The link above explains one triumph that students who don't have US citizenship (also known as AB 540 students) got when UC Board Regents approved that students pay in-state tuition versus out-of-state tuition.
The role that citizenship plays in a student's education is important, especially if the student comes from a low-income household. Since the student isn't a citizen s/he is not able to receive financial aid through the university, so by making the tuition more affordable more AB 540 students will be able to pursue their educational goals.
The link above speaks about the Dream Act, which is a proposed bill to the federal US legislation.
The DREAM Act would allow non-US citizens who have lived in the US for many years an opportunity to gain temporary residency.
The DREAM Act touches on an issue that AB 540 touch on, which is access to higher education and financial assistance, like loans and work study, to be able to do so.
The link above is an episode for the Primary Citizenship Series called "How to Be a Good Citizen". The 1953 episode showed a Caucasian class of boys and girls with a Caucasian teacher, named Ms. Hill. The emphasis of this episode was to teach young boys and girls proper etiquette in the classroom and in the playground. The episode first showed a bad example of something then corrected it with the right example leading the narrator to say "... is part of being a good citizen".
When watching this video the first thing that I see is how the classroom was an all-Caucasian classroom, even the school teacher is Caucasian, in 1953. The classroom seemed to be efficiently supplied with proper school supplies. The only mention of a possible racial minority was when the narrator talked about Teresa, an Italian girl, who recently came from Italy. There was a reference to her sounding funny when she spoke. Watching this episode then made me wonder how far the schools with minority children were from this white school? Also, was this school located in the US South or US North? I even have a feeling of hypnotizing propaganda going on with the narrator's voice saying several times what a good citizen achieves at school. I wonder if there would have been an episode on what a bad citizen or non-citizen does would it include a minority student or a Caucasian student?
This link leads to an article that stated that Tzipi Hotovely, a right winged political figure, suggested that Israel should give citizenship to Palestinians living in West Bank.
Granting them citizenship is conflicting in terms of wanting to keep Israel a Jewish state. A basic law would indicate Israel as a Jewish state, no matter its demographics.
I'm actually taking an education class on Israeli education and this conflict of citizenship really does play a role in education and the type of education they are receiving so I find this article really interesting.
This article is about the controversy of Yao Ming's unborn child and her citizenship. Ming's wife flew into the U.S. from China, according to Chinese speculation, so that she could have her child here in the U.S. While this may seem like a private issue, China is taking it seriously, especially since dual citizenship isn't allowed in China.
The end of the article brushes off the issue with another comment about how big the baby will be when it's born, seeing that Yao Ming is 7'6". I find this issue really interesting because I think it is important to acknowledge why people come here to give birth.
This is from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. It is a list of how much it costs to process certain forms regarding anything from petitioning to work in the U.S. to applying for permanent residency.
One thing I found really interesting was the fact that they still use the world 'alien' to refer to immigrants. I really thought that word was outdated, but apparently not.
This article is about a U.S. soldier, a South Korean native, who was granted citizenship after dying in the war. By giving him citizenship posthumously his next of kin are eligible for citizenship. I didn't even know that people who were not citizens could even enroll in the U.S. army. I think it's interesting that the U.S. does not allow non-citizens any political rights but they allow them to fight for a country that will make it extremely difficult for them to become citizens.
So I found this video on youtube. It's a parody of those PC vs. Mac commercials but in this case it's BC (born citizen) and Mex (Mexican). In this video, the Mex has all this "American" paraphernalia on and the border patrol can't tell tell the difference between them. It was pretty interesting watching it despite the bad acting. Even though it is kind of a ridiculous video I think it gives an interesting perspective on citizenship.
This story focuses on the citizenship of those born abroad to American citizens. This case will be heard by the supreme court. What is interesting is the intersection of gender and citizenship. The father in this case is not assumed to be as responsible for his children as his mother.
I first came across this news story a few weeks ago. I revisited it today and the comments seem a lot more balanced. However, I am still really impressed with the negative impression, and animosity held my many against both documented and undocumented migrants in this country.
Some of the comments refer specifically to Latinos/Hispanics as migrating north because of all the enticing free government programs. People in this blog also frequently used the term Anchor Baby, which I find very insulting and which completely disregards push factors within sending society.
This article states that Obama is making comprehensive immigration reform a priority, right after a health care reform. However, now that Obama managed to sign the health care reform into law it seems that it might be much more difficult to get comprehensive immigration reform passed especially since there is such negative pressure being placed on legislators by their constituents.
The link above has two different interpretations of citizenship education. The first one deals with teaching undocumented people how to apply for citizenship with the help of Non-Government Organizations (NGO's). Immigrants are taught how to prepare for citizenship exams. The second citizenship education relates to majors in the university such as political science and sociology that talk about citizenship. On the other hand, not only does citizenship education talk about US citizenship, but also citizenship worldwide, like in England, Ireland, France, and Spain.
Before coming upon this article I never considered such a topic as citizenship education, but it makes sense because both of my parents took classes to prepare for their citizenship exam. I remember waking up in the middle of the night seeing my parents at the kitchen table trying to go over all of their material. They looked just like me when I am preparing for a midterm or final. Aside from preparing for citizenship exams, I also found a lot of university websites online that have citizenship as a major or as a department. In addition a lot of classes talk about citizenship, such as ethnic studies, criminal justice, and history.
Authors like Gloria Anzaldua, W.E.B. DuBois, Ronald Takaki, and Lauren Berlant all talk about the power citizenship has in the way people are taught in school what they know. Citizenship is seen as a key to education, rights, and gives an opportunity to own land.
I found this website: http://www.beinganamerican.org/about_the_contest/10firstplace.html
The organization holds a contest every year that is open to all students. Students are asked to write what they consider to be the essential characteristics of a citizen. For example, Rebecca Frost, one of the winners this year, made connections between private property ownership, ability, work, and worth. Owning property means being a "good" citizen and not owning property means being a "bad" citizen.
The above link is for the United Kingdom Citizenship Foundation. Similar to the posting above, citizenship is discussed in three terms, as a legal a political status, as an involvement in public and life affairs, and as an educational activity. 1) Legal in the sense that it gives people rights and responsibilities under law, such as voting and paying taxes. 2) Involvement in public and life affairs in terms of being able to run for some public office positions that are not available to non-citizens, such as presidency. 3) Educational activity such as learning how to become a citizen through taking citizenship exams and learning about the country's history.
Not only does this website explain citizenship, but it also asks for citizenship educators. It demonstrates a sense of pride a citizenship educator should have in teaching new students what being a citizen means. It is described as a job that is inclusive, pervasive, and life-long. Also, this link explains citizenship issues as real, topical, sometimes sensitive, often controversial, and ultimately moral. In addition, it speaks about how citizenship education benefits children and young people with giving them self-confidence, a voice to speak their minds, and it allows them to contribute positively.
Editorial columnist Jim Byne through his articled titled "T. Roosevelt rings true on what it takes to become an American" wants to remind immigrants living in the United States that there are certain characteristics that a person must possess to be considered a good American citizen.
Bayne argues that all immigrants need to become assimilated, speak English, revere the U.S. flag. In the opinion of Bayne American citizenship needs to be restricted to immigrants who assimilate, while it is restricted to immigrants who either fail to assimilate or are unwilling to assimilate.
To prove his arguments Bayne utilizes quotes from former U.S. President T. Roosevelt. For example, Bayne provides this quote, "“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin."
