U.S. Finds Pervasive Bias Against Latinos by Arizona Sheriff

PHOENIX — In a strongly worded critique of the country’s best-known sheriff, the Justice Department on Thursday accused Sheriff Joe Arpaio of engaging in “unconstitutional policing” by unfairly targeting Latinos for detention and arrest and retaliating against those who complain.

After an investigation that lasted more than three years, the civil rights division of the Justice Department said in a 22-page report that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which Mr. Arpaio leads, had “a pervasive culture of discriminatory bias against Latinos” that “reaches the highest levels of the agency.” The department interfered with the inquiry, the government said, prompting a lawsuit that eventually led Sheriff Arpaio and his deputies to cooperate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/us/arizona-sheriffs-office-unfairly-targeted-latinos-justice-department-says.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail1=y&_r=1&emc=tnt

"If you're gay or thought to be gay, life just isn't worth living."

This Article And Myself:

It hits close to home...

I come from a small town in Oregon. A tiny Farming community where everyone knew everyone. Men took pride in manly things, Woman in their homemade ribbons. A pretty calm community. Of course there were bullies, jocks, preps, and nerds but nobody ever mentioned "the gays" because, of course, that was because they didn't exist-- or so we thought.

I grew up with the same 60 kids in my graduating class. new kids came and went and we never really noticed or cared much. difference didn't mean as much as it did when we got into high school. Finally a new door opened, gays and lesbians came out. No one in our school knew how to handle it so they did what humans normally do when dealing with change-- criticizes.

They mocked. They hazed. They bullied the few who were called the "fags". Unfortunately, among them was a dear friend of mine. She told me the things she went through. Depression. Cutting. Starving. All for what? Because no one could accept her for who she was.

sooner or later friends of gays or lesbians started to speak up. Even those who used to bully were changing because their cruelties were catching up to them. Support groups emerged and things got better. society and Lady Gaga made it clear that people like that were "Born this way" and we had to accept them. This idea has been greatly accepted, to no surprise of mine. Finally those who were "different" have a place.... But this still makes me wonder why, if being gay is so accepted now, there are still so many young people going through all the agony? Are we generalizing any sort of difference (same-sex attraction, sex-changes, ect..) as gay or lesbian? Is there any effective way of supporting the victims of bullying without being victimized by those against "supporting the gays"?

Tell Me What You Think? Has Anyone You Knew Or Loved Gone Through Anything Similar To This? How Did You Help Them?

How This Affects All of Us

September 9: Billy Lucas, age 15, of Greensburg, Indiana, hanged himself from the rafters of his family's barn. September 19: Seth Walsh, 13, of Tehachapi, California, hanged himself from a tree in his yard. September 22: Tyler Clementi, 18, a Rutgers University freshman, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York City. September 23: Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, Texas, shot himself in the head. These four boys didn't know each other, but they did have something in common. They'd been bullied at school, and one by one, they all apparently came to the same conclusion: If you're gay or thought to be gay, life just isn't worth living.

For most Americans the news reports were heartbreaking. They took us beyond our political arguments over gay marriage and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- even past our deeper disagreements about homosexuality. For once we could all agree: Those kids should be in their classrooms, not in caskets.

September's gruesome trend raised pressing questions. Homosexuality appears to be more widely tolerated than ever: Fifty-two percent of Americans consider it morally acceptable, according to a recent Gallup poll. Kids can join gay-straight alliance groups at more than 4,000 high schools and more than 150 middle schools nationwide and find advice and support online. Yet according to the Journal of Adolescent Health, about one-third of gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens report an attempt at suicide. Why are so many still driven to try to take their own life?

"Despite recent cultural shifts, kids still get the overwhelming message from society that homosexuality is not acceptable," says Scott Quasha, PsyD, a professor of school psychology at Brooklyn College. It's not uncommon to hear fierce condemnation from politicians and preachers as they debate gay civil rights. Homosexuality is compared to incest, bestiality, even violent crime. "This trickles down into the schools, where bullying occurs," says Dr. Quasha. "A gay child is an easy target for classmates looking to make trouble."

