Author: LEON ADES

One of the things that struck me in this article was how much a person can impact the world. Kobe Bryant was one of the best basketball players of all time and the article talks about all the different aspects of his career. “Here were Mamba Shoes, the Mamba Foundation, a partnership with Nike to launch the Mamba League. And then, of course, there was the Mamba Sports Academy, which featured the Mamba team that Bryant coached with Christine Mauser.”Giving back is a very important part in the world today ands Kobe Bryant did just that. He made sure everyone was involved is someway. Although most people think of Kobe Bryant as a generational basketball talent, he is much more than that. He knew that success was important, but legacy was even more important.

This question is a very contradictory one. Often times people think that responsibility and fault are the same thing, but they are slightly different. In the article, Coates explicitly and implicitly states the differences and similarities between the words. After reading the article, my answer would be it depends on the circumstances and situation. Sometimes something is your fault and responsibility while others it is only one of the two. I think that fault is when you are actually doing something wrong, like tax fraud. You are the one doing something wrong and therefore it is your fault. But responsibility doesn’t necessarily have to be something that you did. For example, Racism, which is present today, is everyones responsibility. We have to acknowledge and act on the wrong doing of other people. It is our responsibility to make the world better and care for other people even if whatever is going on isn’t our fault. That is part of many of the problems in the world today.

Throughout these few parts, Coates discussed the hardships of African Americans in terms of fitting in with the white population in the United States . Coates goes into extraordinary detail about how whites were being hypocritical and colonizing African Americans, when not too long ago, they themselves were being colonized by the British. One quote that I was very saddened to read was one by John Wilkes Booth right before he killed Abe Lincoln. “This country was formed for the white, not for the black man”. This quote doesn’t need any explanation and this is the problem that has continued up until this day. Coates also stresses the fact that an entire war fought just because whites didn’t want to treat African Americans the right way. Another point that is stressed in the article is that the system was meant to put whites to an advantage. This is very wrong and sadly is the case in the world today, which needs to change.

My topic is going to be about the pollution levels in New York City. What are the main causes of the high pollution levels in NYC and how can we, as New Yorkers, help lower these levels? I will focus on mainly the things that human do everyday that we don’t even realize have such an impact on the world. I will also talk about specific companies that are trying to fix these issues, as well as my insight on what we can do to improve this issue. This is one of the issues that affects everyone and not many people realize its impacts. I will also discuss ways that humans are directly impacted by the high pollution levels. I think it is so damaging because it can be caused a million different ways. One of my doubts about this issue is that it is very difficult to improve. In order to solve it every single person will have to be on board with solving the issue, and only then will we see improvement. Pollution is an ongoing problem and we need to find new ways to improve.

“We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”

Due to advancements in the world, more and more problems about racisms exist. Whether its stereotypical or not it is wrong and there must be change. However it is very difficult because there have only been new problems in this attempt to diminish racism. The article states “The more things change, the more things remain the same”. This shows that even though we try to have change things, we don’t progress in any way and we see that with Racism today. Everyone always talks about how we need change but unfortunately nothing seems to change. This is what the original quote means. We haven’t ended anything we have just changed what the main focus of the issue is about. In my opinion this is the issue, that change isn’t occurring and something must be done.

Polo G is bringing notoriety back to Chicago rap

The author of the article, Mark Braboy, had a similar idea of what Polo G’s music actually meant. I am a big Polo G fan and I originally thought that his music was only talking about relationships and being heartbroken. As I listened more in to the lyrics, I realized that he is talking about how hard life can be sometimes but everyone must continue on and believe in themselves. Braboy views his lyrics very similar to how I do.

The article talks about how Polo G’s tough upbringing and being sent to Prison gave him a different outlook at life. Braboy states that when he went to jail he swore that he will never go back there and he never did. Polo G’s outlook on life changed a lot and he promised that he would be rich and that his music would be listened to all around the world. This backs up his lyrics and shows us that with the right mentality, a person can change their life around no matter how bad they situation is.

Although my original thought of his lyrics being only about relationships wasn’t entirely correct, it still contributes to the aspect of staying focused. Braboy also talks about how instead of going to college Polo G decided to be fully dedicated to music and promised he would stay focused through his entire journey. I guess the lesson we can all learn from this is be persistent and hard work pays off.

“The second approach, which I call the racial hierarchy approach, emphasizes the ordering of groups into a single scale of status and privilege with whites on top, blacks on the bottom, and all other groups somewhere in between.” (Page 106)

This quote really stood out to me because this is sadly on of the ways society is viewed today. The article gives very little reasoning as to why this approach has Blacks on the bottom, rather just states the approach. I think that the fact that this type of idea has a specific name isn’t right.

Kim argues that Asian Americans have been racially triangulated for an immense amount of time. She says that they have been racially triangulated since its inception in the mid-1800s. Angelo Ancheta said that Asians were often looked at as “outsiders and aliens”. Kim does a great job of informing people about a problem that is going on within our society. It is very often over looked and should be fixed.