Martin Luther King's speech: "We are free at last"

As you know, Martin Luther King was an American Pastor, born in Atlanta, 1929 and died in Memphis, 1968. He is known for being a defender of civil rights, because since he was young he became aware of the situation of social and racial segregation of black people in their country, especially the ones in southern states.

In this post, I want to focus in his fairly well known speech "I Have a Dream”. What do are the topics he talked about? What does it make the speech so memorable?

Here's the speech if you haven’t see it. (You can read it too)

At first, Luther King reminds to the Americans the Emancipation Proclamation, a fact that would set free black people, but 100 years later there’s still discrimination in the society and he mentions that now is the time that black people will “cash the check”.

The most important thing of this speech is that Martin Luther King talked about nonviolence and not hate all white people, because  it’s also important their support and it’s unnecessary the negative feelings for the soul.

For me, this speech has emotional power because of the conviction with which he is standing there, the confident that his dream of living in a free country will come true and that security makes the audience feel that his dream will come true. It’s also important that he tries to gets his message across the whole United States (New Hampshire, New York, Alabama, Colorado, etc.).

If we talk about Martin Luther King and black people’s requests, I think that many of them were fixed, but the mentality of some people has not changed. Globally, you could easily see discrimination in the work, social field and school. The worst think, it’s that now it’s not only with black people, we can see discrimination with any ethnicity different from ours and we need to fight for their rights too.

Personally, I don’t believe that one day this reality will completely change, but I think this may decrease if you stop believing on some stereotypes, and people around you will do the same.
My opinion is not the only one, so I would like to know, do you think that this negative discrimination will finish? If so, how and when?

The Great Debaters

"THE GREAT DEBATERS" is a movie filmed in 2007, produced by Oprah Winfrey, and tells the story of a black teacher who, in 1935, inspired his students, in a rebel act, to form their school’s first debate team and compite with white people. After win a lot of matchs, they go for the national championship. A challenge that was never seen before, and that was transmited by radio to all over America, turning this project, this win, in a big memorable step for the history of black people.

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All the film, is based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor of Wiley College, in Texas. Melvin was a poet, educator, columnist, and politician. He worked principally on the experience of African American people.

I really wanted you to see this movie because of three principall things.

First, because it talks about the black people and they fight for civil rights in America, that is related to Marthin Luther King readings in class. 

"An unjust law is no law at all.’ Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience". - 

Do you remember this?

Second, because there are a lots of interestings things like, for example... Do you know who Willie Lynch was? Lynch was a slave owner. In 1800, the colony of Virginia were having trouble controlling their slaves, so they sent Mr. Lynch to teach them his methods, his diabolical methods, so, the word lynching came from his last name. Or, 

"Denigrate. From the Latin word 'niger', to defame, to blacken. 

It's always there, isn't it? Even in the dictionary. Even in the speech of a Negro professor. 

Somehow, 'black' is always equated with failure."

And third, because is a motivational movie, that teach us about how to argue, about how to be persistent with our purposes, and there is a lot of emotions, feelings and shocking moments that will keep you attending to the screen in every single moment. Here is the trailer, so you'll understand everything.

As a conclusion, hopefully after seeing the movie...

  "Majorities do not decide what is right or wrong" 

Are you agree? 

 Is the civil desobedience a correct way to change the world?

When is the time for justice, for freedom, for equality? It is right now?

Here is the link. I really, really, hope that you see this movie, you will not regret :)!!

http://www.primeropeliculas.com/2013/01/el-gran-debate.html

 When we studied this unit, one of the subjects that it called my attention was the racial segregation, therefore, last week, I decided to watch the movie "12 years a slave".

This movie is based on the book with the same name, which is Solomon Northup's autobiographical story, an African American man living in the 1950's.

 Solomon, the main character, was a free man, who worked as a violinist. He had two little children and his wife.

His tragedy started when two men offered him a job, they got him drunk and sold him as a slave. He tried to escape many times, he tried to make understand his "owners" that he was a free man and he saw terrible acts against others slaves.

It is really shocking to see how a human being could use "the word of God" to justify his/ her horrible acts, such as whipping and violating, how a man can treat to another human as a possession, as a property. It's sadly see how a woman is separated from her children. I couldn't believe how someone can lose his/her cravings of freedom and get at the point of just try to escape in order to get a soap for to be clean. That person has lost her/ his desires to live and the life has to be a real torture to prefer the death before staying alive.

Despite all these terrible things, it is a outstanding and fascinating movie and you can feel the history because when you read a text about segregation or discrimination, you notice that it was a dark age in the history, but when you watch and listen the whiplashes in the back of a woman and you can see the wounds and the scars in her skin, it is when you realize how brutal it was.

I know that my words were hard, but this movie it is, and this moment in the history it was, too.

