Viva La Causa

I chose to watch the documentary Viva La Causa. This documentary was about the grape strike and NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) against the grape growers led by Cesar Chavez in the 1960’s.  Watching this gave me hope and also reinforced the notion that if you want something to change, you can make it happen. The power of people fighting for something together without using violence is possible. When I think of advocating for something, this is what comes to mind.  These farm worker were not covered by state or federal laws. All of the power was held by the growers and the working conditions were immoral.

It was eye opening to learn about how the strike started.  The documentary discussed how Cesar Chavez started off knocking and doors and how they would go to the farms, and picket outside and urge the workers to join them and fight for better conditions. They got sprayed down with dust and foreman’s/growers would put loud music on to drown out the protesters. Overall this was not an easy battle and went on for years before any sort of change could happen. This is something important to keep in mind. Cesar Chavez went on a fast for 25 days which was his way of voicing that violence was not the answer to get things to change.  I think this is so important for advocating for anything.  You need to fight for what you want, and if everyone comes together and commits to making a change, then you can make a difference.  It wasn’t until 1970, that the growers finally surrendered and the workers got the first farm labor contracts.The main message I got out of this is that it takes people working together and spreading the story about what you are fighting for to really create change and make a difference.

Also when reading A Moveable Feast: The UFW Grape Boycott and Farm Worker Justice, I kept thinking back to the guest speaker we had who talked about how hard her parents fought to get Suzy’s law passed. She kept stressing how important it is when advocating to share your issue/story with others, to inform them, also as the article discusses, the strike wasn’t enough. The boycott of buying CA grapes and not shopping at grocery stores really helped the change to come about. By reaching out to consumers to not buy CA grapes and don’t shop at these stores helped the number of people increase dramatically. The video states that in 1970, 17 mill people stopped buying grapes and that the growers lost an estimated 25 mill.$! That is not something that happens overnight. It took a lot of time, and tireless effort to get people to boycott the growers.

Black Preschoolers Face An Epidemic Of Suspensions

Here is a link to the article:Black Preschoolers Face an Epidemic Of Suspensions

I posted this article because it goes along with the link I posted to This American Life and the article also addresses the ‘zero tolerance’  and suspension for ‘defiance’ policies.  With Jerry Brown signing bill AB 420 California is  the first state to limit suspensions and expulsions for the reason of “willful defiance”which includes “talking back, refusing assignments or violating dress code.”

Here is a link to an article in the LA school report from late September about Brown signing the bill.

Is this working?

Link to episode 538: Is this working?

This American Life episode is about “Stories of schools struggling with what to do with misbehaving kids. For teachers, it’s not clear how to get the kids to behave. Asking politely does not always work. Or detention. You can suspend them, but sending kids home from the thing they hate is a weird punishment. There’s no general agreement about what to do… and evidence that some popular punishments actually may harm kids.”

 

I was driving around this morning, doing errands and I caught most of This American Life and I wanted to post the episode to the blog. I found it really eye opening and very pertinent to things that we have been discussing in class and on the blog.
One part of the episode got me thinking about the discussion we had in class a while back: They discuss the school to prison pipeline pattern that is being seen here in the United States. This  basically pushes students, especially students that have disadvantages, into the American Criminal Justice System. Ira Glass talks about how the policy  in schools has always been on the notion of “getting rid of the “bad” kids so that all that is left are the “good” ones, when in fact we (the education system) is creating the bad kids.  They interview a mother who’s child has been suspended from preschool  several times. She discusses how she feels like this is her fault as a parent, because she was a “bad” kid growing up. and how by the time she got to first grade she viewed the teacher as the “enemy.” It is worth listening to the whole show, hope you all find it as resourceful as I did!

Brookings Institute

 

 

index

 

The Policy Institute our group analyzed was the Brookings Institution

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization (Brookings, 2014). Their mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

  • Strengthen American democracy;
  • Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans
  • Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system (About Brookings, 2014).

 

 

Below you will find additional links to some resources(and our references used) we found helpful:

 

Image reference

https://www.ida-downtown.org/eweb/Dynamicpage.aspx?webkey=4d2a57f0-9a2b-4392-98f6-c1f1c071df13

 

California Legislature Passes ‘Yes Means Yes’ Standard For College Sexual Assault Policies

Link to article:The Blurred lines of the Affirmative Consent Bill

This article addresses SB967 which passed in senate August 28, 2014.   This bill requires California College campuses to require an affirmative consent standard and conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. The phrase  ‘no means no’ changing to ‘yes means yes’ with the hopes that stories will not differ if both parties can have a clear understanding of what consent is. Some have brought up the concern of what defines “Yes?”

What do you all think?

Policy Article and Discussion-The Marriage Effect: Money or Parenting?

Here is a link to our groups policy article:The Marriage Effect: Money or Parenting?

Below you will find a little history and a short brief providing some general information and back round knowledge about our article.

 

Brief history: The AFDC(Aid to families with dependent children) was a federal assistance program that was established under the social security act in 1935. AFDC was designed to support children of families in a lower socioeconomic class.  States were given funds to administer cash assistance to families who met the program requirements.

Over time, their were some concerns that rose about families possibly abusing these funds and some also argued that this was not promoting self-sufficiency.

Here is some  additional information from the Administration for Children and Families website:

“Under the welfare reform legislation in 1996, TANF replaced AFDC. The law ended federal entitlement to assistance and instead created TANF as a block grant that provides States, territories and tribes federal funds each year. These funds cover benefits, administrative expenses, and services targeted to needy families. TANF became effective July 1, 1997, and was reauthorized in February 2006 under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005” (About TANF, 2013).

TANF was then created to reduce welfare dependency first by requiring recipients to work and second to limit how long a family can receive welfare. Assumption is/was that if we get everyone to get married, we will end poverty and the need for welfare.

TANF Target populations are: Families receiving government aid,  families in a lower SES.

Jurisdiction of policy makers: Federal policy affecting All 50 states. Policy was put in place to govern how states distribute the funds to needy families.

Portion of the TANF policy that this article addresses are:

The formation of stable two-parent families

Decrease the quantity of out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

 

 

 

 

Passions/anxieties about policy

I chose to share with you all Woody Guthrie: This land is your land.

 

I grew up listening to Woody Guthrie and thought that this song illustrated my passions related to advocating and protesting for change. Woody Guthrie was one of the most notable protest singers in the 1940’s.  Woody Guthrie wrote This land is your land in response to the song “God Bless America” being that he thought the lyrics were unrealistic.  He protested against class inequality in the song. Also to be noted that Guthrie signed the manuscript “All you can write is what you see.”