Blogs that I have commented on...

http://e-ademuwagun.blogspot.com/

http://nickelsdimes-nic.blogspot.com/

http://honest-and-able.blogspot.com/

http://safia-blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/visual-expression-of-black-identity.html

http://simonecarter.blogspot.com/

Letter of Awareness

Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500


Dear President Obama:


My name is Faidat Yetunde Amolegbe, a first generation Nigerian female who attends Howard University. Both of my parents were born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. They moved to America in 1979. Fortunately, my parents both have their Green cards and are citizens. However, I wish i could say the same thing for the rest of my family and friends in Nigeria. Lately a lot of my family members have been deported back to Nigeria and also a lot of them cannot even get here because they were denied a visa for no declared reason. 


In a recent edition of the Washington Post there is an article about the increasing deportation rate and the extreme measures that are being taken to make sure the illegal immigrants are out. I saw that even businesses that hire undocumented workers are getting audited. The deportation rate has risen 25% since 2007 and I know it will continue to increase. You say the reason all of this is “to make our national laws actually work”. I am a law abiding citizen, so I totally understand your reasoning. However, a lot of people that I know that has been deported were just here to make a better life for themselves. Nigeria does not have many opportunities for people to succeed and be wealthy. A lot of people there are miserable and they are just looking for a way out. When you send them back to Nigeria, a lot of them have nothing to go back to. 


They say America is the land of the free and home of the brave. I wish we could be all free, not just Americans. I am not saying that deportation should totally stop. I am just saying that maybe it should be more lenient, especially with people who are not making trouble, and just trying to survive. Thank you for taking time to read my letter, I really appreciate it. I hope to hear from you soon.


Sincerely,






Faidat Amolegbe

English 002

I have always LOVED Math and Science. I have always HATED English. That has always been, and I do not think it will ever change. In High School, I learned nothing in my English classes because I always had the mindset like "I hate this class", so I never bothered to learn anything. However, I did manage to get an A's all through high school in my English classes, but that was because I did all my homework and a lot of extra credit. When I got to college, I knew it was not going to be as easy for me to get an A as it was in High School so I knew I had to straighten up and really learn. Coming in to Howard University, my writing was horrible. I always had good thoughts and ideas, but they could never transfer to my writings. I had a huge problem with comprehension, I would have to read something over 5 times to actually understand the material. In this English 002 class, I really tried hard to improve my reading and writing skills because I really want to know how to write well-written papers. So far, I think I have improved a lot from where I started. However, I still feel that I have a long way to go. Wish me luck!!

Cultural Fusion

      The legendary, Howard University homecoming was last week. Before I came to Howard, that was all that i heard about. "Howard homecoming this...Howard homecoming that". Howard is an HBCU (historically black college university) and everything about Howard is revolved around African Americans: its classes, its meaning, its people. So i figured that its homecoming would be too. I was completely wrong.
       Yard Fest is an extravagant festival where musicians perform and there is food EVERYWHERE. My father as well as my sister attended Howard. They attend Howard's homecoming faithfully and they were so surprised this year by the performances at yard fest. They said to me that they weren't used to having so much diversity. All of the performances were geared toward the African American culture, however, their were so many different cultures. They played Caribbean music, African music, Rap, and even jazz. They had artist whose audience was my sisters generation, then they had artist whose audience was my fathers generation. My father and sister said it was by far the BEST homecoming at Howard they have ever been to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHsC-zIn4ZI <<A short clip of YardFest

Environmental Racism

Before my professor gave me this assignment i had never heard of Environmental Racism. Even when I first heard about environmental racism I just figured it was just something simple like, racism in different environments. I really got the full effect of  what environmental racism was when I watched the video "Toxic City: This is Where I Live". Watching the video made me realize how serious this matter is. Environmental racism can cause death. People get cancer from all the pollution and toxins put in their communities. Young children have to walk around with inhalers because they have asthma due to this problem. I think it is really crazy that they put minorities (African American/ Latinos) in impoverish communities and just pollute the area. Even if there is nobody living in the environment, the area should not be polluted. Pollution spreads in the air, and can affect many things like, plants, animals, and even the weather. People can not even go outside and breath without suffering from consequences.

