I know Rachel Jeantel

photo by ABC News

I know Rachel Jeantel.  Well, I don't really know her personally, but I know of her because I have taught many students like her when I taught in an inner city high school.  Over the years I taught many girls like Rachel Jeantel, and they have been given the unfair image of the obese, ignorant, uneducated 'ghetto girl.'  This is not who Rachel Jeantel is.

Rachel Jeantel is the friend of Trayvon Martin, killed by George Zimmerman, on that fateful night in Sanford, Florida when Trayvon was walking home from a local 7/11 store after buying some candy.  She is the last person to talk with him before he was killed and overheard some of the confrontation between Trayvon and George Zimmerman before the killing.

I have found Rachel's testimony of that night to be truthful and compelling.  She is a lovely, soft-spoken young lady who was trying to tell her story, her truth, in court so that the jury can make a judgment and decision on George Zimmerman's stand that he killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

All people have done is to tear her down and negate her testimony because she was difficult to hear and to understand.  Yes, she had trouble articulating her story.  But, that I blame on the prosecution attorneys for not preparing her for testimony in court.  Yes, Rachel was out of her league and comfort zone sitting on the witness stand in court.

And, never has the cultural divide between African-Americans and whites been so evident as when the defense attorney, Don West, challenged her testimony on cross examination.  He demeaned and humiliated her, even asking if she understood and could read English.

No, Rachel could not read cursive writing.  That is true of nearly all inner city students today.  That is even true of many other students today.  With everything being done on computer in school nowadays, keyboarding has taken over cursive writing as the way to communicate in written form.  I am typing this as I compose this essay, I am not writing it first in cursive writing and then typing it.  This is how the world of computers works today.  There is not as much need for cursive writing as there was when I was a child or even when I was Rachel's age. (19 years)

The world has changed, as Chief Justice Roberts has so eloquently and gently nudged us to realize in his recent opinion written on the civil rights laws of the 1960's.   But, the attitudes of an older white male towards a large African-American woman from the inner city have not.  That is the problem and the disconnect between Rachel Jeantel and Attorney Don West, as well as the attorneys for the prosecution.

No, cursive writing is not necessary to inner city students as it was in the 20th century.  Hello folks, we are now in the 21st century and 'the times they are a changing.'  Also not realized by many whites in this country is the vernacular spoken by many African-American students today.  Even, as their teacher, I was always playing 'catch-up' on the current slang they spoke.  Many times I had to stop my lesson and inquire as to what an African-American student meant when he/she used a word such as 'cracker.'

Yes, in my students eyes, I was a 'cracker.'   Was that a racial slur against me?  Not in my students' eyes.  Inner city African-American's do not consider the word 'cracker' to be racial or a racial epitaph.  I have had many discussions with them about this word.  So when Trayvon Martin called Zimmerman a 'crazy *** cracker', in Trayvon's and Rachel's world that was not a racial slur.  I do realize many whites may not consider that so.

Understanding the cultural divide between whites and African-Americans needs to be bridged before passing judgment on Rachel Jeantel as inferior to the rest of us.  She is a young woman who speaks three languages, one of them English, and I (also an English teacher as well as a Spanish teacher) found her English to be very well spoken.  I have heard worse English grammar from African-Americans than Rachel Jeantel.  Her mother, who I understand is originally is from Haiti, speaks Creole French, the native language in Haiti, and that was the language spoken at Rachel's home, so this is the first language Rachel knew as a child.

I believe Rachel also speaks Spanish.  So here is a multi-lingual young  African-American woman.  How many young, white women Rachel's age in America are multi-lingual?  Not many, I can attest to.

Although Rachel was nervous and unsure of herself, she is not stupid, ignorant or uneducated.  We must take the time to know someone and to help them in situations new to them as testifying in court was new to Rachel Jeantel.  If we don't  like Rachel Jeantel, it illuminates and says more about us (whites)  than about her.  Rachel was just doing her civic duty.

Edward Snowden - a man without a country

Edward Snowden is on the run and on the lam.  Snowden who passed government secrets and documents to two newspapers, The Guardian and The Washington Post, and made public our NSA's secret surveillance program to the world, has been charged with espionage by the U.S.  

He has left Hong Kong and has flown to and has landed in Moscow, Russia as of yesterday afternoon.  And, now he has disappeared.  No one knows precisely where he is.  That Snowden has had to turn to rogue nations for protection is a sad day in U.S. history.

Is Edward Snowden a a heroic whistle blower or a traitor as the U.S. has charged and branded him?  I have asked this question in an earlier post and I honestly did not have an answer.  But, on the other hand, how is he any different than Daniel Ellsberg who had the Pentagon Papers published in the New York Times?

