Living in the U.S as a Black Person

A lot of black people (like myself) are scared when placed in certain situations in public. However we go about our days hoping we never come across violent racist people.

The story of Ahmad Aubrey really hit close to home because I’m a black Woman who enjoys outdoor activities especially running. 

The questions I kept asking myself were; 

• Why do some people still feel they’re more superior to others? 
• What is the thought process around the supreme/superiority feeling? 
• What is it that they see when they look at others?
• Is there a way to educate these people to see others as regular human beings? 
• Is it just the melanin difference or is there something that’s distinctive about a black person that repulses them?

The above questions have been plaguing my mind since I discovered the existence of these supremacist groups. They’re still an enigma to me.

To be honest, when I step out of the house to go for an outdoor run on my own, I don’t actually fear for my life as a black person. I am more afraid of being attacked as a woman. However, ever since I heard about the news of Ahmad Aubrey, my awareness has heighten beyond normal.

Before the 6-feet social distancing became the new normal (pre-coronavirus pandemic of 2020), I usually switch lanes when I see anyone coming in my direction. During my run on Friday, May 8, 2020 (virtual run to honor Ahmad), I switched lanes again but people were waving and thanking me this time around. It suddenly dawned on me that I was being thanked for honoring the 6-feet social distancing policy.

The fact is, we live in a world where some people still believe they are more superior/supreme than other human beings. I’ve always accepted that as a norm. However, the people that frighten me are those supremacist groups that can result to violence. 

MLK once said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." 

I still look forward to that day that MLK dreamt about. A day that people will see me as a human first not by the level of melanin in my skin but by my character as a human being. May God help us!

#IRunWithMaud #Godislove #ihaveadream #

Dealing with the Current Sociopolitical Climate

The global sociopolitical climate have been so contentious the past couple of years. Many people blame it on the generation gap or the birth of a new world of progressive thinking. Either way you lean, you will agree that the world is changing and people are starting to have a "them" versus "us" mentality. As a result, I started to think, what if we were in a debate club? Wouldn't I first understand my opponent's viewpoint to the point where I can argue their case for them? I can better argue my view point if I totally understand my opponent's viewpoint. I don't have to agree with my opponent's viewpoint but I have to understand and respect their viewpoint. 

Why then do people seem to feel attacked or betrayed when someone doesn't believe what they believe? While ruminating on these thoughts, I realized there are so many factors that has contributed to the tension. These factors include the following but not limited to; social media, globalization, technology, Economic Fluidity, Complexities around Healthcare and many more factors we cannot even measure at this time.

After exploring all the various factors contributing to the current social climate, I realized I won't be able provide a comprehensive explanation until each factor have been properly dissected. In the mean time, I think the article by Sean Blanda can be a buoy for those people who are really searching for ways to tolerate the other side. It's very helpful to understand the other side rather than attack them. Moreover, America will not be America if we all had the same opinion or think the same way. That's the beauty of being an American; coexisting amidst the differences.

I really think everyone can benefit from the wise words of Sean Blanda in his article, "The Other Side is Not Dumb." I recommend reading the article because it can kick start your thought process when dealing with an opposition or someone with a different viewpoint. Enjoy!

My favorite excerpt from the article was, "As any debate club veteran knows, if you can’t make your opponent’s point for them, you don’t truly grasp the issue. We can bemoan political gridlock and a divisive media all we want. But we won’t truly progress as individuals until we make an honest effort to understand those that are not like us. And you won’t convince anyone to feel the way you do if you don’t respect their position and opinions. When you refuse to truly understand those who disagree with you, it's intellectual laziness and that's usually worse than what you’re accusing the Other Side of doing."

Here's the link to the detailed article the excerpt came from: https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/the-other-side-is-not-dumb-2670c1294063#.r54iqhoo5