Before and after President Obama was sworn as President of the United States there began to appear news stories questioning the authenticity of Obama's citizenship, like this very recent news article: http://www.rdmag.com/News/FeedsAP/2010/03/life-sciences-ark-senate-candidate-questions-obama-citizenship/
The group of people questioning the legitimacy of President Obama's birth were named the "birthers." To become president of the United States the candidate must be born in the United States. President Obama was born in the United States in the state of Hawaii, and provided documentation that proved he was born in the United States, yet doubts and disbelief continued. Some people till this day contend that President Obama is not a legitimately President of the United States.
The "birthers" contend that Obama was not born in the United States, rather he was born Kenya. Many youtube videos have been made that claim to give the true account of Obamas birth.
I would argue that the questioning of Obama's citizenship was raised, because Obama possess certain markers and characteristic that to most Americans are foreign. He is black, his father is Kenyan, and his full name is Barack Hussein Obama II. Thus, the birthers see Barack as foreign and he does not possess the "natural" characteristics of an American.
This is the wikipedia entry for the birther movement conspiracies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories
It details all the conspiracies and all the lawsuits that have been filed against President Obama. Though they differ, they all claim that President Obama is not a natural born citizen and, thus, does not possess U.S. citizenship.
The good thing is that the U.S. legal system has thrown all the cases, because they truly are not valid. The bad thing is that our news media gives credibility to the birther movement and gives the birthers a space to espouse their ideas.
Keywords that constantly appear in relation to the birthers are: communism and radical Islam.
News article concerning a proposed law that would ignore birther requests and restrict access of government records to individuals found to be a "vexatious requester."
Apparently there is such a thing as honorary citizenship, whereby a “non-United States citizen of exceptional merit may be declared an Honorary Citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress or by a proclamation issued by the President of the United States pursuant to authorization granted by Congress.” Thus far, only 7 people have received this distinctive honor (Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, and General Lafayette are among the few).
While it remains unclear as to whether the status confers any rights, Craig Ferguson of “The Late Late Show” on CBS has suggested honorary citizenship is “legally meaningless.” As part of a running gag on his show, Ferguson has tried to obtain honorary citizenship from states and cities all across America and so far succeeded in over a dozen states.
Although honorary U.S. citizenship may not be as rewarding as actual citizenship, the value in being accepted by a community is undeniable in both instances. Citizens, whether honorary or naturalized, are given a greater amount of respect if not constitutional rights by the U.S. government than aliens or permanent residents because of the insider-outsider mentality.
This article points out the inefficiencies of the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency during the 2008 Presidential Election. Under its former director, Emilio Gonzalez, the agency increased its service fees by more than 50% but did not deliver on its promise of better service and shorter waits. Criticized for causing the disfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to participate in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Elections, the agency admittedly did not possess sufficient manpower to process the influx of citizenship petitions and simultaneously snubbed those who could not afford the higher fees.
Because the voting process has traditionally been regarded as a socio-political activity, it seems a tad inconsistent for the government to frame the question of citizenship in economic terms. Equating citizenship with a price rather than politics would alienate a good deal of people and in this case, it certainly has.
As a result of a settlement with the federal government, hundreds of legal immigrants in Southern California who have been waiting years for citizenship will finally have their cases resolved within 6 months. The delays had cost some legal permanent residents their jobs and others, voting opportunities during elections.
This article dispels myths that permanent residents or immigrants are not invested or attached to this country as citizens are. As made evident by the article, there are many out there who wish to become citizens and have started the applications process but are being held back and having to put their lives on hold because of problems within the bureaucratic system.
After Professor Feldman decided to begin the blog with a definition of each keyword I became curious about the synonyms available for each word. Synonyms are curious because they are more likely to reflect people's actual usage of a word more accurately than actual definitions. When I first typed in citizenship it automatically directed me toward FREEDOM(!!), I was really surprised to see this because by accepting citizenship to a country you are giving up some of your power for something else to protect you.
I then tried narrowing down the search and typed in citizen. It came up with words such as native, freeman/woman, and subject. More surprisingly it listed foreigner, alien, and immigrant as antonyms. This frustrated me a little because immigrant is not necessarily the opposite of citizen. A large portion of immigrants migrate legally and with the expectation of citizen. However, it makes me feel that their is a negative consensus with the word immigrant and it is no longer limited to undocumented immigrant.
With immigration reform hopefully around the corner it seems that the children of immigrants are receiving a lot of attention because the parents are (falsely) accused of relying too heavily of the welfare state. This article however posits that the biggest benefit an immigrants child can have is American citizenship. It goes on to argue, using the opinion of academics, that the 14th amendment was never meant to cover the children of undocumented immigrants. It then compares undocumented immigrants to the supreme court case that declared that children born to American Indian parents do not qualify for citizenship because they were not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
This is a very unpredictable topic within the U.S. society. Many have argued for the current interpretation to continue and others have argue for a new interpretation. It is a peculiar time in history at the moment because of the left leaning politicians in place and the increasing nativism.
This cartoon depicts two aliens contemplating whether they should vote for Hilary Clinton or John McCain, saying: “It’s hard to decide—Hilary would give us driver’s licenses, but McCain promises a path to citizenship.”
In this instance, decolonizing notions of citizenship does not rest on prevalent attitudes regarding race and ethnicity so much as class and social mobility. It no longer matters what race the aliens belong to, only that they are aliens and part of a marginalized group who could benefit from the social stepladder given to them.
Senators Vitter and Bennett argue that Congressional reapportionment should not be swayed by illegal immigrants, whose numbers could give more seats to certain states. The two Republican lawmakers believe that the 2010 Census should account for a person’s citizenship status despite concerns of constitutional violations related to equal protection.
Congress has traditionally held jurisdiction in immigration affairs, but with questions of constitutional validity being raised, the Supreme Court could legitimately step in and set a new legal precedence for citizenship.
This article discuss the naturalization ceremony. It is painted in a very positive way. One of the speakers made it seem like it was the best thing that could have happened to those individuals, and even though that has some truth to it the article did not discuss the process the individuals had to go through in order to gain citizenship. It also focused on individuals that came into this country with some type of special skill. It did not focus on people who came here without documents and had to work their way up.
I'm thinking about writing about the birther movement and their incessant denial of President Obama's citizenship status and their demands that President Obama's citizenship rights be stricken. Also I am interested in analyzing their definition of American citizenship.
I found this segment John Stewart did on the Daily show regarding the birthers. I think its hilarious and worth watching.
I like how Stewart highlights the fact there exists a tremendous amount of evidence that proves President Obama was born in the U.S., yet the news media and political pundits continue to insist that there is not a significant amount of evidence that proves President Obama was not born in the U.S.
I'm still a little perplexed as how the keywords essay is supposed to look at the end. Are we supposed to follow a similar format that is used in the Keywords book? I guess that is something to talk to Julie about.
Ostroy in this article calls the birthers, the tea party members, and other far right wing people and groups what they truly are: angry, bigoted white racists. He argues that all these movements are linked in that they all are based on a racist discourse. Ostroy highlights in his article highlights a picture of President Obama dressed in traditional African tribal dress.
This article pertains to the ballot initiative for California that would cut automatic citizenship to those born in the U.S. illegally. There is this idea of "anchor babies", and when an undocumented immigrant gives birth to a baby in the U.S that baby automatically is an American citizen, in hope that they can stay in the U.S. and eventually get citizenship through the child. This ballot initiative would change that rule and make it so that those babies do not automatically become citizens. This article talks about the stalling of that initiative getting on the ballot because of money issues and not getting enough signatures which brings up the point of the definition of citizenship and at the same time the issue of how money governs politics.
