Hunger Rooted in Poverty

Meng Seng

In today economy, many people are paid below a living wages. Poverty in the America is getting worse each day and family are struggled to put food on the tables and pay bills on time.  The issues of poverty in America seem to lie on gender and race. Race and gender is playing a substantial role in poverty.  About half of all women in the United States are living in poverty due to disability or death of the husband.  There is also a major factor in the feminization of poverty has been the increase in families with women as single heads of the household, divorced as an example. This show that families headed by single mothers are more likely to be poor than families with two parents. But, if both parents are jobless, they will be likely to be homeless.

The causes of hunger in the United States are rooted in poverty. Millions of American earning low wages struggle to put food on the table and make ends meet. In the first video many children are affected the most because their parent is unemployed. Parents are jobless and lose their home. Those people are living in shelter home. But the shelter home wanted to separate between male and female. One of the families disagrees to this decision because in these situations they cannot be separate from each other. Therefore, they’re end up living in their car, where they have to use public bathroom. Every morning before the kids go to school, they have to stop by Wal-Mart just to use the bathroom, brush their teeth, wash their face, and hand. This is a tough situation that many American have to go through. In the second video, thousands of people set camp in the wood, many lived in the tunnel on mainstream city with boxes of card board, and many kids go to bed hungry. One of the kids ate rats because they are run out of food. This a very sad situations and shows that America isn’t prove enough to support its people.

In today society, many of the rich people are getting richer, where the poor get poorer. This is certainly not fair to the poor because they do have enough resources to be successful. The one percent of Americans is taking a quarter of the nation income. The one percent Americans has all the power to do anything. The objective is that America has a huge poverty problem and need to do a better job into getting people back to work.

Socialization never ends

Submitted by Curtis Jarvis

Socialization Never ends

            Although I feel that I am not yet worthy enough or educated enough to do justice to this topic that I had chosen during my introduction to sociology, I request your indulgence as I do my best to relay my understanding so far.

            Although socialization came first, I must discuss sociology first. Sociology is the greatest science of them all. It has the greatest potential for the greatest good. All other sciences are a predictable result of socialization. There is no debate that the human being is the most intelligent, complex and miraculous organism on the planet. Mans consciousness and his ability to reason has made him master of everything except life and death, which he continues to explore and manipulate and may conquer one day. But if those who are enlightened by sociology do not reach out and educate the societies with the proven theories that can create a balance and harmony that can transcend bigotry and greed then we are doomed to repeat our tragic history.

            I have been charged, no, neither like a battery nor a repeat offender, but as a Knight with a mission and a directive from the fair Queen of Watts. She commands me to read on in the compilations of Sir Richard Schaefer and to gain wisdom, knowledge and understanding from all of the trailblazers of this most essential science. I was struck in awe and taken aback by the first two paragraphs on page fourteen in this Fifth Edition. I questioned how this group of luminaries came to be quenched within their effective burgeoning light. I reasoned there must have been a powerful political force with bias in their hearts and opinions akin to those of Herbert Spenser. His philosophy is a major influence in the construction and maintenance of many of society’s hamster wheels.  He believed that a person cannot change his or her station in life that they were born a victim of circumstance and all were subject to the law of natural selection. We are all products of socialization. What and how we learn based on where and how we were raised. Of course socialization can be defined by many generalizations and interpretations based on actions and interactions preformed by a specific group in a specific location during a specific period of time.

 

            Eureka, socialization is so much more than that which I have aforementioned. A case in point is the article, “Code of the streets” by Elijah Anderson in which he suggests that a certain subculture has a direct effect on socialization. Also socialization can be influenced by ethnocentrism and relativism, and what about self realization and the agents of socialization. Wow, how about the understanding of your social location and all these other elements in early childhood education. I believe sociology can influence socialization no matter what period of time it is understood in a person’s life. The cerebral immersion into the study of this science will awaken in us all that which makes us all remarkable; reasoning, the spark that ignites understanding, and with that understanding; inspiration, which should promote positive social interactions.       

This then is my battle cry, gird up with the wisdom of those proven sociological theories which enlighten with understanding. Seek out the darkness of ignorance and with the strength of truth spread the knowledge and solutions with passion, compassion and empathy. I would hope that all sociology majors and minors spread the wisdom that not only does sociology matter but that it must rule.  

Everyone is invited to "Imagine" with Sir John Lennon. Maybe this is what he meant when he asked everyone to come and join us. These are the implications of more and more people using their sociological imaginations, which is just the begining of understanding.                                                                          

Music and Culture: Soul Train by Stephany Bernard

Soul Music embellishes our lives daily. In our society Culture and any genre of Music are very parallel in any traditional lifestyle. Soul Music plays out in our everyday life it’s something you learn and grow to appreciate. In any culture especially in the American and African-American culture, we value this and want to pass it on to our families.  Music has become very much a cultural necessity in much of the United States. It was a generation where music was almost therapeutic.  Soul Train was a much must see show in the 70 and 80’s. It was bursting with dance and song and performances and interviews of bands and singers in that day.

 Don Cornelius creator, producer and host of Soul train a popular show in the 70's and 80's. Soul Train was mostly centered on Soul and R&B. The show conducted a soul train line dance where a couple, religiously and male and female, would boogy on down the dance floor in a lined format. This is very popular in our culture today to form a line dance at parties, our family parties, and during any type of environment where you dance to celebrate. The performers and guests who danced on the show looked like as if they were dancing their lives away. Now that’s dancing!

