Assignment #11

Oppression means cruel or unjust treatment that is prolonged, like how white people enslaved the black people for a long period of time. When people are oppressed there is always going to be resistance and there are two types. Violent resistance is resistance that is violent and they resist by doing things like flipping cars over, lighting things on fire, and even go as far as killing people. Nonviolent resistance is resistance without violence like peaceful protests or boycotting, things that are legal. Oppressed people fight for agency and the term agency means to have the ability to determine that outcome of one’s life. I think that oppressed people should use whatever type of oppression that they faced, weather it being violent or nonviolent, to resist against their oppressors. Examples of this are how the two black men were arrested in Starbucks, probably because of their race, and that was nonviolent oppression, so people resisted that nonviolent oppression with nonviolence, as shown in my research project. Another example is the SeeClickFix document because we were being oppressed nonviolently by getting issues in our community ignored by our city and we resisted nonviolently by bring those issues to light. One last example that can be debatable is the Soweto Uprising. At first they were oppressed with nonviolence so they used nonviolence to resist but in doing so the oppressors use violence to stop their resistance. So the resisters fought fire with fire and used violence.

First of all my research document about the Starbucks boycott supports my claim because it shows how the oppressed people, being the men who got arrested and people of color in general, used nonviolent resistance to gain agency because that’s the oppression that they were faced with. This document is about two men getting arrested because they were hanging out inside of Starbucks without making a purchase. That sparked people to boycott Starbucks because people hang out all the time at Starbucks, some being white people, and when two black guys do it they get arrested. That seems fishy and that’s why that pushed people to boycott Starbucks because of racism. This document is an article written by Hallie Detrick on April 16, 2018 and posted on the website called “Fortune.com”. I think this information is trustworthy because the information is recent, being this was written within a few months of the incident and Hallie Detrick is a white lady and should not be bias because it’s not her race being oppressed. Although it is secondary source because she wasn’t there, it is the same story as many people are giving and has evidence in the form of an apology from the ceo of Starbucks that acknowledges what happened and the stories match up. A quote from this article that shows how they got agency through nonviolence is “ The incident resulted in the two men being arrested, which drew an apology from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson…”. This supports my claim because they could have used violence but it was not necessary since they were oppressed without violence so they saw it most fit to use nonviolence. It’s better without any violence because if the oppressed people had used violence it would have resulted in the oppressors using violence and it would’ve been an endless cycle of violence.

Another document that supports my claim is the SeeClickFIx Posters article because it shows how we the people used nonviolence to a nonviolent oppression to gain agency. This document was a picture of a poster that was class project at Fremont High School in Oakland lead by Jason Muniz. In this project we were supposed to report issues we find in our city that have not been fixed to SeeClickFix. This document shows a poster that we made regarding the statuses or our issues which could be open, acknowledged, or closed. This document shows posters and data created by Fremont High School student work on “The SeeClickFix Project.”  The image was created by Jason Muniz, an Ethnic Studies teacher on April 27, 2018. This document is trustworthy because its a primary source since it was taken at the location of the poster by the teacher who helped create it. It was new and accurate information at the time of when picture was taken. Although some may argue that now that information is old but it is still trustworthy. A quote from this picture that supports my quote is how on April 13th, 2018 there was a lot of open issues and very few acknowledged. Then on April 27th, 2018 there was way more acknowledged and closed issues with way less open issues. This supports my claim because it shows how using nonviolent resistance against nonviolent oppression, in our situation reporting issues that our city is not aware of or ignoring to have something done about them. We were able to make change in our city nonviolently.

One last document that supports my claim is the Soweto Uprising because they used whatever their oppressors used, referring to violence or nonviolence to gain agency. This article is about students protesting a law that make it mandatory to learn the language Afrikaans which South African blacks saw as the language of their oppressors. The oppressed people had organized a big protest and the were going to use nonviolence to fight their nonviolent oppression. To their surprise their protest was interrupted with violence by their oppressors, and they weren’t going to stand there to get mauled by dogs or breath in the tear gas thrown, so they fought back with violence. This document is an article from the website called www.findingdulcinea.com  titled “Soweto Uprising Begins With Violence During Student Protest.” and was written by Denis Cummings on June 16, 2011.  Think this information is trustworthy because the information is pretty recent, like a few years ago, and he would have no reason to be bias because he wasn’t there. A quote from this article that supports my claim is “Police attempted to stop the peaceful march by firing tear gas into the crowd; some students responded by tossing back the teargas canisters or throwing stones at the police. Police released dogs into the crowd, but many of the dogs were killed with rocks and knives”. This supports my claim because it shows that at first the oppressed people used nonviolence to fight their nonviolent oppression but then when the oppressors struck back with violence, the oppressed people did too. This shows what oppressed people should use whatever type of oppression, whether it being violent or nonviolent, resistance because who is going to bring a knife to a gunfight or in this case use nonviolent resistance to counter violent resistance.

