The Issue of Trust at Abbey Court

I know there has been a lot of discussion in class surrounding the issue of the residents mistrusting us at Abbey Court. I realize that we all have great intentions when giving our time and energy to the residents and that it is difficult when we do not receive a lot of participation with soccer and other activities at Abbey Court, due in part because we haven’t completely gained their trust. However, we must take a step back and look through the lenses of the residents in order to realize where they are coming from, how many things they have been through, and the persecution they receive daily from society. I believe French essayist Joseph Joubert said it best when he stated, “We must respect the past, and mistrust the present, if we wish to provide for the safety of the future.” After all the deceit some of these residents have experienced, they have reason to trust our intentions are of merit, especially not in the few months that center has been there. They are simply looking out for what is best for themselves and their families. I believe the best we can do is to continue to respect the residents of Abbey Court and give them all the time they need to warm up to us. In time, and through time only, is trust built.

-Terrence Bogans

Youth Theatre Complete

Hello Fellow Classmates,

I wanted to inform all of you that we have completed our youth project idea. DJ Berry, Terrance Bogans and I came up with 15 stories and play developments to be used by local theater groups. They are free to enhance the stories as the wish, but they must stick to the basic premise, they all have to deal with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These plays are designed for all ages and demographics and may be a very humanizing approach to the Declaration. The interactive youth theater and UNC-CH could easily enhance these plays and make them audience interactive. Nonetheless, we also performed one of the plays for the class in order to give them an idea of how these plays could revolutionize the way we conceptualize socioeconomic justice. The play was successfully carried out and most of the students were in awe at how well this play turned out. Hopefully, these stories will be put to good use during the following year.

-Abbas Rattani

Soccer Part II

Hello Fellow Classmates,

Last Sunday, I visited Abbey court once again to play some fun soccer with the local community members. This game was extremely entertaining because we saw a multi-generational involvement. Whether it was from people playing the game with us, or on lookers, to those who started a game of their own. This community development and building helped us all see the impact we had as individuals, even if it was just from our presence. More individuals were happy to try to things and challenge themselves because other individuals were investing their time and energy in somebody else's life. As one of the fellow players mentioned, the 12 year old girl, upon the end of the game mentioned she had more confidence to join her school's soccer team. This was something she was not comfortable joining, but with our 1 hour presence, it brightened her prospects. Who knows where she may be in the future, but if we can plant a seed in someone's heart and encourage them to look after it, we have just cultivated a flower, one extra, much needed flower in society.

-Abbas Rattani

287(g)

This week the New Yorker has a great profile on “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Since 1993 he has been a controversial figure in Arizona, repeatedly accused of depriving prisoners of their rights and allowing abuse within his jails. The writer follows Arpaio as he visits one of his jail tent camps, draws up press releases, and even makes an appearance on the Colbert Report. Arpaio oversees the enforcement of immigration law in Maricopa County under 287(g). His department conducts raids on Latino towns and communities and has created a general atmosphere of fear in the county. The mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon, has called Arpaio’s relentless pursuit of undocumented immigrants a “reign of terror” and publicly denounced his practices. An interesting read if you have a few minutes. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/07/20/090720fa_fact_finnegan

A little closer to home, the Independent Weekly has an article about 287(g) and its effects on Durham and Wake Counties.
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A398284

Breaking Barriers

As we've all learned this semester breaking barriers is all about taking the first step. We all had the luxury of using soccer as a medium and saw immediate results. The residents of Abby Ct. proved that making an effort provides immediate reward and that you can have a good time in the process. A simple soccer game creates trust that carries over well beyond the field. Today it's a high five and tomorrow it's full trust in the work environment and healthy dialogue that continues to promote good values.