I hope that I have convinced you of to watch the movie and don't forget to write your comments below. Thanks for reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg

"THE VALUE OF ACTIONS AND WORDS"

In this entry I want to share with you some quotes that has been going around my head since I read the Martin Luther King`s book

The first one is from his mother: “It doesn`t matter what other people think, you`re as good as anyone else. Don`t you ever forget that!”

The second one is from Martin Luther Kings ‘father: “Segregation is wrong, but things will get better in time. White people will start to think different one day. We should be patient and wait, because you can`t hurry change. It will come, but not soon. We have to wait for it”

The last one is from the King “If you want to change things, you have to act”

I couldn`t agree more with Martin Luther King!!. I think that should always be like this, we cannot wait that things happen and stay comfortably waiting that things just change in time, especially when we see injustice, segregation or violation of others rights.

Although Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi had as principle, to fight without violence, their speeches, boycotts and protests were ACTIONS, and these actions promoted consciousness and awareness between people to demand equal rights.

“The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts - it gives you what you demand with your actions.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” ― E.F. Schumacher

As King`s parents, my parents also promoted that conviction in me, to speak if I do not agree with something, to raise my voice if my rights are not respected. 

My father was tortured in 1973, he was at the University when militaries arrived and arrested him. He was not able to finish his studies, even when he tried so hard to do it.

Lots of people say to me, even nowadays:  “but he was a communist”, and I replied: “He was not subscribed to any political party, but even if he was, that’s give you the right to arrest someone and torture him, just because he thinks different from you? I don`t think so”

I think that most people in Chile has lot of fears, especially to say what they`re really thinking, or when they have to say “this is wrong or unfair”. When you talk about syndicate, strike, cessation of activities people react negatively, and I think that most of the people are afraid to lose their jobs.

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” ― William James

When I first applied for the scholarship “Vocación de profesor” I was sure that I would win it, but I didn`t. I went to MINEDUC and asked the reason and they said that I have already an academic degree, therefore I couldn`t obtained the scholarship, but I mentioned that in the “frequently asked question” there was a question that said the opposite, but when I returned to my house and looked it up, I realized that it was removed. Hopefully I saved a picture with the question and the date, so I send an e-mail to TVN, they called me and they made me an interview for deceptive advertising by the MINEDUC, and then I got the scholarship, because they change the decree in October 2013 and I applied in July 2013.  Anyway, I did everything on my behalf to make it possible, and I succeeded, I didn`t wait, I act!

I can`t compare myself with Martin Luther King, Ghandi or Victor Jara, because the context was a greater deal more adverse than nowadays.

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” ― Mother Teresa

I firmly think that words have an amazing power, they can express hatred or blessing, It came to my mind an episode in Martin`s life when he was a young boy. By accident he walked into a white woman, and she hit him in the face, when someone asked why, she replied “that little bastard stepped on my foot”. Martin`s face hurt, but the name “little black bastard” hurt him even more.

I was shocked when I read this but I agree, “Words can hurt even more”, but they can make a huge difference too:

Kevin Rudd (2008): "To the stolen generation - As a prime minister of Australia I`m sorry, on behalf of the government, I’m sorry On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry. I offer you this apology without qualification.

We apologize for the hurt, the pain and suffering that we, the parliament, have caused you by the laws that previous parliaments have enacted. We apologize for the indignity, the degradation and the humiliation these laws embodied[...]I know that, in offering this apology on behalf of the government and the parliament, there is nothing I can say today that can take away the pain you have suffered personally. Whatever words I speak today, I cannot undo that. Words alone are not that powerful; grief is a very personal thing. I ask those non-indigenous Australians listening today who may not fully understand why what we are doing is so important to imagine for a moment that this had happened to you”

I want to finish my entry with this amazing quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, and your values become your destiny.” 

Are you agree with Martin, Ghandi, or you think like Kings`father?

Do you remain in silence, or do you assert your rights?

Australia, one of the most multicultural countries of the world.

Did you know that more of 43% of the Australian population or one of their parents was born in another country? Immigration policy in this country has been changing their rules latetly, but at the beginings of the twentieth century they only let enter the Chinese to work in the mines, then in the 70's they prioritized access to the European and in the last two decades people from all around the planet have stablished in the terretory, and the government has communicated the positive importance of this situation, in an economical, cultural and social way, because the diversity represent a significant contribution.

 
Australia is not a multicultural country by chance ... It is a country that seeks and maximaze this aspect, either to redeem a dark past in which they wanted to build a "white" Australia, or just for developed common sense of a land that understand the rich contribution of diversity and the support for neighbors and brother countries (and these are mostly Asian). The result of these policies seems evident just walking on the streets. People from all countries, cultures, races ... who live their lives in peace and harmony with other communities.

