Essay # 4

Essay 4

Simret Mulugeta

Eng 111

Prof: Ishai Barnoy

                                                       African Americans Rights

The African- American history is a long and troubled story, since the early 1600’s black people have been plucked from their native lands, treated like property, and forced to work on plantations. Eventually African-Americans were free from slavery in the 1800’s, but they were still treated dreadfully. For instance, Black people didn’t have rights to use the same restrooms as whites, to drink from the same water fountains as whites, and eat in the same restaurant with whites. Also, they didn’t have as many job opportunities, but even if they had one, they wouldn’t receive equal salary as whites. On the other hand, African-Americans were made fun of in the mainstream media, and were not even considered human. African Americans were also in constant fear of being lynched by angry mobs and when they would protest against these crimes they would be beaten and hosed down. The schooling systems for African-Americans were very bad; they had second-hand textbooks, limited supplies, and very few teachers.  In addition they had segregated schools which meant black kids could not mix with the white kids. Moreover, slave masters would make sure the slaves wouldn’t know how to read or write, which contributed to the fact that many African-Americans were poor and uneducated. In general they had few rights and very few opportunities to succeed professionally.However, this has changed over time. Since the 1960’s African Americans have been fighting for equal rights and they have succeeded in doing so. Martin Luther King Jr is one of the many civil rights activists who made a huge impact in civil rights reforms; he helped to get the Civil Rights Act passed. During the time of such movements other African-Americans and some whites also involved themselves in “Freedom Rides.” A group of students and people gathered up and made a plan to desegregate the public buses, restaurants, and any other facilities that were extremely separated. By any means they did not use physical force; instead they used peaceful demonstrations of their rights. Due to the struggles, battles, and obstacles many of these African-Americans faced, our society is excelling in the professional world. In addition, we have African Americans working as scientists, doctors, actors, and athletes, astronauts, etc. We’ve come a long way from fighting for basic rights like eating in the same restaurants or drinking from the same fountains as whites. Now we have an African American president, which wouldn’t have been possible 60 years ago. We can go to the same schools as white people, and also have the same professions. During different incidents that occurred in the past several years that affected America greatly, people forgot about race and skin color and just cared about helping their fellow Americans. In our society today, we are no longer kept divided by race, religion, or culture; instead America has truly been united as one. The view of African Americans as a whole has changed greatly in the last couple of years. We’ve gone from being treated like animals and objects to a well loved and respected human race.  There is need to acknowledge that the one race that should exist is the human race, people should not be divided by skin color, religion, or culture. One need to keep in mind that although we have made many improvements in the way African-American community treated in the U.S., there are still many obstacles that we have yet to overcome. There are many things that need to be fixed and corrected like the issues of immigration. America has always known to be the only country that would receive people from every nation with open arms. In fact many people are here as a result of wanting freedom, great education, and better opportunities to better themselves. With America being one of the few countries that offers benefits without any complaints as long as her citizens and residents are legal, it is very possible to succeed and advance into a better future. With technology and inventions we are advancing way more than we have in the past. Americans are not in denial of some of the racial obstacles we still have to improve, every American is aware of the areas that need improvement and some are even willing to educate themselves and cooperate to learn other people’s cultures and differences. Now better than before, in honoring the past, celebrating the present, and hoping for a better future, we will overcome the hurdles of racism.

Essay 4

Simret Mulugeta

Eng 111

Prof: Ishai Barnoy

 Essay 4

                                                Death Before Life

The decision to continue your pregnancy or to end pregnancy is a very personal matter; however, abortion is one of the world’s biggest problems and a major issue in an American society. Abortion is a medical procedure done to terminate a pregnancy. There are about 1.37 million abortions per year in the United States which is about 3,700 per day.

The first stage of the process to end a pregnancy is for a woman to decide whether to keep her unborn baby or not. Clearly, there are many reasons why women choose to have an abortion. For instance, if she is not able to support or care for the child, has unwanted pregnancy, if she has health condition that will put her life in endanger should she continue with the pregnancy, or if her pregnancy is a result of a rape. On the other hand, men in some cases attempt to force their girlfriends to have an abortion. According to Wisconsin’s right to life committee,” Two New York men have been jailed for killing their pregnant girlfriends who refused to have an abortion, and a couple in Maine kidnapped their pregnant 19-year-old daughter and attempted to take her to New York and force her to have an abortion.”

Once a woman decides to have an abortion the next step will depend on the stage of her pregnancy and the size of her unborn child. There are different methods of abortion in the United States. Abortion pills are the most common used which is a medication that ends an early pregnancy of up to 63 days and after the first day of a woman's last period. Women who are more than 9 weeks pregnant can have an in-clinic abortion. The most common in-clinic abortion is called,Vacuum Aspiration abortion. Vacuum Aspiration abortion is for women who are five to fifteen weeks into the pregnancy. This process works by inserting a tube into the vagina and using suction to remove the embryo from the uterus. The third most common abortion method used is called: Dilation Evacuation method. Dilation evacuation method is for women who are in the fifteen to nineteen weeks of their pregnancy. The process is gone by stretching the womb with forceps, onceopen;they use suction to remove the embryo from the uterus. If the woman is within the twenty to twenty four weeks of pregnancy, she must have the abortion surgically which is the most dangerous method for the woman.

The most compelling and horrifying part of the process of abortion is dealing with the side effects. There are psychological problems after having an abortion such as: regrets, eating disorders, nervous disorders, sleep disorders, suicide, and alcohol and drug abuse. In addition, sometimes women become very aggressive after having an abortion because of an unpleasant thought of the abortion or the aborted child they had, and women often experience flashbacks of their abortion experience. These women often get depressed on the date of the abortion or the due date of the aborted pregnancy. Basically these women who have had abortions suffer from their own consciousness of guilt.After abortion most women are not able to maintain loving or trusting relationships, which leads to divorce and constant relationship problems.

