In today’s world, we are still dealing with gun violence. Even so many mass shootings in schools. Shooting in churches, in the streets, and inside churches. There are demands for all these mass shootings to stop. Enough is enough, how many more innocent lives are we going to keep losing if there is no stop to it. I wanted to bring this topic up because recently in New York there has been so much going on, especially around my neighborhood. It was on April 15th this year early in the morning as people were heading to work. I was shocked to hear that there was a Brooklyn subway shooting in Sunset Park. I don’t live close to sunset park but I take the R train that passes by there to visit my friends or family members. Back when I was in high school the train I took passed and stopped on 36th st. I wouldn’t think shooting on that stop would happen. Very scary to see and to see how people were terrified and so much going on there. Ever since that happened people feared taking the subway because of what happened in that Brooklyn NY subway shooting. Then there was an incident that happened at Barclays center where a young teenage boy was shot in the head. You just never know once you leave your home you have to take precautions when going out and never know whether we come back or not. There’s so much crime in New York right now that it’s just so sad and some of it gets us angry because it’s like why are these people doing this. They should be kicked out of this state or put away. Hope in the future this issue of gun violence gets resolved.

In this week’s assignment I want to talk about the reading “Feminism Is For Everybody” and how we still fight for women’s right and laws on them till this day . Abortion laws made by men in the government on women sexual organs. The right of a women’s sexual organs should be decided by her and not men that know nothing of the struggle. We are still as seen as delicate and weak women that we should not have control of our own bodies.

After all the reading I’ve read, my favorite one that opened my mind up was about ” feminist politics where we stand” by bell hooks. This made me think about the knowledge I had already known and think deeper. There was a saying that she said about feminism becoming a definition she hopes will come to a regular definition word people use every day. I can agree with bell hook because there are people who support this idea, but in reality, they don’t actually know what it means. This reading helps me out with the information about feminists, and im pretty sure it will help all the men out there as well. I suggest people read so that they can better understand the meaning of feminism.

Although activism has brought about change, much controversy still surrounds it. Youth leaders are targeted by vigilantes and governments forces alike. When they are arrested, it is done for questionable reasons. I feel like instead of being a reason for prosecution, activism should be a right, a right that we’ve been longed denied for fear of being criticized for going against the status quo. Everyone has a voice and should be able to voice their thoughts without having to worry about what others think. People should be admired for how they take action on social issues, but who am I kidding because that will never happen, people don’t like to face the reality of things, they rather hide and just allow to have their way with them. It is the governments duty to make sure everyone matters, and that no one feels powerless or useless under their leadership, at the end of the day it is the people who put government officials in power, so us the people should be heard.

ANTIONE MALAVE, Reading Reflection 7

The article was intense it was until I saw the graphic visuals that I really put into perspective the type of danger that was imposed on those people. The blessing in disguise was that after that happened the laws and regulations changed. We have them to thank. Apart of me thinks new regulations need to be applied from more current labor horror stories that involve big tech, sneaker and fashion design. I feel like the emotion stirred up from seeing the peoples arms out the window of the burning building and then seeing them jump for there lives is something that will stay with any viewer for a while as it should. It was captivating and heartbreaking that they were the sacrifices that brought fourth future preventative danger. It also needs to be said that usually the solution only happens after the tragedy, which is sad.

I want to write about the importance of women in society and how we are still fighting for our lives and our human rights. Women have done a ton of work in history, so we have basic human rights. The fact that we are in 2022 and have men running our government making decisions for us women when these men do not even have a uterus is preposterous. I read the waves of feminism explained by Contance Grady, she explains how there is several types of feminisms, I cannot help thinking what if women just understood each other better instead of having groups within a group. What about supporting each other’s causes? We must realize that women must have each other’s back no hidden agendas. I hope to see equality within the group of women. I feel like men view women as dramatic and emotional, but why is that terrible thing. The first wave of feminism was from 1848 to 1920, which was when women came together to fight for voting rights. I learned about one of the few Black feminists her name was Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and a women rights activist. She escaped to her freedom with her daughter and proceeded to right for equal rights for all. She is also known for her” Ain’t I a woman” speech. This shows us that there is a lot to learn and change, why have I never heard of her before is insane to me! however I am not surprised our history is white washed. I hope there can be more Sojourner Truth in this lifetime.

