Category: A16: Research Position Paper

Research Position Paper- Killroy513

Prohibition, The Birth of Illegal Activity and NASCAR

The year is 1920 and the location is the United States of America. The country is at peace, just getting out of one of the first major World Wars. Many soldiers just returned home from war-torn Europe and were starting their new lives. Everyone, for the most part, was happy and the roaring twenties were off to a good start. The economy was at a high and people were partying. The Prohibition, also known as the “noble experiment” would be activated that year. The legislation was implemented to reduce crime and poverty.  The boost in illegal activity and the creation of NASCAR would be born through the black market, gangsters, the medical field, and moonshiners.

The American Prohibition was enacted in the year 1920 and would last until 1933. The eighteenth amendment was enacted to enforce the restriction of alcoholic beverages. This included liquor and beer products. This turned America “dry” and people did not like that. At the time these products were in high demand since it is a major part of society, its iconic and everyone, for the most part, enjoy them. This being said, the market would go from legal to illegal very quickly. The black market would supply these products to people who were willing to pay.

Many aspects contributed to the boost in illegal activity during the Prohibition. At the time people realized that large amounts of profit could be made at the time. Alcohol was in demand, and people did almost everything to get it. The black market at this time was a money making machine, being that large amounts of money could be made extremely fast. In essence, the black market would jump-start the illegal activity of many during this era.

The transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century was widely apparent. Cities grew to record sizes and the people changed for the good and bad. During the roaring twenties, some people acted on this black market, either adding to it or trying to “bust” it. The people who wanted to control this surge of money were primarily the big time gangsters in cities like Chicago, New York City, Boston, etc. Gangsters back then are nothing like the ones of today. They had class but also thought on their feet. One of the most famous ones from this time period was Al Capone, working in the midwest. Since the distribution of any alcoholic product was outlawed aside from medical use, it would be harder and harder to sell it. The gangsters of this time thought of extremely clever ways to make money and ensure their customers had what they wanted. The creation of “underground” bars and clubs would begin. These types of clubs and bars would be known as a speakeasy. These clubs would be hidden and passwords would be used for access. People had fun, and the gangsters made money. It was a win-win. In the big cities, the alcohol trafficking was done mostly by gangsters. “The people involved with speakeasies mainly revolved around gangs, who supplied the liquor, in particular, Al Capone and his gang” (Jen S, Ceyana A). These gangsters would form organizations and create bars and clubs. Being a very lucrative business and highly illegal, the police would step in and shut them done. Eventually, the businesses went “underground.” Alcohol trafficking was a great way to make money doing this time, assuming the person would not get caught.

Doctors would jump on the bandwagon as well. The medical field was not subject to the alcohol ban because that is used widely in the practice. Alcohol was used as medicine back in this time period. Doctors could prescribe the alcohol for specific ailments. When the eighteenth amendment was established, the medical field created special cards so that alcohol could be given to the people that needed it. “Presumably, doctors were doing examinations and diagnoses, but it was mostly bogus,” says Daniel Okrent, some doctors looking to make money would sell these cards filled out for the people who bought them. They would take these cards and purchase the outlawed alcohol. Doctors would be able to profit from the amendment because they would be paid off to write prescriptions. This again was highly illegal and generated large sums of money.

People never think of the other counties that benefited from the American Prohibition. Canada and Mexico gained the most wealth. The countries citizens would either produce or distribute alcohol across the United States border. During the winter, the great lakes would freeze and cars would be able to drive over them with the alcoholic goods. “Americans could, however, consume alcohol in Mexico, but most Americans were not willing to cross the border to obtain alcohol, so smuggling developed rapidly as an illicit occupation in the 1920s.” (Paredes, McDowell). The Mexico/ American border was not as built up as it is today, so trafficking was easier. People would bring over the products through customs or drive over. Both countries used ships to smuggle the alcoholic goods also. The products would be hidden and taken out when they reached their destination. The nations themselves did not benefit from this, BUT, their citizens did.

Fast cars and alcohol are one hell of a combination.

Cars were just introduced ten years prior to the 1920’s. They would be used more than horse and wagon for the simple reason of practicality. The horse and wagon would be fazed out of use and would be primarily found in farms or rural areas. During this time many saw the automobile as a money-making machine. Originally the use of car and truck was new to the public since they became widely available at this time, they were used for anything, especially transportation of alcohol. What started out as moving illegal goods became much more. The police would catch on to this, and many people would fall victim to the black market craze. Humans are always learning, so people began to devise ways to modify their cars. They would make them faster. The cars would be modified to outrun the police and help cut down on the “busts”.

Cars were in demand being the new thing. During this time many alcohol products would be brought in by cars or trucks and sold to the public “under the table”. Eventually, this would be found out by the police and the transportation of goods this way had to be more crafty. This would lead to the modification of these automobiles. Having a car or truck that could evade the police, for the most part, fixed this issue. This, some may say, laid the foundation for the beginning of NASCAR, and modification of cars.

With the high demand for the illegal drinks, transportation of the alcohol for sale would evolve from simple transportation to the use of the newly adapted automobile. They were beginning to be widely used and it transformed the transportation system.

The American Prohibition helped create NASCAR because the cars used were modified. The cars were made to be faster than the police and made to handle better as well. Eventually, the people who illegally transported the alcohol would begin to race the cars they modified. This would lay the foundation for NASCAR since it is a sport based on racing high-performance cars. The engines were modified along with taking out the unnecessary weight.

BUT, many can argue that the art of racing was around way before the American Prohibition. At the time, especially in Europe, racing cars would be the newest craze. The races would be called the Grand Prix. This originated in France and involved in its own “sport.” Eventually, the Grand Prix would become Formula One racing. The roots would begin in the 1920’s but would not be recognized until 1950. For the most part, these European races involved gambling on who would win and watch the races unfold. During this time cars in America were used for a completely different purpose. Making money. Eventually, racing would become popular.

Racing in America went from Horses at the local derby to cars on the race track. After the discovery of car racing, the sport took over the track. Racing started off as Rally Cross, off-road racing. This form of racing is widely popular and carried onto Europe where most of the races are held. After Rally Cross, the cars and the sport evolved to road racing, very similar to the Grand Prix. Here the races would only be held on roads that were paved making the races more fast paced. Finally, NASCAR would come into play. The races are held on an oval track. Hard to believe that this iconic American sport evolved from the prohibition. At the time no one really knew that having fun racing cars would evolve into such a big thing. People simply had fun.

The foundation of NASCAR and other sports like it would be laid during this era. People began to modify cars not only to evade the police but to race. This would give birth to a whole new sport that many enjoy. The story goes, that the moonshiners down in the southern states would get together and race their modded cars. After the Prohibition, the races would continue and eventually be recognized as a sport.

Essentially, the prohibition boosted illegal activity within the United States and with that created one of America’s greatest sports.

NASCAR is a sport that involves the racing of modified cars around a track two hundred times, whoever comes in first at the last lap wins first place. The cars are heavily maintained and need extensive care to operate. The drivers are highly skilled and learn how to adapt to any situation that may occur. Many men have died in this sport, being one of the most dangerous. The car crashes can result in the drivers being severely hurt or dying on impact. With a fast car comes modifications, the cars in NASCAR travel extremely fast due to the extensive changes made. Most of the car is taken out and the bare minimum is left. This makes the car faster. Safety measures very seriously and ensures the driver, for the most part, is protected.

Not all cars can be converted to be fast. There was a small selection of cars back in the 1920’s and choosing one to modify was an easy task. Most cars back in the day that was used were the basic coupe. A coupe is a car term that describes a two-door car. These types of cars were the best suited for the smuggling job. The cars were smaller than most types and easier to make fast.

The engine is one of the most important parts of a car. It makes it actually drive. There are a vast amount of modifications that can be done to an engine to achieve its full amount of horsepower. A horsepower is a unit of measurement that is based on five hundred and fifty pounds a second. The cars back in the day are nothing like the cars of today but like all cars, they have an engine. ““Soon they had to go to other engines, they would swap in the Cadillac engines to get all the horsepower they could, or even swap in old ambulance engines for long and fast hauls” (Parsons). The cars were modified back in the day by ripping the old engine out and putting a more powerful one in or changing the parts used. Most of the time, the bigger the engine the faster a car will go. With that being said, cars were stripped down for weight reduction and equipped with larger engines.

People wanted to “max out” their engines. This meant to get the full potential out of the block. The best and easiest way to do so was to upgrade the intake manifold, the part of the engine that controls the gas consumption. This would make the car run more efficient but the miles per gallon would drop drastically. The earliest forms of superchargers and turbochargers were found in these cars. A supercharger is basically a high-end air compressor that throws more air into the engine making it run faster after ever combustion. These are fairly simple to build, putting the modification on is another story. A turbocharger is a small “turbine” that speeds up the combustion rate in the engine. In most cases, the engine blocks would be over bored out to increase the displacement making them faster. Many moonshiners claimed that their booze running car produced five hundred horsepower with these high-end modifications.

Speed sometimes is not always the key. Since the cars were used to transport large amounts of alcohol, the weight would affect the cars drastically. “In order to handle heavier loads at higher speeds, moonshiners would also get creative with the suspension, adding more leaf springs to stiffen it up and help with load weight distribution” (McElroy). Since they did not have the modern day coil springs, the cars were shimmed with extra leaf springs. These springs made the car easier to handle and made it so more product could be transported.

One thing that many do not think about is the brakes of a car. The brakes are the second most important part. The brakes slow and stop the car, without them it is life-threatening. The brakes were heavily worked on, on these cars. It is extremely important to stop than to not be able to. The modifications would involve “beefing” up the shoe brakes and e-brake. The cars at this time used a different style brake than the ones of today. The shoe brake requires pumping of the brake pedal while almost all cars use disc brakes. Along with brakes, the tires would play an important role as well. There are specific types of tires for specific types of work. On many of these cars, the tires were wider than most. This gave better traction to the car. Adding bigger tires makes the car less stable at higher speeds. The use of sway bars would come into play. Sway bars are parts of a vehicle that reduces the movement of the car from rocking side to side. With this being implemented cars could then go faster and travel safer.

Cool modifications were added as well. Many people started to be creative and make the cars have secret compartments, extra lights, changing license plates, and many more options. This would start a trend that exists up to today. A widely used modification was the installation of hidden tanks under or in the cars themselves. “Having to distribute their illicit products under the radar quickly, moonshiners were forced to develop and modify their cars in order to avoid getting caught by lawmen” (McElroy).The hidden tanks would be filled with alcohol and were transported “under the radar.” The “coolness” of these modifications would later be seen on the big screen, in many different spy movies and TV shows. Some of the most common were the James Bond films and Dukes of Hazard.

The risk was worth the reward. The cars were not nearly as safe as the ones used today. The seat belt was not invented yet and the only safety feature in a few of the cars was a custom roll bar. The roll bar prevents the occupiers of the car from being crushed if the car were to roll. Knowing how to drive became a huge factor.

Learning how to drive was extremely important. Having fast cars and carrying illegal drinks was not a good combination. “Those kids knew every damn curve in the county and how much speed they could take it at in certain weather conditions” (McElroy). Being able to control the car while performing invasive maneuvers is no easy task. It is very difficult and hard to master. The drivers of these cars would eventually use their skills on the race track. Thus creating a sport that the average driver can not partake in.

The sport of NASCAR requires a lot of training. Most drivers in today’s sport started training at an early age. Special courses and classes are set up to teach drivers how to drive safely and compete.

NASCAR as a whole is a sport based on the actions of everyday people in the 1920’s. Throughout time, many things were created by accident or because of the effects of an event. At the time, people thought nothing of the racing, but eventually, the races would turn into a sport loved by many. The argument stands however that the sport may have been around before the Prohibition.

In the end, a lot of good and bad things came out of the prohibition, the most obvious good thing was the removal of the actual amendment. Getting rid of alcohol made people more creative, and people had fun. An American sport was born, and with that came one of the most expensive hobbies, modifying cars.

 

Work Cited

“Prohibition in Canada.” Smuggling, Bootlegging and Speakeasies, prohibitionincanada.blogspot.com/p/smuggling-bootegging-and-something.html.

Sandbrook, Dominic. “How Prohibition backfired and gave America an era of gangsters and speakeasies.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Aug. 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/26/lawless-prohibition-gangsters-speakeasies.

McElroy, Ryan. “The story of how moonshiners created the performance car.” Car Keys, Car Keys, 31 Oct. 2017, http://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/the-story-of-how-moonshiners-created-the-performance-car.

“History of the Roaring Twenties.” Prohibition and the Speakeasies, theroaringtwentieshistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/prohibition-and-speakeasies.html.

Gambino, Megan. “During Prohibition, Your Doctor Could Write You a Prescription for Booze.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 7 Oct. 2013, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/during-prohibition-your-doctor-could-write-you-prescription-booze-180947940/.

“Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution.

Paredes, Américo. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976). 

Paredes, Américo. “Conventions which the Border corrido had borrowed from Greater Mexico,” With his Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1958): 224-40. 

McDowell, John H. “The Corrido of Greater Mexico as Discourse, Music, and Event,” “And Other Neighborly Names”: Social Progress and Cultural Image in Texas Folklore, ed. Richard Bauman and Roger D. Abrahams (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981): 46-75.

McDowell, John H. “The Mexican Corrido: Formula and Theme in a Ballad Tradition,” Journal of American Folklore 85.337 (1972): 205-220.

“Black market.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_market.

Thompson, Neal. Driving with the devil: southern moonshine, Detroit wheels, and the birth of Nascar. Three Rivers Press, 2007.

Okrent, Daniel. Last call: the rise and fall of Prohibition. Scribner, 2011.

Research – collegegirl

Help the Sister’s Too!

            Over the past few years, there have been increasing rates in the number of police brutality incidents against men and young boys of color. In February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed while walking home from a convenient store. George Zimmerman, Martin’s murderer, was found not guilty after a long trial. This was the beginning of the unjustifiable acts performed by law enforcement against young males of color. Nothing in the justice system remained peaceful after they set a guilty man free. Since then, there have been numerous police brutality cases where an innocent black male was killed and the police men were found not guilty. Unjustified shootings, beating and harsh treatment by law enforcement has caused black communities to feel furious, afraid and concerned. These acts of violence have led black males to believe that they are more likely to be victims of police brutality over other races. The effects of police brutality have brought black communities together for movements such as Black Lives Matter. Influencer Barack Obama decided to initiate a movement as well named MBK which is short for My Brother’s Keeper. Although this movement is to help black communities with the problems they face, it is exclusively for young males, and men of color. It seems counterintuitive for our recent President, Barack Obama, to express gratitude towards one half of the young community but not the other. Our female influencer’s such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Gabrielle Union should send a helping hand out to the young black females in smaller communities who are having difficulties with their everyday lives.

Four years ago, the popular Black Lives Movement organization was founded. The organizations mission was and still is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state. The organizations ultimate goal is to have a world where black lives are no longer a target for police officers. Like every movement, the BLM wants to be heard. On the other side of the Black Lives Movement, there is a movement called All Lives Matter. The white activists in the All Lives Matter Movement believe that blacks shouldn’t highlight that only black lives matter. They point out that in fact, all lives matter. The problem is that the black community has been targeted from the beginning of time going back to slavery and now, being targeted by law enforcements that are supposed to help the community, but instead are tearing it down by killing innocent black males. The list goes on of how many other movements there are just like these, but the real question is, what movement is actually successful and making a change in not only how the justice system rules their cases but starting from the root. Obama does just that in his My Brother’s Keeper movement in helping young black males, and now someone needs to take on the role in helping the young black females who are also struggling.

Shortly after the death of innocent Trayvon Martin, Barack Obama began a movement called My Brother’s Keeper. The MBK movement is exclusively for young black males of color leaving out the other half, females. On February 27, 2014, President Obama quotes that My Brother’s Keeper is “all about helping our young people stay on track. Providing the support they need to think more broadly about their future. Building on what works – when it works, in those critical life-changing moments.” Also given in his speech that day, Obama states that the group that is facing the most crucial challenges in the 21st century are boys and young men of color. Because the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin sparked so many emotions and controversy among communities, it caused Obama to feel the need to speak about how important it is for young black men to know that their country cares about them. But, in order for the movement to be successful, parents, teachers, and leaders need to be a part of helping these young men.

Prior to the death of Trayvon Martin, if there were consistent programs in every black community that provided support and guidance for young black males, Martin could still be with us today. Not only could Obama have come up with the initiative to help young males of color before the death of Martin, but other community leaders could have done the same as well. Author Sean Grover, wrote about the struggles that boys face who grown up without a male figure during their childhood. In Grover’s article he states that, “Once again, the quality of the relationships in a child’s life determines his or her mental well-being.” Young males who grow up without a male figure in their lives can suffer from anger issues and forms of depression. This statistics explains why there is so much gang violence is communities. Young black males need male figures in their lives from the moment they are born. Each community should have programs and organizations that have positive male role models that provide young males with the guidance they need for a better life.

Barack Obama and his team have come up with six milestones that the My Brother’s Keeper is focused on. It is important for children to have a healthy start when coming to school. They should be ready and eager to learn physically, socially, and emotionally. All children enrolled in school should be able to read to understand by the age of eight of by third grade. Of course, children should receive a quality education which leads to them graduating from high school and ready for a fresh start at college. The next step of course after applying and getting accepted into college is physically completing postsecondary education to enter into the career they worked hard to get into. Everyone that has a job should be able to provide the support they need for themselves and their families. Lastly, Obama’s program wants to focus on keeping the youth safe and away from violent crimes. Communities must come together as a whole and work together to keep these milestones their ultimate goals. If leaders Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Gabrielle Union enforce these milestones on young black females, the young black community can only be filed with greatness after these children have committed to and followed these six milestones. Working with young black females too, will allow the entire young black communities strive as a unit, and not just one half striving over the others. If we bring the entire community to perform one successful mission, it will ultimately improve our future.

