Facebook Shows Users Different Things Based on Their Ethnicity

Ethnic Affinity is what Facebook is using in order to assign Facebook users into different groups based on their location, language, and interests. The four groups consist of non-multicultural, African-American, Asian-American or U.S. Hispanic people. People believe that this is racial profiling and discrimination because it is not like an advertisement which targets certain people.

An example of how Facebook is grouping people is when the movie Straight Out of Compton came out and they showed different trailers to different people.

"One trailer focused more on the rise of Dr. Dre  and Ice Cube (now a major movie star), without mentioning N.W.A. This trailer was shown to the non-multicultural group, AKA mostly white people, because they were assumed not to know much about the '80s group. Another trailer focused on N.W.A. itself and was shown to the African-American affinity group because that group was assumed to know more about N.W.A. A third, shorter trailer that included quotes in Spanish was targeted toward the U.S. Hispanic group," said Noelle Devoe, author of the article.

Universal marketing chief Doug Neil and Jim Underwood, Facebook's head of entertainment, discussed the partnership at an SXSW panel in Austin and described how using race-specific marketing really helped the movies success.

One Twitter user by the name David Carrol said "In advertising they call it targeting. Everywhere else we call it discrimination. No, Facebook. “Ethnic affinity” is also just discrimination in any other context"

Facebook did take action to respond back. One Facebook representative said "We cannot and do not say to advertisers that they are ethnically black. Facebook does not have a way for people to self-identify by race or ethnicity on the platform."

Source: http://www.seventeen.com/life/tech-social-media/news/a39179/facebook-shows-users-with-different-ethnicities-different-things-on-their-timeline/ 

Facebook source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/facebook-explains-that-it-is-totally-not-doing-racial-profiling/ 

Chicago Police Dept. Plagued by Systemic Racism, Task Force Finds

Chicago police recently released a report called the Police Accountability Task Force which outlined some really shocking facts that demonstrated how racism may be a big issue in their community.

"The report reinforces complaints made for decades by African-American residents who have said they were unfairly singled out by officers without justification on a regular basis, then ignored when they raised complaints," wrote the New York Times.

The report found that In a city where whites, blacks, and Hispanics each make up about one-third of the population, 74 percent of the 404 people shot by the Chicago police between 2008 and 2015 were black, the report said. Black people were the subjects in 72 percent of the thousands of investigative street stops that did not lead to arrests during the summer of 2014. Three out of every four people on whom Chicago police officers tried to use Taser guns between 2012 and 2015 were black. And black drivers made up 46 percent of police traffic stops in 2013.

Chicago police statistics show that murders are up by 62 percent this year compared with a year ago and shootings have also increased by 78 percent.

The report also says "The task force heard over and over again from a range of voices, particularly from African-Americans, that some C.P.D. officers are racist, have no respect for the lives and experiences of people of color and approach every encounter with people of color as if the person, regardless of age, gender or circumstance, is a criminal.”

In my opinion, I think its crazy to see these statistics because we hear about racism a lot but when you see the facts it's shocking to see how big of an issue this is.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/us/chicago-police-dept-plagued-by-systemic-racism-task-force-finds.html?_r=0

Report: https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF_Final_Report_4_13_16-1.pdf

Teenage Immigrants Are Being Denied Asylum Because They Have No Right to an Attorney

An 18 year old teenager by the name of Manuel Portillo was seeking asylum by the U.S. but since he didn't have an attorney to back his case up, he didn't attend his court case.

The Article I read says "Between 2014 and 2015, 49 percent of minors in immigration court had no legal aid, according to data compiled by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Out of 84,174 juvenile cases filed in that period, a whopping 41,457 of those cases were unrepresented."

Manuel Portillo was afraid that he might get deported since he didn't have anyone to represent him pro bono. He had originally fled Salvador from gang violence when he was only 16 and came to the U.S.. One night on January he got stopped by a police officer and had to show up to court for not having a drivers license. At the court the judge told him he would have to go into the hands of immigration officers.

