Taking A Stand

What does it mean to take a take a stand?  It could mean something different for everybody.  I feel it means to commit time and resources to something you firmly believe in.  There are tons of examples of this happening present day.  Law makers and politicians take a stand in something they believe in every day.  One politician is President Barak Obama.  Recently, he tried to pass a bipartisan agreement to try to extend Federal unemployment insurance.  It took him countless hours to persuade other Democrats to vote for the bill.  In the end, he was able to succeed in making his idea reality by taking a stand.  Another example of taking a stand modern day is the environmental group Green Peace.  They take a stand by protesting whaling and other harmful actions.  In my opinion, Tom Robinson takes a stand for himself.  He believed that he was innocent and that he should not have to be in jail for being innocent.   He risked his own life and lost it for what he believed.  Most of the population would not even dare to think that he was innocent.  Because of this racism, the Judges overlooked the facts that Tom Robinson was innocent. That is really taking a stand for what you believe in.  If he didn’t take a stand and try to run off, Tom might never have left the jail.  The jail guards could also have killed him because of racism.  By running off and getting shot, it shows his determination to prove his innocence.   His willing to take such a stand, might have caused the jurors to second guess themselves.  Just like the Emmett Till case, the jurors were racist and didn’t even consider that these men were guilty.  However, when the story of them being guilty came out, they were forced to admit that they were wrong and their racist ideas were also wrong.

Incidents 4

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs chapters 33 through 38, individuals use a great amount of effort to help Dr. Flint in his efforts to get Brent back.  Brent writes a letter to both Dr. Flint and his daughter asking for the ability to buy her own freedom.  Dr. Flint writes back telling her that she has to return. When Brent gets a letter from Dr. Flint’s son, Jacobs writes, “I knew, by the style that it was not written by a mere person of his age, the hand of Dr. Flint” (Jacobs 177).  I find it interesting that even after 7 years of not seeing Brent that Dr. Flint would go through all the trouble of faking a letter from his son.  His faking the letter shows his determination to get Brent back. 

Dr. Flint is not the only one to go through a lot of trouble to try to get Brent to return.  Mr. Thorne, an aquantince of Dr. Flint, writes, “I have seen your slave, Linda, and conversed with her. She can be taken very easily, if you manage prudently” (184).   Slave owners helped other slave owners locate fugitive slaves.  With this vast network of slave owners helping each other, it was very difficult for slaves to escape and also to live as fugitives without worrying about being sent back.   Mr. Thorne’s letter probably encouraged Dr. Flint’s determination to start looking for her again.

Incidents 3

                In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs’s chapters 29 through 33, life in the North is not completely free of racism.  This is very troublesome for Linda Brent as she expected that African-Americans would be treated equally in the North.  Jacobs writes, “They don’t allow colored people to go in the first-class cars” (Jacobs 168).  This experience showed Brent that some people in the North still treated African Americans as second class citizens.  Even though she had the money to have a more luxuriant trip, she was limited to riding in a filthy box with windows where you had to stand up to see outside. In the South, she could have the same quality ride but she would not have had to pay for the ride.  Within her first few days on free soil she still felt that she was being treated inferior to whites. 

Jacobs writes, “In order to protect my children it was necessary that I should own myself… I wrote a civil letter to Dr. Flint asking him to state the lowest terms on which he would sell me” (172).    The law at the time stated that the children followed the condition of the mother.  In order for Brent’s children to be free, Brent herself needed to be free.   Despite the seven year passage of time, Brent is worried that Dr. Flint has not gotten over his feelings for her and might not be willing to sell her.  She also sends a letter to Dr. Flint’s daughter asking for her freedom.  Since Dr. Flint’s daughter has no recollection of Brent, she might be more willing to sell her.   

 

Incidents 1

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl has helped shed light on many topics regarding slavery.  It has not only shown how appalling slavery was with certain owners but also shown that with the right owners slavery was not as hard a life as others might think.  Linda Brent says, "When I was six years old... I learned, by the talk around me, that I was a slave" (Incidents 5). Unlike most other slaves, Brent’s family was able to have an income since her dad was able to work on other plantations as a carpenter.  This was very unusual for slaves and to have a mistress this kind was a great privilege.  After Brent’s mistress died, she was sent to work for a relative of her mistress, Dr. Flint’s daughter.  However, her new owners were nothing like her previous owners and were very cruel.

Benjamin would rather risk running away then being punished by his master.  Benjamin fights back at his master, one of the richest men in town, and wins.  Brent writes that after this event Benjamin says, “Linda, we are dogs here…Let them bring me back. We don’t die but once” (19).  Benjamin attempts to escape to the North even though it is likely he will not be successful and would face severe punishment if he is caught.  Slaves take great risks for that small chance of freedom. 

Incidents 2

In Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl chapters 16 through 19, there are many things that seemed very different from regular life in the South.  First, Linda Brent writes, "When I heard that my little ones were in a loathsome jail" (Incidents 103).  This amazes me because Mr. Flint cares so much about losing one slave and goes to great length to try to find Brent.  He first searches every crevice of her grandmother’s house.  He then takes her children and her brother, William, to jail and interrogates them.  Next, he places fliers everywhere and offers a $300 reward for finding her.  In addition, he borrows $500 to go to New York and other free states to look for her.  That just seems like too much trouble to go through to find one slave.   With the $800 he spent, he could have bought more slaves.  He did this not only because she is her property but also he has romantic feelings for her.

Another thing that catches my attention is when Brent’s grandmother says “Do you mean to leave your little, helpless children? Nobody respects a mother who forsakes her children” (93). Brent’s grandmother implies that Brent is being selfish for trying to escape to the North while leaving her children behind.  Many people like Linda Brent would never realize how hard it would be for Benny and Ellen without either a mother or father.  However, Brent’s grandmother feels regretful for leaving her children in slavery while she gets to experience being free and does not want Brent to feel the same way looking back at her decision.  Even though Brent decides to run away in the end, she still tries to make the best decision for her children; the future of her family.

School the Reality!

Have you ever wondered why we have random days off or why our school day is from 7:25 to 3?  These are things that I have often thought of.  When you think about it, why do we have a half day on October 1st? Interns are not a very good excuse to have a half day.  I am not complaining about the two and a half day weekend but many parents are complaining that they have to leave work early to pick up their kids.  Also, is there any reason why we don't have school during the summer? Before air conditioning, the school would become unbearably hot during the summer.  Now with air conditioning there is no reason not to have school during the summer besides tradition.  I would prefer year round school with a month brake between seasons.  That would help break things up and help us not forget everything over the 10 week summer vacation.  Other things that need to be changed about school are that students are too worried about getting good grades then actually learning the material.   Students should be graded on their knowledge of the material rather than how well they can guess and finding all the wrong answers.  Also, parents can be way too pushy. If they see an "E" on edline, they could get very angry.  However you know that you have not taken the test yet and your parents just don’t know what is going on. 

If I were to make my own school from scratch, these are a few things I would change.  First, I would have the curriculum having no multiple choice questions.  Also I would make sure that parents were informed before asking their student why they got bad grades.  I would make the school much smaller, closer to only 1000 kids instead of the 2500 students my school has.  The teachers all would have very few kids in the class; no more than 15 rather than the 30 currently.  They also would be able to discuss with their other department teachers what they want the curriculum to include.  All the teachers all would be passionate about teaching and create an enjoyable environment for students.  The last thing I would change or add to my school would be an extra hour for lunch and recess that students could leave the building before having their afternoon class.  These changes would help add more freedom for students.  If my school was like that it would make for such a better learning environment. 

 Please comment on what you agree and disagree with.