Here I'm posting a video that explains briefly this process since the begginings of the country:

 

 

Some Facts:

Of our 22 million people, around 10 millions were either born overseas or have one or both parents born overseas

• According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we speak more than 260 languages, including Indigenous languages, and identify with more than 270 ancestries
• 16% of Australians speak another language at home
• Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Arabic are the most spoken languages other than English
• In the past 50 years, 620,000 refugees and displaced people have been resettled into Australia

(Source: The People of Australia | Australia’s Multicultural Policy, Department of Immigration & Citizenship)

You (we as latin americans) can actually find a lot of facilities to study or get a scholarship to study in Australia,  for example this webpage 
--> http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/ which give opportunities to foreign young people to appeal them to go to the country. In fact, this was how I felt atractted to this topic specifically, because I was searching options to study abroad and I ran into the open doors policy that this country has, and the multicultural affluence that conserves because of that.

If you want to know more about this, here I leave a official link to the Australian Goverment web page, where you could find more details about immigration and multicultural communities.

--> http://australia.gov.au/topics/immigration/multicultural-communities
 
I hope you liked it. Please feel free to comment everything you want; I'm looking foward to hear your opinions and contributions.

Cheers.
Inge. 

In the New York's civil war, immigrants, blacks and natives were all killed

When  the teacher talk about the civil war in  the Unites States, i remember a film that I saw one month ago, this movie is "Gangs of New York".

The film was based  in the book "The gangs of New York" (1928) but only in few aspects of the book. The movie's cast are composed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-lewis, Liam Neeson, etc. The movie has been situated in New York in the XIX century when the civil war began.

 The native people annoy, hit and kill Irish and black people because they are "disturbing and stealing the job to the natives".In this context DiCaprio, an Irish immigrant, fight against the natives for his rights.

At the beginning of the movie Liam Neeson, an Irish priest who fight with his immigrant army against Daniel Day-Lewis, the butcher and his army. In this occasion the natives win with the Priest's dead, his son is carried to the reformatory and stay there for many years.
       



                          

                                                       V\S


                      

 When the Priest's son is released, the butcher don't recognized him and, with the name Amsterdam,he becomes to stay with him to learn all about his tricks. He is so Smart and help the butcher to make money in different ways

Like all Hollywood's movies Amsterdam fall in loved to the best female stealer of Five Pints Jeanne Everdeane. When he discovered that she is the favourite of the butcher, he refused her and stay away from her. But again "the love is Stronger"  and he start to fight first secretly and later opened against the butcher.

But this war isn't in the parameter of William M. Tweed. So when Amsterdam's army and butcher's army are face to face, the USA army  interrupt the conflict and kill all the people.

                                        Here is the link for the movie!!!
                                       Gangs of new york with subtitles


Amsterdam



The butcher Bill


Jeanne 


Why people resort to the war to solve their problems?, Do you think that this is correct?

Pinocchio

In a class with Mr. Villa, we were talking about Disney movies, and how different they are from the real stories which Hans Christian Andersen made, like "the little mermaid"; The Grimm's brothers one, "The little red riding hood"; or the shocking change that was made to the Carlo Collodi one, "Pinocchio". And I'm going to talk about this last in particular.

In the movie, Geppeto wished that his last creation became alive, and his wish was granted and the puppet that he made was alive! And so that is how Pinocchio was born.
But the fairy that conceded the wish to Geppeto, made a warning to the new child, in which he had to be honest, obedient and sincere, and Jiminy Cricket jump into scene to help Pinocchio to achieve this (he was like his conscience).

But Pinocchio was involved in so many bad scenes in which he lied and disobey, that because of this his nose was becoming long and long everytime he told a lie or something like that. 
 

On another hand, in the real story of Carlo Collodi, while Geppeto was making Pinocchio, this last one was laughing and moving hands a feet, and then he run away from home, and told the police that Geppeto raped him and took him to jail. And Jiminy Cricket said to him that what he did was bad, and as all little children, he did not like to be told to do things, so he got mad and throw a hammer to the cricket and Pinocchio killed him.

But somehow the cricket live again and told Pinocchio not to go to some mountains but the puppet did it anyway and he met with some killers. And he run, and run, however, the killers grabbed him and hung him in a tree branch. Pinocchio continued doing bad things that he regret.
 
You can read the whole story here Pinocchio (it is not long).

I really liked the Collodi tale, because it has more bizarre and morbid things. And I think that Disney really changed the story, but I enjoyed it anyways. Futhermore, I think that the movie "Pinocchio", an Italian version is much more similar to the Carlo's one. Here is the trailer

Would you like a puppet, a doll, or any toy to become alive?

A life laughing

While I was preparing my map exhibition I read a lot of interesting material about Canada, unfortunately in 5 minutes I could not said the whole information I had prepared so here I go!