When he heard he wasn't going to get an attorney for his Asylum case He'd heard rumors that immigration officers would deport him if he showed up in court, so out of fear, he simply didn't go.

"We are talking about children running for their lives in many instances," one of the co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Luis Guitierrez, said in a press release about the bill. "We need to make sure they have access to a lawyer, translator, and a fair chance to navigate the American legal system so that they can get justice if they qualify for asylum and are fighting deportation."

Source: http://www.vice.com/read/teenage-immigrants-are-being-denied-asylum-because-they-have-no-right-to-an-attorney 

An open letter to the 45th president

Vikram Mansharamani wrote an open letter to the future president of this country, highlighting five important issues that must be brought to his or her's attention once as a president. Vikram is a lecturer in the Program on Ethics, Politics & Economics at Yale University and a senior fellow at the Mossavar - Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. 

In his letter, he talks about how restricting immigration would hurt American growth. 

"We need to open our doors to the highly skilled. Too many brilliant non-citizens who want to contribute to our economy (including graduates of our world-leading universities) are not able to do so. Last year, 233,000 people applied for H-1B visas, a program for skilled foreigners capped at 85,000. With the U.S. unemployment rate hovering near 5 percent, now is an opportune time to raise the quota. Economists have found that these individuals create jobs for native-born Americans and that artificially restricting their entry hurts American growth."

He then moves on to discuss how silicon valley has a lot of immigrants who helped start companies that are worth a lot. 

"Silicon Valley, where immigrants founded over half of the much-discussed private companies now worth over $1 billion."

Forbes said "Just looking at the top 10 companies based in Silicon Valley by NASDAQ market cap, many (40%) are run by someone who is a woman, an immigrant, or non-white. By individual demographics, 20% are women and 30% are foreign-born."

Vikram goes on in his letter then to talk about the economy, climate change, resource security and more. 

To learn more I've linked the source as well as the Forbes site with graphs about immigration.

Letter: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/an-open-letter-to-the-45th-president/

Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregoryferenstein/2015/08/14/ceos-of-silicon-valleys-top-firms-are-often-non-white-immigrants-or-women-in-1-graph/#331a21f5324c 

Angela Davis: America Needs a New Political Party

Political activist Angela Davis says she is not impressed with America’s presidential candidates. Davis, who’s work surrounds issues of gender, race, class and prison, believes America needs a new party, “a party that is grounded in labor, a party that can speak to all of the issues around racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia—what is happening in the world. We don’t yet have that party." 

When asked about Donald Trump she said she condemns Donald Trump and his failure to denounce the endorsement of David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and notes that, “the Ku Klux Klan, of course, evokes the racist, terrorist, violent history associated with the era following slavery up to the present. It doesn’t seem to me to be a question whether one would disavow the Ku Klux Klan.”

On Hillary Clinton she said "It seems to me that if she’s interested in the votes of not only African Americans and people of color, but of all people who are progressive and attempting to speak out against the racism of over incarceration, she would simply say, ‘I was wrong then,’ that ‘superpredator’ is a racially coded term. It’s so interesting that she is—she tends to rely on a kind of universalism that prevents her from acknowledging the extent to which racism is so much a force and an influence in this country.”

In my opinion, I kind of agree with her because I feel like this election is kind of a joke in a way. At first I was thinking about voting for Hilary Clinton but after analyzing her history of the previous years I just feel like she's saying things only to get votes but won't do if she were to win. With Trump I feel like he is just a joke and the other republican candidates I feel like I can't trust them. The only person so far who I think might be a good candidate is Bernie Sanders. 

Source: http://www.essence.com/2016/03/30/angela-davis-america-needs-new-political-party 

AG advocates legal representation for children facing deportation

Attorney General Bob Fergusson who works for the state of Washington, spoke out on a recent article regarding children and deportations. He said that children shouldn't be forced to represent themselves in deportation hearings. 