Women such as Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Gabrielle Union would be the perfect candidates to take on the roles of aspiring young black females in small communities. Oprah Winfrey who has helped young black females in South Africa by creating a school called the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. This academy strived to raise future leaders by helping girls with their confidence and leadership skills. Michelle Obama, our previous first lady, did an interview in 2016 with CNN stating that “For me, education has never been simply a policy issue — it’s personal.” Michelle Obama believes that every young girl should have the opportunity to get an education they need to fulfill their potential and support their families. Actress Gabrielle Union spoke about the issue of sex trafficking amongst young black females during an interview with Essence. The actress claimed how important it is to have compassion for the pain that young girls of color experience. These women need to come together as one, to provide the necessary guidance and support those young girls of color need in order to have a better future. Between Oprah Winfrey’s love for teaching young girls confidence, Michelle Obama’s love for girls education, and Gabrielle Union’s love for compassion these women can all come together to conquer the goal of creating a better future for young black females.

Marc Mauer, the author of Young Black Men and the Criminal Justice System: A Growing National Problem indicated in his journal post that “almost 23% of black males between the ages of 20-29 end up in prison, jail, on probation or parole on any given day.” What black communities have struggled with in the recent years has been the effect of injustice actions caused by law enforcement officials. Biased and unfair treatments from law enforcers are usually towards black males rather than black females. When watching the news and when searching around on the different social media sites, we find that police brutality victims are males and not females. Some may believe that in order to help prevent future police brutality event from happening, we have to start with our young men who suffer in lower class communities.

There are obvious facts that show how police brutality affects more men than women. The MBK movement that Obama has exclusively for males has again caused women to be infuriated because they, too, need guidance and reassurance from leaders. In fact, studies have shown that African American males make more money than an average African American female. It is understandable that young black males need influencers and leaders because of what is going on around the world today such as police brutality. Young black males have been the highest target for police brutality. But, at the same time, our young black females need as much attention as they can get too!

In order for communities to be successful in completing common goals, everyone in the community must participate. A community can general be defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Found in a recent article, the author stated that in order for a community to be successful, it needs to fulfill five roles. Every community needs a host. The host is in charge of entertaining the guest. In this case, the host of the MBK movement in each individual community is in charge of making sure that all of the young men are being properly entertained and engaged on what the goal of the movement is. The facilitator, who is in charge of making sure that everyone in the group, is conversing. In every group, you’ll find the popular one. Kevin Durant recently announced his partnership with the MBK movement to help decrease the absenteeism in schools. With the joining of Kevin Durant, the movement will increase in numbers since Durant is such an inspiring individual to young men. Opposite of popular, there’s the instigator. The MBK movement needs to have someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth to the young men even though it may hurt. Lastly, every community needs to have a voyeur, the one who lends a hand to everyone. Having a variety of leaders play these roles can be extremely helpful in bringing the community together in helping young males and females.

In spite of the fact that white politicians are part of the My Brother’s Keeper movement, there are positive statistics that have come out of the movement in the past few years. Author Jason Parham wrote some accomplishments that the MBK movement has had in hundreds of neighborhoods across the country. In his article, Parham stated that “In raising more than $600 million private sector and philanthropic grants and $1 billion in low-interest financing, MBK helped cut Compton’s homicide rate by 64 percent in 2015, sparked employment for 10,000 young men in Philadelphia as part of the 2015 Summer Jobs Challenge, and empowered 12,000 incarcerated men to pursue postsecondary education and workforce training with the help of Pell Grants” (Parham pg. 4). These are just some statistics that reached the milestone goals that Obama had intact for the program. Author Yohannes Abraham also explained another success story which discussed a financial service partnering with an 8th grade mentoring program which teach the young men of color how to fill out applications and go through mock interviews. The My Brother’s Keeper movement is sparking interest in communities all around the world. Community leaders and companies are taking the initiative in helping the younger aged males become better individuals in helping them with things that will help them postsecondary education and careers.

Since the Obama’s initiative to help young black men of color, there have also been positive comments that people have made regarding the movement and its importance. Patrick from New Jersey works in the Newark Public School district and most of his students come from poverty, are in gangs, and are involved in crimes that happen throughout the city. He believes that Obama’s initiative is a good first step in helping the youth in black communities. Another comment made by a woman in New England agreed that poverty is the main cause as to why young males struggle in the educational settings. Poverty can affect not only the parent’s well-being, but the child’s too! When children a born into poverty, all they know is struggle. Studies have also shown that communities who suffer with poverty are the main communities who have gangs and violence.

Despite the fact that the My Brother’s Keeper is a positive movement, it is exclusively for males. Black women have questioned Obama’s initiative. As soon as the MBK movement was released to the public, over 1,000 women from all different backgrounds all around the world wrote letters to Obama addressing the exclusiveness of the movement. Paul Butler, wrote an article for CNN, Why did President Obama leave out the girls? The women’s letters were sent out to urge him to include the sisters just as much as he did the brothers. One writer, by the name of Legertha Butler, wrote that “she didn’t march with Martin Luther King Jr. to get the “white only” signs taken down, only to have the nation’s first black President put up a sign that says “men only” (Butler pg. 2). In the last few years, the teenage pregnancy rate has sky rocketed. I look around the people I have graduated high school with back in 2015 and I can name at least 10-15 females who are either pregnant now, or already have their first child. I only graduated with 63 people. Programs for young black females are just as important as they are for young black males. Like boys, girls are too born into poverty and go through the same struggles males do when growing up in single-parent households. Like Obama’s MBK movement, women need to take on the role with affiliation of young females too! Providing support and guidance for young females and males of color can only improve small communities. Girl’s fates are just as important as boys are. In an article called “Dreams from My Mother” the author, Natalie Hopinson, states how boy’s fates are completely linked to the fate of his mother, and also to the fate of his female’s peers. Young girls of color will then be the next generation of black mother’s to young black boys. It is important that they are raised to take on responsibilities and to get an education so they can support their families just as much as males do. What’s ironic is the fact that Obama was raised by his single mother. We would think that seeing his mother’s daily struggles would lead him and inspire him to create a movement for young girls to provide guidance and support.

The ultimate goal of Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper movement is to provide support and guidance to men and young boys of color. But, can we really say that Obama is helping the black communities, when in reality, he is only helping out half of the young community. Young black females also need attention to when it comes to them having a better future. With the coming together of Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Gabrielle Union, the young black community can strive as a whole. Although, females have not been a main target to police brutality, they too deal with every day struggles. Communities need to focus on providing support and guidance to both young black males and females because they are our future. They are our future doctors, our future educators, and our future leaders and we want them to be able to take on the important responsibilities of adulthood.

 

Works Cited

“My Brother’s Keeper.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/279811.

“The 5 Types of Roles You Need in Your Community.” Salesforce Blog, http://www.salesforce.com/blog/2013/12/the-5-types-of-roles-you-need-in-your-community.html.

JustinTinsley. “Mr. Reliable: Kevin Durant Is My Brother’s Keeper’s Secret Weapon.” The Undefeated, 6 July 2016, theundefeated.com/videos/mr-reliable-kevin-durant-is-my-brothers-keepers-secret-weapon/.

“The New York Times Company.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/12/the-assumptions-behind-obamas-initiative/the-risk-of-playing-down-racism.

“Building on What Works With My Brother’s Keeper.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/04/17/building-what-works-my-brother-s-keeper.

“The Academy.” The Academy | OWLAG, www.owla.co.za/owlag_academy.

Obama, Michelle. “Michelle Obama: This Issue Is Personal for Me.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Oct. 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/cnn-films-we-will-rise-michelle-obama/index.html.

Butler, Paul. “Opinion: Why Did President Obama Leave out the Girls?” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 June 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/18/opinion/butler-obama-girls/index.html.

Grover, Sean. “Boys Without Fathers: 3 Myths, 3 Miracles.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 4 June 2016, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/when-kids-call-the-shots/201606/boys-without-fathers-3-myths-3-miracles.

Research – theintern

Business “Definition” of Ethics

The business world is a battleground between good and evil, ethical and unethical, moral and immoral behavior. While some businesses have found it easy to increase profits by using unethical practices, many have lost everything by doing so and getting caught. Business ethics are not the same as the moral principles or habits that we learn from birth that help us determine what is right or wrong. They’re more practical and local; they’re rules of conduct recognized as appropriate to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture; they’re what “society thinks is right to do.” As such, they differ from company to company.

For example Enron was once a successful company but down the roads they suffered a horrible loss that later on became one of the biggest scandals of Wall Street history. Inside Enron, what was determined “appropriate” was very different from moral behavior. This natural gas company named Enron who was first founded in Houston, Texas in 1985 by Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay was a fast growing American energy, commodities, and services company. Enron was a great business and everything they did was perfectly fine and when everyone was listening to their moral ethics. Before Enron’s scandal the company was worth a decent amount of 13.3 billion dollars in 1996 but the revenue lies didn’t start until 1998 when Fastow was promoted. Enron was also part of the stock market which was used by the new CFO to his advantage which would change the company forever.

The new CFO of Enron was Andrew Fastow he thought that Enron could be making more profit/revenue so he decided to “cook the books” which meant lie on the books about how much money Enron was making annually. He thought if he lied on the books Enron would increase value which also meant in shares in the stock market.  This all came from what is known as business ethics; the stock market is a place where people buy stocks/shares of businesses in which case they are considered part ownership of any shares they bought from a particular company, they own only a small percentage of the business as well as gain a bit of income on the side. So what Andrew Fastow do was drive Enron high in revenue to let more income come his way with the help of Arthur Andersen one of the big 5 accounting firms.

Arthur Andersen was also another case that fell into the arms of unethical decisions who helped Enron commit fraud. Both of these companies worked to together so Enron would not be noticed by the S.E.C (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) and be in a lawsuit for falsely writing high profits on their books. At the same time Arthur Andersen was not following their morals which they knew this was a wrong decision and that they should have declined the offer but because of greed and money, every decision was made without thinking. In reality Enron was in debt and losing money even though they were worth like a few billion. The only way that Enron was ever getting away with this scandal was paying auditors from Arthur Anderson to make Enron look better to the public; as a growing and upcoming business to consider working for. Arthur Andersen not only helped Enron with a better image to the business world but financially they wrongfully reported their books falsely to cover Enron of getting caught by the SEC.

Eventually the SEC caught up with Enron and their unrightfully acts of stock shares increasing from $20 to $90 in just 3 years which is a valuation of $70 billion dollars with the unethical help of Andrew Fastow. The SEC had to do an investigation on Enron and found out that they were committing one of the biggest frauds in the United States. Enron could easily have done fine without lying about their profits and asking for help to improve their company. They decided to take the risky route and achieve greater money in the least amount of time by committing fraud, disobeying the rules, and not sticking to their business ethics of following the rules to success without cheating. Cause of cheating Enron shut down in 2001 after being 16 years in service, and the CEO’s whose income were like millions of dollars each year, were fined a killer amount of money that each one of them went broke. Jeffrey Skilling was one of the principal CEO’s who was sentenced to 24 years in prison but recently was reduced to only 14 years in prison. Sources say he will be released in 2017.

Not only did the SEC investigate Enron they also investigated Arthur Andersen because the auditor’s job is to find any fraud or errors in books. Once the SEC found dirt on Enron, Enron called the auditors, “The fired partner, David B. Duncan, called a meeting of auditors at the firm’s Houston office and ordered ”an expedited effort to destroy documents” on Oct. 23, the day after Enron disclosed that the S.E.C. had begun its inquiry, the firm said. The destruction apparently did not end until Mr. Duncan’s assistant sent an e-mail message to other secretaries on Nov. 9 that said ”stop the shredding,” the firm said. Andersen had received a subpoena from the S.E.C. the day before.” Now why couldn’t Andersen just give in to the SEC and surrender that they helped Enron instead of trying to shred all the evidence. Andersen could have been given a less painful punishment but since they messed up they paid the consequences. Andersen was one of the big 5 auditing firms in the world next to Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, and KPMG. Now 2017 Andersen is no longer in existence because after this great big scandal no other companies wanted to associate with a firm who were disloyal.

“Every business lies about its ethics” there are many explainations why companies do so. Enron was founded in 1985 but then in 2001 they were finally caught by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for knowingly manipulating accounting rules and masking the enormous losses and liabilities of the company. When a company does not establish rules of ethics that company like Enron will no more be in business. If Enron were to play by the rules their company would have still been in business and so would have Arthur Andersen. Enron lied about being ethical we could tell by the profits that Enron was making within a small span of time. Once the company Enron knew that they had made committed too much fraud they tried to cover it up with bringing Arthur Andersen, one of the big five accounting firms in the world. Enron convinced Arthur Andersen to money launder their money but since their profit margins were too high the SEC became very suspicious of this amount of money Enron was profiting. In the business world no one is forced into committing these crimes; Arthur Andersen had the choice to decline the offer from Enron to help them with money laundering but because they had no ethics they joined alliances with Enron. Once Enron fell apart they brought Arthur Andersen down too. Enron went bankrupt because of all the dues and imprisonment of the CEOs and Arthur Andersen was destroyed with the bad reputation that no company wanted them to do check their books.

Why the readers might ask is Enron so important, well it is important to know that businesses lie about ethics especially a well-known company that was located on Wall Street and was one of a few companies that Forbes magazine could brag to the United States. Sure there are other companies that have committed a unrightfully act of ethics for instance we have Wells Fargo & company which is an American International banking and financial services holding company located around the whole United States. Recently about one year ago Wells Fargo had a big scandal for phony accounts. As a well trusted bank that many people thought had ethical employees was not true. CNN covered the story saying that 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts. These employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts under many of their customers to meet their sales target and receive bonuses. Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan knew that these phony accounts were being made but because of his business ethics he did not stop his employees. I understand that Wells Fargo needs to make profits and meet their margins but having an unethical way of making money it’s just heartbreaking that people don’t care about others and just themselves. Tim Sloan is the one to blame for all this commotion; he even got rich off of these 3.5 million phony accounts that would charge fees to clients for having another open but unknown account. Elizabeth Warren suggested he’d be fired but instead congress let him remain where he is but gave him a big fine of $185 million dollars along with $5 million refund to customers.

Corporations find ethics to be a drain on profits; but every corporation claims to promote strong business ethics. Many businesses have rules of Corporate Social Responsibility that states we must be committed employers, be an outstanding partner to customers, be an environmentally friendly player and service civil society. These are the four pillars every business must stand by but for the most part corporations have the rules to promote but will never follow through because profits don’t come as fluidity like being unethical. Businesses promote that they are truly ethical but how can we believe and trust big time companies when their fraud crime scandals were announced to the business world. Forbes releases a list of most ethical businesses every year which does help a customer if we want the best service without any surprise fees. Most companies that are usually more trustworthy are those that are small businesses because what they want is to make their customers satisfied with the little they have to offer. If we were to trust a company I’d say it would have to be a small one because all the big companies get away with almost anything just like Enron did for 12 years. My point proven, the bigger the companies are, the more unethical they become. Big companies have so many clients that if they lose one they still have others to attend and more so other companies will keep coming to make business relations with other big and superior companies.

If we take a look inside small businesses we tend to see exactly what they provide and have to offer unlike other big businesses that have many hidden fees and tactics. According to a journal by Heledd Jenkins she illustrated and discovered that given the significant scale of small business in nearly every economy, their aggregate achievements have a major effect worldwide. Researchers are now also recognizing the importance of business ethics and social responsibility as they apply to small firms. Take a look at Hasbro Inc, it’s a small manufacturing toy business that ensures great quality products for younger children and takes ethics very serious because they would rather be worried about the child’s safety than the gross income they are receiving and that’s why Hasbro Inc is one of the companies to be selected in Forbes article “Most Ethical Companies 2017”.

People say that business ethics and moral ethics are the same but they aren’t. Moral ethics are what you learn from your parents. While business ethics is more of a one way streak there we must follow it one way however the rules are of that certain company. There is no other way to follow it because of how your parents taught you differently that does not fall into place within the business world. If an employee does not want to follow the firm’s rules the outcome is usually to be fired. This is when employees start to realize how the world really works.

People don’t realize but their so-called “ethics” change once they get exposure to the business world. Morals ethics are different from business ethics. Moral ethics are the principles or habits taught by our parents/guardians to understand and state what is the right and wrong choice to make or do. While business ethics falls under different standards; it is mostly the rules of conduct that a company gives to their employees which usually affect their morals because sometimes we are unwilling to do the tasks of what the company we work for ask us to do. We ask ourselves why do we follow these unethical rules the reason is why we want to keep our jobs and keep supporting our families. The effects of telling the company we work for that we will not follow these unethical rules will end in either getting fired or told that there will be changes but most likely lose the job.