Should U.S. Cede Control of Internet Domain Names to Global Agency?
News: On Oct. 1, under a plan in place for two decades, the Commerce Department may cease to exercise contractual control over ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers); the entity that approves the .com's, .gov's and other Internet domain names. According to this article, the Congress will be voting to make this decision by September 30th, 2016.
Background: 
IANA (Internet Asigned Number Authority) was the governing body under the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) of the Internet Society that was under the U.S. government contract. They have overseen the allocation of Internet Protocol addresses to ISP's (Internet service providers) for the past 20 years. ICANN on the other hand, will be the organization that takes over control of the Internet after IANA expires on September 30th, 2016. ICANN is currently located in California and managed by the U.S Department of Commerce. ICANN was formed in the U.S because the U.S birthed the Internet. There are 7-keys that can be used to shutdown the worldwide Internet if a cyber attack were to happen. Currently, ICANN has total control of the 7 keys. These 7-key are held by 7 different people scattered around the world (mostly Americans). Since 2010, the key holders have been meeting 4 times a year (twice on the east coast of the US and twice here on the west coast) to perform the Internet ceremony/drill. The closest visual interpretation of ICANN's power was staged on the TV show; Prison Break. I know Prison Break only showed us what could happen if the U.S. government were to loose control, it still shows us the possible ramification.
My Perspective:
Why am I contemplating the idea of the U.S. ceding control of the Internet domain to a global agency? There are 2 main reasons for my trepidation on the transfer of Internet domain control to a global agency:
1. Who will the new ICANN members Comprise of?
What countries will makeup this new global agencies? Based on countries that makeup the G-8 summit, the U.N. will likely transfer control of ICANN to them. The G-8 countries are Russia, Germany, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Italy. These 8 countries have been responsible for governing the affairs of the world. They gather annually to discuss the current issues around the world and make decision on the next steps to resolve those issues. 
My concern is; giving countries like Russia a key can be disastrous. Russia does not even have the keys to control the Internet now and they're causing people harm (e.g. DNC Hack). What if they have one of the 7-keys to control the web? What kind of regulation will the new ICANN put forth? Will we still have the same rights we have now? What happens to free speech? Will they monitor & control all our internet activities? There are so many unanswered questions.
2. The Upcoming Presidential Election. 
Why do they want to transfer control of the Internet right before the presidential election? IANA have been the organization that governed the Internet for the past 20 years. However, the current IANA contract expires on September 30, 2016 unless the congress votes to extend the contract.
According to The Hill, "the United States cannot be assured that if any web site is hacked, the responsible party will be held accountable if the new global agency governs ICANN. We cannot be sure if a web site is valid. We cannot be sure if one country is being favored over another. These are all the things ICANN is responsible for and has worked perfectly since the Internet was created." 
The question is; Why change something so critical just 6-weeks before the national election? Why can't we just extend the contract with IANA until the congress can discuss the implications before making the decision to transfer control of Internet domains to a global agency? 
Conclusion:
We all have the power to make our opinions known by calling our state representatives and voicing our opinions to them. We all voted for our representatives so they can represent us in Washington.  Please call your representatives (including the members of congress & your senators) to voice your opinion. You can always find the contact information for your state Representatives here. 
Make your voice heard!

Appendices:

• ICANN - International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
• IANA - Internet Asigned Number Authority.
• IAB - Internet Architecture Board.
• ISP - Internet service providers

References:

• The Hill - http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/296840-changing-who-controls-icann-jeopardizes-our-presidential 
• House of Representatives Contact Information - http://www.house.gov/representatives/
• Meet the seven people holding the keys to Internet Security - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/28/seven-people-keys-worldwide-internet-security-web

Twitter Outrage ~(-_-)~

On August 6, 2009, the popular social networking website, Twitter was down for two hours. For those of you who are not familiar with the social networking website, Twitter is “a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices” (twitter.com/about, 2009). Twitter allows users to send a maximum of 140-character message called tweets to their followers who subscribe to receive updates from other users.
Last Thursday, August 6, 2009, Twitter and other popular social networking sites experienced a Denial-of-Service attack that left many users handicapped because they were unable to access their accounts. A Wall Street Journal article reported series of incidences and cases of disturbances that sprang from the inability of users to update their followers on their current status. The article even called the Twitter outrage “the unimaginable: life without Twitter” (Vascellaro, J. & Steel, E., 2009). The article reported cases such as a celebrity who was unable to update his 1.2 million followers of his whereabouts and how users around the globe were denied their freedom to broadcast their deepest thought for two full hours (Vascellaro, J. & Steel, E., 2009).

Just this morning, Twitter experienced another attack that left users without twitter again for almost thirty minutes. According to CNET, last week’s Denial-of-Service attack was aimed at a Georgian activist blogger that blogs about his political opinions on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter amongst others (Mills, E., 2009). The attack was intended to silence the blogger from voicing his opinion but it backfired. The Georgian blogger was reported to be a 34-year old professor and a refugee from Abkhazia: a region of Georgia that declared their independence in 1991 after the break of Soviet Union (Marquardt, A. & Potter, N., 2009). The blogger’s intention was to unite fellow refugees since they are recognized by very few governments around the world (Marquardt, A. & Potter, N., 2009).

If you’re wondering, why is this important? Within the last few years, many people’s lives have become dependent on these social networking sites. Few years back, we got the bulk of our news from TV news channels but lately, social networking sites are the major source of the most current news. A couple of weeks ago, I was charting with a former colleague of mine on how our generation has become so dependent on social networking sites and he said, “When I read news, I have to read peoples comment in order to eliminate possible biases” (Decker, M., 2009). Is that not intriguing?

This generation is what some will call an Emerging Internet-Dependent Society due to people’s reliance on the Internet (Baker, N., 2008). The Internet connects people with similar interests, goals, believes, and culture together hence, a generation that cannot function without the Internet. It is therefore important for those people who have not joined the bandwagon to start now or else, you will be left out of the loop. Social networking is becoming the means to live life and get noticed in this generation.

References
Baker, N. (2008, September 13). Social Networking Sites: An Introspective on Concept-Dependent Social Phenomenon. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from, http://nmbaker.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/social-networking-sites-an-introspective-on-concept-dependent-social-phenomenon/
Decker, M. (2009, July 21). ICS 699 Seminar 9. Ball State University, Muncie Indiana.
Marquardt, A. & Potter, N. (2009, August 7). Twitter Down: It’s an Online Attack on One Political Blogger. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8278141&page=1
McCarthy, C. (2009, August 11). Another attack hits Twitter. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from, http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10307542-36.html
Mills, E. (2009, August 6). Twitter, Facebook Attack Targeted One User. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from, http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10305200-245.html?tag=mncol;txt
Steel, E. & Vascellaro, J. (2009, August 7). Twitter, a Service of Few Words and Many Followers, Goes Silent. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124960455068513013.html

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