Call to Action Project

For my social justice class this semester, we had a group "Call to Action" project that everyone in the class had to complete.  Each group had a different population that they had to advocate for, such as Native Americans, Immigrants, and the LGBT community.  My group's population was Latino Americans.  Our group focused specifically on Latino Farmworkers and the severe mistreatment they encounter here in the United States.  Most of the farmworkers receive payment depending on the weight of the crops that they pick.  This is a completely unjust system.  I was shocked to see the large amount of Latino child workers that are forced to work rather than gain their education.  Our group did a call to action to try and end these unjust practices.  We made memes that could be distributed on twitter and facebook to raise awareness of fair farm practices.  We also took part in a picture project that showed our entire class's support for farmworkers.  I really enjoyed advocating for this population and loved hearing all of the other groups advocate for their populations as well.  I encourage everyone to look into supporting causes that they feel strongly about!!

Human Trafficking

A few weeks ago, I attended a documentary about the subject of human trafficking.  The documentary was called Nefarious: Merchant of Souls.  Honestly, it was a very difficult documentary for me to watch.  It covered many different forms of human trafficking, including illegal prostitution, legal prostitution, and child sex trafficking.  It was heartbreaking to see how many children are forced into sex trafficking.  What was even more sad was that their parents allowed it in order to earn more money for the family.  Illegal prostitution in the US seems like a large problem, and it is so destructive to the women involved.  One thing I did not appreciate about the documentary was that it did not address the issue of male prostitution at all.  It focused primarily on women and girls involved in prostitution and sex trafficking.  Another thing that was a bit  surprising was the ending of the documentary.  The documentary stated that most girls involved in sex trafficking would continue going back to it throughout their lives because they are broken individuals.  However, the end of the documentary stated that becoming Christians helped save the girls from that lifestyle and put them on track for good, healthy lives.  I am not saying that this did not work for many of the girls, and I think that it is great that it did.  However, this is not a culturally competent solution and it was a pretty biased documentary in that regard.  It still gave a lot of great information about human trafficking and opened my eyes to some issues I did not know much about previously.  If you wish to see the documentary, you can find more information on their website:

http://nefariousdocumentary.com/

Healthy Masculinity

Two nights ago I attended a town hall meeting about Healthy Masculinity.  It was a really interesting discussion.  When we arrived, they had everyone seated in an auditorium.  They called about 6 people to the stage area to tell their experiences with healthy masculinity.  After they spoke, they opened the floor for discussion to everyone.  There were men and women of all race/ethnicity and age in attendance, and it was great to hear so many perspectives.  While I do not think that you can thoroughly exhaust the topic of healthy masculinity in an hour and half, it was wonderful to hear so much discussion about a topic that is often not discussed.

Some of the unhealthy aspects of masculinity discussed were the feelings that it is not okay to cry (that one has to hide their emotions), too much aggression anger, using violence as a means to stopping violence, and feeling that is not okay to love or hug another man if you are heterosexual.  Some of the examples given were really interesting.  I did not necessarily agree with everything that was said, but I don't think that was the point of the seminar.  I don't think that it is necessary for men to cry in order to be portraying "healthy masculinity".  At the same time, I think if they want to cry, they shouldn't feel that it emasculates them in any way.  In order for men to feel comfortable showing some of these signs of healthy masculinity, the subject must be talked about.  Verizon Wireless was the one sponsoring this town hall meeting; it was the first of several that will be held around the country.  For more information or to get involved, visit:

http://getinvolved.mencanstoprape.org/page.aspx?pid=368

DV in the Deaf Community

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Wilmington with my best friend and his family. We arrived in Wilmington late Wednesday night, and I decided to go shopping for the groceries I was going to need for the dishes I would cook the following day. Me and my best friend were in line at the checkout, when a girl approached us asking how many items we had. I could hardly understand her for two reasons: 1) she was deaf and her speech was quiet muffled and 2) the right side of her face was swollen about 3 times as large as the left side. She looked desperate and pleading and asked if she could cut ahead of me and him. We said yes, and as she walked by me, I could see that her jaw was most likely broken and the entire right side of her face and neck were severely bruised. She asked the cashier to hurry because her boyfriend was really angry and he beats her. I didn't say anything to her. Inside I was outraged, but I didn't know what to do. She look frantic and was tapping her feet and hands, looking pained that the cashier was not going any quicker. Once her items were rung up, she handed the cashier her EBT card. It was not working when she swiped it. At that point, I told her to just go, I would pay for her groceries. She said thank you several times and practically ran out of the store. I felt sick the entire ride home, as did my friend. We both agreed that we should have said something. My fear was that keeping her there to ask her if she needed help would endanger her even further, angering her boyfriend that she was taking so long. But I still wish I had tried. Because of this situation, I decided to research if domestic violence is prevalent in the deaf community. I found that sexual and domestic violence are both a problem in the deaf community, and there was an organization called "Deaf Hope" established "to end domestic and sexual violence against Deaf women and children through empowerment, education and services." I am glad that I am aware of an organization that specifically provides aid to deaf women, and if this situation ever arose in the future I would feel much better prepared to give advice to someone in that situation. I hope that next time I will speak out for people that are not advocating for themselves, even if I am not quite sure of what to do.

