"The Bravest Girl in the World" Response

In Upfront Magazine, “The Bravest Girl in the World,” it talks about how a girl named Malala Yousafzai that was just 11 years old in Pakistan was brave enough to speak about the need for girls’ education in Pakistan and was shot in the head for it (she survived). It makes me think about how there isn’t always justice in the world for everyone.

            In Pakistan, “the Taliban imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law on the region, banning music, dance, and many personal freedoms, including schooling for girls…the Taliban used violence—including public beatings, torture, and beheadings—to spread fear and enforce their edicts.” People in Pakistan weren’t allowed to have justice or opinions. Yousafzai and her father stood up for their justice and what they believed in.

            In conclusion, from this article I learned that justice doesn’t always come easy to everyone. And that sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in.

           

            

Upfront Magazine-- (10 Things You Need To Know About Washington--Do ordinary people have a voice in Washington D.C.?)

 In the article, "10 Things You Need to Know About Washington," it talks about how much people get to state their opinions on government. Based off of what the author wrote, the people that have most, (if not all) of the power in the United States is the government. 

        In the text it says, "it's not unusual for a member of Congress to get tens of thousands of emails, letters, and calls in a few weeks. That means that the chances are slim your individual messages will get read carefully."Getting your opinion read by the government throughly isn't common. It's very hard for the government to be able to read so many opinions. 

          This makes me realize that we don't have enough say, or power when it comes to choices that the government makes. Also that they don't focus on the other littler problems in the United States that many ordinary people want to change. I think that the government should find ways to let us have more say in the choices that the government makes. 

In the book, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, the main issues pertain to discrimination towards African Americans (racism).

            The Help is about a black maid in 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. Like most of the other African Americans in the story, the main character, Aibileen Clark is discriminated against by white people and is treated unfairly. The Caucasians feel that they are superior to the African Americans and that there needs to be more segregation between blacks and whites.

            There are many examples of discrimination in this text, however, one of them that really stood out to me so far is when the woman that Clark works for was being pressured by her friends (right in front of Aibileen) to get a colored bathroom for Clark in her home because they felt that it was unsafe and didn’t want to have to share the same bathroom as the black maid. In the text it says, “ ‘All these houses they’re building without maid quarters? It’s just plain dangerous. Everybody knows that they [African Americans] carry different kinds of diseases than we do. ‘ “ Aiblieen was being disrespected by them and was being discriminated against because of the color of her skin.

            Being African American myself, I think that we’ve come a really long way with these issues. In certain countries, there may still be discrimination towards certain people because of their race, physical attributes, sexual orientation, etc. , however I think that the people in this world have made a lot of progress when it comes to discrimination and that people are excepting that not everyone has to be the same.