Antigay bullying is something all parents should be concerned about, says Merle Bennett Buzzelli, who oversees the public school antiviolence program in Akron, Ohio. "The victims are not just students who are actually gay," she points out -- the abuse is also directed at straight kids who don't quite fit gender norms. Tomboyish girls and guys who show interest in, say, gymnastics or dance are often called the same names -- and subjected to the same ostracism and attacks -- as their gay and lesbian classmates. There's no evidence that Billy Lucas was gay, but he was "different," classmates said. Because of that, bullies called him "fag" and told him he didn't deserve to live. Of course, for kids who do experience same-sex attraction, the use of the word gay as an all-purpose put-down is just one more painful indication that they don't fit in, whether or not they look or act any different from their peers, says Dr. Quasha.

"Being a teenager is tough enough," says Jody M. Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a national organization. "There's so much peer pressure. And when you're constantly getting messages that you're not okay, the pressure can just be too much. For some kids, it's hard to imagine that life will ever get better."

Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got

I personally do not believe in gay or lesbian relations at all, but I have to admit, I found this a little bit interesting.

"Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa."

I personally believe in the LDS "Proclamation to the World" which states that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. However, I have to admit, Zach here has a very good argument. I never believed that it was possible for gay or lesbians parents to have zero side effects on childen. I agree with Zach when he states that no one has independently found him to be different and suspect lesbian parents. I never would have known myself had he not mentioned it.

Is this the case majority of the time? Or is Zach and exception? Does the majority of children raised by gay or lesbian parents have other issues? It is something that I would like to see more research into. I don't know! I just know that I always thought there to be bad side effects but this shows otherwise.

Comment! Tell me what you think!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Speaks on LGBT Rights

In a speech given at the United Nations' human rights agency headquaters in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for all nations to recognize LGBT rights.

"Being LGBT does not make you less human," Clinton said. "That is why gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights."

Although her speech focused mostly on countries where LGBT people face widespread violence or legal prosecution for being gay or transgendered, Clinton's remarks are relevant to the struggles faced by LGBT Americans as well. Using changes in LGBT rights in the United States as an example, she claims that progress in the fight for human rights often comes from changes in laws: "In many places, including my own country, legal protections have preceded, not followed, broader recognition of rights. Laws have a teaching effect. Laws that discriminate validate other kinds of discrimination. Laws that require equal protections reinforce the moral imperative of equality. And practically speaking, it is often the case that laws must change before fears about change dissipate."

I think it is important for the Unites States to take a strong position against LGBT-related discrimination and violence, so I was quite impressed with Secretary Clinton's speech. I also like how she calls for respectful conversation and discussion about LGBT rights, which needs to replace the often hateful and divisive statements we hear from politicians and pundits here in the U.S. What do you guys think?

P.S. If you don't want to watch the 30-minute video, you can take a look at the transcript of the speech HERE.

Salt Lake area resident to walk across America for the DREAM

Shad Engkilterra

, Salt Lake City Community Activism Examiner

December 1, 2011 - Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates.

• 0

   
• Share
• Print
• Email

On November 30, 2011, Raymi Gutierrez spoke at the Salt Lake Community College Taylorsville Redwood Campus about her intention to walk across the United States in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

On March 10, 2012, five individuals, including Gutierrez, will set out from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to raise awareness of and support for the DREAM Act as part of the Campaign for an American DREAM.  Those who would qualify under the DREAM act are called DREAMers; those who stand with the DREAMers are Allies.

“I want to keep hope alive in DREAMers and their families,” says Gutierrez, an ally.

Gutierrez says that she has always lived in fear of the authorities but never really understood why.  Her parents were undocumented and have been threatened with deportation.  Gutierrez was born in the United States

Continue reading on Examiner.com Salt Lake area resident to walk across America for the DREAM - Salt Lake City Community Activism | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/community-activism-in-salt-lake-city/salt-lake-area-resident-to-walk-across-america-for-the-dream#ixzz1fsw0lkTE

I really hope this demonstration brings a lot of attention to the DREAM Act so it can be passed.  The DREAM Act is a bill that would grant citizenship to undocumented minors who were brought to the U.S. by their parents.  It seems unfair for these youth to be punished for the decisions of their parents, which is why we should grant them conditional citizenship and allow them to be contributing members of our society.  To be eligible for citizenship, these undocumented youth must have entered the U.S. before the age of sixteen, graduated from a U.S. high school, be of good moral character, among other qualifications.  This bill would be very beneficial for the children of undocumented immigrants as well as the nation as a whole.  


Mallory Fox Section 2

Church Bans Interracial Marriages

I can't believe this happened!

GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich Outlines His Plan to Control Illegal Immigration

What do you think about Newt Gingrich's plan?

Gay and Homeless

Here is a story that combines two of the key issues we discussed in class: poverty and sexual orientation:

In New York, Mexicans Lag in Education

 
Here is a sobering statistic:

About 41 percent of all Mexicans between ages 16 and 19 in the city have dropped out of school, according to census data.

Here are a list of possible explanations (from the article):

Many Mexicans are poor and in the country illegally.

Parents, many of them uneducated, often work in multiple jobs, leaving little time for involvement in their children’s education. 

Some are further isolated from their children’s school life because of language barriers or fear that contact with school officials may lead to deportation.

Unlike some other immigrant populations, like the Chinese, Mexicans have few programs for tutoring or mentoring. 

Many young illegal immigrants in New York City say there is no point in staying in school because their lack of legal status limits their access to college scholarships and employment opportunities.

Some drop out under the erroneous belief that they are not eligible to attend college.

Mexicans in the city have shallower roots, less stable households and higher rates of illegal immigration.

Many young Mexicans were compelled to get jobs to help their families.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/nyregion/mexicans-in-new-york-city-lag-in-education.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Mitt Romney's Immigration Stance Now Clear: Pressure Undocumented To Leave The Country

Given that Mitt Romney is looking more and more like the Republican candidate for president, here is an interesting article about his stance on immigration:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/mitt-romney-immigration-pressure-undocumented_n_1110704.html?ref=mitt-romney

Given what we have talked about in class, what do you think about his potential policies?

Town Meeting: Closing the Border

Should the Border Be Closed at All Costs and End Illegal Immigration?

We had a lively discussion, so I figured we could continue that online. Feel free to post questions and opinions on the topic here.

Small fishing boats smuggle people to California

As if border control issues weren't complicated enough, here is one more complicating factor:

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142133395/small-fishing-boats-smuggle-people-to-california

Herman Cain Not Attracting Black Voter Support

The LDS Church and Immigration Issues on the National Stage

Should Joe Paterno have been fired?

There is a major debate in the sports world right now over Penn State's head football coach, Joe Paterno, being fired yesterday. Essentially, the board of directors met and decided that it was "in the best interest of the school" to fire Joe Pa, as well as the president of the school. This decision comes amidst allegations of former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky had sexually assaulted a boy, believed to be 10 years old, in the showers of Penn State's football complex, Paterno did nothing more than inform athletic director Tim Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz of the allegation. Paterno never personally called police.Now you have to keep in mind that he was his personal friend, and that through Joe's decision literally held his future in his hands. So, he kept quiet, and now the 84 year old's legacy will be tarnished. In a statement made Paterno said, "This is a tragedy, It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

So, the question remains, is Joe a scapegoat taking the fall for the university, or did he truly deserve to be fired after 62 years?

Are you a racist?

I personally believe that one of the most important things we can do to become more accepting and tolerant of others is to become self-aware of the biases inside of us. Only once we understand our own biases and how and who we judge are we prepared to change. I am convinced that much of societies racial tension is created by people that aren't necessarily racist in the same sense that members of the KKK are. Much of the racial discrimination that occurs is more subtle than that. Indeed, I think it is safe to say that each of us has developed racial biases. If we aren't aware of these biases, and we don't control them, they could lead us to act like a racist.

So here is a tool that can help us to become more aware of our own racial biases. It is called the Race IAT, or Implicit Association Test. It was created by a group at Harvard University as part of a study. It reveals preference and bias in regards to race. Here's how you can do it:

1. Go to this link https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

2. Click on I wish to proceed

3. Choose the Race IAT (although there are lots of interesting tests you can take)

4. Answer the prompts and questions (you do have to provide a little information about yourself for the purpose of Harvard's study)

IS Everyone a little bit racist?

Couldn't help posting this song. Food for thought. ...Thoughts? ;)

Personally, I'd have to agree. I think we can't help but make judgement's based on race sometimes. As Kevin, our guest speaker said, we make 7 assumptions about people in the first 11 seconds of meeting them. 

