once made all the decisions; for the family, and for the country but not anymore.

This country has struggled since the beginning with treating all persons equal. Besides race, a persons sex has always caused an unbalance between genders. If you read the original constitution women were excluded completely; "all men" nothing that included women. Our opinion and speech was unimportant and didn't deserve a right to vote. So many women fought so hard to gain our rights in this country . We now have the same rights as everyone else but there is still a power imbalance. So few women hold positions of power in government, in the business world, and even with athletics. We've made progress but the United States is still male dominated in many aspects. Equal means equal and the strive for equality will not stop until achieve it.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/former-first-lady-rosalynn-carter/international-womens-day_b_9405192.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

We May Need To Add To The First Amendment

Today anything can be captured in a picture or recorded. This generation is so tech savvy with all of our devices that people can easily capture any moment they desire. Lately, its been the new trend to film those in a position of power to expose them for what they are truly doing. Police officers have been at the height of this issue . Every time I'm watching the news or even scrolling on Facebook I come across at least five new videos of Police Officers being taped while on the job. A lot of the time if the Police Officers are aware they are being recorded they will confiscate the device or erase the footage. 

There was a recent ruling in a first amendment case that does not protect the "filming" of police officers under the first amendment . Those who would film the police and then have their film confiscated or deleted claim that the police were violating their first amendment right. The judge in this instance had ruled that the filming was not protected under the fist amendment. The judge had said "we find no basis to craft a new First Amendment right based solely on 'observing and recording.'"

I agree with the judge that under the first amendment observing and recording isn't protected. It's not technically expressive action so there is a gap in this situation. Maybe our constitution needs another change, it has been done before many times as we evolve as a nation. Today's generation is very different from the time the Constitution was written; there were no cameras, no cell phones, no technology. We are a very technologically advanced society and sometimes changes need to be made or new rights need to be added in order to continue to protect the rights of Americans. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/filming-police-isnt-a-first-amendment-right-federal-judge-rules_us_56d5d57ce4b03260bf783785

Apple Having Their Rights Violated By The Government?

Recently I've been following the news and story of Apple refusing to unlock the one of the shooters phone in the San Bernardo case. Apple is lining up their case as unconstitutional under the first and fifth amendments. I find this case to be very interesting because due to my First Year Seminar class I fully understand how Apple is bringing this up as unconstitutional and how it works. Apple is claiming under the first amendment that the code they need to provide is speech and that they can not be forced to do this under the protection of the first amendment. The FBI is a federal run institution so I agree that under the First amendment apple is and should be fully protected.

In class we discussed a very similar situation to the Apple one. In North Carolina, non-union workers were being forced to pay union dues although they were not apart of it nor supported it. These workers sued under the first amendment by saying them paying the union was action as speech. This action was actually speech because it was non-verbally giving support to the union. Apple is claiming the same argument here; the code they have to provide is expressive speech.

Apple is also claiming under the fifth amendment that the government is violating the right "to be free from arbitrary deprivation of its liberty by government" ( Goldman, Pagliery, Segall). I couldn’t agree more with the argument apple is making under the constitution. 

Apple is having their rights violated directly by the government and they can not be forced to do what the FBI is asking them unless we are planning on rewriting the constitution.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/25/technology/apple-fbi-response/

Has Society Made Progress?

If one thing has control over everyone's life today it's social media. I know social media is something I'm on everyday. I'm not even on social media for entertaining purposes anymore, its now how I get updates for groups, sports, and even academics that I'm involved in. People all over the world are on social media today, even my ten year old sister has a facebook, snapchat, etc. It's crazy how far and dependent people have become on social media.

Lately I've been seeing a lot having to do with the election all over social media, especially on facebook and twitter. I usually come across videos of Donald Trump's campaign or conversations of people attacking each other over social media. The things people say to each other on social media are not only repulsive but makes it seem like we have made no progress since the civil rights era. I read an article about a woman, a black woman who made a tweet about Donald Trump and the backlash she received was just absurd. Her tweet was "It scares me. Especially when I get hate mail alluding to how Trump will "fix" black people. Idk what that means and I am afraid to know." So many people responded to this tweet with racial slurs towards the woman. It made me sad that she was being attacked for expressing her opinion.
In almost every response tweet I read was people telling her to go back to Africa or to get used to living in a country with white power. One person actually said that when Donald Trump wins "to be fair he will give you the choice between slavery or deportation." This behavior makes me wonder if our country has made any progress at all since the civil rights error and even before then. Social makes it so easy for all of the ignorant people out there to attack anyone who is different from their narrow mindset. I hope one day the Internet won't be such a harsh place of people constantly attacking each other

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-tweeted-about-donald-trump_us_56cdd804e4b041136f18fc9a

Racism; a problem as old as time

Racism is still very apparent in the culture that we live in today. It's been around for so long . I can go back to my earliest memories as a child and remember adults making racial slurs at others or even children making racial slurs to other children. It's sad to think back on all the progress this country has made on racism but realize that it may never disappear and always be present in our lives.

As a Biology major I understand how genetics work and how you are passed down traits from your parents and for the most part that is where your appearance comes from. Skin color, eye color, hair color, they are all just traits. There is no trait that is better than the other. Variation is what is good and keeps us thriving. So to me, judging someone based on their appearance or skin just makes absolutely no sense. We are a modern society, we are developed, it really is a shame that we still have to deal with racism.

I really do feel as though racism is one of the biggest issues we are currently dealing with in our country. Every time I turn on the news or look on Facebook there is a new story about police brutality or Donald Trump blaming other races for issues in our country. Riots happen all the time over this issue and people die for this. I really hope one day that we can figure it out. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-e-patterson/the-2016-race-is-deja-vu-_b_9293178.html

Can School Dress Code Violate First Amendment Rights ?

The clothes that people wear are one of the various ways in which an individual can express themselves. Ever since I was little I can remember the public school system always restricting what I wore. I remember instances where I, a twelve year old girl would be sent to the office on a hot day in June for wearing a tank top. My mother would be called and be asked to bring a t-shirt that would be less distracting or more appropriate to fit dress code standards. I recall this happening over the years in the public school system to virtually everyone. From girls to boys and even teachers, the public school system takes away the freedom of one's expression. I even recall the principal announcing that the school system could in fact do what they wanted because we lose our rights in school.

In the eighth grade I distinctly remember this one instance where a girl in my class liked to use clothing as a way to express her beliefs. She wore shirts, bracelets, and even hats supporting and raising awareness for lesbian and gay rights. My middle school especially targeted this girl for using clothing to express herself. Everyday she would come in and wear something to stand for what she believed in and everyday she would be given a plain t-shirt to cover what she was wearing or asked to remove her accessories and then sit in detention after school. This memory came back to me when I came across a dispute brought about in a Tennessee school. In Sequoayh High school was where a boy was told he could not wear a shirt for the GSA (gay-straight alliance) club. The school actually had to review their dress code and allow the boy to wear shirts like these because this act by the school was violating his first amendment right. The first amendment protects the right to express oneself through clothing among other things. Clothing everywhere is how people not only express their beliefs but show support for what they believe in. Government institutions can not tell one how to dress as long as it does not cause "substantial disruption" (ACLU) . Had I understood my rights under the first amendment when I attended public school, I would have felt much more comfortable expressing myself via my clothing.  

https://www.aclu.org/news/tennessee-high-school-affirms-students-first-amendment-rights-after-dispute-over-gay-straight