Just as my previous post talks about this ballot initiative, this article from the Washington Post argues why birthright citizenship cannot be denied in the U.S. It is a response paper to a previous article written, also in the Washington Post that argued that the 14th amendment is not being used for what it was intended. This article that I posted is a very short article and argues why the 14th amendment works for this issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb4LoTG3C8E This video is about the Australian citizenship test, but watching the video, it doesn't seem like it is much different than the U.S. citizenship test. The cartoon is about this man who is encountered by a news reporter and is asked if he passed the test. He says that he failed it because he didn't give them the right answers. In the video it is obvious that the man knows his history but the test answers are simple and inaccurate. It was pretty interesting to see the parallels of this video with those of the U.S. citizenship test that also asks historical questions, that for the most part, many people cannot even answer today. It really does make me wonder why these questions are chosen and what they are supposed say about a person in regards to citizenship.
This is a very interesting topic going on in France. A man is being denied citizenship in France because he forces his wife to wear a burqa. This video discusses whether or not the government is publicizing this decision because it is the rule or because they are trying to send a political message. One of the news commentators says that the government is playing by the rules because a requirement for citizenship is to believe in the equality between men and women. I thought this was a really interesting point. The sociologist on the show argues that it is the government playing a politics game. This video was made in February so it is a little outdated but if anyone knows anything about this, it would be interesting to know what ended up happening.
This southern California group tried getting sufficient petitions to place an initiative on the California ballot for the upcoming election. If they would have been successful they would have place a ballot that would differentiate between children born to U.S. citizens and residents and those born to undocumented parents. The latter would not be eligible to receive any type of state sponsored benefits.
Thankfully, they did not attain sufficient petitions. This reminds me a lot of Proposition 187 that passed on the 1994 ballot, in which undocumented people (including children) would not be eligible for social services including education. Many of the provisions of Proposition 187 were judged to be unconstitutional by the supreme court. I assumed that if this group had collected enough petitions the initiative would have had a good chance of passing simply because of the economic circumstances we are currently surrounded by.
This is an initiative call the California Taxpayer Protection Act. It is like a mini-immigration reform policy as it tries to detain as many undocumented people as possible using local, state, and federal agencies. They would be targeting individuals who are trying to access social services.
Again, this resembles proposition 187 pretty closely. This will create fear in communities and will not deter immigration. There is continuous migration because there are jobs for the taking here. These jobs are available to people from other countries because they pay very poorly (relative to American standards) and have very few benefits. Of course migrants might have to turn to social services every once in a while because the services that they provide for this country are not rewarded as well as they should be. Secondly, many immigrants regardless of their immigration status pay taxes, so when the creators of this proposition calls it Taxpayer Protection Act they really mean typical American citizen protection.
The discourse of this act also touches upon welfare recipients and account for the increase in teenage pregnancies, but they completely disregard the economic shift in the state of California. There use to be industrial jobs that could provide for families, but when many of those were outsource service sector jobs were created in which individuals would have to work several jobs and still not be able to provide for their family. This initiative oversimplifies the issues and uses undocumented migrants as a scapegoats for many of the problems facing California.
In the U.K., a thinktank believes that the voting age should be dropped to 16 instead of 18. One of the arguments used is that 16 year old people who work pay into the tax system but they are not given the right to vote and there is something contradictory there. The PM was in favor of lowering the age as long as there was better citizenship education around it. "Outlining wider plans for electoral reform in February, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was in favour of lowering the voting age 'but it would be better combined with better citizenship education and people assuming citizenship at that age'."
I feel as if this wouldn't be beneficial here in the U.S. because it seems that many voters 18 and over are not properly informed in any election, let alone a 16 year old. Also, our education system isn't really based around politics and current events, especially global events are rarely of interest in our public schools so how can we even think that most 16 year olds can vote. I think if we had a different citizenship education system, that could be the case but I agree with the PM in saying that with the current system, 16 year olds shouldn't be allowed to vote.
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v9n1/barney.html The link above is titled Education and Citizenship in Digital Age. There is a venn diagram that ties citizenship, technology, and education. As described on the website, "citizenship is a practice that draws from education, citizenship comes to terms with technology, and technology is seen as an object in the sphere of education".
I saw this as each being a part of the other; citizenship is an issue in education, like AB 540 students; education leads to classes in technology, like Computer Science; and technology can help people gain citizenship by applying for citizenship online.
The ties between the three are so interconnected, it seems at least in this article, that one does not work well without the other/s.
The link above is about how to teach citizenship in a democracy. It's about learning what citizenship is and how it can be lost in numerous political issues. It emphasizes students needing to learn participatory skills to exercise their rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Three of the participatory skills talked about are interacting, monitoring, and influencing. Then this site leads to students participating in student organizations and partaking in community service. It talks about Project Citizen which has participants working in small groups to detect important public issues, do research, look at other responses, defend it against opponents, and look for a resolution. I found this article interesting because it talks about citizenship rights being a privilege that citizens should take active roles in. It’s as though people are given citizenship to learn how to protect it and be political with it.
"In a nation that has traditionally imagined its culture and legislated its polity as 'white,' 'African' has often provided for African Americans a difficult basis for identity in direct proportion to their exclusion from national citizenship." (Gaines, Kevin, "African," p. 12)
I think this fits really good with the direction I plan to take my keyword essay in.
The above link is to recruit teachers for a free program for middle school students. This program gives students class credit. Teachers are equipped with lesson plans and handouts. In its Welcome link it addresses 9/11 and United Flight 93 to motivate students "to do something."
Just from reading a little bit about the program and its relation to 9/11, I wonder what is being taught in these classes? Would terrorsim be brought up a lot? Not knowing the answers to these questions, only knowing a little bit about the program, I wonder if this program would exclude some groups based on their ethnic origins?
This is a very recent article I found on Mother Jones. The writer is arguing that the birthers are now going after Hillary Clinton, but this is not really the case. Hillary Clinton is not being attacked, because birthers believe she was not born in the US, instead they believe that Hillary Clinton is violating some law, which makes her not eligible to work in President Obama's cabinet. This is extremely different than the birther attacks against President Obama. Some also argue that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement when she was campaigning against President Obama in the primaries.
The above link is for migration citizenship eduxation, which tells about European migration. This website offers resources on migration, minorities, and human rights on a European and national level. It talks about foced migrations all over Europe during war time, expulsion, and during ethnic cleansing. It speaks about European policy on migration and gender. I found this a really interesting website because it has so much information on European movement, and its broken down into cultures and genders. It even has pictures of people during World War II.
This article is a little different from the ones that I have previously posted. It focuses on the need to instill common values and patriotism among the citizenry for the sake of business.
The government was not mentioned at all within the article, it makes it seem like this desire to have Ghana unite under something, morals, is coming from both the university and businesses. The intent is to strengthen the reputation of the country by having something solid in common.
I am troubled that businesses have to meddle in the affairs that should belong to the government. You would think that the government would be the most likely to want to unite the country. However, the influence of the university does seem appropriate they are trying to create solidarity, but at the same time they are helping to expand brands.
In this article we see Dan Maes running for governor of Colorodo. When he starts the race he calls for immigration reform in which undocumented immigrants would have a path to citizenship. Later he changes his stance and believes that current laws should be enforced and does not want undocumented immigrants to have access to citizenship.
