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/