The New Orleans Saints Head Deviant

Submitted by: Loren Hall

                When one talks about deviance, he or she is referring to the breaking of social norms. These social norms can be anything from “go up on the ‘up’ escalator” to “do not talk to yourself in public and make yourself look crazy” to “do not kill other humans.” These social norms vary slightly depending on the environment one lives in. In “the streets,” it’s a social norm not to cooperate with the police at all while that may be encouraged in the suburbs. When someone engages in a deviant act, depending on the importance of the norm they are breaking, the person usually receives a negative sanction, ranging from dirty looks for the breaking of minor norms, to fines and possible incarceration for more severe cases.

            A huge story rocked the sports world this past week. Sean Payton, the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, was suspended for an entire year without pay for putting a bounty out on other players. His defense was instructed to go out and purposely injure specific opponents, knocking them out of the game, and they would get a bonus whenever they achieved their mission. This act broke a huge norm in the world of football. Safety is a top priority in this game, and they just bypassed these expectations and put players on a hit list to be taken out, mafia style.

            The punishment for Payton and his team, who was also fined $500,000 and deducted 2 picks in the upcoming draft, reflects how serious a stand society takes about breaking away from the social norm. What Payton did was clearly wrong, endangering the lives of players like this. While some deviant acts aren’t considered deviant in some circumstances, I think we can all agree that putting a bounty on a player isn’t okay, definitely not a socially acceptable act. He got what he deserved.

2 Philly Cops Arrested

By: Aydaia Hills

Deviance are actions or behaviors that violate social norms including formally enacted rules as well as informal violations of social norms. Deviance can be looked at as a threat to society and the environment that we live in. It can cause people to act out in ways that not only effect themselves but can effect the behaviors of others as well.

Can you imagine after so many years of being protected by police force they could be the ones we need to be protected from?  Well not to long ago 2 Philadelphia police officers  Sean Alivera age 31 was a 10 year veteran and Christopher Luciano age 23 had been on the force for only 3 years, were arrested after attempting to rob an undercover narcotics officer.They tried to steal 20 pounds of marijuana that was a $24,000.00 street value and $3,000 cash from the guys they were arresting. Both cops were in full uniform planning an undercover sting operation. They planned to redistribute the drugs using a street dealer. Both cops were caught and suspended with attempted to be dismissed from the force. 



In today's society thing have really changed. We never had to worry about cops trying to rob drug dealers but we did have cops beaten people, that never changed. Police officers are suppose to protect and serve for us. Why should we be paying our tax dollars for them if their not doing their jobs. No one should have to worry about a police officer robbing them. they are suppose to keep us from fearing people and allow us to be able to walk in our neighborhoods with no worries. These cops really showed us that anyone can be in the act of deviance.

Not Fair!

Sheba George

“WE ARE THE 99%”

Did you know that the “Federal Reserve System,” the U.S’s central bank is not Federal, but is contracted by Congress, and is actually a network of privately owned international banks? I decided to see what all the fuss was about and visit City Hall where I bumped into Som Samuels, an educated citizen who fell victim to this system. He was once a banker who like majority, are in never-ending debt. His home was foreclosed, and now he is struggling to make ends meet. He welcomed me, “Sister, please sit,” he pulled a chair and we sat in front of his fort. We immediately began to rant, and share our ideas and opinions about the government, and its system. I sat there in awe of my surroundings. I told myself; they are people first, diverse in belief, and background, carrying the burden of economic injustice, here to expose the greed of banks and corporations that rob us without regard.

It is indeed a struggle to survive. Education, housing, and healthcare are failing. Many of us are trapped beneath mountains of student debt. We struggle to provide decent lives for our families. Som explained to me that some that reside on camp are homeless; others have voluntarily left the comforts of their homes, and some stop by between classes and working multiple jobs to participate in marches, protests, and strikes.

Som asked me what change I would like to see. I said, “a complete reconstruction of society on a global level.” We are slaves of a system that forces us to commit a third of our life laboring just to get by, after you account for the third that is spent sleeping you are only left with eight hours of your day to actually pursue your own existence. I would like to see a new system where we work for the mutual benefit of each other, not for the benefit of a faceless corporation and their invested shareholders. A world where everyone can feel like they have lived, not simply survived.

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies,” Thomas Jefferson once said. The U.S dollar lost over 93% of its value since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Food and gas prices are not rising, our purchasing power is falling. Taxation barely covers the interest on the national debt. The FED, a collection of private banking interests simply prints the money and lends it to Congress. America’s tradition was to avoid foreign entanglement, and wage war only in self-defense. The power to issue money from nothing changed that. In other words, the Federal Reserve Bank creates money, making endless, senseless wars possible.

The nation’s “Central Bank,” has put the nation in a depression. The bankers think the American people, and their children should pay for the consequences of their reckless behavior. I asked Som, “has it ever occurred to you that everything that has taken place, and what is currently happening as well as what is about to take place in the future is pre-conditioned?” He answered, “Yes, Sheba, I do.” I asked him that because I noticed that he carried a big wooden cross around his neck. At the same time he passed me a joint and a piece of bread. I, of course refused.

I left Som, expressing my admiration for his determination, and wished him all the best. What we fail to realize is that we are the majority. If we all become one and override this evil system, we can make a difference. I wonder what else our government is hiding from us. We have allowed them to manipulate, and mind control us far too long. It is time we examine all aspects of our life and pursue a life in our best interest. 

 I thought it be appropriate to share this video because the fight for the republican nomination is among us. I truly believe voting is an illusion of choice but don’t just take my word for it. 

Inequality overseas.