What is most interesting about this article is that Maes changed his position on immigration after the other conservative candidates dropped out. He was probably trying to position himself as a moderate candidate which both republicans and democrats could agree upon, but once he no longer had competition among the republicans he decided to swoop in and try rounding up as many conservative votes as possible. This currently being a hot topic would be the perfect issue to gather more votes.
It is sad to see candidates flip flop in their stances. It represents their willingness to continuously move in the direction of the wind, regardless of whether it is the right thing to do. I rather have a candidate who is willing to make hard decision and stick to them.
Chuck Norris challenges President Obama to show his birth certificate.
He tries to persuade him by arguing three things:
1. if you release it, it will no longer be an issue 2. its your responsibility to the American people to release your birth certificate 3. you promised that you would make your government open, so, if you dont release it, you are failing in regards to that objective.
The above link a mobile application for Canada. In the description of Canada is says "every year about 170,000 people become new citizens of Canada". It embraces Canada's multiculturality and it explains to become a Canadian citizen people must take the Canadian Citizenship Test. The application itself has a big heart with the Canadian flag inside of it. Citizenship and Canada are linked together at the top of the heart.
Reading the large number of Canadian citizens growing every year is baffeling, especially now were the US has to turn away people from gaining citiznship. In such action no wonder more people would want to be Canadians because by looking at this link and the mobile application if I couldn't be a US citizen I would want to go to Canada.
This article discusses an American citizen being placed on a government hit list. This man has been in contact with several terrorist so the federal government believes him to be a serious national security threat.
The article made it seem like American citizenship had been protecting him for some time. If he had been a national of any other country he would have been on that list a long time ago.
As a U.S. citizen it is nice to know that we have some protection, or at least that there would be some hesitation to put us on a hit list. However, it just focuses on the privilege that citizenship brings with is and how those who do not have citizenship are not treated with a much respect. To an extent they are not seen as human, or as deserving as rights because they are not citizens.
This is another article from Mother Jones. The author highlights the important role news media played in giving the birther movement space to present their ideas. The writer specifically focuses on Lou Dobbs. Lou Dobbs conceded that President Obama was a citizen, yet he continued to give the birthers space. The writer argues that Lou Dobbs did this, because Lou Dobbs was simply out to find a story that would capture the attention of his base. The author connects this to the wider failure of corporate news stations to do their jobs as reporters.
poll from Kos/Research2000 claims that 58 percent of GOP members either doubt or dont believe President Obama is a citizen. The birther movement seems to have had a major impact on creating doubt behind President Obama's birth
The Global Citizenship Experience (GCE) is a learning institute in Chicago which encourages its students to engage in social exploration. On the website, GCE writes: “GC’s understand that they are part of something much larger — many things in fact — families, friends, neighborhoods, cities, nations, races, religions, human evolution, collective gain and suffering […] GC’s develop perspectives that are both micro and macro.”
Seeing this website reminds me of Walter Mignolo’s discussion of global citizenship in “Citizenship, Knowledge, and the Limits of Humanity.” Mignolo maintains that global citizenship is a difficult vision to realize due to deep-seated attitudes of racism and patriarchy as a consequence of European imperialism and colonialism. While GCE’s promotion of social awareness appears to address Mignolo’s decolonization project, the issues surrounding American citizenship could be helped by similar awareness projects too.
Jerry Lemaine, a legal permanent resident in the United States, pled guilty to possession of marijuana under the guidance of his lawyer. Little did he know that his guilty plea would result in proceedings for his deportation.
According to the article, “the Obama administration has stepped up detention and deportation of so-called criminal aliens, including many legal immigrants with low-level drug convictions.” The dividing line between citizens and non-citizens is very clear in this case, with citizens being protected from deportation as a matter of right (even if they are convicted of aggravated felonies) whereas non-citizens are being threatened with deportation for minor crimes.
Titled “Benefits of Citizenship,” this video discusses some benefits to having U.S. citizenship. According to the video, reasons for applying for citizenship include: avoiding deportation, gaining the right to vote, creating a sense of belonging, being eligible to apply for government jobs, being able to sponsor family members from other countries, and being eligible to apply for a U.S. passport.
While I was aware of some of the reasons discussed, others were a revelation to me. For instance, I never knew that citizenship was required as a qualification for government jobs (such as serving in the police force or in the post office or in the school system). Like the expert in the video said, while many lawful permanent residents may have the education and skills not unlike U.S. citizens, their legal status as non-citizens will bar them from certain activities ascribed to citizens only.
This website reveals federal citizenship (that is U.S. citizenship) to be a myth. “There is no such thing as a citizen of the United States […] A citizen of any one of the States of the Union, is held to be, and called a citizen of the United States, although technically and abstractly there is no such thing.”
The concept of federal citizenship arises from the language of the 14th amendment, which expressly discusses the conditions of state citizenship but only hints at the possibility of federal citizenship. Following this train of thought, if U.S. citizenship is a social construction with no definitive restrictions enumerated in the Constitution, then is there not ample room for creative interpretations of U.S. citizenship? Can we not define U.S. citizenship, shape it and mold it to our will now that we know U.S. citizenship does not exist as a matter of irrevocable truth within the Constitution?
Even though this article was written in 1996, I believe the issues addressed still apply today. The article talks about how service-learning has become an important staple to high school education. Students were required to do volunteer work as a condition of graduation. While some were in favor of service-learning, believing the volunteer work reinforced the idea of responsible citizenship, others argued the forced labor was no different from slavery.
Service-learning, though often times not expressly required, has increasingly become a valuable asset on resumes and applications. Because of the rise in demand for service-learning students are being driven to perform volunteer work, sometimes without actual enjoyment or vested interest in the work they are doing. This begs the question, are we doing this because we want to be responsible citizens or because we feel compelled to by social values?
http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/012502/DL_regents.html
ReplyDeleteThe link above explains one triumph that students who don't have US citizenship (also known as AB 540 students) got when UC Board Regents approved that students pay in-state tuition versus out-of-state tuition.
The role that citizenship plays in a student's education is important, especially if the student comes from a low-income household. Since the student isn't a citizen s/he is not able to receive financial aid through the university, so by making the tuition more affordable more AB 540 students will be able to pursue their educational goals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DREAM_Act
ReplyDeleteThe link above speaks about the Dream Act, which is a proposed bill to the federal US legislation.
The DREAM Act would allow non-US citizens who have lived in the US for many years an opportunity to gain temporary residency.
The DREAM Act touches on an issue that AB 540 touch on, which is access to higher education and financial assistance, like loans and work study, to be able to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvoVOzULZY0&feature=related
ReplyDeleteThe link above is an episode for the Primary Citizenship Series called "How to Be a Good Citizen". The 1953 episode showed a Caucasian class of boys and girls with a Caucasian teacher, named Ms. Hill. The emphasis of this episode was to teach young boys and girls proper etiquette in the classroom and in the playground. The episode first showed a bad example of something then corrected it with the right example leading the narrator to say "... is part of being a good citizen".
When watching this video the first thing that I see is how the classroom was an all-Caucasian classroom, even the school teacher is Caucasian, in 1953. The classroom seemed to be efficiently supplied with proper school supplies. The only mention of a possible racial minority was when the narrator talked about Teresa, an Italian girl, who recently came from Italy. There was a reference to her sounding funny when she spoke. Watching this episode then made me wonder how far the schools with minority children were from this white school? Also, was this school located in the US South or US North? I even have a feeling of hypnotizing propaganda going on with the narrator's voice saying several times what a good citizen achieves at school. I wonder if there would have been an episode on what a bad citizen or non-citizen does would it include a minority student or a Caucasian student?