One thing I do believe is that Snowden should not be charged with espionage.  Yes, he can be charged with stealing government documents and breaching his contract with the NSA and government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, but he should not be charged with espionage.

Snowden took those sensitive documents and went to two newspapers to publish the fact that our government has been lying to us, is in violation of the U.S. Constitution, and has a surveillance program that affects every American living in this country and any foreigner that any American speaks with.  

By going to these two newspapers, Snowden has not committed espionage.  Espionage is going to a foreign country and selling these secret documents and information to the foreign country as a spy.   That is not what Snowden did.  He went to the press to have these documents published for the world to see. He is shining a light on a very dark aspect of our government.  

Espionage is defined as the act or practice of spying in Webster's New World Dictionary.  Who is guilty of the act or practice of spying is the United States, not Snowden.  Snowden merely brought the espionage to light in the world.  

My own experience tells me why Snowden brought this espionage to light.  When I taught overseas for the Department of Defense, I took an oath, the same one our soldiers in the military take.  It says in part . . . "I swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution and to fight its enemies both foreign and domestic . . ."  

There it is folks.  Snowden believes he is fighting the domestic enemies of our Constitution.  By this electronic spying by the U.S., our government is in violation of our own constitution, I believe the fourth and twelfth amendments of the Constitution.  As Snowden has said, there needs to be a national discussion on this topic before further spying continues.  And, he is right.  He is upholding the United States Constitution.

I'm not so naive as to think that the U.S. cannot spy on other countries, especially those that spy on us, but when the phone records, e-mails, and Internet use is surveyed by our own government on our own citizens without our knowledge, I draw the line there.  We do need to have that discussion that Snowden suggests and we, as citizens of the U.S., need to determine how much surveillance we are to allow our government to take on us. 

How much privacy are U.S. citizens willing to give up and trade off for security?  That is the question.  And only we as citizens can determine that.

"1984" and Big Brother, have both arrived in the U.S.  In the hands of a benevolent president such as President Barak Obama, we are probably somewhat safe.  But, such a program in the hands of any future malevolent president, could cost us our lives. (Remember, Richard Nixon)   This is why Snowden made the NSA's program public and I believe he was right to do so.  I, for one, am glad to know exactly what my government is doing.

I understand the government's concern in Snowden's publishing this NSA program,  hampering their attempts to keep us safe from foreign enemies of the U.S.   But, there has to be a happy medium, where Americans are aware of what is going on via our representatives and senators, balanced with the secrecy needed to run such a program via the NSA.  

Today, Snowden is a man without a country with his U.S. passport being rescinded by the United States government.  How sad is that when it is the U.S government that has been conducting the espionage, not Edward Snowden.  Edward Snowden is not a spy.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker  all rights reserved

Shattered

Edward Snowden - traitor or hero?

Edward Snowden and his girlfriend, the pole dancer.

Edward Snowden - traitor or whistleblower hero?  I don't think at this point we can determine whether he is either one.  

He has definitely let the proverbial 'cat out of the bag.'  The government was in violation of the fourth and twelfth amendments of the U.S. Constitution in collecting so much phone and internet data on millions of Americans.  

Apparently, Snowden had a crisis of conscience and decided to leak this information to two newspapers, The Guardian and The Washington Post.  He just didn't feel he could live with doing his job and the American people not knowing the government surveillance that was going on without their knowledge.

Should he have revealed or leaked this information?   For one, I am glad to now know my government is doing this.  I am glad he leaked this so I know what is really going on here in America.  Can we have freedom and security here in the U.S. if this is the type of surveillance it takes to keep us safe?  I don't know.

On the other hand, has he compromised the United States in the eyes of her enemies, who are now aware our government is doing this and can take precautions?   I don't know.  

This is not such an open and shut case like the Watergate scandal was.  Woodward and Bernstein were heroes for cracking  Nixon's  scandal.  The right of Americans to know what their president was really doing behind their backs - a shady burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters seems so quaint and silly in today's world.  

This Snowden scandal is a tough ethical question and I guess we are going to have to see how this plays out before a judgment can be passed on Edward Snowden.

Snowden comes across to me as a 'kid' - evidence that I am growing older now.  He appears to me to be misguided in his attempts to alert the world to what our government is doing.  Yes, we definitely have to have a public discussion or discourse on this topic.  I agree with him there.  

I think this surveillance information needed to come out, I'm just not sure how Snowden should have done it though.  Many in government say there are systems already in place for whistleblowers to use to reveal hidden information.  But, could Snowden really trust those systems or avenues?  Perhaps he felt they were just as corrupt as the government was in its surveillance.  