The article says that the class-action lawsuit was filed on July 9, 2014 on behalf of thousands of children, challenging the federal government's willingness to carry out deportation hearings against them without legal representation. For the most part, these children are fleeing to escape violence and crime back in their home countries. A majority of the children are coming from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

In 2004, One teenager was murdered only 17 days after being deported. At least 83 deportees from the U.S. have been reported murdered upon their return to Central America since January 2014. Many children flee their country for a reason because they want to avoid the violence that happens. However if they return back to the country then they are more likely to get killed because then people would have known that they did to escape. 

It's really sad that children are deported when all they want is a better future. I feel like ICE should focus on criminals and not children who want to get an education. 

Source: http://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-advocates-legal-representation-children-facing-deportation

Students protest in support of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State

Recently SFSU said it can’t keep funding the college of Ethnic Studies because of the consistent deficit of about $200,000 annually, given tight budgets across California public institutions. If they were to continue funding it then they would have to cut all funding to the college’s César E. Chávez Institute for research, community-based work, work-study for students, core graduate classes, classes taught by faculty members on sabbatical, suspending new hires for several years, even those to replace faculty members who have retired or gone elsewhere.

“When you say you can’t afford to offer those classes, then the eventual effect will be that you don’t have a viable major," said Dorothy Randall Tsuruta, chair of the Department of Africana Studies. 

“San Francisco State is still recovering from systemwide budget cuts and consistent underfunding of the California State University by the state, However, our five values of equity, community, resilience, courage and life of the mind will see us through the decisions that will enable the College of Ethnic Studies to continue to thrive and serve our students for decades to come." said Les Wong, president of San Francisco State

In my opinion, I think that the college should continue to have this program even if it takes funds from other programs because it has been here for a long time "The country’s first and only such freestanding college" and I think it has really affected many students. Just this Wednesday there was a protest again on the campus to support the College in hopes that it keeps getting funded. 

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/03/iconic-ethnic-studies-college-san-francisco-state-says-it-cant-pay-its-bills

Trump attacks judge's ethnicity

Just recently, a lawsuit was made against Donal Trump after a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar. Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout. Many of these instructors were bankrupt real estate investors. Trump in a statement to Fox News said the Judge has to do a lot in this because the case should've been closed a year ago. 

He said "I think it has to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me, It's a small deal, very small, but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge — tremendous hostility — beyond belief. I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic — which is fine." 

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the following "I will not engage in a debate about ongoing litigation, But there is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary."

In my opinion, I think Trump is just out of his mind. There is a line between business and personal which I think Trump is misinterpreting. Judge Gonzalo Curiel, may be Hispanic but I don't think it has to do anything with his ethnicity. I think what his company did is wrong and he just doesn't want to accept it because he doesn't want to face the consequences. Even Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz acknowledge that what he did to those people was a fraud but Trump is taking it personal saying that because he had said certain things about Hispanics now the judge is making a big deal.

In 2013, his University committed fraud and fleeced 5,000 people out of millions of dollars!! This shouldn't be anything new to him because he has done it in the past. What's even worse is that the New York supreme court ruled that his University operated illegally because it was an unlicensed educational institution. No wonder he has so many complaints! 


Source: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Trump-attacks-judge-s-ethnicity-6859621.php 

Students Say Racial Hostilities Simmered at Historic Boston Latin School

Students, Meggie Noel and Kylie Webster-Cazeau from Boston Latin School went to the school districts governing body to discuss a racial issue that has been occurring on their campus. The school which used to be made up of 90 percent of white students began admitting more minorities. However recently these students brought up a few comments that they were told by other students that told them "Oh, you’ll get into college because you’re black" or racial slurs like “go back to Africa” during online debates. “It just felt like what we go through every day was completely disregarded,” Ms. Noel said. 

What I found more interesting was what the article said that according to state data, 32 percent of the students in the Boston Public Schools are black, 42 percent are Hispanic and 14 percent are white. But at the Boston Latin School, about 9 percent of students are black, about 12 percent are Hispanic and nearly half are white. 