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/29078/right-wing-mk-give-palestinians-israeli-citizenship%E2%80%99
ReplyDeleteThis link leads to an article that stated that Tzipi Hotovely, a right winged political figure, suggested that Israel should give citizenship to Palestinians living in West Bank.
Granting them citizenship is conflicting in terms of wanting to keep Israel a Jewish state. A basic law would indicate Israel as a Jewish state, no matter its demographics.
I'm actually taking an education class on Israeli education and this conflict of citizenship really does play a role in education and the type of education they are receiving so I find this article really interesting.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/nba/2010/03/nba_yaos_baby_daughter_hasnt_arrived_yet_but_already_creating_controversy_news_notes_and_links.html
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the controversy of Yao Ming's unborn child and her citizenship. Ming's wife flew into the U.S. from China, according to Chinese speculation, so that she could have her child here in the U.S. While this may seem like a private issue, China is taking it seriously, especially since dual citizenship isn't allowed in China.
The end of the article brushes off the issue with another comment about how big the baby will be when it's born, seeing that Yao Ming is 7'6". I find this issue really interesting because I think it is important to acknowledge why people come here to give birth.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
ReplyDeleteThis is from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. It is a list of how much it costs to process certain forms regarding anything from petitioning to work in the U.S. to applying for permanent residency.
One thing I found really interesting was the fact that they still use the world 'alien' to refer to immigrants. I really thought that word was outdated, but apparently not.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100316/NEWS01/3160333/Slain+U.S.+soldier+receives+American+citizenship
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a U.S. soldier, a South Korean native, who was granted citizenship after dying in the war. By giving him citizenship posthumously his next of kin are eligible for citizenship. I didn't even know that people who were not citizens could even enroll in the U.S. army. I think it's interesting that the U.S. does not allow non-citizens any political rights but they allow them to fight for a country that will make it extremely difficult for them to become citizens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_Z5_YFUkI
ReplyDeleteSo I found this video on youtube. It's a parody of those PC vs. Mac commercials but in this case it's BC (born citizen) and Mex (Mexican). In this video, the Mex has all this "American" paraphernalia on and the border patrol can't tell tell the difference between them. It was pretty interesting watching it despite the bad acting. Even though it is kind of a ridiculous video I think it gives an interesting perspective on citizenship.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-supreme-court-citizenship,0,1646778.story
ReplyDeleteThis story focuses on the citizenship of those born abroad to American citizens. This case will be heard by the supreme court. What is interesting is the intersection of gender and citizenship. The father in this case is not assumed to be as responsible for his children as his mother.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100312/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_immigration?bcmt=877104#mwpphu-container
ReplyDeleteI first came across this news story a few weeks ago. I revisited it today and the comments seem a lot more balanced. However, I am still really impressed with the negative impression, and animosity held my many against both documented and undocumented migrants in this country.
Some of the comments refer specifically to Latinos/Hispanics as migrating north because of all the enticing free government programs. People in this blog also frequently used the term Anchor Baby, which I find very insulting and which completely disregards push factors within sending society.
This article states that Obama is making comprehensive immigration reform a priority, right after a health care reform. However, now that Obama managed to sign the health care reform into law it seems that it might be much more difficult to get comprehensive immigration reform passed especially since there is such negative pressure being placed on legislators by their constituents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_education
ReplyDeleteThe link above has two different interpretations of citizenship education. The first one deals with teaching undocumented people how to apply for citizenship with the help of Non-Government Organizations (NGO's). Immigrants are taught how to prepare for citizenship exams. The second citizenship education relates to majors in the university such as political science and sociology that talk about citizenship. On the other hand, not only does citizenship education talk about US citizenship, but also citizenship worldwide, like in England, Ireland, France, and Spain.
Before coming upon this article I never considered such a topic as citizenship education, but it makes sense because both of my parents took classes to prepare for their citizenship exam. I remember waking up in the middle of the night seeing my parents at the kitchen table trying to go over all of their material. They looked just like me when I am preparing for a midterm or final. Aside from preparing for citizenship exams, I also found a lot of university websites online that have citizenship as a major or as a department. In addition a lot of classes talk about citizenship, such as ethnic studies, criminal justice, and history.
Authors like Gloria Anzaldua, W.E.B. DuBois, Ronald Takaki, and Lauren Berlant all talk about the power citizenship has in the way people are taught in school what they know. Citizenship is seen as a key to education, rights, and gives an opportunity to own land.
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ReplyDeleteI found this website: http://www.beinganamerican.org/about_the_contest/10firstplace.html
ReplyDeleteThe organization holds a contest every year that is open to all students. Students are asked to write what they consider to be the essential characteristics of a citizen. For example, Rebecca Frost, one of the winners this year, made connections between private property ownership, ability, work, and worth. Owning property means being a "good" citizen and not owning property means being a "bad" citizen.
http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/page.php?286
ReplyDeleteThe above link is for the United Kingdom Citizenship Foundation. Similar to the posting above, citizenship is discussed in three terms, as a legal a political status, as an involvement in public and life affairs, and as an educational activity. 1) Legal in the sense that it gives people rights and responsibilities under law, such as voting and paying taxes. 2) Involvement in public and life affairs in terms of being able to run for some public office positions that are not available to non-citizens, such as presidency. 3) Educational activity such as learning how to become a citizen through taking citizenship exams and learning about the country's history.
Not only does this website explain citizenship, but it also asks for citizenship educators. It demonstrates a sense of pride a citizenship educator should have in teaching new students what being a citizen means. It is described as a job that is inclusive, pervasive, and life-long. Also, this link explains citizenship issues as real, topical, sometimes sensitive, often controversial, and ultimately moral. In addition, it speaks about how citizenship education benefits children and young people with giving them self-confidence, a voice to speak their minds, and it allows them to contribute positively.
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ReplyDelete"...what it takes to become an American"
ReplyDeleteEditorial columnist Jim Byne through his articled titled "T. Roosevelt rings true on what it takes to become an American" wants to remind immigrants living in the United States that there are certain characteristics that a person must possess to be considered a good American citizen.
Bayne argues that all immigrants need to become assimilated, speak English, revere the U.S. flag. In the opinion of Bayne American citizenship needs to be restricted to immigrants who assimilate, while it is restricted to immigrants who either fail to assimilate or are unwilling to assimilate.
To prove his arguments Bayne utilizes quotes from former U.S. President T. Roosevelt. For example, Bayne provides this quote, "“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin."
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/opinion/columnists/article/t._roosevelt_rings_true_on_what_it_takes_to_become_an_american/54697/
Before and after President Obama was sworn as President of the United States there began to appear news stories questioning the authenticity of Obama's citizenship, like this very recent news article: http://www.rdmag.com/News/FeedsAP/2010/03/life-sciences-ark-senate-candidate-questions-obama-citizenship/
ReplyDeleteThe group of people questioning the legitimacy of President Obama's birth were named the "birthers." To become president of the United States the candidate must be born in the United States. President Obama was born in the United States in the state of Hawaii, and provided documentation that proved he was born in the United States, yet doubts and disbelief continued. Some people till this day contend that President Obama is not a legitimately President of the United States.
The "birthers" contend that Obama was not born in the United States, rather he was born Kenya. Many youtube videos have been made that claim to give the true account of Obamas birth.
I would argue that the questioning of Obama's citizenship was raised, because Obama possess certain markers and characteristic that to most Americans are foreign. He is black, his father is Kenyan, and his full name is Barack Hussein Obama II. Thus, the birthers see Barack as foreign and he does not possess the "natural" characteristics of an American.
