To Execute Or Not To Execute

I was at work today, and a lawyer friend of mine informed me about a gentleman on Death Row in Alabama. She told me that a certain inmate on Death Row was about to be executed this evening. Further, she informed me that another person had admitted to the crime for which he was going to be executed. I read a little more into the story . . . I was horrified. Upfront, I will admit that I am not a supporter of the death penalty. I think that no matter what someone's crime, that we, as a society, have no right to impose death on a human being. To give you some context, I think of the death penalty kind of like a parent who punishes their child for fighting by hitting them . . . JUST MY OPINION . . .

What I want from you guys, is some opinions on advocacy . . . if you believe that this the above act is wrong, OR, that anything you hear in the news is wrong, what can you, as social workers, do to affect change . . . more to the point, what do you think is a social worker's responsibility when they see injustice in action?

Click the link to view the story.

You Say Its Your Birthday

Hey Bitches,

So, this week is my birthday week. Now, mind you, I don't ever say that to the friends or anything. I'm not one of those who is all about their birthday week and doing this and doing that . . . in fact, I end up being quite the opposite. For the past few years, I have taken my birthday off from work, and just spent the day with myself. I do whatever fancies me that day, and then, during the evening I hang out with my peeps. This year, several of my nearest and dearest are wanting to know what I would like to do for the birthday, and, I don't know why, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around the idea that my birthday will be here soon. I just can't seem to think about it long enough to understand what it is that I would want to do.

Probably, the fact that my brain is continuously moving in eleventy thousand different directions would explain my inability to concentrate on any one thing for any length of time. I need to determine if this is birthday specific or a more generalized issue with me concentrating on myself. I wonder . . . I just don't know.

My horoscopes for the past few days have been focusing on not getting caught up in "disappointments" or "a feeling of having missed the boat" in the past, and moving forward towards good things in the future. I like these scopes, but, like a lot of things, it seems that these actions are easier said than done.

So, I may not know what activities I want to engage in on my birthday, BUT, I think I know what I'm going to spend my week thinking about . . . I'm going to focus on looking forward to the next door that is opening rather than looking back on those that have already closed. In fact, I think I'm going to put padlocks on those closed doors so that my brain won't have the ability to re-open them again. Lofty goals for a week, I know, but, at least I finally have some thoughts of what I want to accomplish this week!

I'll check back in throughout the week to let y'all know how its going . . .

23 Year Old Pilot Builds A Plane And Flies Around The World

In 2007, a 23 year old, African-American male, Barrington Irving, built a plane from donated parts and flew around the world. He stated that he completed this massive task to give hope to inner city minorities. "I want to show them they can do more with their lives than resort to violence!" Click the link to read the entire story.

Also, click on the link for a website called Earthrounders. This website tracks round the world airplane excursions, and has a record of his flight.

In addition, Mr. Irving has created a program for juveniles entitled, "Experience Aviation". "Experience Aviation inspires young people to identify and pursue their dreams through dynamic aviation education programs designed to build math, science, and reading skills."

Click on the link to go to the website and read a full account of the program. Also featured on this website are clips of national media interviews with Mr. Irving.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices

I am posting the link to Part One of the documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices". The documentary asserts that Wal-Mart has spent years perpetrating an assault on the families who have come to depend on their "low prices" and "convenience". Click the link to read more detail about the film makers and the documentary itself.

All eleven clips of the entire documentary are available to be viewed on youtube.

How Much Does Medicare Actually Cover?

Individuals often assume that when they reach the age of 65, Medicare will kick in and cover all of their healthcare needs. . . Not so much . . . Medicare provides partial coverage for most healthcare needs, however unless another policy or policies are purchased, out of pocket costs can still be astronomical (particularly for those on a fixed income). I am attaching a link to a story about Medicare and out of pocket costs . Click on the link to read the article

Poverty USA

I am posting the youtube clip for the video, Poverty USA.



Who do these statistics include?

Who do they not include?

What Does It Mean To Be Black In America?

I was scanning through CNN's website today and found the link to there documentary series "What It Means To Be Black In America". I read the article and the supporting links, and it made me think, "What DOES It Mean To Be Black In America?" . . . I know I'm being redundant here, but I thought the phrase was worth repeating.

I complete an exercise when I teach Human Behavior where I have everyone in the room provide a stereotype associated with something they are . . . no white people have no rhythm . . . all black men smoke weed . . . all gay people are permiscuous. . . you get the point. The purpose of this exercise is to speak out loud all of the completely ridiculous labels that are attached to people because of their color, sex, sexual orientation, etc. No matter how much time and social awareness seemingly progress, these stereotypes, silly as they may seem, continue to exist.

