Nou led, Nou la
The phrase “Nou led, Nou la” is Haitian phrase coined during the time of the major disaster that took place in Haiti. A 7.1 earthquake that shook the whole island of Hispaniola and destroyed the country’s capital and some surrounding cities. When I heard this news, I I was immediately devastated primarily because I knew many people with family and friends in the country but mostly because the country already suffers from poverty and now this major earthquake. With a unstable government, Haitians are often taken advantage of because they would appoint leaders into the office who are supposed to help the country but end up only bringing it down.
Nou led, Nou la
The amount of pictures of dead bodies being loaded in to flatbed trucks to be dumped is a site that would stick with anyone. Being trapped under buildings for days being crushed by the heavy walls is enough to dampen anyone’s spirit. Yet it is amazing that there were so many people who were being rescued even 20 days after the earthquake had taken place.
Nou led, Nou la
What words of consolidation can one tell kids who have lost their mother, father, and other relatives to the buildings that crushed them? What words can be told to the mother who lost her whole family while they were waiting in the car for her to return from the building? How does one try to begin to heal the pain that these people are currently feeling?
Nou led, Nou la
As an onlooker from the United States of America, you think to yourself, “What can I do to help?” At times like this is when you really realize how much you take for granted even the simple things in your lives. Yet, it is at times of destruction when we really understand the importance of the people in our lives. So we try to help by sending donations through charities and rushing our doctors and nurses over to the country in need of our help; Forgetting that this country has always been in our backyard. They have always needed the help that we are only currently offering because of their current situation. Why is it that we waited until they experienced so much devastation before we decided to help them when they needed the help all along.
Nou led, Nou la
Hopefully we continue to be of help to these people, our brothers and sisters, in Haiti. As much as we hate to admit it, we are all connected to each other in more ways than one. The simple fact that we are human beings though, should be enough. So as we help our brot-hers and sisters in Haiti we should think remember that this can one day be our great country that will need help of other nations around us.
Nou tout led, Nou tout la.
'Oooowwwwwwwwwww"
Showing posts with label extra credit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extra credit. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Extra credit Emmit till
Emmitt Till
The story of Emmitt Till showed the world how cruel white people were even to children. It is a crazy notion that whites would be so afraid and fearful that they would harm a child who did something as meaningless as whistle. What even makes matters worse is the fact that the killers weren’t convicted but they had the nerve to want to sell their story for about $4000. Did they take some gratification in being tried as the killers? This so called trial proved the injustice in the state of Mississippi back in the 1950s. If the shoe was on the other foot however, I’m sure that the black person would have been beaten, stoned, and tortured to death whether or not his was guilty of the crime wouldn’t have mattered. I look at the current times and I see that we have come far as a whole but there are still some instances where there are minorities that are being sentenced with lack of circumstantial evidence that actually proves the person is guilty. I commend, though, Mamie who was Emmitt’s mother for being such a strong woman and for allowing the world to see the cruelty of the people in Mississippi. She allowed the brutally battered body of her dead 14 year old boy to be publicized. Emmitt was beaten to the point where his face was hardly recognizable. They disfigured him and threw him into the river yet this information was withheld during the trial proceedings. The many questions left unanswered to a people who were starving to know. The Bryant brothers basically got off scotch free like letting people think that it was permissible to kill a black person simply because they (whites) felt as though they were the more superior race. The poem that Prof. McNair shared with the class was one the alerted different emotions in my mind. Thoughts ran rampant wanting to know how could it be in the nature of someone to be so cruel. The whole situation could have been avoided. I guess these brothers were trying to make a point by killing Emmitt. He was merely a boy who did not understand the ways of the south. On a vacation from his hometown he ended up dying in Mississippi leaving behind a lonely mother. What was also disturbing was the fact that no one in the house could do nothing to save Emmitt for fear of being killed themselves. I can’t fully comprehend the fact that these whites just barged into a home that was not theirs and took out a little boy and killed him. If only we could go back in time and gather the proper evidence, force witness to speak and tell the truth and try and convict these men for the killers that they are. I wonder how the wife felt knowing that she was the cause of the death of this child. How did she feel after segregation was done away with? How did she cope with knowing that she was the cause of an innocent life being taken way too early?
'Oooowwwwwwwwwww"
The story of Emmitt Till showed the world how cruel white people were even to children. It is a crazy notion that whites would be so afraid and fearful that they would harm a child who did something as meaningless as whistle. What even makes matters worse is the fact that the killers weren’t convicted but they had the nerve to want to sell their story for about $4000. Did they take some gratification in being tried as the killers? This so called trial proved the injustice in the state of Mississippi back in the 1950s. If the shoe was on the other foot however, I’m sure that the black person would have been beaten, stoned, and tortured to death whether or not his was guilty of the crime wouldn’t have mattered. I look at the current times and I see that we have come far as a whole but there are still some instances where there are minorities that are being sentenced with lack of circumstantial evidence that actually proves the person is guilty. I commend, though, Mamie who was Emmitt’s mother for being such a strong woman and for allowing the world to see the cruelty of the people in Mississippi. She allowed the brutally battered body of her dead 14 year old boy to be publicized. Emmitt was beaten to the point where his face was hardly recognizable. They disfigured him and threw him into the river yet this information was withheld during the trial proceedings. The many questions left unanswered to a people who were starving to know. The Bryant brothers basically got off scotch free like letting people think that it was permissible to kill a black person simply because they (whites) felt as though they were the more superior race. The poem that Prof. McNair shared with the class was one the alerted different emotions in my mind. Thoughts ran rampant wanting to know how could it be in the nature of someone to be so cruel. The whole situation could have been avoided. I guess these brothers were trying to make a point by killing Emmitt. He was merely a boy who did not understand the ways of the south. On a vacation from his hometown he ended up dying in Mississippi leaving behind a lonely mother. What was also disturbing was the fact that no one in the house could do nothing to save Emmitt for fear of being killed themselves. I can’t fully comprehend the fact that these whites just barged into a home that was not theirs and took out a little boy and killed him. If only we could go back in time and gather the proper evidence, force witness to speak and tell the truth and try and convict these men for the killers that they are. I wonder how the wife felt knowing that she was the cause of the death of this child. How did she feel after segregation was done away with? How did she cope with knowing that she was the cause of an innocent life being taken way too early?
'Oooowwwwwwwwwww"
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