In the business world we won’t hear too much about business ethics, though another term we do hear is corporate social responsibility which is somewhat like ethics just a more narrowly concern about the company’s obligations. CSR plays an important role in every firm or company in the United States. CSR and business ethics go hand in hand if either of them are tampered with or in other terms, people change the rules and make it their own so their business would prosper. Word gets out when businesses do not perform well and lack in any of the four axes such as being a committed employer, build relationships with our customers, serve civil society, being an environmentally friendly player. I believe that the CSR is like an insurance for business ethics, CSR is there to provide people with guidance on how to act within the firm with everybody. However if CSR starts to lack no customer will seek guidance from that firm/company again because of how their service lacked. This affects the business tremendously for example if customers stop recommending others to come to our firm we can not make profit and worse run of our business. That is why having the right kind of ethics is important and should always be looked upon and checked every now and then.

According to a study made my Peter Arlow a journalist who found out which group of people would be more likely to cheat and be negative orientated towards social responsibility. He made tests with the following information: first off he included the major whether they were business majors or non business majors, second he included the sex male or female, third their age either under the age of 24 or equal/over the age of 24. Arlow decided to conduct this test with surveys and then using t tests and correlations to figure out which group was more reliant to follow the rules. Overall the nonbusiness majors scored higher on all five ethical dimensions. Each ethical dimension were based on (Aldag and Jackson, 1977): (1) Traditional Orientation – sees efficient production as the key social responsibility and profit maximization as the corporate goal. (2) Negative Orientation Toward Alleged Social Responsibility – sees social responsibility as a gimmick and a cover for mismanagement. (3) Demander Orientation – calls for diversion of shareholder resources to society in general. (4) Constrainer Orientation – favors tightened control of government over business. (5) Negative Orientation Toward Adequacy of Corporate Social Efforts – sees current corporate social effort in a negative light and sees negative consequences of a lack of social effort. This data was determined under all five of these dimensions of social responsibility and then followed through to which was one would be the most adequate to choose from depending on the score. These were the measurements to access business ethics based on the work of Miesing and Preble (1985): (1) Machiavellianism – moral actions are justified to serve some purpose, (2) Objectivism – the focus is on rational self-interest and avoiding ethical judgements based on feelings, (3) Social Darwinism – accepts percepts of “survival of the fittest, and the strong are morally superior, (4) Ethical relativism – ethical judgements are based on social convention and that which is sanctioned by group norms at a given time and place, (5) Universalism – rules of behavior are absolutes, and apply equally to all places and times. Within the process there were two measurements to be measured it was the business ethics and social responsibility.

As for the results Arlow figured out that business students may not be as self-centered, selfish and opportunistic as the stereotypical view of individuals. Within the business ethics of Meising and Preble the two were Machiavellianism and Darwinism. Which meant that these business students are willing to do business but with a purpose however they would do anything to get to the top, survival of the fittest. When the business and nonbusiness students were compared using the social responsibility measure of Aldag and Jackson there was a significant difference found on the dimensions of Negative Orientation Toward Social Responsibility and the Demander Orientation. These results suggest that non business students are more negative toward current efforts at social responsibility, seeing it as a cover for mismanagement, and the lack of upholding and keeping any company they work well-connected.

Sex wise the data showed that females were less likely to do commit fraud or do anything that would be considered as unethical. The results say that females would want to keep the company from falling and keep it balanced but the males seemed like they didn’t care if the company would collapse as long as they would make profit and have something to live from. That’s why females are considered more passionate and considerate other than males.

While the age group of higher than the age 24 were considered to show a greater negative orientation because of their lives being more ahead of the other people. Older people are considered the most target audience to commit any type of business crime because of them considered to have a family to take care of without a great income it would totally be impossible to maintain a family.

The people who were surveyed mostly students are determined to be influenced by peers from the exposure of the larger sociocultural norms than by education in specific disciplines.

Works Cited

That’s exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide. “5,300 Wells Fargo Employees Fired over 2 Million Phony Accounts.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network.

“The Rise and Fall of Enron.” Journal of Accountancy, 1 Apr. 2002,

Investopedia. “5 Most Publicized Ethics Violations By CEOs.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Feb. 2013.

Arlow, Peter. “Personal Characteristics in College Students’ Evaluations of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.” Journal of Business Ethics 10.1 (1991): 63. ProQuest.

Ackman, Dan. “Enron The Incredible.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 06 June 2013.

“How Corporate Social Responsibility Pays Off.” Long Range Planning, Pergamon, 26 Feb. 1999.

“Ethics vs Morals.” Ethics vs Morals – Difference and Comparison 

Jenkins, Heledd. “Small Business Champions for Corporate Social Responsibility.“SpringerLink. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 02 Sept. 2006. Web. 03

PBS. Public Broadcasting Service,Web. 02.

Tribune, Chicago. “Ties to Enron Blinded Andersen.” Chicagotribune.com, 12 July 2008.

research–todayistheday

Family Fun and the Feeding Frenzy

It’s a very unnatural occurrence when the predator becomes the prey. The hunter becoming the hunted, the victim stalking the killer. It crams individuals into a category they don’t fit into, they are forced to adjust or else they die.

Orcas, also known as killer whales, are one of the most powerful predators in our ocean. NECSI describes predator/prey relationships, “Predator and prey evolve together. The prey is part of the predators environment, and the predator dies if it does not get food, so it evolves whatever is necessary in order to eat the prey.” Orcas have evolved to be sophisticated strategists and dedicated hunters. Orcas stick together in pods, consisting of up to 40 killer whales. They communicate with each other when prey is spotted, detecting the prey with echolocation, determining the size and location. Depending on the prey, they deploy intelligent designs of tactic based on species, their strategy is effective and deadly. With razor sharp teeth and dozens of killer whales, the odds are in the orcas favor.

Predators, such as orcas, in an ecological sense are defined as being larger than their prey and killing their prey. Predators and prey are a part of the same environment and evolve together.  The predator evolves to kill the prey; meanwhile the prey evolves to avoid being killed by the predator. Both are key to each other for survival. The categorizing of predator and prey relationships is defined by consumption, who is eating who.

Predators rise to the top of the food chain because of certain skills or characteristics they maintain.  Most predators are stealthy, they approach an attack with careful precision.  Predators have dominating physical features, their size is typically larger than their prey along with their sense of sight, smell, and taste that must be greater than their prey. Bradford in her Live Science article establishes,”They weigh up to 6 tons (5,443 kilograms) and grow to 23 to 32 feet (7 to 9.7 meters). That is almost as long as a school bus.”

But outside of the animal kingdom, predators are still lurking in the shadows waiting for the right moment to pounce on unsuspecting prey. In society we categorize pedophiles as child predators.  They are larger individuals waiting to feed off a child’s innocence, killing their purity. We can see government as a dangerous predator with all the power.  The citizens are the pawns, individuals are so easy to sweep away and stomp out.  Predators are killers, feeding off the prey.

When a pedophile is arrested and locked away in prison they are no longer a predator.  They are confined behind concrete walls and shackled; they are cast away from their community.  They were caught and imprisoned; the predator then becomes the prey.  The predator than becomes the prison guards or the criminal justice system or their fellow inmates.  The pedophile’s fate is determined by the criminal justice system that sends him to prison.  The pedophile’s fellow inmates could have a distaste for perverts and beat him until he dies; he came the prey.

So, when orcas are captured and locked within concrete enclosures they are no longer the predator.  They’re ripped away from their food chain and placed in an entirely different environment.  Once at the top of the food chain, they plummeted to the bottom.  Their fate lies in the hands of SeaWorld.  They rely on their kidnappers for their survival.

But SeaWorld doesn’t become the predator.  SeaWorld is something different entirely.  SeaWorld wouldn’t benefit from killing their prey. SeaWorld needs to feed off their prey and reap the benefits for as long as possible.  SeaWorld is a parasite.

Parasites leech onto their host, either clinging to the body or digging their way inside. They feed off their host, stealing from them. NECSI explains to us the parasite and host balance, “A parasite and its host evolve together. The parasite adapts to its environment by living in and using the host in ways that harm it.” Parasites harm their hosts, or prey, but rarely kill them.  And if they do kill them it wasn’t intentional. They can cause sickness in their hosts that can ultimately lead to their death.  Tapeworms, for example, live within the intestines of their host.  They feed off the partially digested food, robbing the host of that nutrients. Ticks dig their heads into their host and stuff themselves full of blood.

The Toxoplasma gondii, also known as the mind control bug, infects, most commonly, rodents.  It infiltrates the brain, erasing the fear of cats from the rodent’s brain.  This then causes the rodent to be captured and killed by the cat.  Toxoplasma godnii can also infect humans.  In severe cases, brain and organ damage occur.

SeaWorld leeches onto the orcas and refuses to let go.  True to parasite nature they cling onto their hosts until they, themselves, are exterminated or until their host dies.  SeaWorld, the ultimate parasite, opts for the latter. They ignore any suggestions of seaside sanctuaries where the orcas can live free.  Because without their host, they wouldn’t survive.

Like Toxoplasma, SeaWorld, slithers into the host’s brain and takes control.  It overrides the hosts natural instincts, instead, they insist on unnatural performances.

Parasites can cause several alarming symptoms in their host.  They can cause abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dysentery and weight loss.   Parasite’s are detrimental in the health of their host.

Orcas suffer from poor dental health from chewing on cement walls and metal gates.  Closed quarters lead to fighting among the orcas , which can cause raking (teeth on skin) marks.  They offer suffer from poor eyesight, due to increased light sensitivity. Collapsed Dorsal fins due to restricted diving capabilities. And to their demise orcas easily develop pneumonia in their lungs due to their chemically treated water and insufficient diet.  Orcas suffer greatly as the parasite continues to gnaw on their cash “cow”.

SeaWorld digs into the orcas, draining them of any nutrients they can.  The only nutrients SeaWorld needs are the crisp dollar bills lining their pockets. They push the orcas to perform tricks for audience members. They even force conception so that more baby orcas can be apart of the SeaWorld cult. SeaWorld’s best interest is to keep the orcas alive so that they can benefit from them.  They showcase the orcas and open their parks so that people can witness the blood sucking frenzy disguised as a family friendly marine park.

There is a player we didn’t factor into the game; the audience. The killer whales once predators now the prey. SeaWorld, a monstrous company, is the parasite feeding off the prey.  When factoring in the new addition the roles change slightly.  The orcas become bait to us.  We see happy faces on SeaWorld commercials as Shamu swims joyful laps.  We watch as children hug fluffy Shamu’s to their chests, holding it close to their heart.  That is when we bite down onto the brilliantly appealing bait.  We are hooked. SeaWorld begins reeling us in, slowly with stealth so they don’t alarm us to their trickery. Their lure is embedded into our mouth, pulling us closer toward their greedy gates, like open arms waiting for an embrace. We, the audience, buy tickets to walk through the gates of the park.  Wonder filled eyes gaze at tanks filled with animals more majestic than we could ever dream of. We clap, cheer and laugh as we watch the orcas flip out of the water and wave their fins. Behind closed doors SeaWorld counts their cash and smiles knowing their hook is sliced into our mouths, holding us tight.

SeaWorld continues to be the parasite feeding off any entertainment drained out of their hosts and from the audiences gullibleness. They rely off of the orcas helplessness and the audience’s blindness. Without the orcas, there is no audience, and vice versa.  Seaworld chomps down onto any vulnerable flesh, and they suck, until their pockets stuff themselves with crisp dollar bills and coins with a distinctive iron smell.

The 1993 Warner Bros film, Free Willy, sparked a national outrage over the injustice of keeping orcas captive. Free Willy is the reason the fight for captive orcas was acknowldeged.  The film continues to be a push to open our eyes to the compassion and magic of orcas.  The family friendly film highlighted the special bond between a teenage boy, Jesse, and a young majestic orca named Willy. Audience’s hearts warmed and they rooted for a happy ending for both Jesse and Willy.  The movie ends in bitter happiness, Jesse succeeds in freeing Willy to reunite with his family. As much as Jesse loved Willy it was only right for Willy to return home.

When released the film inspired thousands of people to strike against marine parks that keep orcas captive. In his article describing the impact of Free Willy, Dylan Powell states, “Having a massive corporate media outlet behind the film, and providing coverage for much of this ‘effect’, has made all of this advocacy impossible to ignore.” A letter campaign, Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, succeeded in freeing Keiko, the whale that ‘played’ Willy. Keiko was taken out of a marine park in Mexico and first brought to Oregon to be treated for health problems.  Once in the clear, Willy was flown to Iceland to be kept in a seaside sanctuary where he could relearn his natural instincts and environment. Keiko was released into the wild, and thrived until he died of pneumonia not long after his release.  Regardless of his sudden death, Keiko was 27 years old when he died, still living longer than SeaWorld’s average.

The film made over 100 million dollars, some of which was donated to releasing Keiko. Schellenberg in her article informs us, “As the credits appear in front of a video of whales frolicking in the wild, a note says, ‘You can personally help save the whales of the world by calling 1-800-4-WHALES.’ This number was called by millions who wanted the real-life Willy to be freed, and a plethora of donations were collected.” Keiko, along with other captive orcas, had a similar story line to Willy. In 1961, the first captive orca was brought to a marine park. Orcas were hunted and surrounded, the youngest orca ripped away from its family.  The orca’s pod has been known to follow the boats as long as they can.  I’m sure that if we could understand their cries, we wouldn’t rip them away from their home and force them to live inside a concrete prison.

Willy was ripped away from his family and placed in a marine park.  His cries were heartbreaking and lonely.  He refused to perform and was stubborn to eat. Willy would cry long high pitched vocals, the Washington state waters cast in the background. Kasatka and Katara are a mother daughter pair of orcas that were inseparable. Katara wouldn’t leave her mothers side and Kasatka protected and loved Katara unconditionally.  Katara was sold to a park in Florida, they loaded her onto a shipping truck. Kasatka was left in the pool, crying high pitched vocals.  They were never heard before.  A specialist was brought in and revealed that Kasatka was crying long range vocals.  She was trying to locate her daughter.

SeaWorld rips family units apart like they are simply plastic pieces in a game of Life.  We must come to understand that humans are not the only individuals on Earth that feel emotions.  Orcas have strong family ties, they continue to be with their family units their whole lives.

They have a part of the brain, humans are deprived of.  It is believed to be the center for their strong love and devotion to their family.  The thought of ripping a human child away from her mother and tossing her into a cage is repulsive.  Replacing the word human with orca does not make that statement any less horrifying.

Free Willy sparked a movement to free orcas from captivity that lead to the first orca release. SeaWorld and other parks like it, announced they wouldn’t capture orcas from the wild any longer. The Free Willy movement lead to Blackfish which fueled another generation.  Blackfish shocked people across the globe and flipped SeaWorld upside down, exposing the corrupt business.

SeaWorld then announced its end to the orca program.  SeaWorld would end its breeding program and allow the current orcas to be their last generation.  Although, this is a win for future orcas; the current orcas are still imprisoned. Kyara, the last baby orca, was supposed to be SeaWorld’s last pawn.  Kyara became another tombstone in SeaWorld’s cemetery. At only three months old Kyara succumbed to an unfair and early death. In the National Geographic article Kyara’s cause of death is established, “Park officals suspect the three-month-old calf died from pneumonia, the same infection that killed the infamous captive whale Tilikum.” SeaWorld’s response, “Kyara’s infection had not been caused as a result of being kept in captivity.” Pull up google, type in pneumonia in killer whales, every single link on the first page leads you to results and articles written for only captive whales with pneumonia. Wild orcas suffer rarely from pneumonia but mostly from humans, who pollute their waters and hunt them.

Kyara shared the same ill fate as Tilikum, SeaWorld’s most famous killer whale. Tilikum, two years old, was swimming next to his mother when he was ripped from his home waters. Tilikum was eventually carted off and dumped at SeaLand in British Columbia. For fourteen hours of the day Tilikum was imprisoned in a tiny sea module, not much bigger than he was. Fourteen hours of mind dulling solidarity and then the rest of the hours were spent being attacked by two dominant female orcas.

A trainer slipped and fell into the orca waters, Tilikum dragged her and refused to let her go, even when the girl’s body was limp and lifeless. That was the first person Tilikum killed. The second was a homeless man who snuck into Tilikum’s tank.  The dead man’s body, or what was left of it, was proudly draped across Tilikum’s back when trainers came in the morning. Tilikum’s final victim was a highly respect trainer at SeaWorld. Tilikum scalped her and continued to hold onto the corpse for hours after.

The first years of his life were spent free alongside his family.  Then he was plucked from his home and tossed into a tank.  Majority of his life spent alone, endlessly lapping his small tank or floating lifelessly. He died of pneumonia after a long suffering life. WDC published an article explaining Tilikum’s life and the effects of it, “The true and only legacy from his sad, tragic existence is that a much wider audience now appreciates and understands that these noble creatures deserve better.”

 The memories of Free Willy and facts embraced by Blackfish push people to say no to SeaWorld. Keiko and Tilikum represent every orca in captivity, we should listen closely to their heartbreaking cries. It has thousands, refusing to buy a ticket and support the injustice of imprisoning orcas. The first legendary orca film, Free Willy, lead to a fight for justice. People are now hoping to empty the tanks, to free SeaWorld’s captive orcas into seaside sanctuaries. We have hopes of them living happy lives reunited with their long lost family.  We have hopes to Free Willy, once and fore all. Yet with every hero there is a relentless enemy battling us.

We are told, at a young age, to never talk with our mouths full. Jim McBain and Brad Andrews ignore that pleasantry and common formality; their mouths overflow with well-constructed lies. Jim McBain, director of veterinary medicine at SeaWorld and Brad Andrews, vice president of zoological operations at SeaWorld, released a detailed pro-captivity statement during the time Keiko, the star of Free Willy, was in the public’s attention.

