In "Ally's Choice, to me, there isn't any authors. Its just an interview with a family that's telling what they've been through over the years dealing with racism issues... A broken family I may add. For starters, they all are credible because they actually had to live and go through these thongs in order to tell their sides so that gives them all credibility. As far as being liked, Ally is the least liked in her family but to her former peers, she's the one that was accepted because she threw away her black card and claimed to be white growing up. She only did this because in grade school she was teased and forced to defend herself almost daily and as she said, "I just got tired of fighting." They all have signs of anger and hurt , they just express it in different ways.
President Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union” deems Obama to be credible because he was once a senator before presidency so he knows the ins and outs of politics and how they work and don't work. People may think that because his term is almost over, he doesn't receive anymore racial threats but indeed he does. They never stopped pouring in and President Obama is affected by this whether he shows it all the time or not. I would trust him in situations because he's the one that's knowledgebale about these things, and I feel that people should like him because of the way he shows empathy and seems like he actually loves his job.
In "Ally's Choice," emotion pretty much drives the entire podcast because it keeps the listener interested. When Ally describes how she decided to identify as white instead of identifying as black which is how she was originally born. This was a result of constant bullying when students in her class threw her a deodorant simply because she was black and decided tease her hygiene. I felt bad for Ally and to me, her telling this story kind of justified her reasoning for making this choice.
ReplyDeleteIn President Obama's "A More Perfect Union" Speech, he touches on a number of topics concerning the betterment of our country. Midway through his speech, he says the people that have gotten a piece of the "American Dream" are still battling discrimination. He uses emotion by painting a picture in the readers mind when he says " young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future." He feels that discrimination can break down anyone, even if they have made it in life. He also talks about anger in black and white communities and how that anger has had people feeling oppressed from both parties and a lost sense of opportunity.
In President Obama's speech, the emotion that bled through was very apparent. The race issue in the United States was a problem that had to be solved completely in Obama's eyes. He first used the history of America to show the journey that people of minority had to go through. This was meant to produce a growing passion for the issue and to make people remember the pain that others in the past have had to endure in order to make the United States the way it is today. Then Obama made it really personal by sharing his heritage and explaining the hardships he and his family had to go through. He even mentioned that his wife was a descendant of slaves in order to show the American people that he was knowledgeable of the problems blacks have faced and still faced today. This was meant to strike a chord with the people of America and create an emotional attachment with others.
ReplyDeleteIn Ally's Choice, a very trying and heartbreaking story was told. The very essence of the story itself immediately creates sympathy in the listener because these girls had to go through a tough ordeal and this whole thing happened as recently as the 1980s. My first thought was how sad it made the girls and how sad it was making me. This emotional response came directly from the sympathy I shared and it happened because of simple racism. Ally then goes on to explain why she now identifies as white instead of black because she does not want to get made fun of or experience racism ever again. That is truly heartbreaking to listeners and the fact that in order to escape this prejudice she had to completely change her identity suddenly makes this an emotional subject fro both Ally and the listener.
ReplyDeleteObama’s speech tries to unite Americans between all spectrums of life; he tries to sound hopeful and optimistic. When you listen to Obama speak, you feel motivated and proud just to be able to call yourself an American. He doesn’t single out anyone in his speech, and always uses the words “us”, and “we”. He could easily pin point white people and call them racists for owning slaves, but instead, he acknowledges nobody is perfect and strives for a better tomorrow if we all work together. By mentioning his multi-racial background from Kenya to the US, Obama sounds cultured enough to unite everyone together.
In Ally’s Choice, I felt guilty and sad listening to the sisters fight against each other. Hearing the younger sister getting bullied for her older sister making her cry in grade school is really messed up. When she says “its little things like this where you bullied me in grade school is why our relationship isn’t close as adults. You don’t forget things like that made your life hell,” it really hit home to me. I can just picture her little sister coming home from school in tears because her older sister was making fun of her in front of the whole school.
Senator Obama's speech was emotional in that his language is very up-lifting. He encourages Americans to create a more civilized nation that prides itself on all citizens being unified. He aims for the audience's patriotism in order to motivate and encourage unity.
ReplyDeleteIn Ally's Choice, the emotions are much darker. A family describes the various ways in which pain was inflicted upon them for no just reason. They had been treated unfairly simply for the race with which they are identified and for the side of town they lived on. Ally's story is complex and shameful at times. She parts ways with her black heritage while her mother and sister remain strong and prideful in who they are. The different perspectives given by both Ally and her family help to create the big picture and reveal how the town they live in functions.
In Ally’s Choice, it was saddening to hear about everything that was happening to her not so long ago. How she was treated in school was not okay and reminded me about how I was treated in school, but it wasn’t for my race. The more they picked at her and the more they harassed her the worse she felt. She didn’t want to own up to being black, and you should want to own up to your race because it’s a part of who you are. They made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin. Then it was extra saddening when her sister joined in on the bullying instead of sticking up for her. No matter how “cool” you want to be you should always stick up for your family. Then there is the really bad parenting fail where the father is trying to get his son to join the KKK. Imagine being raised to hate black people from a very young age up, to the point where you don’t know better.
ReplyDeletePersonally I do not care for Obama. His speech was a bunch of BS that would be nice but I didn’t believe it at all. If I were to of believed it would’ve been something that could give me hope for a better future, but I didn’t. It’s a nice idea but nearly impossible to actually achieve. He tried and making his speech personal by sharing about some things that happened in his life to relate to the population but in the end I felt as if he was just trying to get people’s sympathy. I may be the only one and that’s cool but it’s just how I feel.
In Ally’s Choice, it upset me so much because it’s heartbreaking to see what she went through. To be bullied at such a young age is just not okay and for a school faculty to ignore it is not okay. The fact she chose to change her color is just upsetting just to fit in. The fact her sister was picked on because she was black and Ally didn’t do anything to help just because she wanted to fit in. She made a choice because of her color. I think that’s ridiculous that she would forget where she came from. The fact her husband became more racist all due to the fact that he knew his wife was black. It’s not okay for her husband to persuade her kids to be racist.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama’s speech was inspiring because he goes through those race issue himself. He’s a person of color so he goes through the racism mostly through politics and critics. It’s creditable to hear what he has to say because for someone who is supposedly is the “most powerful” man in the world he sure goes through a lot of hate because of his skin color. Though he may not show it a lot but it has been a huge issue that our president is black and that’s not okay. We are supposed to be a diversified country but yet there’s still man issues due to the diversity.