Memphis is known for its rich history in music, Civil Rights Movement, and its location between two states alongside the Mississippi River.  Today, Memphis is known for its infant mortality, below state average testing of its youth, increasing crimes amongst the youth, and a mental health crisis.  Now, the issues expand to the mistreatment of immigrants, particularly, the Hispanic community.

The Commercial Appeal, on Monday, February 9, 2015, reports on “Hispanic population outpaces help” and “Black Memphians top victims list.”  First, the media portray conflict between two ethnic groups, as if neither are citizens, while excluding interest groups’ intentions.  In other words, it’s an ideological war, an assault on “blacks” and Hispanics.

Furthermore, in Section A, Hispanics have come to Memphis in search of new beginnings.  However, their arrival has been unwelcoming by local leaders and members of certain communities.  Since 2000, the city has been faced with language barriers that have caused safety concerns for the Hispanic community.  At the center of conversation are dispatchers for the Memphis Police Department and for the Memphis Fire Department being unable to communicate efficiently and effectively with non-English speaking immigrants.  Thus, making them “targets/victims” of crime: police harassment, slow 9-1-1 responses (must be transferred to LanguageLine Solutions), and “armed robbers,” or “gangs” (associate with the “black” community).  Another major issue, besides lack of emergency dispatchers, is whether to provide help to immigrants that do not have identification.  The local authorities and the deputy police director have different views concerning this matter.  One Hispanic citizen pointed out that the city has put more effort in finding a dog for Canadians than that of its own quality of life.  The city is working to build a bridge of trust with immigrants and to provide better services.

Next, in Section B, “Black males” show higher in causing and being victims of homicide.  Mayor Wharton appears to be speaking to multiple groups, but only to maintain current conditions.  In short, he wants to decrease crimes with weapons by enforcing the laws already on the book.  He used the pronoun “we”, separating ideologies, while maintaining loyalty to his constituents: “It’s misleading for anybody to think we can ‘police’ our way out of this” and “What we can do is take the laws that are on the books and make sure they are enforced without mercy, stringently, to make it so painful to even think about carrying a gun illegally.”  Neither is an attempt to get to the core of our city’s plight.

“Blacks” are ranked highest of homicide victims, with Hispanic males following, and “whites” afterwards.  Presumably, all are citizens, where does other Americans fit?  The “black” and “White” dichotomy creates tensions, especially, when others have the power to go unnoticed in the public, and pin groups against each other.  I was sure that segregation had ended before I was born.  However, the ideology continues to be played out in the media.  The media report tension between Hispanics and “blacks”, ignoring the fact of local failing institutions, such as family, education, and church within the African-American communities, which stem from unconstitutional acts.  The bottom line is not to improve the quality of life for everyone, but to make money with the resources available.  I believe to uplift those having difficulties, at first, may be costly, will result in high returns once provided appropriate services, especially, for the children.

Most importantly, the children are in the middle of adult affairs, taking on issues before understanding the hostile environment that created separation of the people.  Hopefully, the children will be able communicate better for the safety of theirs and future generations’.  It will take great leaders to address vestigial ideologies of previous generations and to care for all humans, regardless of citizenship, especially, victims of any crime.

I was raised in an era when lines were usually wrapped around a building with whole families waiting to get thier vaccine shots.
In some instances, missing your shots could mean the difference in running and playing with your friends or lying cripple in a bed or if you were lucky wearing leg braces for the rest of you life, that is, if you survived the illness. As a young adult, it was unthinkable not to take your children to the clinic for their shots. Anyone that did not get their shots were automatically monitored for compliance. Yes, the children did get sick sometimes, but the negatives always were slim to none compared to the positives.
I recently completed several years working with the State of Tennessee as an Eligibility Specialist at a couple of Public Hospitals here in Memphis.
It appears, the makeup of multicultural residents have a lot to do with a lot of children not being vaccinated properly. We have a lot of residents that have migrated here from other countries, with minors that are not US citizens. As State employees, we could not make it a requirement for those children to have immunizations. One reason, they were not eligible for any Government Programs.
Hopefully the President’s Dream Act, will give more immigrants  the opportunity to better access to needed medical services for their school age, none U S born children.

