Imagine The Best, Funniest, Most Successful Version Of Yourself. Then Live In It To The Fullest.

Prevention through Deterrence.

What is Prevention through Deterrence? It is a strategy that the U.S Border Patrol implemented to make border crossing as difficult, dangerous, and expensive as possible, ultimately aiming to redirect migrants routes into the most inhospitable sections of the border, basically making the hot desert a weapon to discourage migrants from attempting the crossing at all. 

The U.S has made it abundantly clear that migration through crossing the border is illegal, making policies after policy to dismay the crossing, including Operation Streamline, a joint initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice in the U.S started in 2005 that adopts a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to unauthorized border-crossing by criminally prosecuting them; up to 70 people, locked together in handcuffs through hands and feet are shown before a judge before being prosecuted and sent to the state jail, which affects the economy since all of the space being taken up is being paid at taxpayer’s expense, and destroys the judicial system because justice is not being served, and instead becomes corrupt.

  But then how did this all start? Why are migrants crossing the border in the first place? Because of colonialism and domestic violence, that’s why. Back in 1944, the allies like the U.S, the U.K, and France, etc. would connect their banks to the dollar, or regular paper money, making it the BrettonWood Agreement. The colonies under such big world powers, around the ’50s wanted independence, which caused immense turmoil for the world powers. The colonies wanted to rise independently, and could only do that economically. A man by the name of Jacobo Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala; he was a great military officer and politician. At this time he had drawn a land reform, where he wanted the U.S who owned land in Guatemala that they weren’t using to pay taxes and give that fallow land back to the Guatemalan government for land distribution. The U.S felt like they were being bossed around, and didn’t like that this small country was forcing them to give up their land’, so they, under the company United Fruit decided they couldn’t control this man, so they killed him and set a man who became a dictator by the name of Carlos Castillos Armas in his place. A series of coups and new presidents/dictators after Armas’s four years. It was only in the ’80s of Guatemala do things go from bad to worse, with the presidency of Rios Montt, who believes he was appointed by God.

The guerillas, a small attack force that was taking part in action against a large force, in this case, Montt, were being hunted down, killed, and tortured. In Guatemala, there are white Spaniards, brown Spanish people, and then the indigenous tribes called the Maya; some of the Maya, who lived in small towns away from the city, wanted to join and stop Montt, who became a dictator at this point. He believed that since the Mayan people had joined against them, then all of the Mayan people were guerillas. He, with the help of the U.S government, started the Scorched Earth Campaign, which was the legal use of killing and destroying every Maya and anyone else who was associated with the Maya, or the ‘guerillas’. 626 villages were burned down, and over 1.5 million were displaced, with many of them being children (kill the seed, a strategy of destroying the Mayan tribe.) People would hide in the mountains or they would migrate to Mexico or other countries, some able to migrate to the U.S. 

   I mention Guatemala because in the ‘Imaginarium of migration’, what we in the U.S think about these people who are crossing the border believe they do not just come from Mexico here to ‘steal our jobs’. They come from Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, etc. all over, so they could have a shot at supporting their families, and learn and be somewhat educated, then hope to go back home. So no, not all migrants are from Mexico, and not all of them are criminals. Many people are traveling through the desert knowing the risks and the dangers and doing so on the basis of hope that they could get through, hoping to find border patrol. Yes, they want to find border patrol, because border patrol offers them food, water, and shelter from the heat of the sun and the dryness of the desert. But sometimes many people do not even get that far, and their deaths become ambiguous because again, they have no rights; hundreds, if not thousands are dying in the desert. 

Colonialism and nationalism also play a big part in how the U.S writes immigration policy. ‘’Give me your needy, your tired and your poor’’ is a regular statement and not to be taken literally. The colonialist/capitalist mindset is that people can come to the U.S, they just have to be white and rich. State/space of exception is the concept where human rights are negated. There is a space where people are reduced to distribution, where they don’t matter enough for anything a person in the U.S might take for granted because they are ‘alien/illegal’. Since there are no laws to protect them, they have no rights to be protected. And the rise of nationalism is what we've been seeing a lot since the presidential campaigns of 2016 when Trump was stated into office. Nationalism is the ideology and movement that promotes the interests of a particular nation, especially the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation’s sovereignty over its homeland, in this case the U.S. Nationalism holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference, that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity, and that the nation is the only rightful source for political power. This is why racism, fascism, and classism always follow closely after. 