McBain and Andrews are well-educated and successful individuals who make a hefty salary each year at SeaWorld.  Their experience and knowledge of SeaWorld would be invaluable if it wasn’t flooded with lies and half-truths.

In their PBS announcement, McBain and Andrews defend SeaWorld and its commitment to love and care for their orcas. It is obvious they care, but they care for the money orcas rake in rather than the orcas themselves.  If you took the profit away, SeaWorld would be quick to sell their orcas.  Money over matter.

McBain and Andrews start their defense by justifying captivity for the sake of education.  As we grow and urbanize we should find ways to stay in touch with nature.  They claim it is irrational for every person to experience nature by going out into the wild.  They claim it is more beneficial to drag animals to us rather than go to them.

They calculated how many people visit SeaWorld yearly and crunched some numbers to see the consequences of those people visiting “Robson Bite” instead. There would be over 2,000 boat trips a day, which to McBain and Andrews would be “ludicrous”. What is truly ludicrous is that they couldn’t bother to spell the location, they’re referring to, correctly. Its correct spelling is Robson Bight which promotes experiencing the majesty of orcas in the wild.  They don’t use boats to observe orcas, they use kayaks to avoid endangering orcas with boats.  McBain and Andrews don’t provide numbers to refer to, to ensure their creditability.  It is highly unlikely all SeaWorld goers would flock to one orca sighting location while dozens exist.

McBain and Andrews claim in the PBS announcement, we’d “destroy what little habitat is left by trying to do that.” They seem to be repressing the fact that SeaWorld destroyed natural habitat to build their marine prison. They choose to crucify getting informed of animals naturally and praise artificially learning about animals.

McBain and Andrews believe people need to be educated and connected with animals. We all agree it is important to appreciate, understand and value the animals we share the planet with.  It is crucial to witness the strength, beauty, and intelligence animals in case, for us to understand our human lives are not the only ones that matter.  SeaWorld teaches the opposite lesson under the guise of education.  SeaWorld doesn’t teach truth.

SeaWorld also claims they appreciate the social and familial bonds orcas have with their family.  Yet, they built a company of the deed of ripping young orcas away from their families. They advertise they keep a mother and her baby together because in the wild an orca stays with her mother her whole life.  Behind closed doors, babies are ripped away from their mothers and moved to different parks to benefit breeding programs.  It’s an endless cycle of pain, but they don’t inform their guests of those facts.

SeaWorld’s website claims that their orcas live life spans equal to those in the wild. Wild orcas thrive in the open waters of the wild for an average of 60 years. Some, on record, prosper for over a 100 years. SeaWorld’s orcas perish at 13. The expiration date is cut down over 40 years. SeaWorld robs orcas of their lives.

McBain and Andrews seem to have good intentions when they strive to have education and connection to animals without destroying habitats. They should take off their rose-tinted glasses and see the damage SeaWorld inflicts. More than habitat is destroyed, lives are devastated.

McBain and Andrews claim that “over 90 percent of the American public feels that what zoos and aquariums are doing the right thing.” I searched to find validation for this statistic.  I found only one survey from Debate Organization, that showed only 41 percent of people believe zoos and aquariums are doing the right thing.

Majority of people see through SeaWorld’s façade and recognize it for the sham it is.  Now, it is time for SeaWorld to recognize their faults and take accountability for the damage they has done.

SeaWorld is not educational.  One cannot force feed lies and label them as education, its blasphemy. “If want a public that’s knowledgeable about wild animals and some sensitivity about them, if we want our children to have a chance to see many of these animals, it’s gonna have to be places like SeaWorld.” SeaWorld doesn’t provide the public with knowledge, they provide entertainment.  They also aren’t educating the public on “wild” animals, these orcas were stripped of being wild. Once they were dumped in those tanks they became captive orcas. There is a strong distinction between wild and captive, one is free and the other is a prisoner.

SeaWorld recognizes its company as a place where people can gain sensitivity towards animals.  Sensitivity is an ironic word for McBain and Andrews to choose.  SeaWorld is the opposite of sensitive, they ripped orcas from their families to make a profit.  They ignore the blood on their hands and shove the skeletons deeper into the closet.

Regardless of the corrupted truths SeaWorld chooses to ooze out from the closed doors, the message they convey is that we should be allowed to do what we want, if we make a profit. SeaWorld promotes inflicting pain to make a profit. Children should be taught to recognize and understand imprisoning an animal, depriving them of their natural habitat and sentencing them to a life inside a concrete pool, is wrong. We wouldn’t buy tickets to visit a cotton plantation, watching the slaves work to survive.  We should be horrified at the thought of endorsing such inhumane conditions.

Slavery was common when first started off as the United States.  The few that fought against slavery became the many, and then as a country we abolished slavery. Today, it is horrifying to look back and read the details of what slaves endured. Confined to small shacks, separated from family, malnourished, and forced to work under inhumane conditions.

The similarities to what we did to people with a darker skin color and to the orcas we keep enslaved at SeaWorld, are repulsive. Confined to shared, overpopulated areas much too small. Ripped away from their children and siblings. Fed diets heavily lacking nutrients.  And poked and prodded to produce work unnatural and inhumane.

The end to the African slave trade, left slave masters with little options.  They could no longer rip people from Africa and force them into slavery.  They began to rely on trading amoung fellow slave masters.  They relied heavily on natural reproduction, children being brought into the world by rape. Women were, commonly, raped by their slave masters. Slave masters depended on the offspring produced by such horrifying actions.  This must be how SeaWorld felt when their program, to remove wild orcas from their home and place them in their tanks, came to a screeching halt.

SeaWorld scrambled for options.  They bought orcas from other parks to fill in their empty spaces, left by prematurely deceased orcas. But most importantly they impregnated their female orcas with hijacked male orca sperm.  Baby orcas bring in a good crowd. The pick and choose family structures, forcing young orcas to become mothers.  They impregnate their orcas at half the age they conceive in the wild. Artificially impregnated orcas causes miscarriages, still births, and early deaths. SeaWorld is no Mother Nature, but they are the Grim Reaper.

Nat Turner’s rebellion, a slave rebellion that resulted in white peoples deaths, caused national uproar.  Nat Turner was crucified and his sins were well documented.  But what was commonly ignored was what lead him to kill so many people. His whole life was spent being a slave, whipped until he bled, and worked until he dropped from exhaustion.  Tilikum was labeled as a monster for the people he killed. But taking a closer look it is clear he was driven to this psychotic break.  His whole life was spent as a slave.

We must see Seaworld as the same disgusting construct as slavery.  We must abolish orca captivity like we did slavery.

 

Works Cited

“The Debate- Pro-Captivity.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service.

“Are Zoos Good (Yes) or Bad (No)?” Debate.org.

Powell, Dylan.  “The Free Willy Effect: Perspective and Time in the Anti-Captivity Movement.”Dylan Powell, 12 Mar. 2014.

Schellenberg, Carlyn. “Free Willy: ’93 Film Propels Anti-Captivity Movement.” The Manitoban, 22 Apr. 2016.

“Parasitic Relationships.” NECSI Evolution. 

“Predator-Prey Relationships.” NECSI Evolution.

Morell, Virginia. “How Orcas Work Together to Whip Up a Meal.” National Geographic.

Barrie, Nell. “10 Deadly Parasites.” Science Focus, 16 Aug. 2017.

Holm, Gretchen, and Erica Roth. “Toxoplasmosis.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 10 Feb. 2016.

Schelling, Ameena. “SeaWorld Orcas Have ‘Alarming’ Number Of Injuries, Vet Reveals.” The Dodo, The Dodo, 11 Aug. 2015.

Bradford, Alina. “Orcas: Facts About Killer Whales.” LiveScience, Purch, 20 Nov. 2014.

Gibbens, Sarah. “Sea World’s Last Captive-Born Baby Orca Dies.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 25 July 2017.

“Tilikum – the Death of a Dark Star.” WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, 6 Jan. 2017, us.whales.org/blog/2017/01/tilikum-death-of-dark-star.

Google search

 

Research- alaska

Depression: The Bad Sides

Depression is common around the world today. Depression can mean different things for different people. For example, I view depression as having an off balance of chemicals in your brain. If you look up depression on Merriam Webster website, the definition is “a mood disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies.” That definition gives you a list of signs and symptoms to be aware of. I believe there are different levels of depression, for example, depression only and then depression combined with mental illness. To me depression is when you are depressed for no reason like just being sad. While at other times you are depressed for a long time but you are perfectly fine. When you start to spiral out of control, you may suffer from depression with mental illness. Everyone will suffer from depression at some point in their life. But, when a person is depressed all the time, it can be a sign of mental illness as they are frequently intertwined. Depression can make you think that you aren’t good enough or that you did something wrong. Society today makes it seem that mental illness isn’t a real problem. Its view is that people who have mental illness or depression need to get over it and get on with their lives. Sadly, depression sometimes leads people to thoughts of taking their own lives. Many kids, teenagers, young adults and elderly people are committing suicide every day because they feel lonely and depressed and are afraid to ask for help from anyone. There needs to be more awareness and acceptance of depression and depression combined with mental illness.

Personally, I have known some people who have taken their lives from dealing with depression or depression combined with mental illness. At one point they were completely fine and then suddenly they aren’t here anymore. It is a terrible thing to think how they got so sad and depressed that they thought that choosing to take their own life was easier than seeking help. Sadly, they think that’s their only option at that moment in their life. They didn’t realize the devastation, hurt and sadness that will be left behind for family and friends; those people who loved them. It hurts because when you know that person you feel terrible because you didn’t realize they were going through such a hard time. The guilt that family and friends have is hard to deal with as you feel as though you let that person down. My favorite quote is “Sometimes the happiest people are the people who are hurting the most.” The most depressed people could be the ones that always make you laugh or smile and they always try to make you feel happy when they aren’t.

As a society we need to be more accepting and to not shame people who struggle with feelings of depression. Also as a society we need to be more accepting and to not shame people who struggle with mental illness. Society is so hard and judgmental against how people feel. From personal experience I have had my friends say that I could talk to them but I don’t because I don’t want to bother them or get judged for not knowing what is wrong. Our mental health is just as important as our physical health. Doctors and therapists need to know the symptoms of depression and depression with mental illness to be able to help everyone. They need to experiment with different kinds of medicines and alternative medicines. I think maybe there should be study groups of depressed people. Place those people in situations that make them depressed, study what triggers it and find solutions for those triggers. Then the people in those groups can learn how to cope by putting plans of action in place to get them through the hard times.

The bottom line is that depression and depression with mental illness need to be recognized as true illnesses. This will be difficult but my hope is that once we recognize this, the medical profession can begin to find answers and people can begin to get the help they need. Also, it would be great to find ways to prevent depression from happening just as they are trying ways to prevent cancer from happening. Maybe in the future depression will be nonexistent.

At some point in our life everyone is going to deal with depression after all its human nature. There are many different causes for it, such as traumatic events, physical and mental abuse, bullying, etc. The list goes on and on. In a perfect world, we would all be much nicer to each other. But since this isn’t a perfect world, we all need to learn to treat each other better. After all, the golden rule is treat people the way the way you would want to be treated.

There are many ways to prevent depression. For example, if a person has depression in their family they need to be aware of the signs and symptoms and take measures on how to deal with or treat themselves if they feel they might have depression. Also, if young adult or a child shows signs to a teacher or a person in authority, that person needs to help them. It’s okay to ask someone if they are okay or ask them or if something at home is going on. Young kids might not know that what they are feeling is signs of depression. They might not know what depression is or how to deal with these feelings. So, having someone who recognizes signs of it and mentioning depression, it can open up the lines of communication and they can get the help they need. All it takes is for one person to speak up. So, for a person they look up to helps them they will sure get through it.

In “Causes of Depression: What Causes Depression?” Natasha Tracy says that more than ten percent of the population will at some point have experienced depression in their life. There are many different factors for the causes of depression. Depression can be caused by different things for different people. Depression can lead to suicide if it is bad enough for that person.

For example, I know someone that took their life because they felt that they couldn’t fix what was broken in their life and they didn’t know what to do anymore. Other examples of depression could be losing someone you love or losing a job or having financial troubles. Also, alcohol and social media can be influenced to cause depression. Natasha Tracy says that there are many causes of depression that could be physical or genetic or psychological. If a couple people you are related to were diagnosed with depression you are more likely to be diagnosed with it too but you can also not be diagnosed with it.

When I was six years old I snapped my elbow in half at my neighbor’s house. During this time the neighbor wouldn’t give my parents their homeowner’s insurance. My parents went to a lawyer and the lawyer said we had to sue because our insurance wouldn’t pay the hospital bills. When my parents decided to do it, my neighbors got angry and started get everyone around us against us. They started to threaten them, my brothers and my dog. Also saying they were going to hurt me even more. We were forced to move because my parents were scared our neighbors were actually going to do something horrible. To this day when I think about this event I feel like it’s all my fault even though I know it’s not. My family suffered through this because of me and I know that they love me. The whole event changed the lives of my family.

In middle school I had a best friend. We were so close. We loved going to class together and hanging out at our brother’s football practices and just playing around. One month in fifth grade she barely came in and I was so confused on why she wasn’t there. I just thought she was on vacation or with her family. Then one random day our teacher told my class that she had terrible news to tell us. She told us that one of our peers has been in the hospital for the past month with cancer and has recently lost the battle with it. Once she told us the name of our peer I was so upset, it was my best friend. I couldn’t eat lunch that day and I barely talked to anyone in school and when I went home I cried so much and told my parents. The next week or so I was barely myself and my parents noticed. They ask if I wanted to see the school counselor, I didn’t want to, I just wanted to be by myself. Her funeral went by and I couldn’t get myself to go I was so upset and young. I regret it to this day not going to her funeral, I should have gone. Every time I think about her I get so upset. I miss her so much.

I was a about ten years old I had a kidney stone and a kidney infection which got worse by the minute. I was in the hospital for about a week but it felt like years. This happened in the winter and there was blizzard. My mom was home alone because my dad stayed with me at the hospital that night. My mom has told me that she never got any sleep that night and just walked the floors of our house because she was so worried about my condition. I was in very bad shape and because of that I didn’t think I would ever go home. I got very depressed and sad but I tried my hardest to get better. It was December and my brother’s birthday was coming up and I felt terrible because my brother had to spend his birthday in the hospital because of me. I felt like a terrible sister. He couldn’t even have a nice birthday dinner, he had to have pizza in my hospital room.

Another event that has happened in my life is my cousin dying so young. It was my birthday and I came home from school to find my mom crying her eyes out. She told me that my cousin had died of a drug overdose. It hit me hard because he was such a great person and he was only twenty-five but just got mixed up with drugs after his father died when he was a kid. The entire family, his mother and brother and sister along with him were devastated when their father died and they all didn’t know what to do. My cousins were really young when this news was brought to them. To this day my aunt, his mother, believes that if she hadn’t gone to the store and she was home with him that she could’ve saved him with Narcan. It is commonly used now to treat overdoes but it has to be used within a certain time period for it to be effective. She is so depressed about losing her son but she rarely shows it and I think she should because that is a hard thing to go through. She needs to talk about it more to help not feel as guilty and not to feel as alone.

Many women have depression when they have children or go through menopause. This is believed to be the result of having hormone changes. My mom has talked to me about her postpartum depression. She said that she felt so alone even though she had a baby right in front of her. This is caused by the drastic change in hormones. There have been many cases of where a mother is so depressed that she kills the baby because they just don’t know what to do with the changes. Society today is a mean place. When I was in high school there was a lot of bullying and break ups that lead a couple of my fellow classmates took their lives. It’s a horrible thing to go through and we should all be aware of the people around us and help them if they need help. If they show signs of suicide or depression we need to help and not stand around. Causes of depression or mental illness could be a chain of events that led up to it. For example, bullying can cause depression.

Natasha Tracy says there are two factors that cause depression; such as biological and environmental effects. Tracy says that in the biological effects she believes that hormones, physical changes to the brain and neurotransmitters are the most common biological causes. For the environmental effects, Tracy believes that death of a loved one, loss of a job, or financial troubles are the most common environmental causes. There are differences with women and men that have depression. For example, Tracy says that men usually are depressed because of job related problems and also because of low testosterone. While women usually are depressed because of social relationships and also because of pregnancy and menopause. Depression can cause a serious case of mental illness. Mental illness can cause people to make bad decisions.

Depression is often thought to be an easy get over and move on type of deal. People in society see people with depression as attention seekers and that they are just upset and they will get over it in a minute. Depression might be a one-day thing then the next day is great but then it comes back. Also, depression can be a month or more, which can lead to being a sign of mental illness.

For me, I can’t easily get over it. One minute I am fine then the next minute my mind is telling me all these bad thoughts. Like when I am laying in bed and it’s all quiet, that’s when my mind gives me these thoughts. I tried talking to one of my friends and she told me to cheer up, that I will be okay in a few minutes and that my life isn’t bad. She left it at that. She didn’t say anything else. She doesn’t know how it feels to have these thoughts running through your mind. I have sought help and it is hard to own up to it and ask because I felt like people would judge me for it. It was hard to get over all this trauma and my parents saw that I needed help and I saw someone for it. Seeing someone didn’t help me because I am so shy and don’t usually like meeting new people. So, after trying this I became close to my mom and now I go to her whenever I feel it come back up again. My mom helps me so much and I am so thankful for her. My dad is the same way, he helps me no matter what and makes me feel like I’m okay. Parents are great to talk to because they understand and could have gone through the same thing. My parents have had a lot of trouble in their life so I look up to them and I appreciate them when they help me. Some people don’t seek help because either they are scared to be judged and sometimes they don’t know how to ask for help and I understand why it is a scary thing. Being judged is terrible because you can’t help that you feel depressed and people are just mean; they don’t care and they see you as a problem so they don’t want to be near you at all.