This is the wikipedia entry for the birther movement conspiracies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories
ReplyDeleteIt details all the conspiracies and all the lawsuits that have been filed against President Obama. Though they differ, they all claim that President Obama is not a natural born citizen and, thus, does not possess U.S. citizenship.
The good thing is that the U.S. legal system has thrown all the cases, because they truly are not valid. The bad thing is that our news media gives credibility to the birther movement and gives the birthers a space to espouse their ideas.
Keywords that constantly appear in relation to the birthers are: communism and radical Islam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031700048.html
ReplyDeleteNews article concerning a proposed law that would ignore birther requests and restrict access of government records to individuals found to be a "vexatious requester."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_citizen_of_the_United_States
ReplyDeleteApparently there is such a thing as honorary citizenship, whereby a “non-United States citizen of exceptional merit may be declared an Honorary Citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress or by a proclamation issued by the President of the United States pursuant to authorization granted by Congress.” Thus far, only 7 people have received this distinctive honor (Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, and General Lafayette are among the few).
While it remains unclear as to whether the status confers any rights, Craig Ferguson of “The Late Late Show” on CBS has suggested honorary citizenship is “legally meaningless.” As part of a running gag on his show, Ferguson has tried to obtain honorary citizenship from states and cities all across America and so far succeeded in over a dozen states.
Although honorary U.S. citizenship may not be as rewarding as actual citizenship, the value in being accepted by a community is undeniable in both instances. Citizens, whether honorary or naturalized, are given a greater amount of respect if not constitutional rights by the U.S. government than aliens or permanent residents because of the insider-outsider mentality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/opinion/19wed2.html?ex=1363665600&en=6d1464ac48c8961e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
ReplyDeleteThis article points out the inefficiencies of the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency during the 2008 Presidential Election. Under its former director, Emilio Gonzalez, the agency increased its service fees by more than 50% but did not deliver on its promise of better service and shorter waits. Criticized for causing the disfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to participate in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Elections, the agency admittedly did not possess sufficient manpower to process the influx of citizenship petitions and simultaneously snubbed those who could not afford the higher fees.
Because the voting process has traditionally been regarded as a socio-political activity, it seems a tad inconsistent for the government to frame the question of citizenship in economic terms. Equating citizenship with a price rather than politics would alienate a good deal of people and in this case, it certainly has.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/10/local/me-citizen10
ReplyDeleteAs a result of a settlement with the federal government, hundreds of legal immigrants in Southern California who have been waiting years for citizenship will finally have their cases resolved within 6 months. The delays had cost some legal permanent residents their jobs and others, voting opportunities during elections.
This article dispels myths that permanent residents or immigrants are not invested or attached to this country as citizens are. As made evident by the article, there are many out there who wish to become citizens and have started the applications process but are being held back and having to put their lives on hold because of problems within the bureaucratic system.
http://thesaurus.com/browse/citizen
ReplyDeleteAfter Professor Feldman decided to begin the blog with a definition of each keyword I became curious about the synonyms available for each word. Synonyms are curious because they are more likely to reflect people's actual usage of a word more accurately than actual definitions. When I first typed in citizenship it automatically directed me toward FREEDOM(!!), I was really surprised to see this because by accepting citizenship to a country you are giving up some of your power for something else to protect you.
I then tried narrowing down the search and typed in citizen. It came up with words such as native, freeman/woman, and subject. More surprisingly it listed foreigner, alien, and immigrant as antonyms. This frustrated me a little because immigrant is not necessarily the opposite of citizen. A large portion of immigrants migrate legally and with the expectation of citizen. However, it makes me feel that their is a negative consensus with the word immigrant and it is no longer limited to undocumented immigrant.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032603077.html
ReplyDeleteWith immigration reform hopefully around the corner it seems that the children of immigrants are receiving a lot of attention because the parents are (falsely) accused of relying too heavily of the welfare state. This article however posits that the biggest benefit an immigrants child can have is American citizenship. It goes on to argue, using the opinion of academics, that the 14th amendment was never meant to cover the children of undocumented immigrants. It then compares undocumented immigrants to the supreme court case that declared that children born to American Indian parents do not qualify for citizenship because they were not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
This is a very unpredictable topic within the U.S. society. Many have argued for the current interpretation to continue and others have argue for a new interpretation. It is a peculiar time in history at the moment because of the left leaning politicians in place and the increasing nativism.
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=21754
ReplyDeleteThis cartoon depicts two aliens contemplating whether they should vote for Hilary Clinton or John McCain, saying: “It’s hard to decide—Hilary would give us driver’s licenses, but McCain promises a path to citizenship.”
In this instance, decolonizing notions of citizenship does not rest on prevalent attitudes regarding race and ethnicity so much as class and social mobility. It no longer matters what race the aliens belong to, only that they are aliens and part of a marginalized group who could benefit from the social stepladder given to them.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/10/eye_opener_citizenship_and_the.html
ReplyDeleteSenators Vitter and Bennett argue that Congressional reapportionment should not be swayed by illegal immigrants, whose numbers could give more seats to certain states. The two Republican lawmakers believe that the 2010 Census should account for a person’s citizenship status despite concerns of constitutional violations related to equal protection.
Congress has traditionally held jurisdiction in immigration affairs, but with questions of constitutional validity being raised, the Supreme Court could legitimately step in and set a new legal precedence for citizenship.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100327/METRO/3270346/1409/metro/Hundreds-become-U.S.-citizens
ReplyDeleteThis article discuss the naturalization ceremony. It is painted in a very positive way. One of the speakers made it seem like it was the best thing that could have happened to those individuals, and even though that has some truth to it the article did not discuss the process the individuals had to go through in order to gain citizenship. It also focused on individuals that came into this country with some type of special skill. It did not focus on people who came here without documents and had to work their way up.
I'm thinking about writing about the birther movement and their incessant denial of President Obama's citizenship status and their demands that President Obama's citizenship rights be stricken. Also I am interested in analyzing their definition of American citizenship.
ReplyDeleteI found this segment John Stewart did on the Daily show regarding the birthers. I think its hilarious and worth watching.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/23/jon-stewart-eviscerates-t_n_243383.html
I like how Stewart highlights the fact there exists a tremendous amount of evidence that proves President Obama was born in the U.S., yet the news media and political pundits continue to insist that there is not a significant amount of evidence that proves President Obama was not born in the U.S.
I'm still a little perplexed as how the keywords essay is supposed to look at the end. Are we supposed to follow a similar format that is used in the Keywords book? I guess that is something to talk to Julie about.
"Whats Really Behind the Health Care Hate?" by Andy Ostroy
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/whats-emreallyem-behind-t_b_514298.html
Ostroy in this article calls the birthers, the tea party members, and other far right wing people and groups what they truly are: angry, bigoted white racists. He argues that all these movements are linked in that they all are based on a racist discourse. Ostroy highlights in his article highlights a picture of President Obama dressed in traditional African tribal dress.