SeeClickFix Blog #3

 

  • What are the different statuses on the posters, and what do each of them mean?

 

The three different statuses are open, acknowledged, and closed. Open means its open for people to respond, acknowledged means that they acknowledged your issue and most likely responded, and closed means your issue has been fixed.

 

  • Describe what you did (or what you were supposed to do) to find out if the issue you submitted to SeeClickFix was fixed.

 

To check if the issue you submitted you need to go to the see click fix website, sign in, then go under your account to my content, and there is where all your issues are. It also tells you what the status of them is.

 

  • What changes do you notice from the April 13th posters to the April 27th posters?

 

Most of the sticky notes that where on open went to acknowledged because many of our issues where acknowledged.

 

  • Do you think there are any types of issues SeeClickFix is better at getting fixed than others?  Why do you think that?

 

I think the big issues are getting fixed faster than smaller issues because for example. If there is a giant pothole reported that makes driving unsafe and  there is a piece of trash littered on the street, which is going to get fixed? The pothole because its more important than the trash.

 

  • If an issue someone reported did not get fixed, what is something they might try next?

 

They might try to get a hold of an official in that area to get it fixed or even go as far as to attempting to fix it themselves.

  • Do you think people who report issues to SeeClickFix are able to gain agency?  Explain your answer. 

Maybe because maybe there’s a fallen tree blocking the entrance to their driveway and they finally get it moved then they will be free to enter and exit it as they please.

SeeClickFix Blog #2

 

  • Describe how the 9th grade students are tracking the progress of the issue we reported using sticky notes and posters.  What do each posters mean? 

Well SeeClickFix has three different statuses for issues you report, open, acknowledged and closed. They are all straight forward, open means open, closed is closed and so fourth. We all have written our issue IDs on post it notes with our status. There are three posters for the three statuses. You put your post it on the corresponding poster.

 

  • What did you learn about the status of the issue you reported to SeeClickFix? Did it change (If so, how)?  Did your issue’s status stay the same? Explain your answer.

 

 

My issue changed from open to acknowledged and they sent me a message to fix the issue myself. It was a simple issue of littering of a pizza box.

 

  • Describe the response you got about the issue you reported.  What was the message you received? Who sent you that message?

 

The management of the apartment complex where I reported the issue told me that it’s some random kids litter and next time just pick it up.

 

  • Did any patterns emerge on the poster about which issues are resolved, and which are not?  Explain your answer.

 

I see that a few of the issues got resolved but most of them are still on open. It is probably because most people haven’t updated it yet.

 

  • Is the SeeClickFix project an example of Violent or Non-Violent resistance to oppression?  Explain your answer.

 

It is an example of non-violent resistance because your resisting by trying to make a difference in the city and there is no violence involved.

 

  • Do you think SeeClickFix can help to solve problems in Oakland?  Explain why or why not.

 

I think so because there is some people who want to make a difference can by looking at the issues around the city and fix them. It can be very efficient because people can also report issues that people didn’t even know about.

SeeClickFix Blog #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • In your own words describe what the company called SEECLICKFIX does for people living in Oakland.

The try to fix problems in our city to make our city a safer, nicer place to live.

  • Do you think SEECLICKFIX helps people in Oakland to resist oppression?  Explain why, or why not.

Yes because I Think we can be internally oppressed by like litter, making us feel embarrassed that the place we live in is such a mess. This service helps change that by like cleaning up or painting over unwanted graffiti.

  • Explain the story of how you took your picture for the SEECLICKFIX project (Describe what you took a picture of, when you took it, where you were, how, and why).

I was walking my dog around my apartment complex like I always do, and remembered I had to take pictures of things like litter for a class project and looked around, found litter and photographed it.

  • What did you do in class to join SEECLICKFIX on their website?  Describe the steps you took.

Well it asks if your a citizen or an official, then for your name, email and the closest intersection to your workplace. Then after you need to go to your email and confirm your account.

  • What did you do in class to join SEECLICKFIX on their website?  Describe the steps you took.

I got my computer then went to SEECLICKFIX.com and signed into my account. Then I went to report issue then followed a few steps. First you find the location how the thing you are reporting, by dragging a pin to the exact location on the map. Then you pick what category of issue it is, the issue title, then a description of the issue. After that you press submit, then you will get an ID number that you need to write down on a sticky note and but on a poster that says acknowledged, open, or closed and you’re done. My issue ID is 4285815

  • Do you predict that the City of Oakland will fix the problem you reported?  Explain why, or why not.

