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Thursday, January 30, 2020

Student Council Speech Essay Example for Free

Student Council Speech Essay Good morning my friends, my comrades. Exactly a year and five days ago, I stood behind this podium speaking to all of you, as a stranger, but on this day, I stand behind this podium not as a stranger but as a familiar classmate and representative. As for the few who do not know me well, I’m Ray Liu, a dedicated, confident and the mad scientist of last year’s student council. In the past year, I have helped the student council organize and set up many different activities, and I’m also familiar and experienced with the code of conduct and procedures of the student council. As you can recall, last year’s Job action has certainly affected you. Sports teams were canceled and many clubs were disbanded. I can tell you that this hurts me just as much as it hurts you. That is why I went to the Walk Out to force the government to listen to our voices. During the walk-out, I noticed that many people were getting away from the reporters to avoid being interviewed, but I stood there, not caring about the rain or the cold, I only cared about being a representative of our school and getting our message out. When the reporters came, I told them that, we being as students, does not mean that we are powerless, or that we are mindless, instead, we being as students only means that we are fearless, and we have a voice to be heard. We will not let the government do what they feel like doing, we will not let them cut the budget and cancel our clubs, our dances and our sports teams then expect us to fall silently into the night. It is purely up to you if I’m the student council representative of 2012 and 2013, but before you vote, ask yourself, are you voting for who has the coolest shoes or the latest Apple Product, rather than someone will take good care of the school, someone who can lead the school through misfortune, and someone who stands tall in the face of fear. I cannot promise you that I will be able to play Gangnam Style everyday on the announcements or replace silent reading with silent texting, what I can promise you, is that I will dedicate myself to helping the student council, the school and most importantly you the students, as much as I dedicate myself to carrying a 60 pound high voltage pulse capacitor home, and when you love science as much as I do, you know that is a lot of dedication. It will be my honor to serve you all again this year. Thank you for staying awake, and as always, have a nice day. Aside from that, I’m also the winner of this year’s Palmer’s annual science fair with my project about wireless energy transmission using a dual resonant high frequency transformer, or as I like to call it, the machine that shoots lightning and sets things on fire. After winning Palmer’s annual science fair, I moved on to the regional science fair where I claimed a silver medal and two special awards with my machine.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

What Are We Fighting For? :: Essays Papers

What Are We Fighting For? â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.† This is the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. This is the contract we have with our leaders to ensure that tyranny and injustice never take the power away from the people. This is the freedom we fight for when we send our military into foreign countries to overthrow oppressive regimes. And this is the soul of the nation which we must protect from anyone or anything that stands in its way. Recently, events have united the nation in a way that has not been seen in several years. We often take for granted how good we have it here. To be an American is a privilege that many fight for and never have. We are the most diverse country in the world. We have African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Scientologists: you name it, we’ve got it. Consisting of people of every background, race, ethnicity, and religion, often we do not have a single thing in common, except for one thing: we’re all Amer icans. We all live here with the trust that we have as much freedom as our neighbors to do what we want and live how we want. However, we still have obstacles we must overcome to fully achieve this freedom. Throughout our history, short as it may be, Americans have overcome many social obstacles that would diminish our human rights. We have given women equal rights, a concept that many nations would scoff at. We have fought a war to abolish slavery, an institution that would hold whites over blacks. We continue to fight for our Declaration of Independence, which states, â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all People are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.† How soon we forget what all the fighting is for. While blacks have their rights, and women can vote, our nation is beginning to realize that there is a new minority slowly emerging into the public view.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Black social movements Essay