Although Canada is the second largest country in the world all the honors are always taken by the United States, that's why Canada is better known like the American Backyard. Too bad! :(

By now, let's talk about Hollywood, some stars are known for their nationality as

Jim Carrey. (The Mask, Dumb and dumber, Liar Liar, Fun with Dick and Jane, Yes Sir, and so on.) 

He was born in Otario, Canada on January 17, 1962. He got his start in a Toronto's comedy club when he was just 15 years old. He relocated to Los Angeles a long time ago to purpuse comedy but anyway he is a Canadian star!!. 

Here is a video from The Grinch, a movie I really love, I think it's a EPIC characterization in all aspects!!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

 Hope you enjoy it!

"MAPUCHE`S CULTURE, ALIMAPU, WE TRIPANTU"

 I was very indecisive about what should I write in the blog, but I remembered that a couple of weeks ago, reading my Facebook, and after the fire in Valparaíso, I read something about "Alimapu", that means "ali" burn or dry, and "mapu", land. This is the name that Changos used to call Valparaiso. I also read that Spanish once they know about the location of Chango`s settlement, they devastated and burned everything. Then I started thinking about how far away we are from our own culture, from our own background

I had the pleasure to known a Mapuche couple, and every time we met, I feel like a little girl listening their histories, it`s something magical!. It`s amazing how listening a little bit of the Mapuche`s world view, habits and belief, I felt totally identified!!.

I think that Chileans are always searching for a sense of belonging, because of this breakdown with our roots, and that's why we have lots of urban cultures. 

We Tripantu and the Winter Solstice

One of the things that captured my attention was "we tripantu" that means "new sunrise", the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night symbolizes the beginning of the new sowing cycle and it marks the moment of the sun`s rebirth. I believe that this "awareness" of the environment was a common thing in almost every native culture.

All the family members and the community gather together around a fire to eat, tell stories and sing playing kultrun and trutruca. In the dawn they go to the river to wash up any negative thing they`ve picked up through the year. 

To conclude, I believe that rituals are very important, specially in my life, and with the fast rhythm of life that we have, we are leaving them behind .

I also think that Chileans should give up football and start playing Chueca!!! LOL!

Leave me your comments please!!

The place where the animals would prefer to live.

In our last activity from Introduction, I have to search about the protection of the wild life in South Africa. 
By the time I was investigating, I was getting more and more interested on the topic, so I saw a video of the animals in the Kruger National Park, the biggest game reserve and biosphere reserve, that covers an area of 19,633 square kilometres in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern of South Africa and I was surprised... Animals living in they natural enviroment, being themselves, running, fighting, sleeping, doing whatever they want to. Elephants, zebras, lions, and rhynos. A lot of differents species, with unique characteristics. ¡How wonderfull is nature!


The truth is that many of the people, in those years, would not get surprised because of the wild animals, they would said "Oh, you can saw the same animals in a zoo, those places looks pretty good, the animals are so close to you, and they look happy."
I want to stop for a minute, and realize the actual situation of the zoos in Chile, we have no laws that govern those places, where the animals get caught with the excuse that is good for us, its educational and in the same time, they entertain us.
I saw an investigation of one non-governmental organization, and I think that the conclussion is easy... Tell me, how would do you feel, if you spend ALL you're life in the same place, with people taking you a lot of photographies, the flashes of the camera, the sounds, the laughs, when there's no time to rest when u feel tired, eating the same things everyday, with no space to extend your muscles and no another place to go?...
I want to share this with all of you, to take awareness, and take a stand on this issue, Zoos, a good place to learn or just a business? Hope you enjoy it and believe me, Kruger National Park is where the animals have and would prefer to live :)

Apartheid in South Africa

There was a term that called me my attention when we did the maps, which was the apartheid in South Africa. This concept means separation and it was a completely act of social segregation.

The abundance of natural resources, mostly mineral resources, in South Africa provoked a high immigration from England in the XX century.

With the invention of the National Party (in 1948), created in order to have the socioeconomic control in this country, and then, the "Grand Apartheid", non-white people had been deprived of their rights (as voting). Their lives were completely affected by the laws that had been approved, such as the restriction of marriage between white and non-white and the creation of "white-only" jobs.

In 1950. the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed descent).

In 1951, the government created the "homelands", which were independent states and the government was the responsible to assigned to each African where "his/her belonged" according to his/her record of origin.

Other breaches to the rights of non-white people were they had inferior public services and the existence of benches or buildings that they couldn't use.

The system was dismantled in 1990, but nowadays South Africa still wrestles with its significant racial issue.

As my reflection, I sincerely believe that those kind of events on the history shows the cruelty of the human beings, and I really don't understand how someone can hate someone else by the colour of his/her skin, religion or sexual orientation, and how, despite the plurality that exists in our age, some of us is still thinking, for example, that homosexuals should disappear or that they are an abomination.