This is the End.

Hey my fellow bloggers. This is a sad post for me today but it needs to happen. This is the end of the road for me and this blog. I hope you all enjoyed my blog post about black history discrimination as much as I loved writing about it. I've never been so free to express my opinions on topics I'm so interested in, and this blog has allowed me to do so and for that I am grateful. I hope that you've all learned something new about the past or even the present of this conflict in general.I also hope that it has opened all of your eyes up to a new perspective on things. 

 This subject has meant so much to me and many people I am close with because it is so tragic in most situations and can be so empowering in others. But without this struggle, I would not have much to say about how proud and grateful I am for my ancestors and how much they fought for a better today, even though history tends to repeat itself. Nobody can understand how grateful I am for the family I have and how passionate they can be about a social subject. It is truly amazing how much of their influence has rubbed off on me and made me so passionate about a certain subject.  

 Either way I loved informing all of you on some situations (Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown) or movies (12 years a Slave) or songs (Be Free by J.Cole or Black or White by Micheal Jackson) you may not have known, and also I loved sharing similar opinions with you guys on many of my posts. Thank you for making me proud of this blog! It was great to make these post but now i have to say goodbye. :)

xx from now until forever xx

Black or White

Hey guys! It's been awhile since i referred to my introductory post for blog post topics, but today i decided I was going to do it again. I decided to make this post about Michael Jackson's song "Black or White". As you can tell from the title it definitely has something to do with the black and white communities uniting through racial discrimination. 

Now I truly love this song, it is so catchy and beat is really good, but the lyrics are what make me love this song so much. Especially the main lyric that repeats itself constantly through the whole song "It don't matter if you're black or white". That one lyric makes me so happy when listening to this song because racial equality is very important to me and the fact that this song is there to prove that we're all the same regardless of our skin colors. 

What I also love most about this song is the composer, Michael Jackson. King of Pop, a lyrical genius who made such a beautiful song that means so much to many people. I love it because it really does not matter if you're black or white, you can be loved either way, just like a Michael. He was a black male, then he developed a skin disorder where he turned into a white male. Either way people loved him when he was black and people still loved him when he was white. It doesn't matter of the color of your skin, I truly believe it is what you bring to the table. In Michael's case he brought joy and happiness to everyone who listened to his music.

Ii strongly suggest everyone to listen to this song, it is so catchy and the lyrics are very nice and it is very positive and inspiring. I hope you listen to it and enjoy!

xx until next time xx

Racial Discrimination or Self Defense?

Hey everyone! I hope you've been enjoying my posts. I always encourage others to leave comments asking a question about my topic if they're curious and would like to know more! Well in one of my previous posts, someone asked me a question many of you have probably had in your head for awhile and never thought to ask. But here it goes: How can we distinguish between actual cases of racism/discrimination, and situations where violence is justified as self defense?

 Now I understand it can be hard to distinguish both situations but take the Mike Brown case for example. Mike Brown only stole a couple cigarette packs from the convenience store, now as punishment for that I can imagine being arrested and getting fines but he did not have to be shot and killed. He was unarmed and he put his hands up to surrender, clearly showing he was not a threat to the public or the police department. In this case it became a racial discriminatory shooting, he was killed simply because he's black. No act of self defense was needed because he was unarmed and he surrendered. Now if he was armed and approached the cop and tried to hurt him, the self defense should be acceptable, but that wasn't the case here. 

 I think that if an officer is trusted with a weapon, he should know when to use it in appropriate case like self defense and not racial discrimination cases. Basically all Ii am trying to say is that to distinguish racial discrimination and self defense is to look at the facts, for example was the officer threatened, did the committing party surrender? So on and so forth. Just make sure to look at the facts.

xx until next time xx

Charleston Shooting

Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog. I hope you've all been enjoying my posts. Today I wanted to talk about something that has really hit me hard. So hard that it makes me sick to my stomach that something like this could happen. Incase you haven't heard, there's been a shooting in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17th of this year. The shooting happened at an African- American church called Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people were killed by the assailant Dylan Roof. He targeted them out of racism but that's not particularly the only reason why this situation bothers me so much.

What disgusts me the most is the fact that this man was welcomed into a sanctioned church event, brought in with open arms practically. Then he sat there, through the whole church ceremony while everyone was trying to continue on with their faith, then he had the audacity to shoot up the church and kill 9 victims. I find it appalling that people from his community tried to cover the story up, saying that he did it because he had a mental illness. I find that to be so horrible that someone tried to save this terrorist by claiming he had a mental illness when it was proven he did not. He was simply a racist who too his beliefs way too far. It's terrible that in a world we live in that we are surrounded with people who have so much hate and disrespect in their hearts to not eve consider the lives of others.