Information from Jason De Leon’s book, ‘‘The Land of Open Graves.’’

🥲

Honorable mentions:

The last SAMURAI- white.

Prince of PERSIA- white.

Just shut up.

Happy Black History Month!

The Banning of Books

NO. 1

Books are intellectual properties that are increasingly challenged and criticized for their particular contents on race, sexuality, class, and gender, even fiction! Books aren’t just educational tools but forms of shaping individual experiences and values, and to be able to share the public is an essential part of our democratic society. The opposition claims that parents of young children have the right to keep their minds free and innocent of what is ‘controversial.’ A list of the books banned during this year is here if you wish to check it out.

NO. 2

Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental rights. Banning or censoring books violates individual rights, but how will children learn to express those individual ideas and thoughts if we suppress diverse perspectives? How will society move forward and evolve if we continue to shelter and limit knowledge? From Precocious Knowledge: Using Banned Books to Engage in a Youth Lens’, ‘‘The quest to protect the imagined innocence of ‘the young and inexperienced’ has endured and is today bolstered by differing organizations—Attempts to control language have a long history with youth; The implicit fear seems to be less about what language might do to teens and more about what teens might do with language. Obscenities can be used to wield power over adults or at least unsettle them. When we balk at a text because of its use of profanity, a racial slur, a homophobic remark, or any other language that might be deemed objectionable, we should consider if we are protecting our students or ourselves from feeling uncomfortable. Language that can be at times unnerving often feels reveals charged topics that demand messy and uneasy conversations.’’

NO. 3

In conclusion, this censorship is not only damaging our intellectual growth but another form of suppressing diverse perspectives, in turn trying to make a return to puritan society. Banning books is going to have the opposite reaction conservative politicians, groups, and parents are hoping for—instead of protecting young minds, it will only narrow their understanding of the world and deprive them of valuable opportunities for critical thinking. And no, I am not liberal, nor am I conservative (republican or democrat.) I am a citizen deeply concerned about the vast changes happening extremely quickly to limit and oppress the free flow of information, ideas, and expression. Children learn by example, and they express more than you give them credit for. They deserve the right to learn and explore freely.

The Creation and Origin story of Gargoyles!

There are stony creatures that you see on the top or sides of great architectural buildings and churches in Europe. There are stone-carved grotesques with spout designs to convey water from a roof and away from the side of the building to prevent water from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm.

NO. 2

Despite their frightening appearances, Gargoyles are, according to the French legend mounted on the walls of a newly built church to scare off evil spirits and used for protection. Due to this, churches, which were considered holy places, often had these creatures on the roof to ward off the devil and demons. They are also suitable as guardians, as they have a high defense from their stony skin making them difficult to wound. The legend involves St. Romanus the former chancellor of the Merovingian king Clotaire II  who was made bishop of Rouen, and how he saved the country around Rouen from a sinister monster called Gargouille, a typical dragon with bat-like wings, a long neck, and the ability to breathe fire from its mouth. Multiple versions of the story are given, either that St. Romanus subdued the creature with a crucifix, or he captured the creature with the help of the only volunteer, a condemned man. In each, the monster is led back to Rouen and burned, but its head and neck would not burn due to being tempered by its own fire breath. The head was then mounted on the walls of the newly built church to scare off evil spirits, and used for protection.

NO. 3

They were useful and designed by artists who created them by sheer necessity, carefully skilled by sharp hands, and made to improve the silhouette of the buildings. ‘‘The gargoyle is a marker in the march of civilization. It was a great thought and a distinct mark of regard for the common people when it was thought best to provide means of throwing the water from the roofs of great public buildings well away from the walls rather than to allow it to trickle down upon the passers-by. The gargoyle had its development in regard to human comfort. It is the kind of an idea that would breed revolution. The first decorative gargoyle of the middle ages was of the year 1220, and the earliest type is found at Laon, France.’’