I'm anxious to view this documentary to see how CNN represents this topic. However, I would also love to see documentaries that address, for example, "How White People View Black People In Today's Society" . . . OR, "How Black Women View Black Men In Today's Society" OR "How Heterosexual Black People View Homosexual Black People In Today's Society".

Now, none of these documentaries will probably ever be filmed, but they are very real topics that affect everyone's everyday existence. These opinions and attitudes particularly affect how we, as social workers, interact with clients and help form policy. Think about how welfare policies are shaped vs. how public education policies are formed vs. how "war on drugs" policies are formed. The attitudes, opinions, and prejudices of those who are in charge of forming and inacting policies directly affect how they are written and who they benefit . . . or don't benefit.

How can we, as social workers, become more in tune with our own prejudices?

How can we affect change in policy formation before more covert and overt prejudicially based policies are implemented?

The Homeless: Invisible Population OR Purposely Ignored

I have had some experiences with a certain client over the last couple of months which is inspiring this post. I have a client who is currently in a drug diversion program in this county . . . he came to me to be referred to the appropriate program. During our conversation, I learned that he was homeless, with no family in the state, and absolutely no resources. Now, I have been dealing with clients who have little or no resources for years, however, this experience has truly given me insight into how very little our resources connect with one another. The specific focus of this post is about homeless shelters.

In this county, we have one major homeless shelter, the Salvation Army. Otherwise, we have a couple of other resources that require upfront money. Although I was aware of this information, and have been previously frustrated by it, I have never been so smacked in the face by the inadequacies of our resources for the homeless.

This particular client had been sleeping outside for weeks when he came to me. I have placed him in the Salvation Army on several occasions. However, like any facility, they have their rules . . . and, they should have their rules. However, when someone breaks their rules, there are no other potential shelters in this area. Again, I will say, I am not faulting the Salvation Army. They are a wonderful organization who provide a great service. It is not their fault that no other consistent shelters exist in this area. It has just become blatantly clear to me in the last few months that one facility and you're out should not be the norm. This client has slept in the woods one too many nights . . . in fact, any night, for any human being is one too many nights.

I am attaching a link from a story in the Tuscaloosa news that illustrates the issue.

Rather than just talking about the problem, what can we, as social workers do about this terrible problem.

Sex Offender Laws in Alabama: Justice, Or Too General . . . What Do You Think?

I was scanning the local news stories today, and I came across an op-ed piece from a recent edition of the Tuscaloosa News. In this piece, it appears that a mother of a young man who is in jail wrote an article about her son. In this piece, the mother talks about the number of young men in jail with the charge of statutory rape. Technically, this is a Rape II charge. In the state of Alabama, this charge is about a person of a certain age who has had sex, consensual or not, with a person of another age. In this particular situation, her son was over a certain age and had sex with a girl under a certain age. From all appearances, this sex was consensual, and seemed to be between boyfriend and girlfriend. I make this distinction for a reason. In our state, those who had this kind of sex are viewed exactly the same as those who molest children. In essence, child molesters and those who have consensual sex with their underage girlfriends are all considered sex offenders, and ALL HAVE TO REGISTER AS SEX OFFENDERS FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! That is how generalized our sex offender laws are in the state of Alabama.

What do we, as social workers, think about these laws . . .

There are no correct answers . . . just wondering what everyone thinks about these sets of laws and what they mean to our practice . . .

Census Results: Just How Much Do They Matter?

I was reading the Tuscaloosa News online today, and I ran into a story about the statistics that have emerged out of the latest census. The story discussed the problems that exist with the latest census. Several officials are speaking out and saying that the population numbers the census puts forth are inaccurate and could cause their towns difficulty. On the flip side, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has come out and said that these numbers demonstrate that Tuscaloosa shows an 8% increase in population since the last census.

This story got me thinking . . . what could population statistics that misrepresent (either in a positive or negative manner) the people who live in certain areas mean? What affects could these numbers produce? Why does it matter?

What do you think?

Triangle Waist Company

The fire at the Triangle Waste Factory in New York claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, and to this day is considered one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The inhumane conditions to which these workers were subjected were horrifying . . . none more horrific than the doors being locked on that fateful day of March 25th, 1911.

Click the link to read the full history of this event, as well as, an extensive history on the inhumane conditions to which these immigrant workers were subjected.

Reviewing the events of this fire and the conditions under which these immigrants worked made me think . . . Do these working conditions exist today? Is it so unthinkable? Just a thought . . .

Comments?
Questions?

Alabama's Juvenile Justice Act of 2008

Sicko!

We briefly touched on the Michael Moore documentary, "Sicko" today. Below, I am posting Part One of this documentary. If you go to youtube, you can watch the entire movie in 8-10 minute clips.






Comments?

Supersize Me!

In class today, we discussed the documentary, "Supersize Me". Below, I am posting a clip from the movie.



Any thoughts about the fast food industry or the laws that are/should be regulating them?