As we all know, marriage equality is an issue that is very prevalent in the U.S. today.  Just today, Alabama became the 37th state to allow gay marriage.  I think it’s about time that the majority of states recognize same-sex marriage as a legal union, and I urge the other states that haven’t to follow suit.  Same-sex couples want to get married for the same reasons anyone else would want to, including sharing their love and lives together.  Love is such a rare gift in a time where the divorce rate is hovering right around 50%, that I feel that we should allow and encourage marriage in loving relationships.  There are also many practical benefits to being legally married that same-sex couples are denied, such as the right to make medical decisions, access to health care and pensions, and the right to be treated as an economic unit in terms of filing joint tax returns and insurance.  In regards to raising a family in a same-sex couple, there are no documented negative results of being raised in a same-sex home.  In today’s society same-sex couples are becoming more and more prevalent and are becoming more and more accepted.  A growing majority of today’s society accepts and supports same-sex couples so I don’t see any reason for them not to be granted the right to wed as well.  Not allowing marriage equality is another form of discrimination, which our country has taken a stand against.  If marriage is a right given to some, it should be given to all that wish to have it.

In today’s new you hear about how gay marriage may finally be legal. On the hand you hear of how these same people are beat and even murdered for being who they are. People should have the same rights as anybody else, except if you are different you don’t seem to deserve the same rights as what other people think. People are so caught on religion that they forget that gays and trans are people too with feels and families. Just cause somebody don’t fit in your mold that doesn’t mean they deserve to die, beaten, or even to be considered second class citizens. Religion plays a big part of this and I think it is great the government is finally becoming unbiased to the issues of gay marriage. Religion doesn’t have a place in the government. There is many people who use religion as a reason for gays not to be married, but in all honesty you cannot pick and choose things from the bible. One thing the bible does say is that only God has the right to judge people and not other people to judge for him. We as a people need to be more accepting of differences because that is what can make us strong in the long run. If you think about it having children before marriage, cohabitating, and picking your own suitor was considered taboo, but look at us now. We as society do this now and this gay marriage law is just another one of those points in history that we have to pass though. Another point in history is when Africans were enslaved. Back then people did horrible things to them and believed that they didn’t deserve rights, but look how far we as society have come. We look back on this situation and think how horrible and why would people do these things. Well the same question is why are people so against gays having right and don’t give a religion believe because that is picking and choosing from the bible when it suits you. Another question is why do people think gays and trans deserve to die because they are different? Just like how in history people treat women, blacks, and many more people harshly for being different from their social norm. In the long run gay marriage is a public interest. The thing is will the public take things to extreme to show that gays don’t deserve the right like our past history. Will we look back on this topic with disgust at how we treated gays and trans or will we learn from the past and pick a different way? In all this gay marriage law can help us as a nation and as a individual as well.

According to USA today, House passes bill to prohibit federal funding for abortion. The House considered the bill last Thursday but the White House promised that it would veto if it reached the President’s desk. Frank’s bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except to save the life of the woman or in cases of rape or incest of a minor if they were reported to the police. Statistics show that there is high percentage of women, being rape victims, whom do not report their incidents. Privacy is a big issue with women. A lot of women do not want their friends and family to know what is going on when this occurs. Women can sometime be ashamed of telling the police that they have became victims of rape and the thought of carrying a child of a rapist is heartbreaking. Women can also die from carrying a child. This can be a case of saving a life of someone. Being financially and mentally stable, as a woman, is also saving a child’s life. For example; if a 16 year old young woman gets pregnant, she will not be able to take care of a child compared to a 25 year old woman. Not all women are in a great financial or mental state to carry a child.

The 14th amendment states that the concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state actions includes a right of personal privacy or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy. Such cases as Roe v. Wade established a right of personal privacy protected by the due process clause that includes the right of women to determine whether or not to bear a child. It is inhumane to strip women of their rights to decide whether they want children or not. As I stated earlier, women are sometimes forced into those crucial predicaments. As an educated college woman, my focus is on my classes and excelling in them. Also, financially all of my funds are towards my college tuition. A child would put a strangle of my life and make life a lot harder for my future success. The option of abortion should lie in the hands of each and every woman whom decides to partake in one.

We tend to blame the teachers for failing students and bad test scores. Various  governments tend to come down hard on the teachers, but is it really the teachers? Is our government wherever we are helping or hindering the students? Could it possibly be the government intervention that is hurting our school systems resulting in failing students? Are we enabling our students by making them believe they have learning disabilities or mental issues? Is it fair to base teachers pay on test scores? Have we asked the students what we could do to help improve their scores?Are we treating our students like criminals rather than children because of whats going on around us? Do parents need to be move involved or does it really matter? How can we help our teachers before we blame them? I believe we should start by asking them.