In the article “Depression In Teens,” the author gives suggestions to help prevent depression for teens. For example, they can go to therapy or they can take medication that is prescribed to them. If a teen asks for help or say that they are depressed society turns and says to them that they are overreacting. That they are just feeling down they will be okay soon. Society shouldn’t turn away and say these things because it makes the teens feel even worse about themselves. The teens feel as though everyone is against them and no one cares about them. If a teen is refused of help or is made fun of for being depressed it can worsen to a point where they can harm themselves. Almost five thousand young people kill themselves each year from depression or depression combined with mental illness.

Whenever someone asks for help whether it be a young person or an adult or an elder, we should help. Seeking help isn’t a bad thing and saying that you have a problem isn’t either. Society makes it seem like it is. Society needs to learn to be quiet and keep their opinions to themselves if it can hurt another person. There are many ways to prevent depression from getting out of hand and having anyone of any age kill themselves because they think it’s the only way to solve their problems.

In the article, “Residual symptoms at remission from depression: impact on long-term outcome”, the author states that, “Patients who remit from depression with residual symptomatology continue to have more depressive symptoms and impaired social functioning long-term and may need more aggressive treatment.” So, patients that deal with depression and get treated for it, the depression usually comes back. The patients usually need more powerful treatments to help them cope with the powerful depression.
Depression needs to vocalized and recognized that it is there. Depression needs to have awareness bought to it. No one should suffer. No one should kill themselves. People need to know that there is help out there.

 

Works Cited

1. King, Deborah A. and Kenneth Heller. “Depression and the Response of Others: Is the Effect Specific?.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 95, no. 4, Nov. 1986, pp. 410-411. EBSCOhost.

2. Beck, Aaron T., and Brad A. Alford. “Depression: Causes and Treatment.” 2nd ed., Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. JSTOR.

3. “Residual Symptoms at Remission from Depression: Impact on Long-Term Outcome.” Journal of Affective Disorders, Elsevier, 11 Apr. 2003.

4. Muñoz, R.,F., Yu-Wen, Y., Bernal, G., Pérez-Stable, E.,J., Sorensen, J. L., Hargreaves, W. A., Miller, L. S. (1995). “Prevention of depression with primary care patients: A randomized controlled trial.” American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(2), 199-222.

5. Zimmerman, Mark and William Coryell. “The Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD): A Self-Report Scale to Diagnose Major Depressive Disorder.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 55, no. 1, Feb. 1987, pp. 55-59. EBSCOhost.

6. Tracy, Natasha. “Causes of Depression: What Causes Depression? – Causes – Depression.” HealthyPlace.

7. Tracy, Natasha. “What Caused the Depression? – Causes – Depression.” HealthyPlace.
8. “Depression In Teens.” Mental Health America, 8 Dec. 2016.

9. Gregory N. Clarke, Mark Hornbrook, Frances Lynch, Michael Polen, John Gale, William Beardslee, Elizabeth O’Connor, John Seeley. “A Randomized Trial of a Group Cognitive Intervention for Preventing Depression in Adolescent Offspring of Depressed Parents.” Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001;58(12):1127–1134.

10. Reivich K., Gillham J.E., Chaplin T.M., Seligman M.E.P. (2013) “From Helplessness to Optimism: The Role of Resilience in Treating and Preventing Depression in Youth.” In: Goldstein S., Brooks R. (eds) Handbook of Resilience in Children. Springer, Boston, MA.

11. “Depression.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.

Research – thebeard

Hockey is one of the greatest sports ever; it has been around for over 100 years and consists of many different aspects that make it a great game. Hockey has things such as amazing dekes and dangles, big hits and most importantly fighting. Fighting has been in the NHL basically since it started and has changed over the many years the game has been played. More rules have come out to enforce the game and penalize players for fighting. Players such as enforcers were introduced to the game to basically protect the star players and fight people in general.

Normally going to a hockey game, seeing a fight is one of the best things to happen, aside from the home team winning. Fighting has been part of the NHL since the rules of the sport were first written in the 1800s. The “Original Six” era saw fighting established as an ordinary part of the NHL game according to Jamie Fitzpatrick in the article “History of Hockey Fights.” Throughout the years there have been many “goons” who have been the tough guys on teams. Teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers have used fighting and intimidation as core tactics during the 70s.

Many NHL teams have had “tough guys” on them for many years, these players are meant to harass players on the opponent team to try and get some penalties called or even to pump up the crowd. These players are still on teams these days, they go out on the ice to fight someone to give their own team some motivation. These players were also known as “goons” and they were really big during the 70s. Many fights during those years involved several players and a few were even bench-clearing brawls. Because of all the fights during this era it caused the NHL to create a rule  that any player joining a fight in progress would be ejected from the game. Not to long after that the league also decided that a play leaving the bench to join a fight would receive a 5-to-10 game suspension.

There are several different ways that fighting it still a good thing to have in the game. In the article “Top 10 Reasons Why the NHL Needs to Keep fighting in the Game,” Andrew Maggio talks about how no one will ever question a player for defending a teammate and having to fight someone. This is in every sport not just hockey, teammates defend each other, it happens in baseball with dugouts emptying and full teams running at each other. It also happens in football when offensive linemen pull down defensive players for getting a late hit on their quarterback. Fighting is also a huge momentum shift in hockey, winning a fight can pump a team and the crowd. Fighting is unique to hockey, it is one of the main aspects of the game and has been in it for many and many years. The physicality of the sport is what differentiates t from the other big professional sports, aside from the NFL that is. But you never really hear any football fans complain that they shouldn’t be allowed to hit each other.

If fighting wasn’t a part of the NHL the alternative would be much worse, more people would get injured from dangerous hits and vicious hacks with a players stick. Some players would find different ways to injure certain players and there will be no was to retaliate if there is no fighting for a bad hit on a top player. Most, if not all, NHL teams have players that are literally on the team to protect the star players and basically be a bodyguard when they are needed. When most people go to a hockey game they talk about hoping they will see a fight happen. Years ago you could go to every game and expect to see a fight or at least some type of big physical argument. It doesn’t happen as much anymore but when you go to a game and see a fight its one of the best things in the sport in my opinion. It makes you think what the game would be like if there was no fighting. Sometimes it is nice to go to a big game and see a nice clean hockey game where its just constant skating and great moves but the fighting pumps up the crowd and the teams.

Now one of the worst things that can happen when you go to a hockey game is when a player gets injured. Hockey players can get injured from a number of different things such as getting hit into the boards from behind or just a lower body injury from pushing themselves to hard. An injury is defined as a particular form or instance of harm, so technically an injury could just be a player missing a game. Players miss games every night, it could be due to a physical injury or even just sickness. An injury is defined as a particular form or instance of harm. A study was done by Laura Donaldson during the 2009 – 2012 seasons on how many players were injured. This study was on all 1307 NHL players participating in regular season games. Within the 3-season time period, 825 of the 1307 NHL players missed at least 1 game due to injury. That is about 63% of the players. Within a single 82 game regular season, 50.9% of all players were out for 1 game or more.

The big thing with injuries is that they cost the teams a lot of money. The total lost salary costs due to injury over the 3-year study was $653 million. Of that $653 million, $128.5 was for injuries of concussions. Concussion are a huge injury in most sports, during this study 323 concussions or suspected concussions were recorded.

A smaller study was done during 10 weeks from each of the three seasons to determine the most costly injury. During those 30 weeks 870 injuries occurred. The injury that occurred the most was a leg/foot injury. Those were 241 of the 870 injuries that happened in that period, which was 30% of all the injuries that occurred during the 3 weeks. Those 241 injuries cost about $68 million.

In the NHL there are also many players that have rarely ever missed a game. From the article “Ranking the 10 Most Durable Players in the NHL,” written by Rob Vollman, he states that one of these players that rarely misses a game is Jarome Iginla, during his 1299 games played he only missed 1253. A few of the games that he missed were because of a knee injury in 2006-07 season. Another player that has hardly missed a game is Henrik Sedin, out of his 973 games played he only missed 963. At the age of 33 Henrik Sedin had the second-longest active iron man streak, this means he has played a consecutive amount of games without missing any. His streak, at the time of this article, was 652 consecutive games. One amazing thing that Henrik Sedin did was play most of the 2011 playoffs with a major back injury. This just shows that some players love the game and the fans so much that they play through injuries just to try and win.

Players miss games almost every night in the NHL and other professional sports. This could be from a physical injury or possibly just a simple cold. It is possible that they may also have a family emergency and they would miss a game. Technically all of these are types of injuries and cause players to not be able to play on a specific night.

Fighting is one of the biggest parts of the NHL and if it wasn’t there the game would be completely different. Some players wouldn’t have jobs anymore because they are on teams to be enforcers. If fighting was not in the NHL there would not be much to pump up the crowd aside from scoring goals. Players would not motivate their own team if they get in a fight and win it. You can’t protect your teams star player when he gets hit really bad if there is no fighting. Fighting is a crucial part to the game and should never be removed.

One of the biggest modern game’s true enforcers, John Scott would be praised by his teammates for protecting them on the ice. But he also got so much hate for fighting because that was basically all he was on many teams for. In the article by Chris Kuc called “Why is fighting vanishing from the NHL?” he talks about how hard it has been for Scott to find someone willing to drop the gloves with him. Opponents would often turn down his requests to fight during his time playing for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010-12. Fighting is already starting to decrease, in 2016 fighting was down 16 percent from the year before and 40 percent from the 2012-13 season.

The NHL stated that through February 4th, 2016 there was a total of 212 fights in a combined 767 games for an average of .28 per contest. Through the same number of games in the 2013-14 season there were 332 fights which was .43 per game. Over the years fighting has definitely decreased and is slowly decreasing more and more. Years ago team would usually use their fourth line to be enforcers and just go out on the ice to rough some people up. Nowadays, with the game becoming so competitive, many teams are focusing more on skill and having four line that can help with a game.

In the same article by Chris Kuc, NHLPA Executive Director Tonal Fehr said “This is a very physical game where guys are expending a lot of energy and a lot of adrenaline, It can get really heated because at the elite level of this sport, if you’re not emotionally involved in the game and want to win as much as you can breathe, you’re not staying in this league.” Many players these days don’t have enough energy to push themselves as much as they do playing to also be bale to get into a fight. Majority of the time when a fight does occur these days its because of a big hit or as a way for players to police the game. When I was growing up and going to hockey games and watching them on TV many players would just skate up to each other and say “You want to go?” This happened pretty often and it was really meant to pump up their team or get the crowd going. It was always one of the best things to see two players behind the play just talking and then start throwing punches. It really got everyone going but in the last couple years I haven’t seen that and if so its very rare.

Nowadays an enforcer is a rare sight on the ice. Tie Domi, who spent 16 years establishing a reputation for being one of the NHL’s fiercest enforcers, talks about his worry about his son Max Domi who plays now in the NHL in the article written by John Wawrow. Domi talks about how he is concerned about his son since the league has basically eliminated the role of on-ice police. Back when he played they used to make people accountable for what they did to other players but now its such a different taste. It has really only taken one generation to change the era of the game, ending the tough guy era and becoming a faster, leaner and far less gap-toothed era.

One of the greatest known goons was Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, he played for the Flyers in the 1970s and stood out as an enforcer on a team that was already physical and aggressive. According to the article by Ben Alberstadt, during one playoff campaign, Schultz spent 139 minutes in the penalty box in 17 games. During the Flyers cup-winning 1974-75 season he spent a ludicrous 472 minutes in the box. Another great enforcer was Dave “Tiger” Williams, who spent more than 4,400 minutes in the penalty box during his 14- year career. Williams averaged 4.12 penalty minutes per game in the box. He crossed 300 penalty minutes in a season six times during his career. He also crossed 250 penalty mark 10 times, which is very impressive. In 1987 Williams also did something very unique for being an enforcer: release a cookbook entitled Done like Dinner: Tiger in the Kitchen. If fighting was never a part of the game these guys like many others would have never played and never have the achievements they had in their careers.

If fighting was never put into the NHL theses players that are meant to be enforcers may have never played the game. Many of these players did not have the skill to be a normally skilled player that would go out on the ice and score goals, they instead would go out on the ice to lay a big hit on someone or get into a fight. Some of them were on a team to protect the star players and police the ice and make people accountable for what they did to other players and got away with it.

Although hockey is one of the greatest sports in my opinion, it does have so bad aspects to it. Fighting is partially one of them. Although fighting is awesome and one of the greatest parts of the sport, it has some cons to it. Several players have been really injured from fighting and being an enforcer in the game.

Players such as Robert Frid who fought hundreds of times over three years of junior hockey and eight seasons in the minor leagues. In the article by Arthur Caplan he talks about how Frid has had at least 75 concussions and was knocked unconscious many times. Frid has also been declared permanently disable in his 30s. Frid, now 41 at the time of the article, doesn’t think he has much time left. This is insanely sad for a man that played the sport of hockey. He is most likely suffereing brain damage from all the hits he took, his long-term memory is poor, he has anxiety disorder and headaches. He is not alone either, many players who were enforcers now deal with thing such as depression, pain and even suicides.

Most people don’t know that hockey fights are illegal in European leagues, the Olympics, at the collegiate level, and in Women’s leagues, this is stated in the article written by Ben Kreiger “Death of the Enforcer: 4 Reasons Why fighting In Hockey Should be Banned.” The NHL and some of its subsidiaries are the only leagues in the world that condone fighting. While in collegiate and European leagues fighting is punished by ejection and suspension, the NHL only gives a five minute penalty. Fighting in the NHL reflects how American sports tend to value violence, as an athletic ability. Many people think that fighting helps the attendance for a team, statistically, it doesn’t. Over the last two decades as fighting has decreased attendance has surprisingly increased. In the 2015-16 season there were 0.28 fights per game, which is the lowest ratio since the 1967-68 season.

One of the most well-respected, toughest men in the game George Parros hung up the skates on December 5, 2014. In the article written by Katie Strang she talks about how Parros had 1,092 penalty minutes over his nine years in the NHL but he was also know as a terrific teammate and one of hockey’s most thoughtful articulate ambassadors. Sadly his career ended because of an injury in the prior season, although he had since recovered but no teams wanted him along with many other enforcers that were still in the league.

A team such as the Flyers who have always been known to be the enforcers in the league, cut Jay Rosehill who was the last real enforcer the team had. Its crazy to think that the team nicknamed “The Broad-Street Bullies” could not be bullies anymore. Even Rosehill said himself, “They’ve always had a guy in that role, ever since Dave Schiltz, its just head-spinning how fast it happened.” He is probably talking about how quickly fighting has decreased in the league in general. Even the Columbus Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson states in the same article, “The game is officiated differently now. You can’t do what the Flyers did years ago, you can’t intimidate teams. Intimidation doesn’t work.” The Flyers have always been known as the team to be afraid of, as the nickname states, they were the bullies.

Anymore, teams need to have four lines that can all help the team win. The way players intimidate the other teams these days are by scoring goals and displaying crazy amounts of skill. With fighting you get penalized and sit in the penalty box or sometimes in the locker room while your team still tries to win. But with skill you score a goal and sit back on the bench and 2 minutes later you are back out on the ice ready to try and score again. Being able to step up for a teammate and fight sometimes is still necessary, but as a player you need to be able to go out and score a goal or dish a sick pass so your teammate scores. Nowadays, players need to have extensive amounts of skill to play, as the game get faster every year, the players need to advance with it.

Hockey has changed over the last 100 years since it has been a professional sport, it went from being just six teams to now 31 with the newest team starting this year. The rules and way it is played have also changed since it has started as well. Fighting was one of the biggest parts of the game but now you could watch 10 games before a fight might happen. I do believe it should still be a part of the game because of how fun it is to watch two men in full equipment throw punches at each other until one hits the ice. I grew up watching the Flyers who have also been the team to be scared to play against because of the hard hitters and enforcers they had on the team. Now the last time I watch a Flyers game that had a fight in it was months ago it feels. Fighting does have its disadvantages though, many of these enforcers have been several injured from what they did during their careers. Maybe it is a good thing that fighting doesn’t occur as much anymore, not as many people get injured from getting punched in the face theses days. But what happens when someone takes a run at your teams top player, should his teammates just stand around and look like they wish they could do something or would you want them to get revenge and maybe make some guy lose another tooth.

Works Cited

Alberstadt, Ben. “The 10 Greatest Enforcers in NHL History.” TheRichest, 1 Jan. 1970

Caplan, Arthur. “Why Hockey Should Ban Fighting.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Mar. 2016

Donaldson, L., Li, B., & Cusimano, M. D. (2014). Economic burden of time lost due to injury in NHL hockey players. Injury Prevention, 20(5), 347.

