The Teen Reporter

Protests are the new term papers!

    Students at local high schools are making some serious noise by studying a new subject: social justice. From civil disobedience to peaceful protests, students have been speaking out against unfairness and oppression in our society.  From racial discrimination to ageism, youth around the city of Chicago have begun to fight valiantly in their communities, against large corporations and even the government.

    My high school has made it its mission to teach students to challenge what their society presents to them. Uplift Community High School in Uptown has incorporated the idea of social justice in their daily school lessons. Uplift itself is a story of social justice. Before 2003, the only high school in the Uptown area was Senn High School. Three noble teachers wanted to change that, so that local kids and kids from other areas in Chicago would have a safer and better alternative. Thus, Uplift Community High School was born. 

    In the past few years, students have held protests on controversial subjects like Christopher Columbus Day and the proposed CPS budget cuts. Just last year, my class and I were assigned to take on the challenge of exposing one of the biggest corporations in the world. We informed our families, local community officials, and residents of Uptown about the unfair wages of employees at Wal-Mart. With the help from some help from our social science teachers, we developed a YouTube video telling shoppers to avoid Wal-Mart on their busiest day of the year: Black Friday.

 

    We knew that the idea of a simple YouTube video wouldn’t stop  the millions of Americans who shop at Wal-Mart on a daily basis; they just wanted to bring awareness to Wal-Mart’s injustice. Participating in this video project made me feel as if my voice is being heard. Many of the comments on the video were positive. They said encouraging things that made me feel that we have done right by bringing this injustice to the light. Amanda, one of the “stars” of the video, said, “I never would have thought about protesting my family’s favorite store… but it just made me so angry how Wal-Mart has been getting away with this. Enough is enough!”

    This year, Uplift teamed up with the community to form a peace march with CeaseFire, an organization that’s trying to put an end to violence. We marched all over the Uptown community to take a strong stance on the number of teen deaths in the year of 2011 alone. Many speakers and organizers repeated the line that still inspires students to this day: “A change is gonna’ come.” 

    Uplift is just one of many schools that are beginning to challenge what they see in their community. Schools such as Whitney Young, Little Village, and Michelle Clark are all in this idea of social justice. Some educators would call teaching social justice unethical, but a former teacher from Uplift, Mr. Haines, once said, “Don’t let the ignorance of other’s deter you from your goals. We have a messed up world to fix, and it starts here, today, right now!” Currently, Mr. Haines is in Ethiopia creating a children’s foster home to ensure the wellbeing of homeless children. He is a living representation of what it means to be socially just - to help out anyway we can. He has inspired me and my many other students to do what we can for others. Now there’s a subject in school that sends a powerful message - without needing a textbook!

The New Divide: Does technology further separate the haves from the have-nots?

    The year 2011 has been named the Age of Technology. Everything has advanced in the past few years; from entertainment to medicine, technology has had breakthroughs that put many at ease with what used to be very difficult.

However, with the ease that technology has renovated, separation of the Haves and Have Nots is beginning to become a danger. One of the most recent incidents is the case of 17 year-old Prince Watson of Chicago. Watson is charged with death of a 68 year-old woman, pushing her down the stairs after robbing a person of their iPhone on the CTA. ABC 7 news states that this isn’t the first time the 17 year old was charged for robbery; he has faced three similar charges for stealing an iPhone in the past.

    Outsiders to the city of Chicago may find this crime inexcusable. This young man has had more than his fair share in chances to better himself and quit these crimes. But I think  that he may not any other choice. Now, I would never say that thieves aren’t the bad guys or that stealing is a good thing. I’ve had one of my favorite electronic devices taken from me before, and I was truly unhappy!

But, I will say that people, especially people like Watson, are sometimes forced to do things against their will or do not know anything other than what they were born around.  If Watson, or one of the many other teens that rob for no good reason (like there’s ever a good reason to rob someone) has lived around those who steal and gamble to make money all their lives, then what is the hope for these teens? If they don’t have the resources that many others have, or even the home training to know the difference between right and wrong, what can we expect to happen? For teens like these, the jealousy and the belief that to get what you want, you have to take from another, can truly impact the actions urban kids make.

    The New age of technology brings about advances to make the lives of the fortunate Americans easier, while forming rage and vengeance in the hearts of the have-nots. Let’s get ready to Rumble!

Would you let your teen have a credit card?

Nearly one third of high school seniors say they have a credit card. Is this a path to financial literacy or destruction? The teens at Mercy Housing Wentworth's digital connectors program made this great video, showing the challenges of giving teens credit cards and outlining the consequences. Take a look:

 

Race: it's a joke!

  When we you think of Race, what are the first thoughts that come to your mind? Some might say a competition in which two or more persons compete to see who can reach a finish line first (like my friend Noe might jokingly say).

Others, about 97.9% of the human population might think of the separation of human skin tones or backgrounds into smaller categories to identify a large group. This separation of skin tones has caused many ignorant disasters and genocides throughout the years.

Race even affects the entertainment industry, something we see a lot today - even cartoons like Family Guy and the Cleveland show to Disney’s Phineas and Ferb.  This reporter believes that the media plays a major role on how negatively teens view each other and other cultures.