Here's a video of a news anchor that made a commentary on this subject. Its a great video and worth the watch so I hope you enjoy, and I hope you all liked this blog post!

xx until next time xx

Importance

Hey everyone! I know I haven't been on here in awhile but I promise I will make up for it with my upcoming posts. I my previous blog post, someone asked me why this issue has had such an impact on me and my family. Well, today in this post I would love to share with you guys.

Most of you who have been reading since the beginning, or who know me personally also know that on my fathers side of the family, we come from African-American decent. With the history of my ancestry, I was always curious about our struggles as a community throughout the years. This subject does not really interest my father, but for some reason it holds a very special place within me. Jus the fact that my elder ancestors have struggles through slavery, discrimination and racism bothers me to an extreme extent. Even though I did not live through the slavery, I can feel their pain emotionally. As well as I never endured and racial discrimination because I am so pale considering I'm only about a quarter black.

Despite the fact that I haven't experienced an racism towards me personally, I know my family members have. It breaks my heart to know that someone I love, someone that I know is such a nice, caring, loving and respectful person was mistreated because of their skin color. That's what gets to me and many of my family members. The simple fact that we're all the same but since someone has a different skin color means that they should be treated differently. Sometimes even worse. That should not be the case. We are al equal individuals, black, white, man, woman, gay or straight. We should all be treated the same no matter what the circumstances are socially.

I hope you guys can agree with me and have enjoyed this post. It means o much to me that I have people to read and support this blog because this subject means a lot to me and I hope it has made a special place within you to care more about it. Thank you!

xx until next time xx

12 years a slave

Hey everyone. I hope you're all enjoying my blog! I don't think anyone will really understand how much this subject of discrimination, is important to me. Slavery back in the day and racism continuing today, it just makes me feel some type of pain within myself. My families history is one of the main reasons why I decided to make this the subject of my blog. But, what really inspired me was the movie "12 Years a Slave". 

I love this movie. Not only for the history and the meaning behind the story, but the actors and the director made it seem so real to the point where you can feel the pain within the struggle that they've been through. To me, it's that type of movie that if one of your friends asks for movie suggestions, this would be at the top of your list. The ending touched me so much that I cried. For films, that doesn't happen very often for me. The movie was just that good. 

Now for a little bit of information on the movie. It is based on the memoir of Solomon Northup (also the name of the main character), who was a slave from 1841-1853. He was a free African-American man, with a family and a house. He was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery until 1853. He worked on plantations for 12 years with not one of his masters knowing he was a free man. I don't want to give out to much information in case you haven't seen it. And if you haven't, here's the trailer. I think you should check it out.

I highly recommend for everyone to watch this movie! It is a tear jerker but it is worth it. It is based on a true story which is incredible because the movie is so sad and touching and emotional. I love watching this movie because it reminds me of how grateful you can be for someone to have made a positive impact on your life like one of the characters did for Solomon. I also love it because of the accomplishments the black community has made since then. The story is beautiful and i suggest everyone should watch it. Enjoy!

xx until next time xx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Years_a_Slave_%28film%29

http://www.12yearsaslave.com/

Mike Brown Shooting

Hey everyone! In my last post i talked about the fatal shooting of Trayvon Marting. Well, staying on somewhat of the same subject, I would like to talk about the Mike Brown shooting. I know that this is a recurring subject, but i just find it so injustifiable and wrong to the point where it's always on my mind and i just need to let out my feelings about it.

Now, for some of you who don't know about the Mike Brown shooting, here's some facts about it. Mike Brown, an African-American 18 year old, was fatally shot on August 9th, 2014 in Ferguson Missouri. If you're familiar with the Ferguson attacks that spread nation wide, yes, this is what initiated the whole conflict.

Mike Brown stole cigarello's from a corner store nearby before he was shot. But, that wasnt what initiated the shooting of the young man. The shots were basically like 12 "warning" shots to Mike Brown who turned to face officer Wilson to surrender. I personally find that disgusting. Yes he stole cigarello's from a corner store, but that does not mean he should get shot 12 times till death when there are actual criminals out there that barely get justice for what they have done. It is unfair.

The picture above is from the show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It is so sad yet true how this meme is so relevant to what is going on in our world. These "warning" shots as the police force would call them, are not actually warning shots at all. These poor young black men are being profiled by race and steryotypes. It needs to stop. It is considered racism and somehow they get away with it. That's noty okay. It is so unbelievably cruel and unfair and disgusting to the people who get what they do not deserve. Justice is what they deserve. Mike Brown deserves justice, Trayvon Marting deserves justice as well as every young black man who was shot and killed while being unarmed.