No because it’s such a small issue that anyone walking by can fix or the workers at that location. I ended up picking it up and throwing it away.

Assignment #9 Oppression Essay

The term oppressed people means people that have been treated cruelly or unjust for prolonged periods of time. Systems of oppressions are organized ways of oppressing people. The levels of oppression are the different ways to oppress people, which are institutional oppression, interpersonal oppression, and internalized oppression.

First of all I believe oppressed people experience different systems of oppression because when you are being oppressed you are not just facing one level of oppression, you may be facing multiple. For example there was this lady who accused an African-American teen of street harassing her. She would’ve been experiencing interpersonal oppression from the person doing the harassing and you can also experience internalized oppression because you might start to believe you are always going to be harassed and will never be safe. I recently read a quote from an article that was about a woman a 14 year old African-American being accused of street harassing her, who was later lynched by her brothers,finally after six years shedding some light on what really happened. This is document is a quote from an article on the New York Times Newspaper’s Website.  The article is titled “Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims Were False” and it was written by Richard Perez-Peña on January 27, 2017. A quote from this article that supports my answer is “In it, he wrote that she said of her long-ago allegations that Emmett grabbed her and was menacing and sexually crude toward her, “that part is not true.” This supports my answer because this shows how the kid being accused was being faced with institutional oppression because the people who murdered him confessed to killing him and didn’t go to jail for it. He was also experiencing interpersonal oppression because she was lying about him being sexually crude and was killed for it.

In continuation oppressed people are able to experience different systems of oppression because of things like males getting paid more than females which is interpersonal oppression. I analyzed a document that was a comparison of the wages males and females of different races and I learned that males typically earn more money than females. This document was a table chart of the median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by sex, race, and ethnicity, in 2009. A piece of data that supports my answer is how the race that earns the most amount of money, being the Asian’s, the males earn $952 while the females only earn $779. This proves my point because the females are getting paid less, which can make them feel lesser than males, which is hegemony of internalized oppression because they are not doing nothing to change that and at the same time they are experiencing interpersonal oppression because the people in society are behaving a certain way towards males by paying them more, while the females are getting paid less.

Assignment #8

Power means that you have the ability to control events and the behaviors of other people. When you have power you can choose to marginalize and or exploit people, because with power you can control the dominant narrative to marginalize people by making them feel like they are nothing or under you, but to exploit someone you can use methods like blackmailing someone to do something by always having an “or else” which is taking unfair advantage of them. To marginalize means to put off to the side, or make less important. To exploit means to take unfair advantage of someone for your own benefit. One example of both these things is Colonization because the Europeans enslaved the Native Americans, making them feel less than them, breaking them physically and mentally and they exploited them by making them work literally to death. Two more examples of power being misused is how homophobes use their their power to make fun of homosexuals for being different and how people use religion to do things horrible things.

First of all people with power are able to marginalize and exploit people because they have the authority to force the Native Americans to work to death or kill the Native Americans if they didn’t follow orders. In document #3 the spanish government created the encomienda system, which marginalized and exploited the Native Americans. The encomienda system makes the Native American tribes of certain areas commended to the rule of a spanish overlord called an Encomiendero. This document is a quote from a book titled Colonial America, written by Jerome R. Reich in 1994. A quote from this document that proves my point is “Although the spanish government always insisted that Native Americans were free citizens who must be treated humanely, in practice they were bought and sold, worked (literally) to death, and forced into virtual slavery.” This quote implies that my answer is right because it shows how people with power can marginalize people by buying and selling them which makes them feel lesser than them and also exploits them by making them work against their will.

 

Furthermore, people with power are able to marginalize and exploit people because people like Pastor James David Manning marginalize gay people by putting anti-gay messages on his marquee outside his church. James David Manning is a pastor at ATLAH World Missionary church in Harlem. He would put anti-gay messages on his marquee and one day it got vandalized, making him think is was gay people who did it, so then he tried to turn the tables to make it seem like he was getting bullied by homosexuals. He continued to put anti-gay messages on his marquee but ironically Harlem has become one of the city’s top neighborhoods for gay couples. I learned this from a quote from an article titled “Homophobic church sign causes stir in Harlem” on a website called Amsterdamnews.com, written by Cyril Josh Barker on May 3rd, 2014. A quote from this article that proves people with power are able to marginalize people is “The messages posted on the sign at the church, located at west 123rd street and Malcolm X Boulevard, don’t hold back on Manning’s message that homosexuality is against God’s wishes and the bible. This implies he was able to marginalize people by making gay people feel bad because apparently being gay is against God’s wishes and Jesus would stone them (kill them) and god doesn’t talk about straight people implying that he is cool with straight people just not with gay people. This would make gay people feel like they are lesser than straight people because we are all humans and should not be treated differently because of who they are attracted to.