Maybe we could live in harmony if we all admitted that are all a little bit racist, and then move on. ;) 

Immigrants Find Wealth Despite Knowing No English

Attached is an article from the times that explains the ability that a Mexican immigrant speaking no english was still able to amass a fortune. This is a rather interesting read because it takes the perspective of how this gentleman, as well as many other non english speaking immigrants have been able to find success and the common elements behind their success stories. Their success was all dependent upon capitalizing in areas that were densely populated with those that spoke the language of the entrepreneur. Very interesting read that is applicable to what we have been discussing in class regarding immigration and corresponding co-factors.

NY Times - Immigrant Entrepreneurs Succeed Without English

Secret Millionaire John Ferber Learns the Most Important Lesson

Lost in Detention

This is an excellent documentary about the current situation of immigration and the problems associated with mass detentions and deportations.

Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Jim Gilchrist's speech interrupted by a group of protesters.

I feel like both groups have the freedom to share their opinions; however, it was disrespectful for the students to storm into Jim Gilchrist’s speech. The issue with freedom of speech is that it is not well-defined and its limitations are not established.

I consider that freedom should be defined in order to avoid barbarous acts being done in its name. Also, I think that someone’s freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins. Jim Gilchrist’s is a clear advocate and founder of the minute-man and I am sure that he would have tried to persuade individuals to join his cause, but then again every speaker does that- they are trying to promote an agenda. I feel the students in this case had the right to stop something that might have endanger their well-being in the future; for instance, if his speech was going to cause a division or hatred towards them within their campus, then it was better to stop it before it even began.

Even though I feel storming in was an inappropriate way for the students to promote their opinion, I would have done the same thing. If the information the speaker was going to provide was targeted towards the discrimination, hatred, stereotyping, racism towards any human being, then I feel it would be my responsibility to stand up and say something.

The Income Gap, Explained With Candy Corn

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/29/141823761/the-income-gap-explained-with-candy-corn

South Dakota lawmakers interested in immigration crackdown

Published: Friday, Jan. 7, 2011 9:21 a.m. MST

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press

- 

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota lawmakers are interested in cracking down on illegal immigration.
More than half the lawmakers who responded to a survey by The Associated Press say they would support a bill similar to an Arizona law that directs police enforcing other laws to ask about a suspect's immigration status if there's reason to believe that person is in the U.S. illegally. More than half also would support a measure to penalize people who knowingly hire or help illegal immigrants.
The proposals drew more support from Republicans than from Democrats.
Legislative leaders say the fate of the proposals will depend on the details in the bills. They also acknowledge that illegal immigration is not as big a problem in South Dakota as in other states.

I read this and thought of the video of the man who was part of the Minute Men,and how psycho he was about not helping the illegal immigrants. But I the main question I thought about was about the people who are helping these immigrants by giving them jobs. Should these people hiring illegal immigrants be penalized? For those who are hiring people, should this rule be enforced more of not hiring illegal immigrants knowingly?

Really posted by Adam Seelos

Reparations for African Americans

We had our first town meeting:

Should reparations be paid to African American slave descendents to compensate for the atrocities of slavery?

We had a lively discussion, so I figured we could continue that online. Feel free to post questions and opinions on the topic here.

Transgender Children

The video above is about a young boy who wanted to join the Girl Scouts, but was denied. The boy is clearly transgender, as he looks and acts like a girl. However, the Scout leader said that "It doesn't matter how he looks; he has boy parts, he can't be in Girl Scouts." While the interview with the boy was interesting, I found that the follow up commentary between the two news anchors and a psychologist, Dr. Worthy, were the most enlightening. I was expecting the psychologist to look down upon the transgender child and blame it on bad parenting, but instead, he gave the analogy of a child being a rock, and how parents can only smooth out the edges, and they can't completely change the "rock" without breaking it into pieces. "We determine great people by who they are...not by how they dress or the color of their skin," Dr. Worthy said. However, despite the fact that news anchors and Dr. Worthy were sympathetic and kind towards Bobby, I don't think that Dr. Worthy's statement is correct. Bobby will go through hard trials throughout his life because of his circumstance because we, as humans, are quick to make judgments without knowing all of the facts. While Dr. Worthy didn't go on about how Bobby can be "fixed" he talked about how Bobby needs to lay low and not become a target for other children, which emphasizes the fact that society is not ready to be completely accepting of everyone. I really liked what the femaile news anchor said at the end (at around the 5 minute mark), about how adults put their preconceived notions on children before they are even old enough to understand what is going on in the world. "We create our children's narrative about the world," Dr. Worthy said, and that we will not find a greater willingness to accept others for who they are until we start to change the way that we talk to our children about a touchy subject, like a transgender child.

