Blog About American Youth Not Fighting Back

In this day and age young Americans have been forced to accept these social institutions that are running all over them. Young people do not have as much resistance as they once did and it had caused for the U.S. to take even more advantage of them. This societal institution has been pushing people to the limit and has been coming off as an unfair, dominate ruling that has “subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination”.
Student loan debt is a perfect example of this. In most countries schooling is free or has very little fees, but in the United States it can potentially put you in debt over one hundred thousand dollars. This is making young peoples’ lives harder than they have to be, right out of the gate. These never ending debts are now considered the norm by students and are just accepting that the debt they are going to build up over their college career is just part of life.
In this article Levine points out that the youth are not fighting back against these issues and by lying down it is causing for the U.S. to push things even further.  Levine also argues that schooling does not teach us much other than how to follow orders. He goes on to say, “The nature of most classrooms, regardless of the subject matter, socializes students to be passive and directed by others, to follow orders, to take seriously the rewards and punishments of authorities, to pretend to care about things they don’t care about, and that they are impotent to affect their situation.” I do agree with this because this is how I feel a lot of the time when attending school. I think Levine makes a good point when saying how in school we are constantly being directed by others and following orders about things we don’t always care about. And who says we should take the rewards and punishments of these so called authorities seriously?
There are many different learning methods out there that could be used to gain the same effect as schooling. The United States is putting shame on young people who care about getting an education, but not about the schooling that is giving it to them. Today over 85 percent of people are graduating high school, which is good, but at the same time it seems you do not really have any other choice if you want to “succeed” in life. Even the President of the Unites States is saying, “And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” What makes this institution that our society is pushing correct?

Blog About Troy Davis Case

The case of Troy Davis seems to be a perfect example of social injustice.  Davis was recently executed for the murder of a police officer and had been on death row for over 20 years. Although there was no physical evidence against him, he was still found guilty by the courts of Georgia. The police wanted a suspect so bad to take the fall for what had happened that they did not take the time to do an actual full investigation to find more evidence. The only so called proof that they had on Troy Davis was the 9 witnesses that were basically forced into saying that it was him.

            The guy that identified Davis seemed to be more of a suspect because he was the one that the homeless man at the scene of the shooting said was assaulting him. Once this guy came forward and blamed Davis, the police focused on no one else, but him and I think this was something that really affected the verdict of the trial. The eye witnesses they found to identify Troy Davis, didn’t seem to be reliable because as it sounded their words were twisted around and they felt obligated to say it was him. The police appeared to use intimidation to get what they wanted from the witnesses in order to make Davis guilty of the crime.

            After many years of Troy awaiting lethal injection on death row, 7 of 9 witnesses from the trial came forward and recanted all parts of their testimony. Some said that if they knew what they did now that they would have never found him guilty. Even after all this coming out about the witnesses changing their accounts, which was the only evidence prosecutors had, still state and federal judges ruled against Troy Davis getting a new trial. This is something that doesn’t make any sense to me. If there is no physical evidence and the majority of the witnesses are saying they felt an obligation from the police to say it was Davis, then why is he not getting granted a new trial?

            Around a million people have come together over this case and have petitioned for another trial. Davis execution has been stopped 3 times since 2007, but after all his appeals, Tory’s life came to an end in 2011.  This is not justice in my opinion. If there is this much doubt about a trial with a guilty verdict, than the case should have been put on trial again. It seemed this case was flawed in many ways and it ended with the death of what could have been an innocent man. 

BREAKING NEWS: Georgia executes Troy Davis after his last pleas fail

JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia inmate Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection late Wednesday for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer, after convincing thousands but not the justice system of his innocence.

Davis' death came after a three-hour hold while the Supreme Court considered a late request for a stay, but in the end the court refused to stop the execution, despite calls for clemency from former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and others.

Although Davis' attorneys say seven of nine key witnesses against him recanted all or parts of their testimony, state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against granting him a new trial.

Dozens of demonstrators protested outside the Jackson prison, where officers were prepared for any disruptions.

The Supreme Court had received the request for a stay less than an hour before the 7 p.m. ET time set for the execution, then delivered a one-sentence rejection more than three hours after the time had passed.

State officials had waited for the response.

"We are in a delay, waiting for a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court," Peggy Chapman of the Georgia Department of Corrections told NBC News earlier.

The court had no deadline for a decision, and the state was under no obligation to wait, NBC News reported.

Hundreds of Davis supporters had gathered outside the prison in Jackson and lined a nearby highway. Crowds cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome" as news of the lethal-injection delay spread. Police in full riot gear were on hand to deal with any possible disturbance if the execution goes ahead.

But as the minutes, then hours, passed, the crowd dwindled to about 50.

The U.S. Supreme Court's action came after Georgia's Supreme Court had rejected a last appeal by Davis’ lawyers. Earlier, a Butts County Superior Court judge also declined to stop the execution.

Davis was convicted in the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

In their U.S. Supreme Court filing, Davis' attorneys said "substantial constitutional errors" were made when the lower courts denied his claims that "newly available evidence reveals that false, misleading and materially inaccurate information was presented at his capital trial in 1989, rendering the convictions and death sentence fundamentally unreliable," NBC News reported.

The lawyers said they've been struggling to get these claims heard in the lower courts "after having a grueling clemency process."

Davis and his supporters have maintained his innocence. Prosecutors have stood by the case.

Davis' supporters held vigils outside Georgia's death row and as far away as London and Paris. They also tried increasingly frenzied measures, urging prison workers to stay home and even posting a judge's phone number online, hoping people will press him to put a stop to the lethal injection.

"We're trying everything we can do, everything under the law," said Chester Dunham, a civil rights activist and talk show host protesting in Savannah, where MacPhail, 27, was killed.

