ENTANGLEMENT with DONALD

by with One Comment CultureFeaturedPolitics

Merriam-Webster defines Entanglement as 1a: the action of entangling : the state of being entangled b: something that entangles, confuses, or ensnares 2: the condition of being deeply involved. 

The word entanglement has recently resurfaced due to allegations regarding the famous entertainment couple, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Jada alleging stepped out on Will. “I was an entanglement with August.” She is speaking of an alleged romantic relationship with R&B and Hip-Hop Soul Artist August Alsina. Whether Jada was involved in an entanglement or non-entanglement makes no difference to me because their personal life does not affect me or my and well-being. So that is not what I am talking about here.

The Entanglement we are all involved in is with the man I call 45, many call him the President of the United States. This is one of the worst entanglements I’ve seen in my lifetime… we’ve allowed this man, a narcissist, to become the most powerful man in the world. I’m not a doctor or therapist, but it seems clear to me that we have given power to a man who not only is a narcissist but also has daddy issues and never felt loved.  

That power, which was given to him when we chose to vote or not vote, allows him to appoint federal judges. He’s appointed far-right federal judges young enough to be on the bench for 40 years… that’s a lifetime to stop or prevent true social justice. That can’t be understated. With the help of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, they’ve put judges on the bench that will cause issues for women, Black and Brown, and LGBTQ communities for decades.

This man refuses to obey the law of the land and Republicans gave him a license to kill… 

Children are still in cages being separated from their families. Families are being deported. Food Assistance is being cut and recipients are currently only getting an average of $17 a month. He is trying to take away health care during a pandemic. Send children back to school without a plan and finances to help these schools, educators, and students. He is pardoning his friends out of prison so they won’t testify against him while others who need to be released are ignored because of their race, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation. He is not the cause of COVID-19 in America, but he is responsible for the rise in cases and unfortunate deaths… 138,000 deaths at the time I wrote this article. American has ¼ of all COVID-19 cases in the entire world due to his bad leadership. He has sold the country out many times by asking foreign governments to get involved in our elections on numerous occasions. A Russian bounty to kill US troops was recently exposed and he did nothing. And he always blames someone else for his constant failures as a leader.

I understand this is a challenging election year. But we as a nation are caught in the entanglement spider web of a mentally-ill, narcissistic, 74-year-old, racist man with daddy issues. Sadly, this election may not bring us the best alternative choice. But I’m hopeful it will give us the chance to get untangled from this leader so that we can begin to address racial injustice, and so many other problems in our society.

Similar Read: 2016 Is About To Happen Again

Why is Mental Health Ignored in Schools?

by with 3 Comments FeaturedGen Z

Everyone remembers the Parkland, Florida shooting that occurred in February 2018, taking the lives of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Just recently news has come out that two MSDHS students have committed suicide. I personally found out about this news on Twitter, where people took to tweeting about mental health, particularly PTSD in this case. 

I believe that schools do not do an adequate job of addressing and working with mental health issues. At my own university, there is always a waitlist, sometimes a month-long to see a therapist on campus. My school does provide counseling services for free on campus, which is amazing, but they are severely understaffed. As college students, many of us cannot afford to go to therapy regularly. My school has good intentions with the free counseling program, but overall they need to expand their efforts. A student should not face a month-long waitlist when they choose to seek help.

Thinking back to my high school experience, I cannot remember a single mention of mental health outside of learning about different disorders in psychology class. I’m not quite sure why high schools don’t generally address the topic of mental health, but I believe this is a huge mistake. High school environments are home to bullying, stress, and expectations that all take a huge toll on students’ mental health. I thoroughly believe that high schools should not only be educating students about mental health, but also offering more services for help.

The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survived an extremely tragic event that will undoubtedly stay with them and shape their lives forever. It is highly likely that many of the students at MSDHS have or will develop PTSD due to this experience. Especially after a tragic event, schools should address mental health and work with the students to work through grief or trauma. MSDHS already lost 17 students to gun violence, and it is horrible that they are losing even more to suicide.

Various news articles say that students of MSDHS were feeling what is known as “survivor’s guilt”, ultimately leading to suicide. After such a traumatic event as the mass shooting, MSDHS should have been much more focused on mental health for both the students and the rest of the community surrounding the school. Tweets from MSDHS students revealed as early as a week after the shooting, students were expected to return back to normal school life as if nothing had happened.

News has also recently come out that a parent of one of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting has also committed suicide. We all know the deadly effects of gun violence, but it seems that the lasting mental effects afterwards are not addressed or sufficiently treated. Although losing a child or a friend is not something a person can easily get over, the mental health effects can be handled better if we just addressed them. Those who survive shooting situations should, without a doubt, be provided with adequate mental health care. No one can effectively walk away from such a situation and be completely fine. Mental health concerns should be taken far more seriously if we want to stop these tragic suicides.

This article was originally published on 15 February 2019.

Similar Read: The Veiled Epidemic of Suicide

Convenient Advocacy

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

On June 20, 2017, a 17-year old Muslim girl named Nabra Hassanen was beaten to death in Northern Virginia after she left the mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. She was walking with friends when she got into an argument with a driver, who later beat her to death with a baseball bat and threw her body into a pond. Most news outlets called this “an act of road rage,” not a hate crime, as people had initially speculated. As expected, this became a prominent news story in the Muslim community. Considering a large percentage of my social media contacts are Muslim, I saw this story being shared on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other group chats. Understandably, people were upset that a Muslim teenager was killed in an everyday situation that could’ve easily been them or one of their relatives. Regardless of whether or not this was actually a hate crime, most Muslims were extremely concerned. A fellow Muslim was murdered unjustly, and there was outrage from much of the Muslim community.

Less than 24 hours after Nabra Hassanen was murdered, a pregnant African-American woman named Charleena Lyles was killed in Seattle, Washington by two white police officers. She had called the police because she suspected a burglary. Because Lyles wielded a knife when they arrived, the two officers shot and killed her in front of three of her young children. Lyles had been dealing with mental health issues prior to her murder. As expected, this became a hot topic in the African-American community. This is obviously not the first time an African-American civilian has been killed unjustly by a white law enforcement official, nor will it be the last. The African-American community I am connected with was understandably furious about Lyles’ murder, and many of them were vocal about her murder on social media. A fellow African-American was murdered unjustly, and there was outrage from much of the their community.

The murders of Nabra Hassanen and Charleena Lyles did not occur under the same circumstances, nor are their facts comparable. There are bigger questions to explore regarding both of them (i.e. defining a hate crime, mental health issues, etc.). But I found it extremely notable that the groups of outspoken advocates for Hassanen and Lyles, respectively, did not seem to overlap at all. The Muslims I know were speaking out about Hassanen’s murder, and the African-American people I know were speaking out about Lyles’ murder. It was rare to see a Muslim speaking out about Lyles or an African-American speaking out about Hassanen.

It makes logical sense that minority groups are concerned about issues that directly affect them and their communities. As a Muslim student, hearing about the murder of a Muslim student hits home because I could picture myself as Nabra Hassanen. In the same way, an African-American mother could probably see herself as Charleena Lyles. While the specific details of both murders do not align, there is a common thread: two people of minority groups were killed unjustly by members of a different group. Many people who spoke out on either incident claimed to be standing up for justice, but their advocacy is convenient for them. Convenient advocacy will not be effective when trying to engage in social reform. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As humans, can we really say we stand up for justice if we are only concerned about injustice in our own communities?