A t-shirt for sale that reads: A village in Kenya is missing its idiot. You can purchase it for something like 29 bucks.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zazzle.com/a_village_in_kenya_in_missing_its_idiot_tshirt-235464377487628384
http://www.ocregister.com/news/hilton-242962-initiative-children.html
ReplyDeleteThis article pertains to the ballot initiative for California that would cut automatic citizenship to those born in the U.S. illegally. There is this idea of "anchor babies", and when an undocumented immigrant gives birth to a baby in the U.S that baby automatically is an American citizen, in hope that they can stay in the U.S. and eventually get citizenship through the child. This ballot initiative would change that rule and make it so that those babies do not automatically become citizens. This article talks about the stalling of that initiative getting on the ballot because of money issues and not getting enough signatures which brings up the point of the definition of citizenship and at the same time the issue of how money governs politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/02/AR2010040204211.html
ReplyDeleteJust as my previous post talks about this ballot initiative, this article from the Washington Post argues why birthright citizenship cannot be denied in the U.S. It is a response paper to a previous article written, also in the Washington Post that argued that the 14th amendment is not being used for what it was intended. This article that I posted is a very short article and argues why the 14th amendment works for this issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb4LoTG3C8E
ReplyDeleteThis video is about the Australian citizenship test, but watching the video, it doesn't seem like it is much different than the U.S. citizenship test. The cartoon is about this man who is encountered by a news reporter and is asked if he passed the test. He says that he failed it because he didn't give them the right answers. In the video it is obvious that the man knows his history but the test answers are simple and inaccurate. It was pretty interesting to see the parallels of this video with those of the U.S. citizenship test that also asks historical questions, that for the most part, many people cannot even answer today. It really does make me wonder why these questions are chosen and what they are supposed say about a person in regards to citizenship.
http://www.france24.com/en/20100204-face-off-morocco-france-fran%C3%A7ois-fillon-immigration-burqa
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic going on in France. A man is being denied citizenship in France because he forces his wife to wear a burqa. This video discusses whether or not the government is publicizing this decision because it is the rule or because they are trying to send a political message. One of the news commentators says that the government is playing by the rules because a requirement for citizenship is to believe in the equality between men and women. I thought this was a really interesting point. The sociologist on the show argues that it is the government playing a politics game. This video was made in February so it is a little outdated but if anyone knows anything about this, it would be interesting to know what ended up happening.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/hilton-242962-initiative-children.html
ReplyDeleteThis southern California group tried getting sufficient petitions to place an initiative on the California ballot for the upcoming election. If they would have been successful they would have place a ballot that would differentiate between children born to U.S. citizens and residents and those born to undocumented parents. The latter would not be eligible to receive any type of state sponsored benefits.
Thankfully, they did not attain sufficient petitions. This reminds me a lot of Proposition 187 that passed on the 1994 ballot, in which undocumented people (including children) would not be eligible for social services including education. Many of the provisions of Proposition 187 were judged to be unconstitutional by the supreme court. I assumed that if this group had collected enough petitions the initiative would have had a good chance of passing simply because of the economic circumstances we are currently surrounded by.
http://www.taxpayerrevolution.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=2
ReplyDeleteThis is an initiative call the California Taxpayer Protection Act. It is like a mini-immigration reform policy as it tries to detain as many undocumented people as possible using local, state, and federal agencies. They would be targeting individuals who are trying to access social services.
Again, this resembles proposition 187 pretty closely. This will create fear in communities and will not deter immigration. There is continuous migration because there are jobs for the taking here. These jobs are available to people from other countries because they pay very poorly (relative to American standards) and have very few benefits. Of course migrants might have to turn to social services every once in a while because the services that they provide for this country are not rewarded as well as they should be. Secondly, many immigrants regardless of their immigration status pay taxes, so when the creators of this proposition calls it Taxpayer Protection Act they really mean typical American citizen protection.
The discourse of this act also touches upon welfare recipients and account for the increase in teenage pregnancies, but they completely disregard the economic shift in the state of California. There use to be industrial jobs that could provide for families, but when many of those were outsource service sector jobs were created in which individuals would have to work several jobs and still not be able to provide for their family. This initiative oversimplifies the issues and uses undocumented migrants as a scapegoats for many of the problems facing California.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8602921.stm
ReplyDeleteIn the U.K., a thinktank believes that the voting age should be dropped to 16 instead of 18. One of the arguments used is that 16 year old people who work pay into the tax system but they are not given the right to vote and there is something contradictory there. The PM was in favor of lowering the age as long as there was better citizenship education around it. "Outlining wider plans for electoral reform in February, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was in favour of lowering the voting age 'but it would be better combined with better citizenship education and people assuming citizenship at that age'."
I feel as if this wouldn't be beneficial here in the U.S. because it seems that many voters 18 and over are not properly informed in any election, let alone a 16 year old. Also, our education system isn't really based around politics and current events, especially global events are rarely of interest in our public schools so how can we even think that most 16 year olds can vote. I think if we had a different citizenship education system, that could be the case but I agree with the PM in saying that with the current system, 16 year olds shouldn't be allowed to vote.
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ReplyDeletehttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v9n1/barney.html
ReplyDeleteThe link above is titled Education and Citizenship in Digital Age. There is a venn diagram that ties citizenship, technology, and education. As described on the website, "citizenship is a practice that draws from education, citizenship comes to terms with technology, and technology is seen as an object in the sphere of education".
I saw this as each being a part of the other; citizenship is an issue in education, like AB 540 students; education leads to classes in technology, like Computer Science; and technology can help people gain citizenship by applying for citizenship online.
The ties between the three are so interconnected, it seems at least in this article, that one does not work well without the other/s.
http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-1/democracy.html
ReplyDeleteThe link above is about how to teach citizenship in a democracy. It's about learning what citizenship is and how it can be lost in numerous political issues. It emphasizes students needing to learn participatory skills to exercise their rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Three of the participatory skills talked about are interacting, monitoring, and influencing. Then this site leads to students participating in student organizations and partaking in community service. It talks about Project Citizen which has participants working in small groups to detect important public issues, do research, look at other responses, defend it against opponents, and look for a resolution.
I found this article interesting because it talks about citizenship rights being a privilege that citizens should take active roles in. It’s as though people are given citizenship to learn how to protect it and be political with it.
"In a nation that has traditionally imagined its culture and legislated its polity as 'white,' 'African' has often provided for African Americans a difficult basis for identity in direct proportion to their exclusion from national citizenship." (Gaines, Kevin, "African," p. 12)
ReplyDeleteI think this fits really good with the direction I plan to take my keyword essay in.
http://www.citizenshipeducation.org/
ReplyDeleteThe above link is to recruit teachers for a free program for middle school students. This program gives students class credit. Teachers are equipped with lesson plans and handouts. In its Welcome link it addresses 9/11 and United Flight 93 to motivate students "to do something."
Just from reading a little bit about the program and its relation to 9/11, I wonder what is being taught in these classes? Would terrorsim be brought up a lot? Not knowing the answers to these questions, only knowing a little bit about the program, I wonder if this program would exclude some groups based on their ethnic origins?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/birthers%E2%80%99-next-target-hillary-clinton
ReplyDeleteThis is a very recent article I found on Mother Jones. The writer is arguing that the birthers are now going after Hillary Clinton, but this is not really the case. Hillary Clinton is not being attacked, because birthers believe she was not born in the US, instead they believe that Hillary Clinton is violating some law, which makes her not eligible to work in President Obama's cabinet. This is extremely different than the birther attacks against President Obama. Some also argue that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement when she was campaigning against President Obama in the primaries.
http://www.migrationeducation.org/
ReplyDeleteThe above link is for migration citizenship eduxation, which tells about European migration. This website offers resources on migration, minorities, and human rights on a European and national level. It talks about foced migrations all over Europe during war time, expulsion, and during ethnic cleansing. It speaks about European policy on migration and gender.