Fitzpatrick, Jamie. “History of Hockey Fights.” ThoughtCo, 18 Mar. 2017

Krieger, Ben. “Death of the Enforcer: 4 Reasons Why Fighting In Hockey Should Be Banned.”Medium, Medium, 26 Apr. 2016

Kuc, Chris. “Why Is Fighting Vanishing from the NHL?” Chicagotribune.com, 8 Feb. 2016

Maggio, Andrew. “Top 10 Reasons Why the NHL Needs to Keep Fighting in the Game.”TheSportster, 20 Nov. 2014

Strang, Katie. “Catching up with Enforcers in Exile.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 26 Dec. 2014

Wawrow, John. “Tie Domi Concerned about Lack of NHL Enforcers.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 Jan. 2017

Vollman, Rob. “Ranking the 10 Most Durable Players in the NHL.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 12 Apr. 2017

Research-Jonhjelly

Technology is the helping hand in humanity. Without technology who knows where mankind would be today. In present time, the latest and newest technology is the microchip or other known as the RFID chip. This microchip/RFID chip is microscopic chip that can be embedded into our bodies for human monitoring . This new technology can be the eyes of a company by monitor its employees  movements and actions. Another place where they are most useful is to monitor our medical emergencies and they can be the  new replacement for medical emergency bracelets. This new gadget can be worn daily and there is no everyday removal once the microchip is planted, it could only be removed by a surgery. The microchip/RFID chip is going to create the perfect work environment.

The  RFID/microchip implanted can create a perfect work environment by monitoring  new/old  employee, the purpose of tracking them making is to make sure they aren’t wasting the companies time. This new device can track and monitor the person whom it is in. The employer can view what is employee is doing at anytime of the day and  can viewed if the  employee is being productive. According to Saumya Sharma this device can “RFID Based Employee Monitoring System (EMS) would allow complete hands-free access control, monitoring the whereabouts of employee and record the attendance of the employee as well.”(Sharma 1).  This new devices can give a new incite of being a boss and knowing every move their employees would make. This will make the employees more productive because they know that they are being watched all times of the day causing them to focus more on their duties at hand instead of slacking off more than they normally would. It will also take and keep track of employees attendance,  who is late and who will be on time. This could be use as a incentives to the works, it also could be a way to motivate them to work more proficiently because depending on the reviews on the microchip it could effect whether they will receive high raises or not. This new system could create the perfect work environment. An the employees can also take advantages of this new device as well. With it they can access their office door with easy or with a wave a hand they can pay for their lunch. One of the workers from Three Squared Market has nothing but good things to say for this device knowing that it is a constant monitoring there movements in and out of work. The employee of Three Squared Market said “I don’t want to carry a wallet with me anymore. Actually, I forgot my wallet today. I didn’t even bring it to work. It’d be nice to be able to get some lunch. But you got your wallet, you got your key, your company badge. Now forget about all of that. That’s all in that implant in your hand,”(Johnson 4). She also stated that they have been receiving calls from other companies wanting to start implanting there employees as well.

In the article written by  Healthcare IT they discussed the what if the medical bracelet would be replaced by the microchip. It would become the new medical bracelet and will only have access to medical emergency information only and not have access to all of our bank information, personal information as well. They have suggested that it would be safer if it only contained information about our medical information, this way our doctor can be the only person to reader our RFID chips with the RFID chip reader. According to the article written by Molly Merrill they said “The VeriChip is the only medical device that is guaranteed to always be with you to provide your identification and medical records information in an emergency situation.” This way it can still monitor our movements and keep track of our medical information.

The other benefits of the microchip is that can have access to all of our bank accounts and all of our personal information. With this new feature it will be easier to do all types of daily activities. Such as a person will be able to access their car without keys or they will be able pay for a item without having their wallet or any kind of currency on them. In  Barcelona there is a club that has been giving their customers a choices if they would like to receive the device or not. With the benefits of having this device they will be able to gain entree into the VIP section. Also they will be safer from any kind of danger that leaving the club after midnight offers. It is safer because it allow the clubbers to travel and have fun with out have money just in case they run into trouble. The  RFID that they would offer wouldn’t have access to their bank accounts. It would just rack up charges on the bar tab and they would just have to pay for them at the end the month like any other bill.

The RFID microchip is the latest and newest form of technology out there. It just gives human kind an extra hand and helps us out in our daily lives. It will soon become mandatory for everybody to the microchip implanted and when that occurs then everyone will soon rely on it for completing simple task. Technology is helping but can also be hurting  us in the end. The microchip will change our work life and make it the perfect work environment. It can create the perfect work environment because of the constant tracking it will produce. This can include attendance, monitoring there movements in restricted areas. According to the Saumya Sharma this device could be beneficial to keep certain workers from getting access to certain areas of the office that are off limits. Sharma said “The system enable the organization to track and monitor selected individual to access locations, permit movement, record the important data and also enable the viewing of record via internet.”(Sharma 2). Also the device can limited what there workers are view on the internet. Another important aspect of the microchip and how it can create the perfect work environment is for the handicapped workers. Based on the article written by Sharma the RFID microchip reader can read up to 5 meter this will eliminate  the need to walk very close to the scanner will walking into work, making the life of a handicap person much easier.   Something that was very hard to control in the first place will be eliminated with this new technology. This new device can be the new innovation said the CEO of the company that provides this device to its workers. Toddy Westby stated “We think it’s the right thing to do for advancing innovation just like the driverless car basically did in recent months,”(Fox 3). Basically he is stating that this well be the new iPhone that everyone will need to have. Although the microchip main purpose in the work place is to monitor the employees it can also give the workers some advantages as well. One of the perks to having a microchip embedded in our skins is that we will never have to remember our passwords again to anything. With a swipe of a hand in a matter of seconds whatever we seek we will gain access to. No more looking for your misplaced keys because with this new invention you will be able to  unlock and start your car in a matter of seconds. Also looking for your id for work, with this invention you can check in to your work place and you will be able to gain access to your office again with only a wave of your hand. A company has been offering this technology to their employees, Three Square Market has been giving out this to there employees and everyone who has received it has no complaints. ” “I don’t want to carry a wallet with me anymore. Actually, I forgot my wallet today. I didn’t even bring it to work. It’d be nice to be able to get some lunch. But you got your wallet, you got your key, your company badge. Now forget about all of that. That’s all in that implant in your hand,” Danna said.”(Merrill 4). This employee seemed to enjoy this invention because of its convince. It allows her to leave her wallet at home because the chip is linked to her bank account so there is no need to car it with her if she is only going to work.  Another business that has been implanting this device into their customers is the Baja Beach Club. This club is in Barcelona and has been offering this chip so that their clubber can be more safe when coming out to the club. This way they do not have to carry their id or money with them when they feel the need to come out. The club owner was thinking, this is a safer way to have people come out and enjoy the night without getting robbed or anything in the matter. He wants people to be safe when they leave his place of business.

Another way this device can increase productivity is using the system that the chip is programmed with. According to the article titles “Methods, systems, and media to improve employee productivity using radio frequency identification” This microchip device can increase productivity because of its programming “using the information transmitted from the RFID tags as well as other factors, such as employee location, employee skills, and expected processing or handling time for the goods.”. This is stating the microchip can calculate the employees skills and determining there skills from there they can tell whether or not that if less people is required to complete the task. Depending if another area is in need of help the system in the microchip can help tell if help is actually needed and who will be the best person to complete the task. This is just yet another reason why the microchip can create a perfect work environment.

Inventions has been making humanity life easier since the first invention was made. It is the reason we find a shortcut to almost everything we do, It is the reason why we are at the top of the food chain and the smartest animals.  Invention are why human thrive, it why some of us have billions of dollars, Technology gives us power over other and give us a new way of living. The microchip nothing different, it brings us convinces, safety and comfort.

The microchip/RFID chip is new latest technology in the our world today. The microchip is a device that has the capability of changing the work place and creating the perfect work environment. But this can also create a terrible work environment because of the condition the workers will be put under. This device has been put in place at certain business for both employees/customers to monitor them. The head of the companies that are placing this devices can use them to monitor all of our movements and track whether their employees have been attending their jobs on time or have they been slacking off. Another reason why  employers have been placing this devices into there employees because they wanted to find a new way to increase productivity in their workers. But this could also cause an opposite affect to their workers. The device can estimate the workers ability to complete a task “” This microchip device can increase productivity because of its programming “using the information transmitted from the RFID tags as well as other factors, such as employee location, employee skills, and expected processing or handling time for the goods.” Stated in that article “Methods, systems, and media to improve employee productivity using radio frequency identification”. The device is a machine calculating numbers but a machine can be wrong. It can under estimate people or overestimate people and send the wrong person to the job. Causing even less productivity because the wrong person can be sent to do a job that they are not ready for. Another reason why the this microchip can cause a big uproar in the work place is the constant monitoring. This can be a big problem for some people privacy is a big issue for them.  Being that the employee has a constant eye on their workers. But not just in work but also out of work. They have constant tabs on our constant whereabouts. This could lead to stalking for the boss if there are obsessed with one of there employees. They could just long into the systems microchip that allows them to see all of their movements  and if they wanted to they could harass them or worst.

Another problem that the device could present if other people obtain he device the can read the RFID chip they can get hold of your information. According to the article “Should people agree to use the Identity chip” is states “without a doubt, privacy and security concerns are the main disadvantage with identity chips. Theoretically, anyone who possesses an RFID reader will be able to obtain your ID number. In turn, they may be able to use this ID number to access the records linked to the number.”(5). Now there is a high risk of a person stealing  your information of their  phone because they are password protected. If a person obtains RFID/microchip  reader than all the would have to be within a certain range to gain the id number. According to this article titled “RFID frequency ranges” the ranges of the RFID chip can “read range of such a tag can be around 3 to 6 or even 8 meters.” Meaning they would only have to be within that range and then they can have the access to their information. This could lead to serious problems with in the companies. In order to stop this problem from occurring they would  have to have a restriction on who has access to the RFID chip reader.

Work Cited

Centrenational-rfid.com. (2017). RFID frequency ranges. [online] Available at: http://www.centrenational-rfid.com/rfid-frequency-ranges-article-16-gb-ruid-202.html [Accessed 28 Nov. 2017].

Post, G. (2017). Should people agree to the use of identity chips?. [online] Startup Dope. Available at: http://startupdope.com/people-agree-use-identity-chips/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].

Johnson, Ben. “Would You Let Your Boss Microchip You?” Marketplace, Marketplace, http://www.marketplace.org/2017/07/26/tech/sitting-down-three-square-market-microchips-its-employees.

“Clubbers choose chip implants to jump queues.” New Scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn5022-clubbers-choose-chip-implants-to-jump-queues/.

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: .https://www.google.com/patents/US8639543 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2017].

Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. (2017). Cite a Website – Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/43e6/ba8aff7d8337b4a7e0d4bbd788ac877d37c0.pdf [Accessed 28 Nov. 2017].

Research Position Paper-Flyerfan1974

Imagine being paid millions of dollars for a profession. Now imagine knowing that this very profession will cause very severe damage to your body every week. This is exactly what professional football players do between the months of  September and February. Hundreds of players put their minds and bodies on the line for the public’s amusement, and they are playing the ultimate price for it. In the NFL, concussions are becoming a very common side effect of playing the game. CNN discusses how the NFL reported 1,215 concussions in the past five NFL seasons. Mathematically speaking, concussions occurred   0.95 times a game in those past five seasons; that’s almost one per game. According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a person with a history of repetitive brain trauma has a highly increased chance of developing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative brain disease that form proteins called Tau that spread throughout the brain slowly killing brain cells. CTE leads to chronic brain diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, and premature death. The NFL is a multibillion dollar corporation, and football is an American tradition, we cannot just ban football to be played. Some want to change the rules of football, drastically changing the game. There however is a way we can protect players, and not have to drastically change the game. To make football safer we need to take the helmets off the players.

 

Football is a very violent natured game, injuries are more likely to happen during football than any other sport. This year alone, so many players received season ending injuries, not even halfway through the season. With all the injured players, we could make a 53-man team with backups. All these players wore the same amount of padding and helmets, but they still had extreme injuries. It’s so dangerous that each team only plays 16 games a year. Baseball plays 162, hockey, and basketball play 82. Sure, we think the players are protected head to toe, but actually their heads are in grave danger. The head trauma has become so painful to watch that an ESPN football analyst even quit his job. A New York Times article talks about how Ed Cunningham resigned from a top job as a college football analyst due to the fact he did not want to see these college players health at risk. Cunningham a former player, saw other players as old as him have to retire due to fear of CTE and other long-term brain injuries. He said he cannot simply keep contributing to footballs multibillion dollar apparatus. He just couldn’t see the brain injuring hits on college kids every week. Football players heads may look protected, but helmets hurt player, and the numbers prove this.

According to CNN, there have been 22 former NFL players who have been killed due to CTE, most of them committed suicide. Former Steeler’s center Mike Webster committed suicide at the age of 50. His brain was discovered be affected by CTE. Dave Duerson, Ray Easterling, and Junior Seau all great players of their time, committed suicide and were later discovered to have been affected by CTE. CTE can only be professionally diagnosed by an autopsy, so there must be hundreds of former players living with early stages of CTE. Dr. Bennet Omalu first identified CTE in 2002, football has been played since the early 1900s so there must have been thousands of cases before the 21st century. CNN also reports that according to a study published in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA), Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy was found in 99% percent of former players. In September of 2017, the brain of convicted murderer, only 27-year-old Aaron Hernandez showed one of the most severe case of CTE ever. These numbers show how devastating head trauma is to current and former NFL players, with all the padding they wear, we would think that players would be safe. Helmets are actually the main problem in the war on head trauma. They do protect players somewhat from hitting the ground, but then another helmet hits another, it is like two Mack truck colliding. The results are deadly for the brain.

Helmets can only do so much when protecting a player’s brain. The game of football is very violent, players are close to 7 feet and mostly all weight over 200 pounds. The results of a brain getting hit by a 300-pound defensive lineman can be disastrous. Helmets may be somewhat protective, but they actually have negative effects. Helmets cause players to feel more protected and in turn cause them to take riskier hits. This is a phenomenon called risk compensation, and has actually been seen in other sports. An article in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine written by Brent Hagel and Willem Meeuwisse discusses this phenomenon. Protective equipment may prompt their users to act more aggressively and increase their chances for serious injury. Risk compensation has been seen in many different sports such as baseball, hockey, and skiing. Athletes have protection that makes them feel safe and they do riskier techniques that result in injuries that the protection cannot handle. For example, in children’s baseball using softcore balls, volunteer coaches were seeing more instances of injuries than leagues that used hardcore baseballs. The children took greater risks when fielding the softcore balls and moving out of the way of wild pitches. The kids that played with hardcore balls faced something dangerous and they knew it would hurt, which made them be more conservative.  Risk compensation can even take place outside of sports. Motorists with seatbelts are more likely to drive more recklessly than other motorists without their seatbelts. Edward Green with the Washington Post talks about risks management in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Pope Benedict XVI commented that condom distribution was not helping the fight, but worsening it, he was pointing out to risk compensation. Condoms are meant to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, but they were actually helping the spread. People would feel protected enough that they would take place in riskier sex acts, making the condom useless and helping the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Getting rid of helmets in football is the best option when making football safer, it will make concussion and injury rates decrease dramatically. Risk compensation is playing an enormous role in head injuries received in the NFL. When players have the helmet and the pads, they feel protected and invincible. They in turn will make riskier hits that will injure themselves or someone around them. Players without helmets will feel unprotected and will not make those risky hits that cause severe injury. They will play more conservative and not risk their brains. There is so much evidence that supports this proposal.

In Hagel and Meeuwisse’s article, they talk about how before helmet use, there were less concussions. During football practices, many teams practice a drill called the tackling drill. During this drill, 2 players line up and hit one another as hard as they can. Toward the end of the 1940’s players no helmet. The concussion rates were low due to the players being taught that the initial point of contact when tackling should be the shoulder. In the early 1960’s the point of contact when tackling was moved from the shoulders to the head. The change was made right after new safer helmets have been developed. Over the period of 1955 to 1964, there was a noted increase in the number of tackling fatalities compared to between 1945 and 1954. Players were dying right on the field due to brain and spinal cord injuries. They were “spearing,” a term that describes when a player runs head first into the person they are trying to tackle. They are acting like a ram does when it go to hit an opponent. When spearing was banned in 1976, there was a significant decrease in the amount of head injuries, cervical spine injuries, and deaths, even with an increase in participation. Even though spearing is banned, we still see it today. Players may do this on purpose, or by accident. There is no physical barrier to stop these players, so taking away helmets will prevent them with no physical barrier, but they will fear for their health.

American football and rugby are extremely similar in many ways. In fact, Walter Camp, the “Father of American Football,” actually changed the rules of rugby to become what we know today as American football. A study conducted in Sydney, Australia discovered how risk compensation affects rugby players. This study conducted by Dr. A S McIntosh and Dr. P McCrory studied sixteen under 15 rugby union teams that were recruited from three interschool competitions in metropolitan Sydney and the adjacent country region. A prospective study was undertaken over a single competitive season. The study had two groups: a headgear group and a control group. Headgear wearing rates and injury data were reported to the investigators and verified using spot checks. A total of 294 players participated in the study. In the study time frame, there were nine incidences of concussion; seven of the players involved wore headgear and two did not. The conclusion was that although there is some controversy about the desirability of wearing protective headgear in football, this pilot study strongly suggests that current headgear does not provide significant protection against concussion in rugby at a junior level. As we can see, risk compensation was present in this study. 9 players received concussions and 7 were ones who were wearing headgear. There were not a larger number of concussions because of rugby not having pads, and the players with the headgear only felt safe enough that they could hitting with their head. It is quite amazing that out of 287 players without headgear only 2 received concussions.