I think its crazy how nearly half of the students are white and only 9 percent are made of black students and 12 of Hispanics! I understand that this is one of the first and oldest public schools in America but the fact that they don't admit a lot of minorities into the school says a lot about the school. It's an issue that needs to be fixed. I don't think there's an issue with the state, its this school in particular that isn't doing much to represent the minorities. 
Along with that, the minorities that are let in are treated badly and the school doesn't even do anything about it. Ms.Webster-Cazeau said "The fact that our administration failed to publicly denounce this behavior, or even say something to the students making the comments that was effective, has created an unsafe and racially hostile learning environment for students of color at B.L.S." If the faculty doesn't do anything about the hate speech that students are saying then no one will because they are the ones who have the power to say whats wrong and whats right. If they don't say anything to stop these students then who will? I wonder how long it will take the school to realize that there is a big racial problem going on. I'm glad these girls are speaking up because its sad to say that we let these things slide without paying a lot of attention.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/education/students-say-racial-hostilities-simmered-at-historic-boston-latin-school.html?_r=0 

These Women Want the Pope to Join U.S. Immigration Debate

On February 16, women gathered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to go on a day long pilgrimage to El Paso, Texas where Pope Francis will be visiting the following day in order to draw attention on a issue that has been occurring in the U.S. recently. President Obama authorized the deportation of 100,000 immigrant families back to Central America just a few months ago causing man families to undergo fear and persecution.

 In his last papal address he said to lawmakers "We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners." The leader of the catholic church disagrees with this authorization because he believes that everyone was once an immigrant to this country.

"In a time when refugee families and children are being ripped from their homes, locked up in prisons and deported to life-threatening violence, we will walk with the hope that each step we take will bring us one step closer to Pope Francis' vision of a nation that truly welcomes the stranger," said Juana Flores, co-director of Mujeres Unidas y Activas in San Francisco.

In my opinion I think what these women are doing is great because I feel like a lot of immigrant families need someone to give them hope and shine light on this topic and who better to do it then the Pope. If they are able to bring attention to the pope about this it would be great so that he can see that its something that is affecting many families.

Source: http://womensenews.org/2016/02/these-women-want-the-pope-to-join-u-s-immigration-debate/
Papal Address: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2015/09/26/8e1faa4c-6488-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html 

We Belong Together: http://www.webelongtogether.org/100women#block-views-walkers-block 

What Stacey Dash gets very wrong when she calls for ending BET and Black History Month

Hollywood Actress, Stacy Dash, spoke last week on Fox News saying that BET and Black history month should be abolished in order to end segregation.

Film maker Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith said they will not be attending the Oscars next month because there was only a white list of nominees announced for the major roles. When they asked Stacey what she thinks about this she said "We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don't want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards where you're only awarded if you're black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It's a double standard."

This became a very controversial topic people felt offended that she would say such non-sense. In my opinion I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion and mine is that she is crazy! I think Black History Month is part of the american culture and very important. Its a time when we recognize and remember important people in our history. For example Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and more. Along with that its an important time because on February third the 15th amendment was passed which granted blacks the right to vote. 

I think Black History Month is a reminder for America to recognize what black people have contributed to this country and what they achieved. If we got rid of Black History Month then how will our future youth know about Martin Luther King Jr or Malcolm X? 

Now on BET I think its great that they have a show where they award black artists. However not all the time is just black people who get awarded on BET there is also other artists who get awarded like Eminem, Sam Smith and more. I think BET is a great show that shouldn't be taken down. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/21/what-stacey-dash-neglects-when-she-calls-for-ending-bet-and-black-history-month/ 

U.S. Placed Immigrant Children With Traffickers

In this article we learn that "The Department of Health and Human Services placed more than a dozen immigrant children in the custody of human traffickers" after they had failed to get background checks on the caregivers. Law enforcement had discovered in Ohio that there was six children at the age of 14 years old working in egg farms. Then they discovered another 13 who were being trafficked. Their main job is to give immigrant children who arrive at the border without parents to a caregiver who can keep them for a while. What the DHHS failed to do was to follow up on the caregivers and getting background checks which ended with children being abused and used to traffic. 