-Abdul Salem-

Class Experience

My experience in this classs was definitely worth wild. The fact that the entire class was focused on making a differenve in one community ( the Carrboro community) was quite intriguing and unexpected. It was definitely rewarding and satisfying to get the chance to view how our influence can have a positive influence in the community. The discussion of a "Decent Society" was one of the most interesting discussions that we had in class. The amount of ideas that students came up with was amazing. However, the most engaging discussion was when we talked about our personal experiences with human rights violations. I described my own experience in Tanzania when my rights were clearly being violated. I was discriminated because I was Black in a Black country. This was contrary to conversations that highlighted how certain races discriminated against other races. All in all, I intend to take the lessons I've learnt in this class and apply it to the real world.

Gay Rights

I feel like this class covered what should be the rights of everyone yet mainly looked at the rights of illegal immigrants in our community. I believe it is easier to examine what rights are not being given to illegal aliens because the discrimination and prejudice is much more obvious.

Gay rights were briefly mentioned in class but they too are not being recognized in the United States.

One of the prominent reasons that gay rights remain unrecognized is that its group members have had difficulty joining forces to rally their cause. What's different is that unlike with Blacks, Native Americans, or Hispanics, gays (for the most part) come from the opposing party. Therefore, with homophobic, heterosexual parents enforcing a hierarchy of shame in which homosexuals rank at the bottom, these individuals are mentally assaulted at every stage in their life. If they are capable of staying closeted they remain so as to not make their live's "difficult". With African-Americans, parents can teacher their children to be proud of who they are from the very beginning of their lives. It is solely up to the individual to stand up for who they are. It is solely up tot he individual to be proud of who they are. In many cases the consequences are losing their families and the one's they love most.

The rights I speak of were addressed by bills such as ENDA which were not passed. This means businesses are allowed to fire an individual just because they are gay. This discrimination is tolerated because homophobia can clearly be seen throughout laws that our government has passed.

More GAYS were arrested during the Red Scares than were SUSPECTED COMMUNISTS. This is insane if you consider the amount of press and anger that the country has for cases such as Ethel Rosenberg.

Discrimination towards gays is everywhere. Next time you pass the salvation army bucket with a Santa ringing his/her bell at you, don't feel guilty when you don't donate - the Salvation Army uses donated funds to actively prevent the recognition of gay rights such as contributing to Prop. 8 as well as other things.

Everyone knows the publicized debate of gay marriage - let's forget the name or how it refelcts that America clearly can't get "seperation of church and state". The federal benefits clearly favor heterosexual couples. And before you bring up the children argument, make sure to incorporate how their are sterile couples, straight couple who do not want children, gay couples who've adopted, lesbian couples in which one of the mother's has kids or artificially inseminates herself.

Gay rights need to be recognized.

Reply to 'Refused" Posting

I noticed an article a couple posts below in which someone posted about the swimming pool not letting the black kids in and I was reading on Huffington Post today that Tyler Perry, the playwright/actor heard about this and has announced he is treating all the kids to a free trip to Disney World! I just thought that was a really generous way to show the kids someone cared.
-Juliana Adedoyin

After class?

I was just wondering if any of you will be here after exams end on Friday. I'll be in Chapel Hill for a little while longer and would like to visit the center once more to spread some pamphlets and possibly play a round of soccer or two. Hit me back here or on Facebook if you think you would like to stay around and hang out at the center for a few. Thanks

Soccer

I went out to the center for soccer twice this session. The first day, no kids showed up and we played with a random guy our age. I decided to go again this past Sunday since I still had not had any time with the kids. It started out just the seven of us from class kicking around and playing juggling games, but finally a mom with her two kids met us and her son joined the game already going on amongst us. Eventually, several more kids started creeping out, (but staying close to their mothers of course). Finally we had a good game going with quite a few kids, and even a middle aged guy joined us who had been watching from the steps. Several mothers with smaller toddlers gathered with Professor Blau and a few people that were periodically taking breaks from the game. We all got to sit and talk with them for a while and the women were very sweet and friendly. I listened to Evan speak with them in Spanish and it made me wish I knew more of their language. Nancy, the first woman who showed up politely asked if I spoke Spanish and unfortunately I had to reply no, I only speak French :( The longer we were out in the courtyard, more families stood on the upper levels of the steps and watched the game. The entire experience was amazing because I was only there for an hour and saw a small community appear and begin to interact around me.