Abortion can lead women to medical problems such as infections, sepsis, recurrent miscarriages, and abortions always decreases the chances of having children later in life. According to Rhode Island’s right to life committee, “breast cancer takes more female lives than any other cancer in the U.S, one of the factors that increase a woman's chance of getting breast cancer is abortion.” more than 1,800 women were studied and appeared in the journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1994, the study found that women having abortions increased their risk of getting breast cancer before age 45 by 50%.  In general, dealing with different kinds of physical and mental problems is the scariest part of having an abortion not to mention the effects the abortion has on a woman’s spirit.

 Many religion believers especially Christians believe abortion is going against the commandment “Thou shall not kill.”Personally I believe abortion is murder. There are no excuses to take life be it your economic ability to take care of a child or the lack there of. Women shouldn’t look to abortion to answer this difficult moment in their life. Some people make an argument saying what if a woman is raped, should she keep the baby?  My answer to this difficult question is to consider the life that is growing in her womb.  What did the baby do to deserve death before the baby even has a chance at life? Yes, I agree that the rape is bad enough on its own, but to take one wrong and add another makes you worse than the person who commits the rape.  What is rape compared to murder? My faith tells me that all life was conceived in the mind of god before it was conceived the minds of men, that tells me no matter the circumstance life is Gods and to take it is unforgivable. 

                                                      Works Cited.

Rhode Island Right to Life Committee.  Side Effects of Abortion: 1998 Web.

4/26/2012

Wisconsin Right to Life Committee. Statistics & Why Woman Abort: 2009 Web.

4/26/2012

Essay 2

Simret Mulugeta

Prof: Ishai Barnoye

Eng 111

Essay 2

By-catch

“No one can go back and make a brand new start; anyone can start from now and make a brand new end.” Clearly, there are many urgent issues in this world that many of us are aware or not aware about. About 80 percent of the world is covered by water. Within these waters there are numerous fishes that are impossible to estimate. According to Melvin L. Warren, Fisheries Research Scientist at Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, there are 5,000,000 species of fishes yet to be found, and since 1993 about three new species were being found every week (Michael L. 2001). Even though, scientists have discovered only few fish species, no one knows how many of them are out there. Regardless of this situation, there are yet certain fish species that are endangered of death due human consumption. There is an issue that threatens the existence of sea creatures which is called by catch. Even though, many people might not be aware of this problem, I decided to write about it because dolphins always grab my attention. 

By-catch happens when fish and other sea animals caught in fishing net along with the desired kind of fish. Species such as dolphins, porpoises, and whales are affected by-catch. Also, By-catch occurs as a result of several incorrect methods of fishing. It is a major problem in fisheries caused by too many fishermen fishing in the same area as well as disregarding for the fish population itself. So many fish other than the fish that the fishermen are trying to catch are being caught by accident.  This causes the fish to die, get hurt, or get sold illegally because the fishermen didn’t mean to catch this fish.  There are many death evidences of by-catch on media. For instance, on February 7, 2004 Esperanza ship monitored UK fisheries for evidence of dolphin deaths in trawler nets. They found five dead dolphins, floating in the vicinity of two sets of pair trawlers.” The five dolphins had been trapped in the net and drowned in the struggle to escape. All of the animals had cuts to their beaks; fins and flippers. Dolphins die every year as accidental by-catch.  

Trawling is a method of fishing used to catch sea bass during the winter. Huge nets (some can hold 10 jumbo jets) are towed in mid water at high speed by two fishing boats to catch fish such as sea bass.”  These species are caught accidentally in the same nets and dragged to their death. Moreover, if we consider the amount of sea food available for consumption in the U.S., fishing is one of the major industry and a way for people to make living. However, some methods of fishing have a major affect on a certain species. Apparently, fishers have tried different approach to avoid this incident, but most of them have a lack of knowledge to avoid fishing areas where there is high level of by-catch. The issue is very urgent to the point species will be killed and be unsustainable in few years. According to The Fish Site Latest News, by-catch and Fishing Threaten Shark Extinction, the percentage of open ocean shark species threatened with extinction is higher for the sharks taken in high-seas fisheries. Many species of seabird, including albatross species, are threatened with extinction because of long lining, which kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year. 

By catch is also expensive problem that fishers lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year because of the loss of species and non-target fish to by catch. On top of this, with so many fish, including young fish, being wastefully discarded, by catch is contributing to the global problem of overfishing and declining marine ecosystem health, and endangering food security in poorer countries. Wherever there is fishing, there is by catch, and the numbers of animals being needlessly killed makes by catch one of the greatest and most insidious threats to life in the oceans. All human beings should care about this issue to make a difference, not only fish eaters, seafood lovers, or People who are interested in keeping their environment and ecosystem.

                                           Work Cited

McKinney, Michael L. “Effects of human population, area, and time on non-native plant and fish

Diversity in the United States.” Biological Conservation 100.2 (2001): 243-252.

Greenpeace.org (2004) Dolphin 'by catch' death evidence | Greenpeace International. [online] Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/dolphin-bycatch-death-eviden/ [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012].

Conservation.org (2009) Third of open ocean sharks threatened with extinction - Conservation International. [Online] Available at: http://www.conservation.org/newsroom/pressreleases/Pages/Third-of-Open-Ocean-Sharks-Threatened-With-Extinction.aspx [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012].