It’s really interesting to see how the history of Women’s Suffrage is a perfect example of concepts we learned last week, primarily with the article “How to Think Like An Activist”. So many people’s efforts over the course of 100 years contributed to the right to vote for women. While reading “100 Years toward Suffrage: An Overview” I was really invested in seeing exactly how many events and actions had a part to play in this history. The article really delves into everything that led up to the Equal Rights Amendment.

The article written by Constance Grady focuses on the waves of feminism and why people keep debating over them. This article dived deeper into the three waves of feminism and what in each wave was so influential during those points in time. I feel as though the first wave of feminism doesn’t get talked about as much anymore since we’re currently living in the third wave. The first wave of feminism, in my opinion, was the toughest. People were questioning if women were really human beings, if women deserved to have a place in society where they automatically obtained some form of power, but of course not too much power. The first wave of feminism beginning around the time 1848 and ending around the time 1920 was looked upon as “the West’s first sustained political movement dedicated to achieving political equality for women”. For 70 years these women marched, lectured, protested, faced arrests, judgment, and violence; it’s an understatement to say these women were strong. They fought through the obstacles to obtain the right to vote, for not just themselves but for women like myself who have the ability to vote today. The start of the first wave began with the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 where Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, active abolitionists, organized a meeting where over 200 women attended at a church to discuss “the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of women” and agreed upon a list of 12 resolutions that consisted of specific equal rights including a woman’s right to vote. If we think about it, this was the very first meeting that sparked a revolutionary and reform type of social movement created by women to fight for women in not only their time but for the women to come in the future. One of the most important parts of this meeting was the women of color that attended such as Sojourner Truth, Maria Stewart, and Frances E.W. Harper who were not only key forces throughout the movement; these women not only spoke up for equal rights for women but they made to advocate and protest for specifically women of colors universal suffrage and inequalities. It’s important to note that when this movement first began, racism impacted the way white women viewed the women of color who spoke for and represented the women’s movement. In Grady’s article it states, “If educated women are not as fit to decide who shall be the rulers of this country, as ‘field hands,’ then where’s the use of culture, or any brain at all?” demanded one white woman who wrote in to Stanton and Anthony’s newspaper, the Revolution. “One might as well have been ‘born on the plantation.’” Black women were barred from some demonstrations or forced to walk behind white women in others.” This statement alone is powerful because it points out the first planted problem throughout this feminist movement, the idea that the feminism is focused on fighting for and protecting the rights of white women instead of all women. Even though women were granted the right to vote in 1920 by Congress who passed the 19th amendment, it was still a challenge for black women to vote, especially in the South. In my opinion, women made incredible progress throughout the first wave of feminism and start of the women’s movement however, throughout all the suffering and constant fighting for women somehow black women were still in some way excluded from it which did women of color a grave injustice and essentially set back the movement in a major way.

Reading through the articles thus far has truly helped me better understand the struggle for equality. From the “one hundred years towards suffrage” To the “untold stories of black women in the suffrage movement.” The stories of these women fighting to be heard and given the right to express their opinion. The accounts of women just being settled as homemakers isn’t all that they do. There is much more intellect in women. Black women that were slaves turned activist is genuinely inspiring. After all the mistreatment they faced, they still managed to find a will to try to change what they had experienced. They were placed in a predicament to be oppressed, but they did not do it. Women like Sojourner Truth delivered one of the most famous abolitionists and women right’s speeches in American history, “Ain’t I a woman?” She was later turned away from voting in 1872. We have another inspiring women Harriet Tubman who was known as an emancipator who led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the underground railroad. Tubman was a supporter of women’s suffrage, giving speeches about her experiences as an enslaved woman. She was the first to push forward the women’s right to vote. Women need to continue to inspire each other and join forces to seek the change that needs to be done to find equality to live a prosperous life.