Refused

The Story

The story I posted above is about the Philadelphia swim club who refused to allow black children to swim in their swimming pool. This story particularly disturbed me because how could people deny small children their right to swim in a pool because of their skin color! The rights of the children have been violated in such a disturbing way and I can not believe how cruel people can be!

Human Rights Project

It's amazing how so many people say that it is important to concern ourselves with Human Rights and yet they know nothing about what it truly is and how it is being dealt with in countries other than our own.

The project (our group) seems to be doing pretty well.
Recently I was talking with a friend who is planning a trip to Thailand in the next couple weeks and found that he saw the troubles of workers in Thailand but said that it was NORMAL for them to work in bad conditions.

Normal. Really??

Hopefully, our group will be able to pass on all the information that we have collected about Human Rights and slowly but surely people will take notice that what we take for granted, others have not never had the opportunity to experience for themselves, "rights" as we know it.

-- Katherine

Cultural Diversity Project

So the projects are due tomorrow! I only have finishing touches to do and I am complete, mostly just making it pretty! I have tested my packets on children and it seemed to be successful with aiding children to learn about different cultures, even though it is a broad topic from different backgrounds. I hope this can future benefit children and expand their knowledge through a cultural diversity perspective. :-)

gentleman's social

we just finished up our third gentleman's social of the session and despite the poor turnout, i feel like we have still made progress. the first week we had it on a friday at 5:30 and only one man came out. because of the poor showing we decided to advertise more and change the day and time to sunday at 6:30 thinking that it would be a good way to wind up the weekend. little did we know the hispanics who live in abbey court like to do their laundry and go grocery shopping on sunday evenings to prepare for the week ahead. no one showed up. we again changed the day, this time to saturday evenings at 6:30. the third time we had one man come and he seemed to have had a great time and he promised us that next week he would be sure to bring his friends. it's coming along slowly, but surely and in a few weeks i'm positive others will start to come as the word continues to spread. dominoe

Post Away!

Thanks to everyone for posting on the blog! Keep posting during our last week of class. Is everyone done with the projects? I have enjoyed reading about everyone projects but, if anyone has an successes that they haven't shared yet let us know! See you guys later today!

Carrboro Human Rights Day

Hello Class,

So my project is to take on the beginning steps/detective work in planning Carrboro human rights day which will take place on December 5th. I mainly have been involved in contacting campus organizations who I think would want to help and in researching what other cities and towns have done to celebrate human rights. So far, I have emailed the contact person of the following organizations: advocates for human rights, linking immigrants to new communities, student action with workers, and the campus amnesty international group. I have not heard back from anyone. However, it is has only been a couple of weeks and many of these people are probably not currently in Chapel Hill and will have to wait to talk to their organizations before making a decision on whether to help out or not. I may continue to be involved in this project after the class is over, though, and plan on forwarding any emails I receive back to Professor Blau regardless. I also gave her contact information to the people I emailed.

As far as ideas for human rights day I have come up with the following:

• educate people, especially children, on their human rights and the importance of upholding their rights and respecting others' rights in the community
• cultural events to celebrate human rights through dance, music, drama, or art
• have UNC professors who teach or have written on human rights give lectures
• give awards to local human rights leaders, such as businesses who have been good at respecting the rights of their workers
• have poetry performance art or just plain poetry reading that emphasizes human rights
• have panehls on issues such as: equality, immigration, domestic violence, human trafficking, labor rights, racial and gender discrimination
• show a film. The following have been recommended by other human rights centers: Unnatural Causes- is inequality making us sick?, Ballot Measure 9, Race: The Power of an illusion, The Visitor, Milk, Rabbit Proof Fence, and Justice For All

If anyone has any other ideas on campus organzations who may want to help out with Carrboro Human Rights Days or any ideas on events that could take place on human rights day, let me know!