Outside the Jackson prison that houses Georgia's death row, about 100 people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, gathered Wednesday afternoon for a prayer rally. As they shouted, "Free Troy Davis!" a man in a red SUV drove by and shouted, "Kill him! Kill him!"

Several dozen people gathered outside the White House to protest the execution. They held signs condemning it as a "lynching" and chanted "Too much doubt" and "What do we want? Justice!"

About 150 people gathered in support of Davis in Paris, many of them carrying signs emblazoned with his face. "Everyone who looks a little bit at the case knows that there is too much doubt to execute him," Nicolas Krameyer of Amnesty International said at the protest.

As his last hours ticked away, an upbeat and prayerful Davis turned down an offer for a special last meal as he met with friends, family and supporters. His attorney Stephen Marsh said Davis would have spent part of that time taking a polygraph test if pardons officials had taken his offer seriously.

Davis' execution has been stopped three times since 2007, but on Wednesday the 42-year-old appeared to be out of legal options. 

Davis' supporters also include a former FBI director, the NAACP, and several conservative figures. Amnesty International says nearly 1 million people have signed a petition on his behalf. The U.S. Supreme Court even gave him an unusual opportunity to prove his innocence in a lower court last year, though the high court itself did not hear the merits of the case.

"He doesn't want to spend three hours away from his family on what could be the last day of his life if it won't make any difference," Marsh said.

He was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, who was working as a security guard at the time. MacPhail rushed to the aid of a homeless man who prosecutors said Davis was bashing with a handgun after asking him for a beer. Prosecutors said Davis had a smirk on his face as he shot the officer to death in a Burger King parking lot.

Angry autoworkers speak out, demand equal pay By Martha Grevatt

A decade ago the phrase “low-wage United Auto Workers member” would have sounded like an oxymoron. It would have been hard to imagine a scenario of two autoworkers working side by side, doing the same job and the same amount of work, with one making half the wage of the other.

Now the injustice is all too real. Two-tier and multitier pay scales have spread like a virus, contaminating the vast majority of contracts between the UAW and General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and unionized parts suppliers. Thousands and thousands of autoworkers are busting their behinds making vehicles for the Detroit Three at $14 to $16.50 an hour, while parts companies are paying much less.

At a Detroit church, where the rank-and-file Autoworkers Caravan held a forum Aug. 13 on “Making the Case for Equal Pay,” their anger nearly blew the roof off.

“This is economic terrorism,” stated Bill Woodside, a truck driver for Chrysler Transport who is paid half what his fellow drivers with higher seniority make. “Tell these guys” — the companies and the UAW officials who are going along with two-tier — “how you’re losing your house.”

Mark Harris and Frank Hines work north of Detroit for parts supplier International Automotive Components, at a plant that had been part of Lear Corporation. Harris is a first-tier worker, Hines is second tier, but the largest number of workers at their plant are third tier, with their pay starting at $9.61 an hour. Others are “fourth tier” — temporary workers with no benefits. “Solidarity is gone, but we are trying to rebuild it,” Harris stated. Regardless of tier or pay rate, Harris remarked, in the UAW “you still pay two-hours-pay union dues — you deserve equal representation.”

Several workers from GM’s Lake Orion plant voiced their outrage. A secret deal at that plant with the UAW allowed the company to recall 40 percent of laid off workers at half of their former pay. Drew William explained how much of the work in the plant is subcontracted to companies paying union members as little as $7.61 an hour. Caravan spokesperson Nick Waun described how he was forced to transfer from Lake Orion, Mich., to Lordstown, Ohio, to keep his traditional rate of pay.

Clyde Walker, a seven-year Chrysler employee, worked several years at first-tier pay, but as a “TPT” — temporary part-time worker. To become permanent, he and many others had to sign a paper agreeing to $13-an-hour pay cuts. Not agreeing would mean losing even their precarious employment as a TPT.

First-tier workers, including skilled trades people not affected by two-tier pay, spoke strongly in solidarity with their lower-paid sisters and brothers and blasted the “divide and conquer” aspect of unequal pay schemes.

“Management is going to divide,” stated Chrysler engineer Rosendo Delgado. Using not only tiered pay but nationality, immigration status and other measures, companies will “pit one worker against another to compete for the lowest possible wage.” Recently hired engineers in product development make half of Delgado’s salary.

“We are putting the company and union on notice,” exclaimed Ford worker Debi Muncy. “I stand up as a first-tier worker and say this is wrong.” Workers at Muncy’s plant and another Michigan Ford plant wear differently colored uniforms for different pay rates.

As workers described struggling to keep up with bills, including their mortgages, Debbie Johnson delivered a solidarity message from the Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs.

Altogether, more than two dozen workers from 16 different UAW locals gave testimony on the hardships and divisions created by lower-tier wages. Reports on a survey the Caravan conducted showed nearly unanimous sentiment that “union negotiators should make getting ‘equal pay for equal work’ a top priority” and that “union members should vote ‘no’ on any contract with a tiered wage structure.”

Workers took stacks of educational leaflets and “no on tiers” stickers to build the campaign in the plants to reject any contract without pay equity.

One goal of the forum — to put the crisis in the public eye — was definitely accomplished. Articles on rank-and-file opposition to unequal pay appeared in the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, the suburban Oakland Press and even the Wall Street Journal.

The proliferation of two-tier contracts, not only in auto but in most sectors of the unionized economy, is the product of more than 30 years of accommodation to capitalist demands for lower wages in order to maximize profits. The cycle that began in 1981 with the breaking of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization came full circle in 2009, with massive wage and benefit concessions made by the UAW.

Still, the end of a cycle is not the end of the line. Wisconsin workers and students are part a new cycle of resistance. Workers on the assembly lines agree that it’s time to fight back.