Any type of headgear is detrimental to our football players. Many see them as some kinds of machines, but they are humans. They still can be injured and have years taken off of their lives due to increased amount of brain trauma. Removal of helmets will end helmet to helmet contact, it will end tackling drill deaths, and it will end the pain of the world. Helmet to helmet contact is the worst thing a person can do to their body. Two helmets come at each like two cars crashing head on, and the results are disastrous for the soft tissue inside a human’s head. Men have been paralyzed or even died from head on helmet hits. Along with instant death, these hits cause long term mental damage, they cause concussions, they cause CTE, and then they cause death.

Even though loss of consciousness is a symptom of a concussion, most concussions happen without a loss of consciousness. Players take a hit, then since they did not lose consciousness they assume that they are fine and go back to the field, injuring their brain more. In the NFL there are spotters who watch the game and decide if a player who took a hit needs to come off the field, but do they always see each hit? There is so much action going on the field at once. In high school there are no spotters, it is up to the discretion of the athletic trainer who cannot see everything from the ground as the spotter cannot see everything from up high. A student who is fighting for a starting spot get a nasty blow to the head, and does not lose consciousness, is he going to keep playing or go to the bench where someone can take their spot? A good friend of mine plays center for our local high school team, he is a junior and in a tight race for the spot. He walks to his car with a box the size of a basketball containing ibuprofen. I confront him and say why do you need that. He responds with, I get a lot of headaches, and I cannot tell anyone because I will lose my starting spot. I later told his parents about this because I did not want him to end up like all these NFL players with advanced stages of CTE. No one can go into these players brains and feel what they feel, officials cannot stop helmet to helmet hits before they happen. All of this just happens and we need to see what happens after the hits. All these hits, they are killing people.

Today’s football helmets are extremely evolved from the old leather helmets. Before advanced helmets, concussions were really no worry at all. Players were taught to tackle with their shoulder instead of their head. Then when the helmet came into play, the number of head and spinal injuries, and deaths increased dramatically. This is because after 1954, players were taught to hit head first. This was influenced by the new advancement of the helmet. Players felt safer and would hit harder. Today’s helmets have extra padding and facemasks now a day. We have been researching ever since the mid 1900’s and have developed the most advanced helmets. The advancement in helmets has been a leading factor in the reason that concussions are more common than ever. Players are feeling safer and safer, and are making more riskier hits. Since 2014, there has been a 58% rise in the frequency of concussions. However, recently a helmet has been created that will be different from all the other helmets. According Wired. Com, that helmet is the new Zero 1 helmet. The Zero 1 is created by a company in Seattle called Vicis. The new helmet is supposed to flex on impact, instead of a traditional helmet. The Zero 1 is like a car bumper, it flexes and absorbs the force. A traditional helmet is like hitting a metal trashcan, the outside of the can absorbs the force, but rattles everything inside. In this case the brain is being rattled when a player gets hit. The new Vicis Zero 1 helmet features a 4-layer system to absorbing shock.  These include a lode shell, a core layer, an arch shell, and a form liner. The lode shell is an outer layer that makes contact with other helmets, it consists of bendable plastics. The core layer is made up of hundreds of flexible columns that act like shock absorbers. his layer is the heart of the Vicis helmet, and was developed with the help of Per Reinhall, head of the University of Washington’s mechanical engineering department and a co-founder of Vicis. The columns vary in length and thickness depending on their position in the helmet. They are made up of a resistant polymer that bends in any given direction when bent. It is kind of like a knee or elbow joint. When we jump, our knees absorb the force when we land by bending. In the helmet the polymer bends, absorbing the shock. Under the core layer is the arch shell and form liner. The arch shell is the base of the polymers, while the form liner fits custom to the persons head, adding more protection. The Zero 1 has gone through many tests to see if it is safe for our player. These include a drop test where a dummy head in dropped onto an anvil, and a rotation test, where a moving pendulum strikes the helmet form the side. Both tests concluded that the Zero 1 helmet reduced the force of impact from 20-50 percent compared to traditional helmets. With a helmet like this, the NFL is a lot safer, chances of head trauma are reduced significantly and player’s minds can rest at ease.

The new Vicis Zero 1 helmet may sound like a great invention, but it is clearly the opposite. Ever since the introduction of the new traditional helmet concussion rates have been through the roof. This is because of risk compensation, more stigma that the helmets are helpful, then players will hit harder, and make risky tackles. Now with an even more protective helmet, players will play even more dangerous. They may even begin to hit head first, which is extremely dangerous. Why make a helmet that will increase concussion rates when we can just discard them? Playing without helmets will make the league safe and watchable. Rugby players play the game that American football is based off of, and they wear no padding. They do not see the kinds of head trauma in the NFL.

President Trump took many shots at the NFL at his Alabama campaign rally. He slammed players for kneeling during the national anthem, but he said a particularly disturbing comment. The president suggested that the NFL is being ruined now that they are addressing brain injuries. His exact words were “Because you know, today if you hit too hard — 15 yards! Throw him out of the game. They had that last week, I watched for a couple of minutes. Two guys, just really, beautiful tackle. Boom! 15 yards. The referee goes on television, his wife’s so proud of him. They’re ruining the game! They’re ruining the game.” He basically said that efforts to make players safe ruins the game. President Trumps comments were very disturbing at his rally. These players are human beings, they are the same as us. We all are humans, we get sick, we all are susceptible to injuries. The president basically is saying that efforts to protect players from early CTE related deaths makes his game watching experience unenjoyable. There are probably many people out there that feel this way, but do not have the means, nor the courage to say comments like this. That is fine, it is their opinion. Here is a way we can all enjoy the game, and our players are 100 percent safe. Take away these weapons, let players not be prompted to take those dangerous hits. Helmets need to be put on the sidelines.

Helmets do not help the problem, but they are the problem. Football is already a dangerous game, and when we give players weapons on the field, the games becomes even more dangerous. Newer helmets will make the players hit even more harder, causing more severe injuries. Rugby is as dangerous as American football, and it does not see the kind of injuries that football sees. Playing without helmets will cause the players to become more careful on the field, making football safer. Instead of sidelining our players because of injury, we need to sideline helmets.

 

 

 

Work Cited

  1. Hagel, Brent, and Willem Meeuwisse. “Risk Compensation: A.” LWW.

2. McIntosh, A S, and P McCrory. “Effectiveness of Headgear in a Pilot Study of under 15 Rugby Union Football.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine, 1 June 2001.

3. What is CTE? Concussion Legacy Foundation, 30 Aug. 2017,

4. “NFL Concussions Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 16 Nov. 2017,

5. Emanuel, Daniella. “CTE Found in 99% of Studied Brains from Deceased NFL Players.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 July 2017,

6. Branch, John. “ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Aug. 2017,

7. Stinson, Elizabeth. “This Flexible Football Helmet Wants to Save Your Brain.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017,

8. Loria, Kevin. “Trump Suggested the NFL Is Being Ruined Now That It’s Addressing Brain Injuries – Here’s What Collisions Do to Players.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 26 Sept. 2017,

9.Vinton, Nathaniel. “Concussions up 58% This Season in NFL Regular Season Games.”NY Daily News, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 29 Jan. 2016,

10. Brad Gagnon Nov 3, 2017 . “NFL 2017 All-Injured Team Is Loaded with Pro Bowl Players at Halfway Point of Season.” CBSSports.com, 3 Nov. 2017,

11. Green, Edward C. “Edward C. Green – Condoms, HIV-AIDS and Africa – The Pope Was Right.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Mar. 2009,

 

Research Position Paper

On August 26, 2016, the announcer at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, California came over the loudspeaker, as before every game, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and remove your hats for the singing of our national anthem.” At that moment, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick dropped down to one knee and shocked the entire nation. From high school sporting events to the Olympic games, and ballparks around the country, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is a tradition Americans adopted at the commencement of great sporting events that serves as the pride of our great nation. What began as a simple gesture of patriotism grew into one of the greatest traditions at America’s beloved sporting venues. To some Americans, the rendition of the national anthem brings a tear to the eye and a chill to the spine. But, for others, “The Star-Spangled Banner” represents the hypocrisy of a nation divided on the idea all not Americans have equal rights in “the land of the free”. (Key)

After the NFL football game on the August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick released a statement,

“I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder”.

Many Americans may not agree with Kaepernick’s statements, but they still hold some truth. In some parts of the United States, police brutality is still a serious problem, especially with the minorities such as black Americans. Police officers continue to outrage a nation with multiple incidences of unnecessary extreme acts of violence towards individuals of color.

This deep-seeded feud between black Americans and law enforcement roots itself in the race riots during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The Civil Right movement in the 1960s caused America to ponder the question, “Are all Americans treated equally?” Police brutality ravaged the lives of black Americans across the nation which cause race riots in major US cities and on college campuses.  While some Americans resorted to violence, others peacefully attempted to display their distaste for the unequal rights with sit ins. Unfortunately, public demonstrations of racial inequalities resulted in violence and police brutality regardless of how they began (Anderson). As a nation, the United Stated made great strides to protect the rights of all Americans; however, many black Americans feel that police brutality is still thriving in our great nation similar to the race riots of the sixties.

Police brutality during the civil rights movement resulted in violent and public actions toward black Americans by public servants paid to uphold the law. While police officers vowed to serve and protect society, many Americans questioned who exactly the police protected and felt black Americans remained vulnerable in a nation progressing toward equality. Police continued to harass black Americans even while they participated in peaceful protests. On February 1, 1960, the Greensboro 4 staged their first “sit in” at the Woolworth’s, because they were permitted to buy merchandise at the store; however, they were not allowed to simply sit and buy a cup of coffee at the lunch counter. Their first meeting ended with a prayer, but after their peaceful protest grew, it turned into violent acts of police brutality toward the black citizens.  (Anderson).

Some cases of violence cause extreme outrage and rioting, like the case of Philando Castile, a black American who was pulled over for a faulty headlight. When the police officer pulled Castile over, Castile explained to the office that he had a firearm in his car and was also licensed to carry. The officer screams “Do not reach for it! Do not reach for it!” The dash camera from the police cruiser shows the officer firing shot into the driver side window of Castile’s vehicle. While the officer shot and killed Castile, he was acquitted of all charges. Castile’s girlfriend, an eye witness to the violent and senseless murder, recorded and broadcasted the incident live on Facebook for the world to see.

Kaepernick’s protest gained major attention, and was the topic of all major sports, and news networks across America. Since then, the protests grew in popularity among NFL players while spreading to the collegiate and high school levels. But, has Kaepernick’s  meaning of the protest been lost along the way? NFL players, like Kaepernick state that they kneel in protest of  police brutality, which is fine if that is their sole purpose. When you see so many players in the NFL just following along in others footsteps and kneeling, it begs the question of do they really know what or why they are protesting? Even future Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy stated in an interview “But just don’t do it (kneel) because other people are doing it. Don’t just do it because you think it’s going to make a statement.”

If Kaepernick was really trying to make a statement about police brutality, though possibly effective, this was the wrong time to do it. Like I previously stated, the National Anthem made its first appearance at the sixth game of the World Series in 1918 to honor all of the service men who fought overseas in the Great War, and that had made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they love so dearly. Military supporters, and military families across America understand the origin of the Anthem, and that is why a many Americans were so outraged.

Lee Greenwood’s song, “Proud to be an American,” is a great example that shows the love most have for this great country.  In the third stanza of his song, Greenwood states “, and I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.”  His is statement is truly what being an American is all about. As an American, I love this great nation, because it is the land of opportunity. Not everyone may always agree with everything that is done, such as police brutality, but that does not mean that I do not love and respect the nation that I call my home, and it certainly does not mean that  Americans should take a knee for the things that we do not stand for.

When we have arguments like this one, which clearly divide a nation, they bring up the point of right and wrong, ethical versus unethical, or cause and effect.  Newton’s third law states “for every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction.” Every action or reaction has a consequence and those consequences are deemed right or wrong by everybody around us. Whether those are family members, strangers passing by, or just acquaintances, we are always under a microscope. Under an even higher powered microscope are famous people, like Colin Kaepernick. We are all raised differently with a different set core values; however, individuals have his or her own opinion about everything/ For example, Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee for the National Anthem. Right or wrong depends on one’s opinion, what core values he or she was raised with, and which side of the debate one chooses. Various people will have different opinions on the subject. As such, when debating the issue, answers from one side of the argument are thoughts that one may never contemplate and hold the true for each counterargument. It seems counterintuitive that Kaepernick’s cause was just an effect of the problem of police brutality in America. The simple truth is, Kaepernick’s action was a single cause, that resonates major effects across America.

Outrage in mainstream America appears to be Kaepernick’s largest contribution to his argument. For generations, the playing of the national anthem has been a sacred ritual before many sporting events around the country. This anthem is not only to honor the country and the American flag, but a time to reflect and honor the service men and women that fight for freedoms at a time when Americans feel as much loss from war as World war II. Military families, both past and present, are insulted by Kaepernick’s kneeling. Even the newly elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, issued a statement via twitter saying, “Very important that NFL players STAND tomorrow, and always, for the playing our National Anthem. Respect our Flag and our country!”.  The Commander in Chief also ordered the owners of NFL teams to dismiss any players that kneel for the Anthem.

In addition to the public outrage, CBSnews reports that NFL ticket sales and network ratings plummeted as confirmed by ticket sellers such as Tickpick and TicketCity. As professional football transformed into an entertainment business with some sport sprinkled into it, the game changed from the rough and tough players regarded as iron men like Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert, Earl Campbell, Decan Jones, and company. People now atted NFL games to drink a few beers, relax with some family and friends, and watch tremendous athletes display their talents, and entertaining fans, a lot like WWE stars have always done. Speaking with long time football enthusiast, Chuck Nucci, he explained that he does not want to watch the NFL when it is involved with politics. Nucci states, “I love football and I watch it for the love of the game. As soon as politics are involved, it’s not enjoyment anymore”. Many Americans feel the same as Nucci which explains the rapid decline in NFL ticket sales.

Like the NFL, collegiate football suffers from Kaepernick’s actions. Rowan University, along with other American colleges, now retain the players in the locker room until the National Anthem is over. I have a personal experience as a football player; I would step onto the field, ready to hear the National Anthem and pay homage to our flag, country, and service men and women only to find out the Anthem had already been played for the fans, and not for the players. Personally for me, the time before a game when I would hear the anthem was a time of great pride, and gave me chills. I would look at Old Glory waving in the wind, and think how thankful I was to play the great game of football in the greatest country in the world. “The Star- Spangled Banner” actually psyched me up as I prepared for “battle” as players and coaches call it. Many of my peers would often feel the same disappointment along with me, no matter the color of their skin, because the playing of the national anthem is a time to honor, not a time to protest.

Kaepernick’s kneeling was also an eye opener to a lot of people, including myself. I personally follow NFL news pretty closely, and I’m not sure if his inability to find a job, and to maintain his NFL quarterback status has made bigger headlines than just NFL Network. Since Kaepernick decided to defy the only thing that everybody knew, which was standing for the National Anthem, he cannot find a job anywhere. No NFL team wants to bring him on the roster because he peacefully protested, which is his constitutional right to do. His protest might have been seen as “disrespectful to the servicemen and women,” but he did not make a mockery out of the Anthem like some players are doing now. Nobody wants to put their name out for Kaepernick, but they will for players like LeSean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills do whatever he pleases. McCoy was seen stretching, and absolutely making a mockery of the National Anthem, and the Buffalo Bills owner and staff had nothing to comment on the matter. This is a double standard, because both men did not participate in the National Anthem, but one did it peacefully, and one made a mockery out of the deal. If McCoy’s actions were not held against him and he is still employed, Kaepernick’s actions, and decision, though may not be agreed upon by everyone, to take a knee and start a peaceful protest should not be held against him either.

There have been many causes and effects that came from Kaepernicks decision to take a knee in the preseason game on August 26th, 2016. From outrage, to unemployment. Any way you slice it, Kaepernick made history with his actions, and with history there is going to be some sort of disagreement. Either way you look at it, either idolizing Kaepernick for his courage, or look down on him for his blatant “disrespect,” there is no such thing as right or wrong, there is only cause and effect.

In more cases than not, taking a knee is a sign of great respect. This is not only seen in ancient societies, such as the knighting of an individual in England, but also seen closer to home, on the playing fields that Americans love so dearly. For example, when a player is injured on the field of play, many players from both sides will kneel out of respect, but never in sports do you see kneeling as a sign of disrespect. That is until Colin Kaepernick so boldly knelt for the playing of our National Anthem.

There has been a lot of controversy over Kaepernick’s debacle, and rightfully so. It seems that the United States as a country has become divisive with a majority of white Americans and military supporting families protest Kaepernick’s actions. In contrast, a majority of the black American population support his stance and the black lives matter movement backs Kaepernick one hundred percent. Realistically Kaepernick’s explanation of his actions was vague in the   post-game interview. Kaepernick alluded to his position; however, he never fully expressed in that interview that his protest sheds light on police brutality against black Americans. Kaepernick only stated that his people were oppressed, they are killed in the streets, and their killers are rewarded with paid leave for murder. One can conclude that he protests police brutality, but Kaepernick never completely explained his protest, in his much sought after interview.

Kaepernick’s protest poses absolutely no effect on law enforcement officers, who killed 223 black Americans in the year following Kaepernick’s protests according to data released in a Huffingtonpost article. The same article goes on to say that “It’s likely that more black people were killed by police during that period of time” [from the time of Kaepernick’s protest to the end of the year].  This can only conclude two things; blacks felt more empowered; therefore,  more willing to test police officers because of the protests and to be known as martyrs, or that police officers exerted more force to show that the protest will not affect them in any way.