-Monica Tillman

Risks Seen for Children of Illegal Immigrants

This was an interesting article I found as we have started to discuss illegal immigration, and see how it is a very complex issue. In the article it talks about how "an unauthorized status really extends to citizen as well as undocumented children on cognitive development, engagement in school, and the ability of to be a citizen." Also it brings up "teenagers, children without legal status face a hard awakening when they apply for jobs, driver’s licenses or financial aid for college and discover they are not legally qualified for any of them. Their paths diverge from siblings who are American citizens by birthright." It brings up the question if the U.S. extends a way for these parents to be legal will it really help remove these various risks for children found in the study?

Risks Seen for Children of Illegal Immigrants

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: September 20, 2011

Children whose parents are illegal immigrants or who lack legal status themselves face “uniformly negative” effects on their social development from early childhood until they become adults, according to a study by four researchers published Wednesday in the Harvard Educational Review.

The study concluded that more than five million children in the United States are “at risk of lower educational performance, economic stagnation, blocked mobility and ambiguous belonging” because they are growing up in immigrant families affected by illegal status.

The study is the first to pull together field research by social scientists nationwide to track the effects of a family’s illegal immigration status on children from birth until they graduate from college and start to navigate the job market. It covers immigrants from a variety of origins, including Latinos and Asians.

About 5.5 million children in this country have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant, according to an estimate by the Pew Hispanic Center. Among them, about one million children were brought here illegally by their parents, while about 4.5 million are United States citizens because they were born here.

In all, about 9.5 million people live in “mixed status” families that include American citizen children and unauthorized immigrants, Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew center, said on Tuesday.

“Unauthorized status casts a big shadow that really extends to citizen as well as undocumented children,” Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, a professor of education at New York University who is an author of the study, said on Tuesday. “It affects their cognitive development, engagement in school and their ability to be emerging citizens.”

The Harvard study reports that “fear and vigilance” guide the home lives of young children whose parents are illegal immigrants, making the parents significantly less likely to engage with teachers or be active in schools.

Parents’ fears of deportation led to lower levels of enrollment of their American children in public programs for which the children were legally eligible, including child care subsidies, public preschool and food stamps, the study found.

The other authors were Carola Suárez-Orozco and Robert T. Teranishi of New York University and Hirokazu Yoshikawa of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Many illegal immigrant parents work long hours in low-wage jobs, sometimes more than one job. New research on very young children cited in the Harvard study showed that the undocumented parents’ difficult work conditions “contribute substantially to the lower cognitive skills of children in their families.” This was true even though the children were more likely to be in two-parent families than American children as a whole.

As teenagers, children without legal status face a hard awakening when they apply for jobs, driver’s licenses or financial aid for college and discover they are not legally qualified for any of them. Their paths diverge from siblings who are American citizens by birthright.

“In late adolescence, they start to realize their legal limitations, and their worlds turn completely upside down,” said Roberto G. Gonzales, a sociologist at the University of Chicago whose research on college-age illegal immigrants is cited in the Harvard study.

Academic achievement does little to lift the prospects of illegal immigrants who have grown up here. Out of 150 immigrants Professor Gonzales studied in depth, 31 had completed college or advanced degrees, but none were in a career that matched their educational training. Many were working low-wage jobs like their parents.

The Harvard study found that many illegal immigrant youths, facing the “reduced promise of mobility,” had dropped out of school and begun the search for work they could do without legal papers, “forced deeper and deeper into an underground work force.”

The researchers said that a generation of young illegal immigrants raised in this country was moving toward “perpetual outsider-hood.”

Narayanan Krishnan: Companion to the Forgotten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPOilRen3Qg


“What is the purpose of my life? What am I going to do?” Narayanan Krishnan is from a Brahmin community and part of an Orthodox family. In the Indian caste system, Brahmins make up the highest social class, while the Harijans, or untouchables, are of the lowest social order. In this system, Brahmin’s are not supposed to associate at all with the lower class. However, Krishnan saw the poverty and hopelessness in these people of his community and decided to make a difference. “We feed the homeless, the mentally ill destitute, and the old people who have been left uncared, of the society.” Not only does Krishnan feed these people, which is one of the very basic necessities of life, but he also genuinely cares for their wellbeing. He bathes them, cuts their hair, massages their legs, and blesses them. “So the food will give them physical nutrition. The love and affection that you show, will give them mental nutrition.” Krishnan is able to see the potential in these people, the humanity in all of them. How often do we pass by the homeless and make general assumptions about them? What are we going to do about poverty? What is my purpose of life? “Everybody has 5.5 liters of blood. I am just a human being. To me, everybody is the same.”