The Abuse of Police Power

Occurrences on the news shows police brutality almost every day; just recently, Dereck Chavin, the cop who murdered George Floyd was charged with murder, and though that was a serious win, at the same time Makiyah Bryant was killed by the Columbus Police Department. The system has and always will be a discriminatory one based on race and class, and unless there’s real.

The first documented and filmed case of abuse of police power was the beating and death of Rodney King; then in 2014 the death of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Normally, the Bill of Rights is supposed to protect your rights from normally being harassed from a task or police force, like the fourth amendment, which involves the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, which means the Constitution declares a person has the right to be secure in their homes and in their persons against unreasonable searches and seizures. A person has the right against arrest without probable cause and the right to due process of law. Not every police member is a racist, but every police member is a part of a racist and oppressive system.

Forty years ago, the Bill of Rights used to protect every citizen from brutality, wasn’t taken as seriously as it is today in court justice proceedings around the country, most likely because modern technology hadn’t progressed as it has now, where if you hear any word of police assaulting a citizen, you can be sure it will be filmed. ‘’Police operations during that period were often far more informal than they are today, and investigating officers frequently assumed that they could come and go as they pleased, even to the extent of invading someone’s home without a search warrant. Interrogations could quickly turn violent, and the infamous “rubber hose,” which was reputed to leave few marks on the body, was probably more widely used during the questioning of suspects than many would like to believe. Similarly, ‘doing things by the book’ could mean the use of thick telephone books for beating suspects, since the books spread out the force of blows and left few visible bruises.’’

Every branch of the government, including the legislative, judicial, and presidential branches of the government is supposed to be held accountable by the other branches. The system was designed to ensure that no other individual or agency can become powerful enough to take away the rights and many freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution but without that accountability, a police agency can have absolute power based more on political considerations and personal vendettas than objective considerations on guilt or innocence. The court systems would become the area for resolution, not just between citizens and the agencies of government. After handling by the justice system, individuals who feel that they have not received respect and dignity under the law can appeal to the courts for correction. Those appeals can be based on procedural issues and are independent of more narrow considerations of guilt and innocence. In the case of search and seizure, there have been many court cases that involve illegally searches and seizure, which is any evidence seized without regard to the principles of due process as described by the Bill of Rights, particularly the fourth amendment, which says, ‘the rights of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the individuals or things to be seized’; most illegally seized evidence is the result of police searches.’

The Fourth Amendment, a part of the Bill of Rights, was adopted by Congress and became effective on December 15, 1791. The first case concerning search and seizure was that of Weeks. U.S (1914), whose case was upturned because federal agents found the right man, suspected of breaking a federal crime by using the U.S mail to sell lottery tickets, but unfortunately the case was overturned because those federal agents conducted a home search without a warrant; nevermind that they found incriminating evidence. Which means that Weeks, whom federal agents could have proved to a federal/Supreme Court that he was guilty, was set free because the police were also guilty. The Weeks case forms the basis of what is now called the exclusionary rule, which holds that evidence illegally seized by the police cannot be used in a trial. The rule acts as a control over police behavior and specifically focuses on the failure of officers to obtain warrants authorizing them either to conduct searches or to effect arrests, especially where arrest may lead to the acquisition of incriminating statements or to the seizure of physical evidence. The decision of the Supreme Court in the Weeks case was binding, at the time, only on federal officers because only federal agents were involved in the illegal seizure.