Can you believe that this is the world we live in? Where justice is nothing to a black man, but to a white man, it is a must. It makes me sick to my stomach that justice is not to be served for the lives of these men. We are all equal, whether you like or not. It has nothing to do with money or fame or race or social status. We will all end up the same way.

 I hope you all enjoyed this post.

xx until next time xx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown

Be Free

Hey everyone! So in my introductory post, I mentioned that I will be talking about certain events like the Trayvon Martin shooting or the Mike Brown shooting. I also mentioned that I will be talking about certain movies and songs such as Be Free by J.Cole. In today's post, I would like to talk about Be Free. 

I love this song. I find it so deep and emotional coming from a rapper and hip hop artist like J.Cole. It is very moving and has great lyrics especially one of my favourite lines "all we wanna do is take the chains off". When I first listened to that part of the song, I was so touched. It reminded me that how discrimination was back then, is not much different then now. Yes, we have come a long way, but according to recent events such as the shootings and the Ferguson attack, history continues to repeat itself.

Now for a little bit of information on the song. J.Cole, inspired by the shooting of Mike Brown by police officers as well as the Ferguson attack, composed this song overnight, August 15th, 2014. Unlike his other music, it's not a hip hop or rap song. I'ts more of him singing raw lyrics with a slight beat in the backround. 

"Rest in peace to Michael Brown and every young black man murdered in America, whether by the hands of white or black. I pray that one day the world will be filled with peace and rid of injustice. Only then will we all Be Free." said J. Cole based on his song and the discriminatory acts against the black community.

I personally think that you all should listen to this song. It's great. It is so deep and moving with they way he really tells it how it is. It gets everyone to think twice about how to treat one another. I also love J.Cole and his music. He is so lyrically talented, but even without the rap in this song, I think it is the best track he's ever made just because of the touching, emotional lyrics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/arts/music/j-coles-be-free-spreads-around-the-world-in-hours.html?_r=0

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/08/15/rapper-j-cole-releases-be-free-inspired-by-michael-brown-shooting/

xx until next time xx

Trayvon Martin Shooting

Hey everyone, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. But, my last post was about the song Be Free by J.Cole. Within that song I mentioned the shooting of Trayvon Martin, in which the song Be Free was also partially inspired by. So today I will be writing about the Trayvon Martin Shooting which is what initiated the protesting and racial defense that we have all been observing lately such as the stand ups "Black Lives Matter" as well as the Ferguson defence.

February 26, 2012, 17 year old, African American teenager Trayvon Martin was shot during an altercation with one of his community neighbours' George Zimmerman. Zimmerman who was on neighbourhood watch within their gated community the night the shooting, saw Trayvon wandering about and supposedly looked "sketchy". He said that Trayvon was the one to approach him violently so Zimmerman acted in self defense and shot the young man, believing he was armed. In my opinion, that is not okay. Trayvon was an unarmed teenager and Zimmerman should not have to shoot him and the result being his death.


In my opinion, I find it extremely unfair that a young man lost his life because of racism, while someone was supposedly acting in "self defence" when the young man wasn't even armed. And the only consequence Zimmerman got was murder charges after it became such a national issue. If it weren't for the story to spread as much as it did, Zimmerman would have probably never got the murder charges, six weeks later. I find it sickening that someone could get away with a murder like that. 

This shooting started the movement "Black lives matter" and that is so unbelievably important considering the world we live in now. We are in the 21st century people, why can't the racism stop? Because it's true, Black Lives Matter.

xx until next time xx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trayvon-martin-shooting-a-timeline-of-events/

Introduction

            Hey everyone, so this is my first blog and i feel like i wanted it to be about something that is important to me as well as relevant to our everyday lives. Therefore, i chose black history discrimination as my topic. Not many people know, i am from African american decent so this subject means a lot to me because it relates to what my family has come across in the past and without racial equality, i wouldn't be here. As much as it relates to me, this subject has also blown up in the media the past couple of years with the Trayvon Martin shooting, the Mike Brown police shooting, the Ferguson attack as well as other public rants or attacks, in which i will be writing about throughout this blog
. 
           I will also be talking about movies that have relation to black history discrimination and equality, such as 12 years a slave (which is the movie that came to mind when asked what subject i wanted to write about. It was what really inspired me to talk about this problem other than my family's past), the color purple and others. I would also like to mention popular songs that have relations to this subject, whether it was in the past, for example Black or White by Michael Jackson, or songs more recent like Be Free by J.Cole. I will mostly be writing about things that have sent a message to others bout this subject. This subject was and still is extremely relevant to our lives considering all the recent events, lives lost and unkindly discrimination and racism over something genetic that we don't have control over. It seems unfair and unnecessary to act upon, therefore, i'm going to write about it through this blog. whether many or only a few people see it, the problem in this subject needs to become more relevant to everyone.

xx until next time xx