The United States has a problem with police brutality considering incidences such as the Philando Castile murder, the shooting of Michael Brown that lead to the Ferguson riot, and Eric Garner, a man choked to death in the streets of New York City. These occurrences were all the work of our law enforcement officials. As much of a problem that police brutality poses, there has also been an extreme increase of black on black crimes since 2016, when the protest was started. An article by the New York Post released the FBI crime logs for the year of 2016, and stated that black on black crimes rose in number by nine hundred compared to 2015. Black Americans are simply ignoring the outrageous number of the murder of their own kind, by their own kind, and focusing on a very small percentage of killings between law enforcement officers and black Americans. Some black Americans will also ignore the fact that black males have made up forty- two percent of cop killers in the last ten years, as stated by New York Post. Police officers now fear for their lives because of the drastic increase of police murders at the hands of black men is significantly higher. A study from National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago concludes that “half of all Americans, regardless of race, say fear caused by the physical danger that police officers face is a major contributor to aggression against civilians.”While cops fear for their lives in the line of duty,  there is still no reason for the killing of innocent black Americans, like Philando Castile, or any Americans for that matter, by police officers when not needed.

When traveling most parts of the country, one observes cops patrolling towns daily and writing the occasional traffic violation. In other parts of the country, like the deep south, where oppression of black Americans still appears alive and well, one will see some, not all, cops using their power in a negative way. These cops are the ones that give all cops a bad name by trying  to instill fear into civilians and abusing the power that they were given to “protect and serve.” This display of police brutality demonstrates racial tensions in the southern states that remain in place in America fifty years after turmoil for equality ravaged the country. With roots from slavery in the deep south, the southern states tend to be more racially prejudice than other areas in the country, possibly due to the antiquated rationale that blacks are slaves and plantation workers, never died.

The 2016 presidential election map shows a majority of the republican voters in southern states (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Florida) who are predominantly white individuals. These white citizens of the deep south historically have roots to plantation owners, who owned land, which represented wealth and power. These white plantation owners needed slaves to work the fields and harvest crops such as cotton. Some slave owners passed down their land along with their opinions of black Americans on to future generations.  Even though slavery was abolished in 1865 with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, there is still racism and prejudices that remain at the center of Kaepernick’s debate.

The feud between black and white Americans may never die in the United States. Some radical whites hold on to the traditions of the old south, with the notion of blacks as chattel slaves. Some blacks will never relinquish the fact that their ancestors were brutally kidnapped from Africa and forced into American slavery. Either way, slavery is in the past and it is the duty of Americans to move past it through learning the facts of black history. But education itself cannot overcome the prejudices and ignorance to black Americans. Both black and white Americans must learn to cast aside their opinions and respect each other as humans to unite in one great nation.

Works Cited

Anderson, Terry H. Movement and the Sixties. Pg 44-45 Oxford University Press. 1995

Babwin, Don. “1918 World Series Started the U.S. Love Affair with National Anthem.” Chicagotribune.com, 4 July 2017, http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-wrigley-field-national-anthem-20170703-story.html.

Berr, Jonathan. “NFL National Anthem Protest Denting Ticket Sales.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 29 Sept. 2017, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-national-anthem-protest-denting-ticket-sales/.

Branch, John. “Please Rise for Our National Anthem — If You’Re Not Too Busy.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Oct. 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/sports/football/nfl-anthem-protest.html.

Donald, Heather Mac. “All That Kneeling Ignores the Real Cause of Soaring Black Homicides.” New York Post, New York Post, 27 Sept. 2017, nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-real-cause-of-soaring-black-homicides/.

“God Bless the U.S.A. – Lee Greenwood.” Google Play Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2017.
.are.org/files/The%20Groningen%20Sleep%20Quality%20Scale.pdf>.

Little, Becky. “Why the Star-Spangled Banner Is Played At Sporting Events.” Why the Star-
Spangled Banner Is Played At Sporting Events – History in the Headlines. N.p., 25 Sept.
2017. Web. 29 Oct. 2017. .

Nucci, Chuck. Personal Interview 10, November 2017.

“Philando Castile Killing: Police Video Sparks Outrage.” Philando Castile Killing: Police Video Sparks Outrage | USA News | Al Jazeera. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2017. .

“The Lyrics.” NMAH | The Lyrics, amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx.

“Tony Dungy Speaks Out on NFL Players Kneeling During National Anthem.” Intellectual Takeout, www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/tony-dungy-speaks-out-nfl-players-kneeling-during-national-anthem.

University of Chicago, NORC. “Law Enforcement and Violence: The Divide between Black and White Americans.” Law Enforcement and Violence: The Divide between Black and White Americans Issue Brief | APNORC.org | APNORC.org, http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/HTML%20Reports/law-enforcement-and-violence-the-divide-between-black-and-white-americans0803-9759.aspx.

Waldron, Travis. “Police Killed 223 Black Americans In Year After Colin Kaepernick’s First Protest.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Aug. 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colin-kaepernick-police-killings-black-americans_us_599c4099e4b04c532f447939.

“2016 Presidential Election Actual Results.” 270toWin.Com, http://www.270towin.com/maps/2016-actual-electoral-map.

1. Research Position Paper- Yoshi

Beyond Fatal Encounters

Some police officers react irrationally to a perceived threat. A threat is a declaration of an intention to inflict punishment, injury, etc. Police perceptions on threats are directed towards black people. Police usually kill more black people than anyone else, because they claim to feel more threatened by them. Overall, white people are killed more often than black people because, in America, there are nearly one hundred and sixty billion more white people than black people. But when the population is proportionalized black people are twice as likely to get killed in police shootings as white people. Common knowledge is correct: white cops brutalize black suspects often enough to be statistically relevant. The latitude of response, from an officer, for a black suspect is extremely-thin to nonexistent. Compared to citizens, police are always right, and will mostly always get favored in the jury system. Police, very often, get away with brutalizing innocent citizens, even if the incident is life-threatening to the citizen. About one in five Americans say they know someone physically mistreated or abused by the police, three in five of those people are black.
Police officers are more likely to shoot at a suspect, if they’re not white. This racial bias was apparent in New York City’s racial biased “stop and frisk” program. The Stop and Frisk Program was designed to allow police officers to stop anyone that they deemed suspicious. During the first three months of this 83% of the people that ended up being stopped and frisked were black or latino. Leaving only a maximum of only potentially 17% white people being stopped, which is tremendously less. This study speaks loudly on the very obvious targeting that happens from police.

Josh Correll, a psychology professor from the University of Colorado, ran test with a video game. His findings showed police officers avoid shooting unarmed targets of all races, but as soon as they were allowed to shoot, they would shoot more quickly against blacks suspects over white ones. This shows that officers do display some racial bias in shooting suspects.  Also, in another study by Correll, research found that the public and police are less likely to view black people as innocent. In the real world, this can lead officers to shoot black people more often than white people. According to Correll’s study, if a cop is inclined to shoot at a black suspect more quickly this can lead to fault such as, shooting a innocent suspect.

Eric Garner was approached by officers, as they accused him of selling a loose cigarette. Garner questioned why he was being arrested, the officers did not answer. Once Garner began to resisted arrest, claiming he did nothing wrong, Officer Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold, and officers then began to help wrestle Garner down to the ground, even though he was no longer resisting. Garner was held with his face down against the cement. Garner was not perceived as a threat to the officers, he had no weapons on him, and he wasn’t yelling or screaming. Garner was surrounded by other police officers, and also innocent pedestrians that were recording the officers abuse. Garner yelled, “I can’t breathe” to the officer holding him down; the officer did not stop. Eventually, Garner runs out of breath, and was later approached by street medics. Garner was pronounced dead from compression to the neck, from Officer Pantaleo’s chokehold, and compression of chest, from being restrained against the ground. More recently, police officers have been over reacting to a black man’s behavior as if their behavior were life threatening to the police officer.

Tragedy sparked across the nation after Eric Garner’s death. His final words, “I can’t breathe” became a national protest movement. The death of Garner is what sparked the questions of correlation between race and killing from law enforcement. He died in July, in November Officer Pantaleo appeared before the grand jury at court. Officer Pantaleo claimed he didn’t intended to choke Eric Garner, even though Garner repeatedly stated he could not breathe. The jury then declared there was not enough evidence to further continue an investigation, and Officer Pantaleo was sent free, case was dismissed. Garner was not a threat to police officers. He simply questioned why he was being arrested, and with no answer from the officer, he resisted arrest until the officer had a reason. The officers then overreacted to his decision to ask why he was being arrested, and choked him to death. There could have been many ways to avoid killing Garner. He was only asking why he was being arrested, with a simple explanation, he could have still been alive today.

In Missouri, Michael Brown was gunned down because he was under suspicion of stealing a cigarillo. He had no weapons on him, but he was perceived as a threat to the officer. The officer confronted Brown though his car, Brown proceeded to walk away. The officer gets out of his car, and shoots Brown six times, twice hitting Brown in the head. Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, was dismissed with no charges. These cases were two weeks apart, and protest across the United States broke out. Police are trained to miss their target purposely, just to scare the victim and have them surrender. In this case, the officer purposely shot him in the head, intending to kill him.

Similarly enough, Tamir Rice, a twelve year old boy was shot and killed at a playground, after playing with a toy gun. Someone called 911 telling the operator, a little boy was playing with a gun, they specified that it had an orange tag on it. The orange tags shows that the gun is a toy gun. The officer shows up to the park, and within two seconds the officer shoots Tamir Rice, leaving him dead at the park. The officers could have simply approached Rice, and calmly asked him to put down his gun. The officers posed Rice as a threat, but he was no more of a threat than, Garner or Brown, who were unarmed.This child should not have in any circumstance been shot and killed, although the cop could have taken his gun or taken him home, he did not. The officer proceeded to kill a helpless child and many would argue for no other reason then the his physical appearance.

A very apparent thing that the majority of all studies that relate to this topic is that white people are viewed less of a threat then latino or black individuals. John Crawford went into Walmart to purchase a toy gun for his son when police saw him and shot and killed him on site, still inside of the Walmart. Jonathan Ferrell was driving in Charlotte, NC when he got into an accident. He went to a nearby home and tried to knock on the door to ask for help but the residents inside were too afraid to let him in because he was black and called the cops. When the police officers arrived on the scene of the accident Ferrell approached them asking for help and he was shot dead. Akai Gurley was gunned down in his apartment staircase for no real reason at all, the officer only claimed it to be an accident. These are no accidents, these are people’s lives that are being destroyed and families being torn apart because of racism or fear and it’s out of control.

In a popular study, researchers wrote that their analysis of the 990 fatal shootings in 2015 “suggests the police exhibit shooter bias by falsely perceiving blacks to be a greater threat than non-blacks to their safety.” This is another topic that majority of studies all agreed upon, when cops feel threatened they’re more likely to fire and act irrationally. Unfortunately this happens to be in almost every encounter we hear about now. Not every encounter black people have with cops is deadly and not every encounter cops have with black people do they feel threatened, but enough of them are. This causes a very uncomfortable normal that we as a society should not stand for or accept.

The media and news stations often are to blame for this unjustified racism, as well. Often when there’s a black or latino shooting in which people are saying the cop is at fault, the media will flash a picture of the victim making them look bad. They often will use previous criminal photos, or photos of them on the streets with friends and try to portray them as criminals. The reasoning behind this is to spread mass agreement that cop was not wrong and the person who just became a victim for no reason was not really a victim but a criminal in everyday life. In result, this often causes people to leave negative opinions on the deceased and how they were somehow wrong, or how the camera did not show everything. When really cops do perceive non-white males to be more violent and a more apparent threat, which causes people John Crawford, Akai Gurley, Jonathan Ferrell and many more to die for no reason.

There are so many studies and cases showing in which a cop killed an innocent black male or child for no reason other than fear. A young boy playing with a toy gun in a public park or a male just minding his own business walking in a staircase leading to his apartment gets killed for no reason it’s a problem. But this has become so much more than that because there is hundreds of stories almost the same as these or very similar circulating the internet. The media is supposed to be on the same side as the public of the United States of America, but them turning on the victims of these unfair killings is making the problem so much larger.

My worthy but mistaken opponent believes that, police officers kill more black people because they come in contact with them more often. Traffic stops are very random, for the most part officers pull you over for doing something wrong. The officer can not profile the victim, because they do not see the victim until the officer has walked up to the car.  In Cincinnati, Officer Tensing pulled over a 43 year old black man, Samuel DuBose, for not having a front license plate. DuBose began to drive away from the officer, and three officers pursued on foot. After running for a block or two officer Tensing shot DuBose in the head, killing him instantly. In court, Officer Tensing claimed, “I meant to stop the threat, I didn’t shoot to kill him. I didn’t shoot to wound him. I shot to stop his actions.” There was not threat in this situation, police officers exaggerate the word threat and use it in defense for their actions. Officer Tensing had many other decisions to make while in pursuit. He could have shot the tire, this way the car would stop moving. Officer Tensing could have called for back-up this way a police officer could chase DuBose in a car. There were many other options to avoid killing a citizen, there were many other options in order to avoid killing a father, but instead the officer decided to shot DuBose in the head and taking his life away.

My faulty opponent would claim that black people are more likely than white people to flee from police, resist arrest, and attack police and that is why they get brutalized more often. Police are trained to be racist, and they are trained to fear black people. Josh Correll, a psychology professor from the University of Colorado, ran test with a video game. His findings showed police officers avoid shooting unarmed targets of all races, but as soon as the conductor of the experiment told the officers to shoot anyone deemed suspicious, the officers would shoot more quickly against blacks suspects over white ones. This shows that officers do display some racial bias in shooting suspects. His research found that the police are less likely to view black people as “innocent.” In another study of Cornell’s, police officers were challenged to make fast impulse shooting decisions with speed and accuracy. The data from this experiment showed a racial bias in the speed of their shooting. The police shot more black targets than white targets, and the police shot so fast that it was deemed an impulse, which demonstrates how police develop a bias in their training.

America has had a problem with racism for centuries now. Everyday black people have to overcome their racial-based discrepancy in schooling, employment, economic status, etc.. Black people are more likely than white people to be unemployed, less likely to finish high school, and more likely to live in poverty or go to jail. A study done by a sociology major, shows that employers are less likely to hire someone with “Black sounding names” than someone with a “white sounding name” even when their applications were identical. Similarly enough, only a racial bias can explain why a white man with felony charges is more likely to get an interview than a black man with the same qualifications and a clean record. Even black children get treated unfairly compared to white kids. Tamir Rice for example a little boy that was playing with a gun, at the park that had an orange tag on it. The orange tags indicates that the gun is a toy gun. The officer shows up to the park and within two seconds the officer shoots Tamir Rice, leaving him dead at the park. In the same instance two boys from Ohio were playing on the street with BB guns. The police was called but this time they did not see an orange tag on the boys gun. The officers did not draw their weapons on the two boys. Instead, the officers approached the boys and arrested them. The same incidents in both situations, but the single black boy with a specified toy gun was killed in two seconds; while the two white boys were calmly approached and arrested.

Black people are seen as a threat in not only police related situations, but also in communities. 27% of all black people live in impoverished communities compared to the 11% of Americans according to Black Demographic studies. 1 out of 3 impoverished area is crime ridden. Black people get shot more because police are usual in crime ridden areas; so there are more encounters with black people over white people; but the reason they do get shot is because of the racial bias police have implemented throughout their training and work life not because they are doing something wrong. Research shows that police officers gain a cognitive bias based on their instinct. Police are more inclined to shoot at black males over white males even if the reasoning is the exact same.

Victims of the excess abuse and their families deserve an approach towards a resolution to this problem. The justice system is dishonest towards citizens and indefensibly supports law enforcement every time. It is difficult to play the victim when going against someone in law enforcement. A three year $263 millions package for police officers’ use of body cameras and an improvement of law enforcement changes was announced, in order to build public trust and to examine police violence with more evidence. This is a great step to coming to a resolution, but unfortunately it doesn’t help much. Better police training to overcome racial bias would be the best resolution for the families and victims. Humans have stereotypes for every different race. One of the most common is linking blacks to crime and aggression, and to get rid of this stereotype a lot of time and training would be required. The training would consist of shooting stimulations, such as body language, cues, and what it seems like someone is holding in their possession. This would help officers focus more on indications opposed to race. This type of training is not required by law, but it is becoming more common with racial profiling growing in the justice system. Also, another effective training that is becoming more popular is called deescalating. This requires officers to try to calm down the victim and reduce the intensity of the situation, before they result to their guns. There is not a single quick fix to this situation. But with a systematic approach and time the correlation between law enforcement and racial bias will begin to diminish.

Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, John Crawford, and Samuel DuBose have unfortunately become well known victims of the racist police hatred. Although these are by no means all of the victims or situations that have unfolded, they have become some of the more popular. Through their tragic stories as a nation we need to strive for unity and equality for all men and women, regardless of race. People’s lives are hanging in the balance along with unneeded fear that has been instilled in the majority of black males. A failure to signal or a simple few MPH over the stated speed limit should never leave the driver in fear for what may result out of his encounter with an enforcer of the law. Police officers are supposed to uphold the law for the safety of the general public in addition to making people feel safe. There’s no reason as well as no excuse for a legal citizen to feel fearful of a conversation he must have with a cop and something must be done about this. The only way we can fix this is by spreading awareness and collectively as a nation agreeing it’s wrong. Once everyone agrees it needs to be solved then it will, but until all we can do is statistically prove there is an epidemic-like problem growing that needs fixing. When we finally achieve this level of understanding and unity as a society we will have lower police caused death rates as well as us not having individuals worried for their lives.

Works Cited

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