In my opinion I think this is horrible and shows how irresponsible the Department of Health and Human Services are. The fact that they couldn't do a background check for caregivers they were putting these children into is so stupid. It makes me questions whether if they did it just because they are immigrant children and thought that they weren't that important to get the caregivers checked. It also makes me question how reliable this department is. Their job is to make sure these kids are being put into families that can help them and keep them safe. Their motto says "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America" however just because these children aren't American makes it seem like they didn't take the time to research because they are immigrants. 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/politics/us-placed-immigrant-children-with-traffickers-report-says.html?_r=0
DHHS: http://www.hhs.gov/about/strategic-plan/introduction/index.html#mission

Business trip man 'deported from US because of skin colour'

Amreet Surana who lives in the UK was traveling to the US for a business trip when US Immigration officials
stopped him and detained him. Mr. Surana claims that he was detained and deported for his color of race. However US Customs and Border Protection officials say that "an approved ESTA visa did not guarantee a traveler would pass border checks." 

Mr.Surana said that he was treated terrible as he was detained for 13 hours and given little food. I think race is a big issue that our country faces everyday and sometimes the way we treat people shows it. He said "I was threatened with fraud, I was threatened with banishment from the USA and imprisonment. You feel dehumanized to the extent that you feel like a piece of dirt on the floor." The way the US handles some situations is why people claim that it is a race issue. If they wouldn't have treated him like a criminal maybe this wouldn't be an article about race more like a "Business trip man 'deported from US because of ESTA Visa". However since they treated him bad he felt like he was being targeted. Mr.Surana is educated with no criminal record and has an international job that involves him coming every now and then to the US. Since the US decided to treat him differently he felt like he was being targeted by his color. 

I think there could have been different measures taken to avoid this problem. Like first making sure border checks allows those who have visas to enter as long as they have no criminal record. Secondly the CBP could have treated him better and not cause all this stress on the poor man. Something went wrong with border checks so there has to be a solution so that next time other international workers don't have to go through what he did. 

Article: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-35398937 

Deportations, Rumors Stir Fear Among Immigrants

Recently we have been hearing in the news that the Department of Homeland Security has been planning raids that will target many Hispanic families who are due for deportation this year. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents say that they will only deport those who entered the US recently illegally and are illegal criminals being sought after. 

To my family this has been a scary topic because a lot of our family are immigrants who came from Mexico. My mom is not legal in this country and for that reason is that she has feared that something like this would happen one day. I myself fear that my mother can be taken away. My problem with this issue is that they bring fear into a community that has long been targeted in this country. The word itself “raid” is defined as “a sudden attack on an enemy by troops, aircraft, or other armed forces in warfare”. The DHS is attacking a community who came to this country to find a better life. Of course not all illegal immigrants are good, there is criminals. But not all of them are bad. My mom came to the US in 1991 and ever since then she has been working constantly to maintain me and my sisters. She is one of the most caring, humble and loving persons you can find.

There is many things that are wrong with this topic! Immigration has always been a problem to this country yet we all Immigrated to this country from Europe or somewhere else. That’s what’s wrong with this topic that this country was made up of immigrants who came from all over the world before it even became the United States. California once belonged to Mexico, it belonged to the indigenous people.

Deportation of illegal immigrants is one of the most traumatizing and scary situations a family can be in when a loved one is taken away. Children cringing to their mothers and fathers, crying not to be taken away from them is one thing that will always be in them for the rest of their lives. So I think that the government is doing something wrong. Raids in my opinion are not the best way to go. Instilling fear into families is not the way to go and attacking a community is certainly not morally right. 

Source: http://www.npr.org/2016/01/17/463400563/as-deportations-ramp-up-rumors-stir-fear-among-immigrants