Terrill Swift is the most recent man to be exonerated from the State of Illinois. In 1994 Terrill Swift, along with his other co defendants, falsely confessed to a crime in which they did not commit. As a seventeen year old adolescent, Swift signed away what he thought was a way home, but ended up becoming his false confession to rape and murder. For about seventeen years, Terrill Swift was living in Illinois prisons for a crime that he did not commit. As Swift told his story, I could sense that many of my classmates and I felt feelings of disappointment and discomfort with our legal system. Swift told us that false confessions are not a rare case, but that they actually occur quite often. Due to pressure, manipulation, and sometimes harassment, many people confess to crimes that they did not commit.
Terrill Swift emphasized that the most important lesson for all of us to learn from his story is that we must not blindly follow instructions. Swift signed a confession, when he actually thought that it was a consent to go home. Since he did not read every part of what he was saying, Terrill Swift signed over his life with a confession of a crime that he did not commit. When my classmates and I entered the lecture room for Swift's presentation, we all signed in with our names, Emails, and signatures. However, since most of us assumed that the sheet was merely an attendance sheet, we all blindly signed away a confession toward academic dishonesty. We learned that the caption above our signatures actually wrote that we all cheated on our last paper. This activity went to emphasize Swift's message to question instructions, and to never blindly follow those instructions.
Overall, I found Terrill Swift's presentation to not only be informative, but it allowed me to take a look at my life. Swift, now thirty four years old, spent nearly half of his life in prison. His story, gave me a different perspective on life, and it showed me to always be careful with authority. Above all, Swift emphasized that we all know our rights, and that we are never put down by others unfairly.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Born with an Advantage
Generally speaking, I support affirmative action in universities because it increases diversity, and thus enhances universities' educational environments. However, I do see flaws to many affirmative action systems, and I can see how affirmative action is an unfair advantage. For the university applicants who benefit from affirmative action, most of them were born into this advantage. They did not determine their race, socioeconomic background, sex, ethnicity, etc. These students were born as a minority, or raised by parents who were not able to get out of a low income. Of course, there are many qualities to an applicant that they control such as life experience, grades, and extracurricular activities, but for the most part, they are born with an advantage of affirmative action.
However, I do believe that affirmative action is a beneficial system if it is structured properly. I am against the University of California's system, which eventually was removed, that gave diverse and disadvantaged applicants of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background an easier application process in their special admissions program. I feel that this system is unfair because it prioritizes diversity and advantages as the most important factor(s) rather than an applicants grades, life experiences, extracurricular activities, etc. Their system is very much discriminatory because of the way that it prioritizes diversity and disadvantages in their applicants.
Furthermore, I am in favor of quota systems in some context. I do not think that it is fair for universities to install quota systems, and ensure that they are filled no matter how qualified the applicants are outside of affirmative action policies. However, I feel that quota systems can be emphasized as long as all of the diverse applicants considered also meet the criteria of all applicants. I do not think that it is fair that a student is admitted simply because he is from another country, or of a minority ethnic group. However, if those same people are qualified as a student, compared to the other applicants, than they can fit into the university's quota system. If the university does not meet its quota system's goals due to a lack of qualified applicants, than it can be ignored. But, I feel that a qualified focused quota system can help to guide a university to maintain diversity. When learning about Harvard University's affirmative action policies, I learned that the University would not want to only have a little bit of diverse groups of people, because they may feel isolated. But, if diversity were to be present on the campus, than it must be present in large numbers. I feel that this qualified quota system would ensure that there is a large population of diverse students at a university, as long as the students are qualified.
I believe that diversity in affirmative action can act as a "plus" for college admissions programs, but that it cannot be everything. An applicant must be qualified in order to be admitted into a university, despite their diversity. Overall, I am in favor of affirmative action because it helps to enrich the overall educational environment of a university.