One of my favorite musicals of all time is called Avenue Q. The show is set in New York City about a guy named Princeton just finishing getting his degree, venturing out into the cruel and unforgiving world. He meets a group of very different people that live in a little community called Avenue Q. One of the major songs in the musical is called “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”. I’m telling you, this is arguably one of the funniest songs on a Broadway play ever, but it also got me to thinking. One of the lines of the song is “You should be much more careful when you're talking about the sensitive subject of race.”

Careful? Really? History has never had a thought about being sensitive or thoughtful for those who were kidnapped and chained against their will to be forced to work as slave;  not only Africans, but also ingenious people of the islands of the Caribbean. Once physical slavery was outlawed in 1865, mental slavery gave way to our current situation as of 2011: racist and prejudice thoughts that affect people of all ages.

Media shows us these prejudice thoughts through songs and cartoons. Think about it? Have you ever heard the stereotype that all Asian kids are super geniuses? What about that all black folks have chicken and Kool-Aid every night for dinner? Oh, and here’s my favorite one: All people that speak Spanish are automatically Mexican! Ha! These may seem like dumb stereotypes, but they affect how we view each other.

The more we can get to know and understand different cultures, the better our lives would truly be. Race doesn’t have to be a divider. It could be a connector - a way to embrace the fact that we all aren’t the same skin tone but we all have a story. Once we, as people, are able to listen to one another, the better this world could be. The world isn’t just viewed in black and white, right and wrong; it has areas of gray that can be used to understand others and make all our lives easier.

*United We Stand, but Divided We Fall.*

Being a Teen Really Isn't That Easy

Adults like to remember their teen years as easy, fun and stress-free. But is that really true? Do most adults really remember what it's like to try to figure out school, home, work, friends and love for the first time? While it's easy for us grown-ups to idealize, the teens at Mercy Housing Lakefront have created this PSA about what teens really go through and what they need to get by.

 

The Sad Truth: Has dropping out REALLY become normal?

    As a child, I was continuously taught that material objects do not matter. That anyone can rob you of your luxuries at any given moment; that treasuring something that has no soul makes you as empty as your morals. But in that same breath, my  dad would always say that education is the one thing no one can take away from you. Knowledge and wisdom are things that should have more value than any other possession (other than family, of course).

    Lately, however, the morals that my dad impressed upon me aren’t as prevalent in today’s society. The Chicago Public School (CPS) system has been falling into a depressive downwards spiral. The CPS graduation rate is only 56%; this means that just slightly more than one out of every two CPS students will graduate for high school.

Back to school safety for CPS students

About two weeks ago I did a series of posts about surviving high school, but I didn’t really say anything about safety. So I just want to you know tell you a couple of rules that I think every teen should try and practice, even if my suggestions sound stupid.

Are double standards fair when teens are put behind bars? No way.

Double standards in general are unfair, but particularly to minors that have been convicted as an adult and they can’t even have adult rights.

I mean I know I’m only 15, but it just doesn’t seem right that a 17-year-old has the same rights as me but can’t get the benefits of actually having a life when they get out of prison. They’ve already suffered enough having to share a cell and community bathroom with psychopathic adults.

Beating and torture to join the cheerleading team?

According to statistics from hazing expert Dr. Susan Lipkins, 1.5 million high school students are hazed each year. Nearly half of high school students, 48 percent, report being subjected to hazing activities.

Personally, I think that hazing is an unnecessary activity, one that only hurts people in the end. Beating, scolding, and torture are all considered an initiation into activities, such as cheerleading. What's the point of hurting people that you want to be on your team in the future?

What's your take? Is hazing stupid or just harmless fun? Leave your comment below.

- Diamond Cumbo

Teen sex offenders?

Surveys show that 39% of all teenagers either send or post sexually suggestive messages and 20% of all teenagers have sent or posted nude pics or videos of themselves. Sexting, is sending sexually explicit or nude pictures to someone. Although they are sending explicit pictures, this is increasingly becoming a hobby for teens.

Today teens are coming together on one basis and that is sexting. According to a survey done by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a little over half of teen girls say they sext because of peer pressure from guys, and less than a fifth of teen guys blamed teen girls.  

Although some may not see sexting as a big issue, it can sometimes lead to a tragic outcome or death.

Jessica Logan, a 18 yr old girl living in Cincinnati,  sexted her boyfriend a few "harmless" pictures and when they broke up, he forwarded them to the girls in his phone. When Jessica's pictures made their way around the school, everyone began calling her vicious names and taunting her endlessly. She became very depressed and even scared to attend school, so she committed suicide by hanging herself in her room.

Logan's case is an extreme case. Not many teens have committed suicide because of sexting, so when her case came along it was very shocking.

When caught receiving or sending out "sexts" charges can be made. Some of the charges may be distributing child pornography, solicitation etc. These are really serious charges and if charged with a felony some teens have to register as sex offenders.

We may say sexting has nothing to do with child pornography, but in reality it does. While under the age of 18 we are considered minors, and sending or posting nude pics of ourselves or other minors is called distributing child pornography. Although we are breaking a law we fail to realize how serious the matter is.

Others may say, the authorities have nothing to do with it, it is up to the parents to discipline us. The only reason the authorities get involved is because we are minors and it is illegal to produce child porn (under age sexting).

We as teens are naive about the safety of our pictures. Sexting under the age of 18 is a serious issue and it is illegal! There are other ways for us to have fun without breaking laws. We should take this issue more seriously as youth and should help spread the word and dangers of sexting. This issue should be taken more seriously among youth, and teens should help spread the risk and educate others on sexting in our community.

- Abrille Dodd