Over a period of time parents have believed that vaccinations increase their child’s chance of having Autism. According to Rob Ring the Chief Officer of Autism Speaks he states “The clear results of research indicate that vaccines do not cause Autism. We urge all children to be fully vaccinated.”  As a parent I have no issue with my child being vaccinated. During my childhood it was never up for debate if being vaccinated was an option. We were required to have certain vaccinations at different ages, even in the instance of completing admissions to a college or university you have to submit a record of vaccination. On dailykos.com blog there are parents who have children with autism, they don’t blame the disorder on vaccinations most of them state their children where born that way.  All parents should want their children to be to be vaccinated to help prevent a number of illnesses. Vaccinations not only protect us from many things they also tell things we need to know about our bodies and blood types, parents should want to be aware of these things. In my own opinion I don’t understand why some parents are pro non-vaccination if they have children interacting with children who are vaccinated. Those types of parents should keep their children away from vaccinated children. Who knows what types of germs or other airborne illnesses are able to be spread by a non-vaccinated individual. This attitude almost comes across as a prejudice but there should be no limits in keeping the local community and the rest of the society healthy. Vaccinations are needed, they are more helpful than harmful.  Although everyone is entitled to their own opinions about healthcare and vaccinations I believe everyone should at least be required to have the vaccines that government requires especially if they participate in activities outside of  their homes for the well being of themselves and society.

While looking at social media websites early this week, I have noticed the controversial pro/anti childhood vaccination issue really attracts a lot of attention. A celebrity in the media, Jenny McCarthy, was in the limelight about this topic for the past couple years because of her bold claims against childhood vaccinations. She claimed that vaccinations were supposedly responsible for her child’s autism. This idea sparked mass chaos within families with small children and most recently, within American groups supporting anti- drug and anti-vaccine living.

My question is, why is it a controversy in the first place? Scientific evidence has proven that vaccinations have been one of the most successful medical advancements in health history. Based on data from the National Immunization Program, immunizations have dramatically decreased the number of contractions and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases since 1996 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). In August of 2013, The Journal of Pediatrics did a study that concluded the increased exposure of the anti-body stimulating proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines was not related to the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder ( (Journal of Pedatrics). The Center for Disease Control has several articles that also support these findings, and now have an entire section dedicated to immunization safety and autism. In conclusion, vaccines and immunizations have been scientifically proven to prevent disease and have no direct ties to causing the development of other diseases and disorders. Therefore, these medical advances should be implemented to keep our population healthy.

My concerns are How can the Public Administration apart of the riches countries? The United States are letting Families starving of lack of food, dying of male nutrient, having very little to eat or going to bed hungry. No one seem to care or chose to close their eyes and turn a death ear to the cries of the working poor, unemployed, low wage workers, disabled, retirees, social security recipients, children and our Veteran’s. Maybe, people are still stereotyping those Who get Food Stamps? According to w.w.w. occuptdemocrats.com : Did you know the largest recipient of food stamp beneficiaries are White Children? Did you know that the overwhelming majority of Working-Able food stamp recipients work Full time or Part time? Did you know that the Disabled and Senior Citizens make up a large percentage of food stamp beneficiaries? And that 76% of SNAP Benefits go toward Household with Children? Did you know a majority of food stamp beneficiaries use the program for just 6 months and that the rate of fraud in the program is less than 1 percent? I bet you didn’t know and if you did, I bet you chose to ignore it. Because it went against your common but very false misconception that people on food stamps are lazy, unemployed, drug-addicted welfare queens living and leeching off the teat of responsible taxpayers. I know this is to be true because I heard it so many times.
The House and Senate Republicans are pushing America to another war in the Middle East, At the same time, Republicans are cutting Billions from food stamps.That’s let me know where their priority are. Food Stamps are being cut by 15% meanwhile billions of dollars in subsidies and Tax Breaks for oil companies still exists. It’s seem like the rich is for themselves. “The truth is out there-Look” “First of all, I don’t put people on food stamps. People become eligible for food stamps. The initial expansion of food-stamp eligibility happened under my Republican predecessor, not under me. Politifake.org. Rep. Paul Ryan says, “sure, we cut food stamps today, but we’re saving $40 billion. Isn’t paying off 0.25% of the national debt worth letting 3.8 million people starve to death? Really, letting 3.8 million people starve to death is better than paying off 0.25% of national debt. Is that even logical thinking? His family weren’t counted in the deaths.

The  increased levels in adolescent and teen crime in the Shelby County area has prompted Memphis city officials to initiate an series of youth-driven programs and activities dealing mainly with children suffering from SEDs (Serious Emotional Disturbance). These programs focus on the every children’s need to be stimulated mentally and physically through learning activities in order to fully develop in adulthood. Many of the children that are being dealt with has experienced traumatic events in their lives and the main goal of these programs is to alleviate the problems these adolescents are facing and give them a new hope for a future. It is still too soon to tell if these programs are helping with the ongoing problem of teen crime in Memphis, but only time and more government funds will tell.