Race is used by social scientists to refer to distinctions drawn from physical appearance (skin color, eye shape, physiognomy), and ethnicity is used to refer to distinctions based on national origin, language, religion, food, and other cultural markers. â€Å"Race has a quasi-biological status and among psychologists, the use of race terminology is hotly debated In the United States, race is also a socially defined, politically oppressive categorization scheme that individuals must negotiate while creating their identities. † (Frable , 1997, 139) Before the Black Power Phase of the Black Social Movement, blacks displayed a decidedly dualistic worldview. After 1968, a trend toward a black perspective, which is almost as significant as the dualistic frame, becomes apparent. A reactionary, extreme pro white position is seldom advocated: The dualistic, integrationist ethic was perhaps stronger in the past than it is today, although it is probably still the dominant ideology among blacks. Finally, over the past 25+ years, a nationalistic black oriented ideology has become increasingly important in discussions of black affairs. The racial and ethnic identity terms are often used inappropriately in psychology. While black immigrants to the United States may have a racial identity as black, their ethnic identity reflects their country of origin; racial identity is much more likely to be problematic in the United States than ethnic identity. Whether a researcher assesses racial identity, ethnic identity, or some combination may only be clear after reading the Methods section of their report. EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY CHANGE: 1968-PRESENT The Black Social Movement had two phases: (1) the Civil Rights Phase, which lasted from 1954-1967 and (2) the Black Power Phase, which began to take hold from 1965-1967. (See Exhibit 1) 118 or 73% were conducted during the period 1968-1977. Of these, 22 (19%) were Black group oriented, 84 (71%) were personal self-worth related and 12 (10%) applied personal self-worth and Black group oriented measures on the same sample. A significant number of both Black group and personal self-worth studies from this period show blacks with an increased in-group orientation and adequate to above average levels of self-esteem. (Allen et al, pg. 161)The Black Movement has increased the probability that more blacks will superimpose a black orientation upon a greater variety of situations. As a perspective, the extent to which the world view of the mainstream group (Americanism) has been internalized by a Black person is not one of self-rejection as it was in the past. As a result, some 20 years later and as a side product of the mind set change, Hip-hop (music) was created in the mid-seventies as black social movements began to take less noticeable role in the African-American communities and mainstream media, and replaced by electoral politics. â€Å"It has deep sixties cultural and political roots; Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets are considered the forebears of rap. But once the institutions that supported radical movements collapsed or turned their attention elsewhere, the seeds of hip- hop were left to germinate in American society at large-fed by its materialism, misogyny and a new, more insidious kind of state violence. † (Ards, 1999, p. 11) This suggests racial motivation impetus more of a political-cultural propensity rather than a psychological trait. All along, even during the racial segregation and Jim Crow, Blacks have consistently had a high sense of personal worth. The Black Movement probably had a less dramatic effect on the personal identity as opposed to the reference group orientation of black people as whole. Blacks have had, and continue to have, a multifaceted reference group orientation that determine behavior depending upon the situation being confronted. BLACK ELITE LIBERAL CONCEPT â€Å"Is this America? Land of the Free and Home of the Brave? † Fannie Lou Hamer’s question still rivets attention, for it is at once radical and conservative, communitarian and individualistic, a plaintive cry and a hardened protest, fiercely American and defiant of America. (Robinson, 1997, p. 179) While not a new paradigm in and of itself (and while certainly reductionist), Cedric J. Robinson, in Black Movement in America, calls for framework forces one to consider social movements. He points out that the very success of black activism during the Civil War would point the way toward future divisions within black political culture. Both free black leaders and the masses of Southern slaves who rebelled against their masters turned a white war into a battle over slavery and racial injustice. (Newman, 1999, 683) Slavery’s destruction, ironically, removed a common focus of protest, and more importantly, enticed certain â€Å"black elites† to accept the â€Å"liberal concept† of changing American political culture by trying to join it and reform it from within. These elite representatives were â€Å"largely irrelevant† in Robinson’s eyes, for the black masses focused on community-building and autonomy (Robinson, 1997, p. 92). The black social movements of the 60’s and 70’s single indicator of common social beliefs may simply be related with other dimensions and intangibles yet to be discovered or even recognized. In brief, due to the impact of during the ten to fifteen year span, black consciousness and awareness had become so pervasive throughout the black population that by the late seventies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  a single item tapping common-fate solidarity was adequate to capture a fully politicized sense of group consciousness. Of course, other changes in the political landscape may also contribute to such a shift. For instance, collective political efficacy among black Americans may have been enhanced by the growing number of black elected officials. † (Bobo & Gilliam 1990) A generation has almost passed since the social activisms of the late 50’s and upheaval turbulent 60s and birth of modern day public black social movement. There are now thousands of black elected and appointed officials throughout the United States. Southern presidents have been elected to the White House since 1976, both of whom received the overwhelming support of the African American electorate. A great deal of literature has been devoted to the position that Black working people and the poor challenged the â€Å"system† by establishing, ad hoc or organized significant black social movements that were rooted simultaneously in a political and social tempest. However, thus knowing that a person has a strong black identity will not inform the listener about the nature of his/her personal identity; however, it gives considerable insight into the person’s value system, political posture, and cultural stance. REFERENCE(S) Deborrah E. S. Frable , 1997, Article Title: Gender, Racial Ethnic, Sexual andClass Identities. Journal Title: Annual Review of Psychology. Volume: 48. Page Number: 139+. Angela Ards, 1999, Organizing the Hip-Hop Generation. Magazine Title: The Nation. Volume: 269. Issue: 4. Publication Date: July 26,1999 Page Number: 11. Cedric J. Robinson, 1997, Black Movements in America. (New York: Routledge,. p. 179, 92 ) Rich Newman, 1999, Black Movements in America. Journal Title: The Historian. Volume: 61. Issue: 3. Publication Page Number: 683. Walter Recharde Allen, Geraldine Kearse Brookins, Margaret Beale Spencer,1985, Beginnings: The Social and Affective Development of Black Children. Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Place of Publication: Hillsdale, NJ. Bobo, Lawrence. 1988 â€Å"Attitudes Toward The Black Political Movement: Trends, Meaning, and Effects on Racial Policy Preferences. † Social Psychology Quarterly 51:287-302. Gilliam, Franklin D. , and Kenny J. Whitby. 1989 . â€Å"Race, Class, and Attitudes Toward Social Welfare Spending: An Ethclass Interpretation. † Social Science Quarterly 70:88-100.