I also, don't care for Obama's nonchalance and cavalier attitude toward these leaks.  His attitude is 'well, we were doing this in secret and violating the U.S. Constitution, but now that it's out we should have a discourse about it.'  There is no embarrassment or remorse that he has been violating the constitution.  I don't understand his cavalier attitude - it is all right to have done this in the name of national security?  This incident has raised more questions than it is answering.

No, I don't want another terrorist attack like 9/11 ever again.  But, I don't want millions upon millions of Americans' phone records confiscated either.

Can't we find a happy medium in this world?  It seems in the Boston Marathon terrorist attack we weren't surveilling the right phone calls anyway.  We dropped the ball on that one.  We even had the Russians telling us about the older brother's phone calls and acquainting himself with terrorist organizations, but were weren't able to stop the two brothers and their attacks.  

I don't know what the answer is anymore and I don't know what to think of Edward Snowden yet.  Perhaps time will tell.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Depth of My Love - a poem

You will never understand 

the depth of my love



The fire of my passion

or the purity of my soul

You will never understand

my feelings for you



The butterflies in my stomach

that flutter at your gaze upon me



You will never understand

my temperature rises



At the gentle touch

of your hand



You will never understand . . .






Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker   all rights reserved

Butterflies are free

England's Brutal Terrorist Murder

My condolences and sympathy go out to the family of the English soldier so brutally murdered by jihadist terrorists this week.   My sympathy and empathy go out to all of England and its people for
having this horrible attack take place in their country.  To be so cruelly cut down in the name of Islam is too much for most people to bear.

The viciousness of this attack has stunned the world.  To literally be hacked down by knives and machetes on the street in broad daylight is horrendous.  And, for people to have had to witness this is beyond belief.  Thank heavens the terrorists have been apprehended and are now in jail.  I hope that justice will be swift.

We here in America feel your pain, England, having just recently experienced the Boston Marathon murders by terrorists.

Where and how this conflict with the terrorists of Islam will ever end I don't know.   All the good nations of the world are in this conflict with these terrorists for the long haul.  We will not bend or break in our quest to end this scourge from the world.

But, where are the good and peaceful believers of Islam?  Why are you not stepping up and doing more for your people so they do not turn to these hateful terrorists?   Please understand that all we are seeing are these horrible attacks in the name of Islam and your religion is becoming darker and darker by each attack.  How can a true and peaceful religion remain silent and condone such acts?  Why are you not more vocal and vigilant in rooting out these horrible people on your own.

I understand these terrorists' justification for these horrible acts.   Our armies are in your native lands killing your friends and family also.  But, we did not start this.  It is you, jihadist terrorists that attacked us first on 9/11.  Did you think we would just sit by and do nothing?  Or was that your manipulation?  Knowing we would do something about such a heinous attack on our country, so that you could perpetrate more and more attacks on us?  A tit for tat?

Perhaps our country's decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan was not a good one in your opinion.  But, we have brought a modicum of democracy to those nations.  The people have been able to choose their own government and their own leaders.  We have done this in the name of good and in the name of democracy.  We are trying to do what is the most good for the most people living in those areas.  Our involvement in those countries was not perpetrated by hate, but by love of justice and wanting to free an oppressed people.  Our intentions are for good, not evil.

We are now as a country winding down our involvement in those countries and the middle east.  We are leaving and bringing more and more of our troops home.  So is England.  So these attacks you make on innocent people here are not justified.

I used to believe it was just a a fundamentalist sect of Islam that was perpetrating these acts of violence.  But, I don't hear the good people of Islam speaking out enough against these attacks.
Could it be these terrorists are doing your dirty work for you?

Is the religion of Islam being taken over by these fundamentalist terrorists?  Today, when I see women with scarves on their heads I almost look at them in disdain and derision.  I never used to do that.   I always kept an open mind about other cultures and other religions.  But, as these attacks continue on innocent people just going about their lives, my opinion of women in scarves and the Islam beliefs and religion are beginning to change.  I am beginning to see it is a hateful religion at its core.

If the true and good believers of Islam do no step up to the plate and do more to stop these ugly terrorists, I will continue to loose respect for you and for your religion.  Now is the time for your voices to be heard and to condemn what has happened in the U.S. and England over the past month.

I am calling on the entire Islamic world to come together and work to find a way to end this terrorism that is in the name of your religion and Allah.

And, if you truly and sincerely do work to find a way to end this terrorism, America and England will help you achieve that goal.


Copyright (c)  2013  Suzannah Wolf Walker  all rights reserved