There are exceptions to the exclusionary rule, of course, like the exception of the fleeting target that permits law enforcement officers to search a motor vehicle based on probable cause but without a warrant, and is predicated on the fact that vehicles can quickly leave the jurisdiction of a law enforcement agency. Any search and seizure that was illegally obtained or violated due process will be seen as ‘tainted evidence’. The Silverthorne Lumber case (1920) created a new legal principle that excludes from introduction at trial and any evidence later developed as a result of an illegal search is called the fruit of the poisonous tree. When an emergency search is needed, it is justified for the police on the basis of some immediate and overriding need, such as public safety, the likely escape of a dangerous suspect, or the removal or destruction of evidence. Several cases improved the light on this, like Maryland vs. Buie (1990), which extended the authority of police to search locations in a house where a potentially dangerous person could hide while an arrest warrant is being served. Searches like this can save lives by disarming felons or by uncovering medical reasons for an emergency situation; they may also prevent suspects from escaping or destroying evidence. Emergency searches can fall under the exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. The Legal Counsel of Division of the FBI provides the guidelines, after the 1979 case of Arkansas v. Sanders, where the Supreme Court had ruled, ‘‘where the societal costs of obtaining a warrant, such as danger to law officers or the risks of loss or destruction of evidence, outweigh the reasons for prior recourse to a neutral magistrate.’ The guidelines and conditions apply that 1.) There was probable cause at the time of the search to believe that there was evidence concealed on the person searched, 2.) there was probable cause to believe an emergency threat of destruction of evidence existed at the time of the search, 3.) the officer had no prior opportunity to obtain a warrant authorizing the search, 4.) and the action was no greater than necessary to eliminate the threat of destruction of evidence.

Belly Dancing

NO. 1

The art of belly dancing is a Middle Eastern practice that has, over time, gravitated towards Western white American women. The way American women dance is this is a ‘glamorization’, and more focused on the power of reception, rather than cultivating it and respecting the practice. Originally, belly dancing is based on ancient folk and social dances in North African and Middle Eastern countries, particularly Egypt and Turkey. The dance is characterized by various hip, torso, shoulder, and chest movements. ‘‘The images projected by Westerners in the performance of belly dance and other forms of oriental dance raise the thorny issue of orientalism. The vocabulary of the dance and its position within the framework of the West, especially the United States, as ‘other’ provides an ‘empty’ location, as in ‘not part of my culture’, for the construction of exotic new fantasy identities. At the same time, as a repository of media stereotypes and thus Western fantasies of women, it also provides physical images via the femme fatale which the (generally female) dance emulates in order to play an assertive sexual role in a male-dominated Western society.’’

NO. 2

Of course, here in the West, its meaning has changed, especially in America when gained popularity over 100 years ago when ‘dancing girls’ from different countries showcased in Chicago’s World Fair. ‘‘Because of the movements of body parts, such as the stomach, that were expected to be tightly constrained during the Victorian era, controversy surrounded these performers, and belly dance became associated with burlesque, stripping and prostitution. Despite perceptions of belly dancing being associated with sex work, the dance has a variety of meanings for participants, like spiritual, communal, and feminine qualities. For most dancers in the United States, the dance is a form of leisure. Leisure is a voluntary activity that people pursue with a positive state of mind during their free time. For many dancers, belly dance is an enjoyable form of recreation, rather than a primary source of income. Women in most large and mid-size cities around the country take belly dance classes at studios, gyms, and recreation centers.’’

NO. 3

Belly dancing is a key icon of the Middle East and is a site for performing and interpreting. It is appealing because it expresses ‘imperial feelings’, or the complexity of psychological and political belonging to an empire that is often unspoken, sometimes subconscious, but always present, the ‘habits of heart and mind’ that infuse and accompany structures of difference and domination. We can call on U.S imperialism as an example, as it rests as a multicultural nationalism. Belly dancing has become a ‘‘site for staging a New Age feminism and liberal Orientalist perspective on Arab and Muslim women, illustrating what Edward Said called, ‘new-Orientalism’ of the present moment. Orientalism continues to be a deeply appealing, binary frame for imagining the ‘West’ in opposition to the ‘Orient’, or to the East—a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient’, through the production of an 'idea that has a history and tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that has given it a reality and presence in and for the West.’’

Also I think a lot of young people on the left are growing up without understanding "you can and will make mistakes in life and who you are is defined by how you move forward from them" and instead are doing things like "I must always be up the latest social justice language and must always avoid mistakes lest i be ostracized and cancelled for it so here is everything I support just so you don't think I don't support it, and I'll just feel bad and guilty for every mistake when I do make them and all this makes me a good person". It's like congrats you made Catholic guilt but woke