URL: http://www.holamun2.com/shows/news-special/mun2-news-toxic-city

Self-Assesment

Part 1
In my blog, my usual topics are politics and race relations, which are 2 very broad topics. I have gone from writing about the NAACP to writing about Roberto Santiago, a bi-racial author. I would say that the nature of my posts have become more personal. My first entry was based on Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union", which I had to watch via youtube. Then my most recent post was about a Round Table discussion that I actually attended and participated in, by asking questions. Looking at my blog posts, I see a significant difference in my writing. I feel as though I have improved my ability to organize my thoughts and that is due to the critics that Dr. Diaz (my professor) has given me on my recent writings. Posting these blogs really helps me express and organize my thoughts properly.

Part 2
At the beginning of this semester I came into this class writing on an unsatisfactory level. I took advantage of having the writing center available to me for help. I go there whenever I have a writing assignment. My comprehension level was not where I wanted it to be either. The in-class writing assignments we have help me tremendously with my comprehension skills because of the amount of analyzing that we do. I have only met with Dr.Diaz once in her office, however, I am going to start going more often because she really helped me with my essay. The weekly blogs also helped me with my writing and it has made me more comfortable with using technology to do work. Overall i feel as though I am taking the proper steps to make my writings go from unsatisfactory to superior.

Round table discussion

I had the honor of attending the Round table discussion, "The politics of black identity in the age of obama". There were 4 main speakers. Their names: Mr. Charles Fuller, Professor Lorenzo Morris, Dr. Jules Harrell, Dr. Greg Carr. The round table discussion was based on Dr. Charles Fuller's book "A Soldier's Play". Every person had 7-10 minutes to present what they had to say. Each of their presentations were based on "A Soldier's Play" but each was a little different. Dr. Carr is an African American Studies teacher, while Professor Lorenzo Morris is a Psychology teacher, so their ways of interpreting the book was totally different. When the 4 men were done with their presentations people had the chance to ask questions. The questions ranged from group identities to phenotypes. Overall the discussion went well...

Battling between 2

"there is no way that you can be black and Puerto Rican at the same time" Thats what people told Roberto Santiago. I think that is crazy. That is like telling someone that they should deny their own race. Its hard denying what you are. In the passage Roberto Santiago also used the phrase "act black". I always hear that. The question is how does one "act black"? Is acting black defined by how you talk, what you wear, or what you eat? A lot of people say I speak like a white person. I get offended when people say that to me, especially when it is a black person who says that to me. So because i speak properly means that I speak as if I am white? Are black people not capable to speak properly? That is definitely NOT the case. One must always stay true to themselves, no matter it be black, black and white, or black and Puerto Rican.


Roberto Santiago (183)

NAACP fights back!

In politics people will always play the race card, especially now that we have an African American President in office. That is the problem that the Tea party is having with the NAACP, or shall i say, the problem that the NAACP is having with the Tea party. "The NAACP adopted a resolution Tuesday condemning "racist elements" in the Tea party movement..." Even Sarah Palin sided with the NAACP, also condemning the racist element. It not looking too good for the democrats now. Some people are even going as far to say that this may have an affect on Obama's presidency. I hope not.
Recently in my African American studies class, taught by Dr.Carr, we learned more about the Tea Party Movement. They are starting to protest. They want things like smaller governments, which Obama is not willing to side with. What shall we do?

URL : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071204471.html

US Race relations

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." In that legendary quote, there is one word that stands out, and that is the word "we". Not just one person alone can improve a big problem such as US race relations.We need to unite and work together. When I say "we", i do not just mean African Americans. I mean EVERYBODY. Everyone has their own complicated past, not just African Americans, so we cannot always dwell on the past because it hinders our efforts to make a better future. As Obama says in his speech, :...We cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together." We cannot improve US race relations by simply providing better jobs, houses, or cars. Rather, we can improve this problem by accepting one another.

Obama, Barack. "A More Perfect Union." National Constitution Center, Philadelphia. 18 March 2008. Speech.