http://www.deaf-hope.org/

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday, a time where Americans act like they have never seen a sale in their life and race around the stores like crazy people in the middle of the night. I hate crowds and avoid shopping on this day...to me, no sale is worth possibly being trampled by an angry shopper on a mission. However, thinking about Black Friday made me realize that there are a ton of employees who have to work these same ungodly hours the day after Thanksgiving. If they are lucky enough to get Thanksgiving day off, they may have to be in to work as early as 12am the next day, so instead of spending time with their families on Thanksgiving day, they will have to be sleeping so they can get up for work. I read an article on the United Food and Commercial Workers Union website talking about how workers at Walmart are taking a stand against the company trying to silence their voices. It seems as though employees are often forced to work holidays such as Thanksgiving rather than spend time with their families. When they speak up against it, Walmart may give them an even crazier schedule, cut their hours, or in some cases, fire them. I will attach the link to the article at the bottom of this post for further reading. I am a frequent shopper of Walmart - not because I support their practices, but because as a graduate student, I am pretty poor and Walmart is typically the most affordable place for me to purchase many items. However, in an attempt to take a stand with the employees of Walmart, I will attempt to shop there much less and start buying from stores who treat their employees fairly.

http://www.ufcw.org/2012/11/15/walmart-workers-from-stores-and-warehouses-begin-to-strike/

It Gets Better

In honor of National Coming Out Day, I decided to write my blog post about a project I think is absolutely wonderful - it's called the "It Gets Better Project". This project is to help young LGBT youth who are struggling with their sexuality to see how much better it gets if they can just get through their teen years. It also helps LGBT youth to see that they are not alone and have support all around the globe from people with similar experiences. As a future social worker, I am sure that I will work with people from all populations. I feel like this site (listed at the bottom) will be a great resource to use and direct youth towards if they are feeling alone in their struggle with their sexuality. Some of the videos are so inspiring - definitely check it out if you have the chance!!

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Transgender Bias

In my social justice class last week, we had a call to action presentation dealing with the LGBT community. They particularly focused on the transgender community and the many struggles that people in the transgender community face. So I decided to look up some news dealing with the trans community. I read one article that gave me a little bit of hope - that it is now illegal to discriminate against or deny medical treatment to someone who identifies as transgender. The article is here if you would like to read it:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/transgender-bias-now-banned-federal-law/story?id=16949817#.UHDWmU0R7X4

Hearing the statistics in my social justice class was very disheartening. The trans community is bullied more than any other population in the LGBT community, and they are more likely to drop out of high school. One thing that I think perpetuates this discrimination is a lack of understanding among the general population. In my opinion, the best way to prevent discrimination/violence against the trans community would be have better public education about this community. The students in my class talked about how it is hard for people to accept someone who is trans because they do not know how to address them, especially in the transitioning stages. I think that it is important that we begin to have an open dialogue about these tough issues so that we can all understand one another better. Knowledge is powerful and can definitely aid in people's understanding of a community, such as the trans community, which they may have had little to no exposure to.

Darkness to Light

Recently, I found out about an organization called "Darkness to Light". It is a great organization whose goal is preventing child sexual abuse. According to their website, 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before she is 18. That number is terrifying. This organization offers training classes all over the US for free in order to help empower people to prevent child sexual abuse. The website has tons of useful information for organizations who may be at risk for child sexual abuse and they utilize powerful statistics which show why this is such a detrimental problem. Not only does the website focus on organizations, they also give parents valuable information on how they can prevent child sexual abuse. In North Carolina, there are 29 upcoming free trainings. I plan on attending one in the next month. I do not currently work at a job with children; however, as a future social worker I feel it is my responsibility to be informed on social justice issues which may be of use in my career down the road. If anything, the training will be priceless personally if I ever have children of my own.

For more information you can visit:
http://www.d2l.org/site/c.4dICIJOkGcISE/b.6035035/k.8258/Prevent_Child_Sexual_Abuse.htm

For the NC Training List, visit:
http://www.d2l.org/site/c.4dICIJOkGcISE/b.6221615/k.9AB5/North_Carolina.htm

The Invisible War

This past week I attended a showing the documentary "The Invisible War" at UNC Chapel Hill. It was both shocking and heartbreaking. The documentary portrayed the problem of rape in the military and the repercussions it has had on the lives of the victims. The film showed that most perpetrators of rape in the military are not convicted or punished in any way. I have the utmost respect for our men and women who serve in the military, but I am disgusted that these crimes are going unpunished. No one should get away with committing such heinous, criminal acts, even if they are serving in our military. The documentary will hopefully shed light on this problem and aid in getting laws changed that will make it easier for victims to report crimes and not fear being punished themselves. If you want to learn more about it, you can go to www.notinvisible.org and also join the discussion on twitter #notinvisible.

Labeling

I read an article recently online at NPR that exposed a school in Ohio for linking homosexuality and mental illness to rape and murder in a course description for a social deviance course. The article is here if you would like to read it: (http://www.npr.org/2012/09/10/160763549/college-course-lumps-homosexuality-rape-murder) Personally, I believe that the university does need to change the course description. Words are extremely powerful, and students reading that course description can be affected negatively by that flippant, ignorant linkage. For homosexual students, they may feel that they are in some way "less than", having their sexual orientation linked to crimes as heinous as murder. No one's self-esteem should be affected after reading a course description! I think it is very important that the social work accrediting body looks at this school's accreditation. As social workers, we have a certain ethical code to adhere by. One of those requirements is DO NO HARM. This course description does not follow that code. Social workers often are the voices for those unable to speak for themselves. I think it is important that the accrediting bodies also be the voice for students who do not have the power to change something, such as a course description.