Social Mobility, Happiness and Humanity

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/25/opinion/granderson-what-do-you-do/index.html

In this article, LZ Granderson expresses his views of the new ideology of life in America as “what you do” instead of “who you are”. The economical state that the country is in and has grown to in the past decades has made it so our money defines us. Granderson exhibits of how society has lost the humanity in how we talk to each other in that we focus on what we do and how we come to pay for things instead of our names, and personal characteristics. He goes on to say, “This dichotomy has slowly disconnected the American dream from the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and attached it to one's ability to move up the ladder.”

In class we have talked a lot about the real opportunities the slaves have had as well as the poor to participate in the developing United States. Granderson describes this change as regarding to the past few decades, however I would like to pose the question, Is it really that new? The ability to vote in the early 1900’s was based on if you owned land. The quality of work and education was based on how much money you already possessed. The opportunities were not good, and I might suggest that they are still difficult to move up the ladder.

The suggestion of Granderson of the view of people as consumers and not as people has come and gone through different eras of time in this country. Now we see people for what they do and accomplish with discrimination of the jobs and those who fill the jobs. In the post civil war era, blacks were viewed and discriminated against just as today, though I feel it is not as racial as it used to be, rather by class. It was stated in class that politicians, those who dare get involved, try to focus on the current issue as a recent problem, however, to quote the common phrase, “history repeats itself,” this is a long standing issue and we would do well by recognizing the cycles and thought process throughout history. This will help society to maybe find the greater happiness in which the America Dream constitutes.

New Barbie-Tatoos and All

New York City Parents Find Nothing Stylish About New Tattooed ‘Barbie’ Doll

Body Ink All Over 'Tokidoki' Seen As Sending A Very Bad Message To Children

October 20, 2011 11:30 PM

Share this

Tokidoki Barbie (Photo: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The newest Barbie doll to hit store shelves is sparking controversy.

The doll sports several tattoos, and some parents say it’s sending the wrong message to their kids, reports CBS 2’s Kathryn Brown.

Meet “Tokidoki Barbie,” the newest addition to the iconic doll collection.

She’s edgy — with pink hair, sky-high stilettos and a cactus-covered pet named “Bastardino.”

But it’s her body art that has some parents on edge.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for little girls to be having Barbies with tattoos all over,” parent Reye Griffith said Thursday.

Tokidoki’s upper body is covered with exotic-looking tattoos, including a large flower covering her chest and a tiger curls up her neck.

“I think it sends all the wrong signals for young girls,” said Mitti Hansen, mother to a 4-year-old girl.

Tokidoki is not the first Barbie to sport tattoos. In 2009, Mattel unveiled “Totally Stylin’ Barbie,” but her tattoos were stick-on and removable.

Tokidoki’s are inked on.

“Maybe if a little girl sees that she also wants a tattoo and I think it’s not good,” parent Latifa Zyne said.

But body art is a growing trend. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, 1 in 4 Americans ages 18 to 50 now has at least one tattoo.

Tattoo artist Pablo Jimenez said Tokidoki is just a reflection of a more accepting attitude toward body ink.

“Tattoos, right now, is everywhere. It’s just about art. It’s nothing bad,” Jimenez said.

Tokidoki is considered a “collectible” and retails for $50 — much more expensive than basic Barbie dolls. Mattel said the doll is marketed more toward adult collectors than to children. Tokidoki is a limited edition doll — named after the fashion line of the same name. It is sold only on Barbie collector’s website.

“You will not find this in any toy store,” said Jim Silver, Editor-In-Chief of TimeToPlayMag.com.

Silver said Tokidoki is just the latest in a long line of high-fashion collector items meant for adults, notkids.

“These are high-priced dolls. They make dolls after big-time fashion designers like Bob Mackey, so these are dolls that kids generally don’t see,” Silver said.

Many parents said they’d like to keep it that way.

