Assign #3
The term human rights has a certain ring to it. I can’t quite explain it but it does give me a sense of empowerment. Just uttering the words, I feel the urge to fight; to stand up for something. People to say that knowledge is power and indeed it is. For if i did not read, then I’d still be taking for granted the struggle our society faces today . I’d agree with Wendy Brown that the phrase human rights is not merely a cry for the weak, but for those wiling to pay attention about what actually taking place in the world. To understand that the battle is not yet over, it is only just now beginning. We must take what we learned and not only apply it but to question it as well.
Brown stresses the need for a sense of security in more than one area. It is true that social and economic recognition is necessary. For it it important for one to have all the required factors such as a rod over their head, food, education, and not to mention the right to feel safe which brings me to my next point: security inside neighborhoods considered lower class. A police officer code of conduct is to serve and protect. however for most, seeing a police officer means you might die tonight. As if that isn’t bad enough, Mass Incarceration is one of todays strategy of enslavement. The US has about 25% of the worlds incarnated people. Now where’s the sense of security in that? Most police officers are trained to target [most] young citizens from certain background to arrest. If the individual is has served his/her sentence; by the time they come home, they have been literally casted out of society. It is easy to access a person’s criminal background online, therefore any random person in the neighborhood may target that individual. if one should apply for a job, there is always mandatory section that asks about a felony. As if they person checked yes, he was still considered a qualified candidate.
Gentrification is another strategy used to revamp the ideology of slavery. Keep in mind, I am not referring to persons of a different racial background, it simply about the rich and the poor. We walk around the area, let’s say Harlem for example, and take notice to how beautiful the campus of Columbia University appears, but knowing that people are being pushed out of their neighborhoods because of raised rent or some shuck bought their building just knock it down, saddens me. Where are the rights of those individuals ? I mean aren’t they considered human. Don’t they have the right to stay in their homes? The Dakota Pipeline is a perfectly example of how “human rights” can be pushed aside and stepped on by those with power. The government is wiling to contaminate the main water source for the people living on that reservation and when the people decided to stand up and fight, they released canine. Although the choice of action was indeed cruel by the US government, the fact that the native fought for their land, people like me know heard their voices, which provides some reassurance that there is much more work be done in regards to claim of human rights as a whole.