-Taylor

Cultural Diversity Group

I just finished my journals and project. I basically chose three countries of South America, and explain each culture individually. I also attached few pictures of them . I translated all the texts to Spanish. I hope this can help people at Abbey court to know their culture better and being engaged with it.

Modern Day Slavery

When we think of slavery, many of us often think of it in the terms of Africans being shipped to the United States to work on plantations, and in treating it that way, we often think that it is something of the past. Slavery is very much alive and thriving today which is highly disturbing.
To me, one of the best ways to learn about something is directly through someone who has a first-hand account of the situation. Often times, it is not feasible to talk to all different types of individuals in all corners of the world, so the internet and books are a good way to get this experience as well. Books in autobiographical form are perhaps my most favorite literary medium. I had the pleasure of having my eyes opened to the plight of modern-day slavery through autobiographical form in the book Restavec: From Haitian Slave to Middle-Class American by Jean-Robert Cadet. It tells the tale of a boy growing up in Haiti as a restavec, which is basically a child slave, and his horrible childhood to the adulthood in which he gained some sense of empowerment. Cadet still suffers psychologically from all of the trauma he was put through as a child slave and recounts a lot of his childhood in vivid detail. It is not a fun, light read, but, it is a story that once you start reading, you will be compelled to finish. If you are interested in this book, you should borrow the copy from me, it's enlightening.

-Juliana Adedoyin

Futbol && MANO

Hello Everyone!

As a couple of people have already mentioned, soccer with the kids today was total hit! When we first arrived at the field there was no one in sight and the sing that had been made had fallen. We waited for a while to see if any one would show up and then seeing as to how no one was really coming I decided to call up one of the ladies I had worked with during MANO. I asked her if she wanted to bring her kids to the field since we were there, and from there on everything else just seemed to fall into place. Two other ladies also brought their kids outside to play after seeing more kids getting involved. While the kids we busy "kicking our butts", the mothers were sitting under the shade of a tree talking with Professor Blau and some of the other students. I'd say, it was a good way to end the second summer session but wished there could have been more soccer days like this one for the kids to enjoy. Well, there's always next semester!
Since I was able to talk to the ladies that brought their kids out to play as well as Professor Blau, I was also able create two more last MANO sessions before the end of summer school. We will be using the Center for these last days and hold the classes around regular MANO times (6pm) with tomorrow being an exception where the lessons will most likely be before class (around 4:30pm). As I've mentioned before, this will be the last MANO sesssion for them until it resumes normally in September, so they are very greatful for the help we're offering. Hope to see some of you there!

Soccer Success!

Hey everyone,

Today I went to play soccer with other classmates at 4:00 pm...and we actually had a lot of guests join us! It was a multi-generational event today - we had toddlers, kids, and even adults join us for soccer. Some more adults came to watch and sat under the tree next to the soccer field with Professor Blau. As usual we still had many onlookers but I think a lot of team work came together nicely for our soccer game today - we used the sign and verbally invited community members at E8 who were watching to come and play. Some adults, and kids, were still too shy or just wanted to watch, but some took us up on the offer. Hopefully after today a lot more people will join in for soccer in the future (We also told them about soccer next semester). I'm glad I went and played soccer a second time - The first time I went we didn't have anyone join us. It was nice to see how people of all ages and from all different backgrounds could relax, talk, and play soccer together on a Sunday afternoon, and it made me appreciate even more what the center in Carrboro is doing. Now I think the Abbey Court community is really starting to trust us and view us as their friends - I hope this will lead to more people becoming aware of/taking advantage of the services the center offers. It was a really fun afternoon...We finally had a successful day of soccer!

- Natalie C