Things to consider:

It is interesting to note that although the Barbies are not being marketed towards children, they have still managed to cause such a controversy. Would it be appropriate for young girls to be able to buy this doll as a toy? What does this say about our society and the images that are portrayed to the younger generations? How different with the youngsters of today feel about products such as these that will be marketed toward their own children?

Link for original article: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/20/new-york-city-parents-find-nothing-stylish-about-new-tattooed-barbie-doll/

Celebrity Mormons

If you're a fan of the Killers, or even if you're not, this video is definitely worth watching.

Brandon Flowers has been the lead singer of the Killers since its beginnings. Concert tours have often taken him away from home for extended periods of time, and have led to many disagreements with his band's management. In spite of the difficulties of living a celebrity, rock-star lifestyle he has a family with kids and admits that it is very rare to see such a lifestyle at such a "young" age for a rock-star.

While on tours with the Killers, Brandon was often approached by members of the LDS church who had "outgrown" the church and thought of Brandon as a sort of brother-in-arms.

LDS celebrities have to deal with different challenges than most "run-of-the-mill" members. Even just attending a regular ward can be difficult once they are recognized for who they are.

Why do Mormons love to talk about famous Mormons? What makes them so interesting to the rest of us?

Immigrants Being Attacked in Russia

"Not for Women"

It's funny, but definitely clear about excluding women from the drink, "It's not for women!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iuG1OpnHP8

Herman Cain's Interpretation of the Occupy Wall Street Protests

I can't stop thinking about what Herman Cain said in the following interview:



Here is the quote I am particularly fascinated by:

Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself.

I think this gets at the heart of our beliefs about class mobility in the United States. What are your personal thoughts on what Herman Cain said?

The Worth of a Soul

Humanity has continuously dealt with the conflict of equality. At different times and in different nations and cultures, there has been a struggle of equality... whether it be gender, race, sexual or age. In America, we have seen this happen since our forefathers came to our shores. Actions of those who segregate or discriminate can spring from a variety of reasons: fear, greed, ignorance, misunderstanding, and I think sometimes, they truly do believe they may be doing the right thing. Different levels of equality have had their time and place through history. In the early developments of America, there was the mistreatment of the Native American population. Slavery also was raging in the South, with racial discrimination happening both visibly and invisibly throughout the country. Women's suffrage soon found it's opportunity to proceed, with the Civil Rights Movement boldly marching forward. It seems that today in our nation, one of the battles of equality that has been raging for years is the question of homosexuality and where our society stands on the issue. Throughout all of history, however, one common theme seems to exist for every group seeking greater equality: their desire to show the worth of each and every individual and have that acknowledged by others.

Although each and every person has his or her own right on how they view homosexuality, I also feel that we each have a responsibility to remember that each individual on the earth is a human being. Each human being has intrinsic and unalterable worth, independent of how others view them or what they think. When we have forgotten the worth of a soul, or another human being, that is when tragedy has struck, always to be remembered and never to be fully repaired. Genocide, abuse, and even specific events such as the Holocaust, show the results of forgetting the worth of a human being and the soul of a human being.

I read an article about this topic about a high school teacher in New Jersey who is a religious woman (shown by her supervision and advisory over a prayer group) who is alleged to have called homosexuality "a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation" and a "sin" that "breeds like cancer." Even though her personal views and opinions are protected by the Constitution of the United States, it is discouraging to see people in a community who stand as role models to younger people, still forming their views and opinions about life and the world, that can influence them in a certain way. As a high school teacher, and especially as a religious woman, she should be reinforcing the ideas of understanding and tolerance of all people. Although my views and knowledge are still very limited, I feel it is important for every person to strive to understand the differences that make up the beautiful society in which we live. Below is the link to the article:

Associated Press: NJ Teacher criticized for Facebook remarks on gays

Jennie LeFevre

The latest news about Alabama's immigration law (the toughest in the nation)

Here are some stories about the latest firestorm in Alabama over the passage of the nation's toughest anti-illegal immigration bill:

The Economic Reality Of Tough Immigration Laws

The untended consequences of Alabama's immigration law

Georgia passed a similar law and has already lost an estimated 75 million dollars this year; they are now trying to pass an emergency guest worker bill.