However, I do believe that affirmative action is a beneficial system if it is structured properly. I am against the University of California's system, which eventually was removed, that gave diverse and disadvantaged applicants of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background an easier application process in their special admissions program. I feel that this system is unfair because it prioritizes diversity and advantages as the most important factor(s) rather than an applicants grades, life experiences, extracurricular activities, etc. Their system is very much discriminatory because of the way that it prioritizes diversity and disadvantages in their applicants.
Furthermore, I am in favor of quota systems in some context. I do not think that it is fair for universities to install quota systems, and ensure that they are filled no matter how qualified the applicants are outside of affirmative action policies. However, I feel that quota systems can be emphasized as long as all of the diverse applicants considered also meet the criteria of all applicants. I do not think that it is fair that a student is admitted simply because he is from another country, or of a minority ethnic group. However, if those same people are qualified as a student, compared to the other applicants, than they can fit into the university's quota system. If the university does not meet its quota system's goals due to a lack of qualified applicants, than it can be ignored. But, I feel that a qualified focused quota system can help to guide a university to maintain diversity. When learning about Harvard University's affirmative action policies, I learned that the University would not want to only have a little bit of diverse groups of people, because they may feel isolated. But, if diversity were to be present on the campus, than it must be present in large numbers. I feel that this qualified quota system would ensure that there is a large population of diverse students at a university, as long as the students are qualified.
I believe that diversity in affirmative action can act as a "plus" for college admissions programs, but that it cannot be everything. An applicant must be qualified in order to be admitted into a university, despite their diversity. Overall, I am in favor of affirmative action because it helps to enrich the overall educational environment of a university.
Monday, February 6, 2012
The White Advantage
Although most people choose to turn a blind side to the advantage of being a white in today's America, it is existent. In Tim Wise's book, White Like Me, he explores the societal differences between whites and blacks in America. Reading a chapter of Wise's book called, "Privilege", I do agree with him that whites are privileged since we are the majority of our nation. It is very hard for a white person to see what it is like to live in the life of a black person, but we can try to understand the differing perspective. However, many whites deny the automatic privilege that we receive, or at least fail to deny it. But Tim Wise pointed out very wonderfully that we, as people, love to accept things given to us, even though we may not have worked for them, without consequences. He says, "We love to accept things we didn't earn, such as inheritance, but we have a problem taking responsibility for the things that have benefited us while harming others" (18). This is why whites many times deny the fact that we are privileged; it is hard to accept the fact that our race accepted and encouraged bringing harm to other races. But, we have an obligation, as a human race, to accept what we have "inherited" as a white privilege. Wise also said, "Likewise, persons who reap the benefits of past actions-and the privileges that have come from whiteness are certainly among those- have an obligation to take responsibility of our use of those benefits" (18). As a part of the white race, and the human race, we must accept these privileges that we have "inherited", and acknowledge them with an effort to make change.
A big part of the author's argument in "Privilege" was the fact that our nation's education system is not entirely exactly, but it is not "anti-racist" either. The majority of America's public school teachers are white, and many white teachers claim to be "colorblind" to race. To many teachers, treating all of the students equally, omits discrimination. However, as Wise fairly wrote, "To treat everyone the same, or like the white common denominator, is to miss the fact that children of color have all the same challenges white kids do, and then that one extra thing to deal with: racism. But if you've told yourself you are not to see race, you'll be pretty unlikely to notice discrimination based on race, let alone know how to respond it" (21). Teachers cannot ignore the fact that some of their students are not white, because that ignores their heritage, culture, family history, and part of their personal identities.
Aside from our educational system, whites have a societal privilege against discrimination. Tim Wise very bluntly pointed out that we, as Americans, (and especially white Americans), have been very quick to judge Arabs and Muslims, (or anyone perceived as either), since September 11, 2001. Although it is very clear that our nation is not at war with the Islam faith or Arabs in general, many of us still profile these groups, (although we may not act on our thoughts). However, after several white serial killers are portrayed as barbaric in our society, much as the 9/11 terrorists were portrayed, we do not seem to profile other whites. According to Wise, "That's what it means to be white: the murderous actions of one white person do not cause every other White person to be viewed in the same light... Whites can take it for granted that we'll likely be viewed as individuals, representing nothing greater than our solitary selves" (53). Although it makes many of us uncomfortable to accept, whites are privileged because, since we are the majority, we are not judged as a group nearly as often as many minority groups.