I found this a really interesting website because it has so much information on European movement, and its broken down into cultures and genders. It even has pictures of people during World War II.
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_economics/r_14264/
ReplyDeleteThis article is a little different from the ones that I have previously posted. It focuses on the need to instill common values and patriotism among the citizenry for the sake of business.
The government was not mentioned at all within the article, it makes it seem like this desire to have Ghana unite under something, morals, is coming from both the university and businesses. The intent is to strengthen the reputation of the country by having something solid in common.
I am troubled that businesses have to meddle in the affairs that should belong to the government. You would think that the government would be the most likely to want to unite the country. However, the influence of the university does seem appropriate they are trying to create solidarity, but at the same time they are helping to expand brands.
http://www.denverpost.com/election/ci_14841229
ReplyDeleteIn this article we see Dan Maes running for governor of Colorodo. When he starts the race he calls for immigration reform in which undocumented immigrants would have a path to citizenship. Later he changes his stance and believes that current laws should be enforced and does not want undocumented immigrants to have access to citizenship.
What is most interesting about this article is that Maes changed his position on immigration after the other conservative candidates dropped out. He was probably trying to position himself as a moderate candidate which both republicans and democrats could agree upon, but once he no longer had competition among the republicans he decided to swoop in and try rounding up as many conservative votes as possible. This currently being a hot topic would be the perfect issue to gather more votes.
It is sad to see candidates flip flop in their stances. It represents their willingness to continuously move in the direction of the wind, regardless of whether it is the right thing to do. I rather have a candidate who is willing to make hard decision and stick to them.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105767
ReplyDeleteChuck Norris challenges President Obama to show his birth certificate.
He tries to persuade him by arguing three things:
1. if you release it, it will no longer be an issue
2. its your responsibility to the American people to release your birth certificate
3. you promised that you would make your government open, so, if you dont release it, you are failing in regards to that objective.
http://www.mobileappy.com/archives/41078
ReplyDeleteThe above link a mobile application for Canada. In the description of Canada is says "every year about 170,000 people become new citizens of Canada". It embraces Canada's multiculturality and it explains to become a Canadian citizen people must take the Canadian Citizenship Test. The application itself has a big heart with the Canadian flag inside of it. Citizenship and Canada are linked together at the top of the heart.
Reading the large number of Canadian citizens growing every year is baffeling, especially now were the US has to turn away people from gaining citiznship. In such action no wonder more people would want to be Canadians because by looking at this link and the mobile application if I couldn't be a US citizen I would want to go to Canada.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/us-puts-american-cleric-anwar-al-awlaki-on-hit-list/19430240
ReplyDeleteThis article discusses an American citizen being placed on a government hit list. This man has been in contact with several terrorist so the federal government believes him to be a serious national security threat.
The article made it seem like American citizenship had been protecting him for some time. If he had been a national of any other country he would have been on that list a long time ago.
As a U.S. citizen it is nice to know that we have some protection, or at least that there would be some hesitation to put us on a hit list. However, it just focuses on the privilege that citizenship brings with is and how those who do not have citizenship are not treated with a much respect. To an extent they are not seen as human, or as deserving as rights because they are not citizens.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2009/07/lou-dobbs-birthers-and-cable-news-crack
ReplyDeleteThis is another article from Mother Jones. The author highlights the important role news media played in giving the birther movement space to present their ideas. The writer specifically focuses on Lou Dobbs. Lou Dobbs conceded that President Obama was a citizen, yet he continued to give the birthers space. The writer argues that Lou Dobbs did this, because Lou Dobbs was simply out to find a story that would capture the attention of his base. The author connects this to the wider failure of corporate news stations to do their jobs as reporters.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/58_of_GOP_not_suredont_beleive_Obama_born_in_US.html
ReplyDeletepoll from Kos/Research2000 claims that 58 percent of GOP members either doubt or dont believe President Obama is a citizen. The birther movement seems to have had a major impact on creating doubt behind President Obama's birth
http://www.globalcitizenshipexperience.com/
ReplyDeleteThe Global Citizenship Experience (GCE) is a learning institute in Chicago which encourages its students to engage in social exploration. On the website, GCE writes: “GC’s understand that they are part of something much larger — many things in fact — families, friends, neighborhoods, cities, nations, races, religions, human evolution, collective gain and suffering […] GC’s develop perspectives that are both micro and macro.”
Seeing this website reminds me of Walter Mignolo’s discussion of global citizenship in “Citizenship, Knowledge, and the Limits of Humanity.” Mignolo maintains that global citizenship is a difficult vision to realize due to deep-seated attitudes of racism and patriarchy as a consequence of European imperialism and colonialism. While GCE’s promotion of social awareness appears to address Mignolo’s decolonization project, the issues surrounding American citizenship could be helped by similar awareness projects too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/nyregion/31drug.html
ReplyDeleteJerry Lemaine, a legal permanent resident in the United States, pled guilty to possession of marijuana under the guidance of his lawyer. Little did he know that his guilty plea would result in proceedings for his deportation.
According to the article, “the Obama administration has stepped up detention and deportation of so-called criminal aliens, including many legal immigrants with low-level drug convictions.” The dividing line between citizens and non-citizens is very clear in this case, with citizens being protected from deportation as a matter of right (even if they are convicted of aggravated felonies) whereas non-citizens are being threatened with deportation for minor crimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyCq3ULn5X8
ReplyDeleteTitled “Benefits of Citizenship,” this video discusses some benefits to having U.S. citizenship. According to the video, reasons for applying for citizenship include: avoiding deportation, gaining the right to vote, creating a sense of belonging, being eligible to apply for government jobs, being able to sponsor family members from other countries, and being eligible to apply for a U.S. passport.
While I was aware of some of the reasons discussed, others were a revelation to me. For instance, I never knew that citizenship was required as a qualification for government jobs (such as serving in the police force or in the post office or in the school system). Like the expert in the video said, while many lawful permanent residents may have the education and skills not unlike U.S. citizens, their legal status as non-citizens will bar them from certain activities ascribed to citizens only.
http://www.14th-amendment.com/Court_Documents/Ex_Parte_Knowles/page_frame.htm
ReplyDeleteThis website reveals federal citizenship (that is U.S. citizenship) to be a myth. “There is no such thing as a citizen of the United States […] A citizen of any one of the States of the Union, is held to be, and called a citizen of the United States, although technically and abstractly there is no such thing.”
The concept of federal citizenship arises from the language of the 14th amendment, which expressly discusses the conditions of state citizenship but only hints at the possibility of federal citizenship. Following this train of thought, if U.S. citizenship is a social construction with no definitive restrictions enumerated in the Constitution, then is there not ample room for creative interpretations of U.S. citizenship? Can we not define U.S. citizenship, shape it and mold it to our will now that we know U.S. citizenship does not exist as a matter of irrevocable truth within the Constitution?
http://www.utne.com/1996-05-01/Politics/Citizenshiporslavery.aspx
ReplyDeleteEven though this article was written in 1996, I believe the issues addressed still apply today. The article talks about how service-learning has become an important staple to high school education. Students were required to do volunteer work as a condition of graduation. While some were in favor of service-learning, believing the volunteer work reinforced the idea of responsible citizenship, others argued the forced labor was no different from slavery.
Service-learning, though often times not expressly required, has increasingly become a valuable asset on resumes and applications. Because of the rise in demand for service-learning students are being driven to perform volunteer work, sometimes without actual enjoyment or vested interest in the work they are doing. This begs the question, are we doing this because we want to be responsible citizens or because we feel compelled to by social values?