Mixed Orientation Marriages

"In class, one thing someone got pretty upset about was the idea of mixed orientation marriages. They said this was something forced on them to help them fit in. But I think we need a more eternal perspective. Finding the companionship of someone worthy and uplifting (if not sexually attractive) is a positive thing for those who feel that that is right. I don't see that they are giving up anything--they are getting sealed to a great person that they love, and given the chance to bring children into the world. Don't you believe that they will get the chance to become perfected in heaven? At that point, whatever qualms they had about sexual attraction will be gone and the relationship that they have built will be a source of great blessings and happiness.

That being said, I don't think every one in that situation has to get married on this Earth. I don't know how I would handle such a difficult situation, but I imagine that for many, a mixed orientation marriage would be really, really hard. But no matter whether they can get married on Earth or not, they will have the opportunity after death. Another thing I am thinking is that God gives us weakness and trials so that we can come unto him. I can't think of a trial more difficult than dealing with those feelings and a knowledge of the truth for my whole life. But I think that the members of the church who struggle with same sex attraction must be very, very strong or God wouldn't have given them this challenge. Weakness isn't sin and the fact that good, faithful members deal with this challenge and desires positively is amazing and inspiring to me."

Jessica Vance

LDS Forum Explores Immigration Challenge

As the immigration debate has exploded into the American political consciousness, so has the internal turmoil for many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormon teachings press the faithful to be both compassionate and law-abiding, while current government policies seem to make the two goals mutually exclusive, a theme struck over and over at Saturday’s Sunstone Symposium: "Choose the Right — But Which is Right?

Robert Crawford and five other panelists described how they have reconciled the question by applying their personal experiences, church teachings and some critical thought to an issue that defies a simple conclusion.

"The Scripture seems to be telling us one thing," said Crawford, a Provo medical doctor. "Man’s laws seem to be telling us another."

Crawford noted that he had been raised to look to LDS apostles and prophets for answers to many of the tough questions. And when LDS leaders began issuing a series of statements on immigration a few years ago, he could not help but take notice.

The leaders urged "a spirit of compassion" in considering immigration. And they advocated a "thoughtful and factual, not to mention humane approach."

 Full article at http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52340027-78/immigration-law-lds-crawford.html.csp

We pride ourselves on being a compassionate people, however, our helping hands have not quite grasped those of our foreign brothers and sisters.  Some members of the church would argue that illegal immigration is against the law, and they would be right. However, I believe that human life is above the law. That people are more important than money.  I think it's time we put our religious principles before our political principles. 


Mallory Fox

A Child's Perspective

This is a simple study in which two identical dolls are placed before several black children. Each child was asked questions of opinion about the dolls. The only difference between the two dolls is that one is white and the other is black. The results are surprising.

By some means, majority of the children interviewed in the 1940's saw themselves as looking more like the white doll. White was more beautiful than black and they would have rather of had a white doll. But now, 60 years later, an even greater majority identified with the black doll.

So it would seem we have come a long way in making black and white races feel that neither is superior over the other.

I feel like this is good progress in the sense that slowly, over the years, black children are gaining a better respect for themselves that had been stolen away by the culture of the early United States. However, in relation to the questions concerning personality over looks, there is still the issue of picking one to be nice and one to be mean based off of color. I think as though it is natural to feel that one would be more so attracted to someone of the same race generally speaking, but to feel that whether or not someone is nice or mean based off of color is wrong. So referring to race in looks, feeling as though the doll of the same color is "more beautiful" is good! But until it is more common that both dolls are equally nice or equally mean, we still have much work to do.

In this episode of "What Would You Do", a black actress is shopping at a store owned and run by white people. The black woman is constantly asked to leave and is even frisked because the employee claims she is a risk, and that she “knows her type”. While discrimination is nothing new, the interesting part of this episode comes at the end of the show when they begin discussing how few people intervened. They bring up the fact that more people of color stepped in to help to actress than white people.

What does this mean in relation to the “white privilege” theory? Did white people feel no need to step in because, due to their white skin, they do not know how to relate to the black woman; or do they think that they are above the woman and her problems because they are white? Did more people of color step in because they are more caring; or because they have experienced the same situation; or do they feel the attack on one black woman is also an attack on them?

The real question is what would you do, and why? I think that it is so easy to assume that we would do the right thing and stand up, but when put to the test, how brave would you be? The take away lesson for me was that racism may not be a problem that I can single-handedly solve, but I can solve racism on personal levels.