When Tim Wise was in college, at Tulane University, he noticed his white privilege when engaging in drug use. Although many college students engage in drug use, it is easier for whites to get away with their usage than it is for blacks. From Wise's experiences, he has noticed that police officials, generally, judge whites and blacks differently, even though they both may be in possession of drugs. As Wise simply put it, "I am not the stereotype" (42). He goes even further to explain that when he asked local police officers how they judge whites and blacks, there is a difference. According to their answers, if they saw a young black man in a very nice car, they would assume him to be a drug dealer. But, if that same man was white, he would merely be a spoiled rich kid. As the majority of our nation, whites are privileged to get away with many societal consequences. Although we do not always notice it, we are not judged nearly as much as others are judged. As whites, we often lack an acknowledgment of our privileges, and try to persuade ourselves that we are all on a balanced scale. But, the faster that we accept the fact that whites are privileged, the quicker we can try to break that privilege. Whites must accept both the benefits and the consequences of our inherited privilege, and then change it so that the "white privilege" does not carry on to our future generations.
A big part of the author's argument in "Privilege" was the fact that our nation's education system is not entirely exactly, but it is not "anti-racist" either. The majority of America's public school teachers are white, and many white teachers claim to be "colorblind" to race. To many teachers, treating all of the students equally, omits discrimination. However, as Wise fairly wrote, "To treat everyone the same, or like the white common denominator, is to miss the fact that children of color have all the same challenges white kids do, and then that one extra thing to deal with: racism. But if you've told yourself you are not to see race, you'll be pretty unlikely to notice discrimination based on race, let alone know how to respond it" (21). Teachers cannot ignore the fact that some of their students are not white, because that ignores their heritage, culture, family history, and part of their personal identities.
Aside from our educational system, whites have a societal privilege against discrimination. Tim Wise very bluntly pointed out that we, as Americans, (and especially white Americans), have been very quick to judge Arabs and Muslims, (or anyone perceived as either), since September 11, 2001. Although it is very clear that our nation is not at war with the Islam faith or Arabs in general, many of us still profile these groups, (although we may not act on our thoughts). However, after several white serial killers are portrayed as barbaric in our society, much as the 9/11 terrorists were portrayed, we do not seem to profile other whites. According to Wise, "That's what it means to be white: the murderous actions of one white person do not cause every other White person to be viewed in the same light... Whites can take it for granted that we'll likely be viewed as individuals, representing nothing greater than our solitary selves" (53). Although it makes many of us uncomfortable to accept, whites are privileged because, since we are the majority, we are not judged as a group nearly as often as many minority groups.
When Tim Wise was in college, at Tulane University, he noticed his white privilege when engaging in drug use. Although many college students engage in drug use, it is easier for whites to get away with their usage than it is for blacks. From Wise's experiences, he has noticed that police officials, generally, judge whites and blacks differently, even though they both may be in possession of drugs. As Wise simply put it, "I am not the stereotype" (42). He goes even further to explain that when he asked local police officers how they judge whites and blacks, there is a difference. According to their answers, if they saw a young black man in a very nice car, they would assume him to be a drug dealer. But, if that same man was white, he would merely be a spoiled rich kid. As the majority of our nation, whites are privileged to get away with many societal consequences. Although we do not always notice it, we are not judged nearly as much as others are judged. As whites, we often lack an acknowledgment of our privileges, and try to persuade ourselves that we are all on a balanced scale. But, the faster that we accept the fact that whites are privileged, the quicker we can try to break that privilege. Whites must accept both the benefits and the consequences of our inherited privilege, and then change it so that the "white privilege" does not carry on to our future generations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)