 

Finally one last example of how people with power can marginalize people is by using religion to kill enemy warriors in the name of a false god. Aztec’s did this by finding the most perfect enemy warrior and treating them like a god for a year as part of their religion. Then at the end of the year they sacrifice that person for their god, Tezcatlipoca by publically dismembering them. I learned this from a document that is a seventeen year old Aztec Scribe record of his impressions of a Sacrifice Ritual which is recorded and told to Friar Bernardino de Sahagun (Several years later in 1529). A quote from this article that gradually supports my answer on how people with power are able to marginalize people is “Many of us become attached to this living god, and a terrible sadness comes over some of the women when, at the end of the year, he is taken to Chalco and dismembered in public view.” This shows how people in power,in this case the people who created this religion, marginalize certain enemy warriors, probably because they are “different”,being from a different tribe and being perfect, by giving them power, making them feel powerful, then stripping that power away by killing them. First of all who wants to die, let alone die by dismemberment, that’s cruel.

 

Assignment #6

 

  1. What is something that you learned about Christopher Columbus that you did not know before?                                                                                                                    I learned that Christopher Columbus enslaved the Native Americans and raped little girls.
  2. Do you think Christopher Columbus deserves his own holiday? Explain your answer.                                                                                                                                      I don’t think Christopher Columbus deserves his own holiday for the horrible things he did, but who doesn’t like a day off, they should change the holiday to represent our hate for the things he did.

 

 

Assignment #5

 

First of all identity is the qualities of a person that define who they are. A dominant narrative is a story that people in a position of privilege tell about someone who is not. On the other hand, a counter narrative is a story or perspective that people who are marginalized tell about themselves. I think is important to tell a counter narrative about yourself to express your identity so that everyone doesn’t believe the dominant narratives created by other people about you.

Second of all a dominant narrative is a story that people in a position of privilege tell about someone who is not, but when it comes to someones identity it is a story or an assumption about you that can be right or wrong, but was created by another person. One of the pictures I chose for a dominant narratives is a meme about how all Salvadorians ( because I’m Salvadorian) say Walmart. It says we all say it like Gual-mart , but we really don’t all say it like that. It is an example of a dominant narrative because it was created by another person in a position of privilege. Another picture I chose is another meme saying that Mexicans are just smarter versions of Salvadorians, which implies that we are dumber versions of Mexicans, which we are not. It is an example of a dominant narrative because it was created by another person in a position of privilege.

First of all a counter narrative is a story or perspective that people who are marginalized tell about themselves, but when it comes to your personality its the truth about your personality, not what other people say. One of the pictures I chose for counter narrative is a picture saying that I’m smart because I chose a picture that said Mexicans are just smarter Salvadorians, which is not true, so I put we’re smart too, and I identify myself as being smart. Another picture I chose for counter narrative is a picture of someone saying “What if I told you not all Latinos are Mexican” because for a picture of a dominant narrative I chose a president saying “You are Mexican aren’t you” implying that all latinos are Mexican, which we are not. I identify as Salvadorian. For the last picture I chose a picture of the Walmart logo, as a way to show the proper way to say it, as a counter narrative because for the dominant narrative I chose a meme that says that Salvadorians say Walmart like “Gual-mart” and not all of us mispronounce it.

Also an identity is is the qualities of a person that define who they are, so that affects their personality. I’m going to put a picture of the Salvadorian flag because it is my ethnicity, which is part of my identity. Its an example of identity because your ethnicity because its one of the qualities that define you. Another example is a hypebeast picture. Its part of my identity because I’m a hype beast when it comes to phones. Sometimes I say the are ugly but once and if a lot of people get it, I end up getting it.

Assignment #4

  1. What RACE do you identify yourself as?  Explain your answer.                              My race is latino because of my physical appearance.
  2. What NATIONALITY do you identify yourself as?  Explain your answer.              My nationality is american because I was born in american.
  3. What is an ETHNICITY you identify yourself with?  Explain your answer. My ethnicity is Salvadorian because my grandparents are from there.
  4. Optional
  5. Why do you think Question #4 was optional?  Explain your answer. It was optional because some people don’t feel comfortable showing their true self.