Kudos to Disney’s Two Moms!

This pass Sunday – January 26 – On the same night The Grammy’s married 33 gay and straight couples, Disney shocked the world by introducing it’s first same sex couple on the series finale of Good Luck, Charlie. Although this made many people uneasy, Disney has decided to stand behind their decision whole heartedly, making it very clear that this is reflective of the families today that have same sex parents.

Disney shows the characters as the mother’s of Taylor, a child that goes to Charlie’s school. Prior to the arrival of Taylor and her parents, Charlie’s parent were discussing that they met the child’s mother but by a different name. The family arrives and instead of the usual awkwardness that TV places on the gay communities, Charlie’s parents simply responded, “Taylor has two moms”.

This is a major step forward for Disney.

Kudos!

Justice for Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin, 17

It has been weeks since the world has heard of the tragic killing of 17-year-old, Trayvon Martin, and the nation is trying its best to make sure he and his family sees justice.

Martin, 17, was walking in a neighborhood while visiting a family friend in a gated community just north of Orlando, FL, when he was harassed and then shot dead by self-appointed neighborhood watch member, George Zimmerman. Witnesses say, that they heard a scuffle which was followed by a loud gunshot, resulting in Zimmerman standing over Martin’s unresponsive body with a handgun.

Zimmerman called the police when noticing Martin and accused him of looking suspicious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL72w4xiTVU

George Zimmerman, the murderer of 17-year-old Martin

Florida police told Zimmerman not to follow Martin, but Zimmerman took it upon himself to proceed to bother Martin, calling him racist names which then lead to the killing of the 17-year-old. Zimmerman told the police that he killed Martin in a play of self-defense. Martin was unarmed, with only an ice tea and pack of skittles in his possession.

ABC News has created a timeline to show the injustice that the young mans family had to suffer while trying to investigate their son’s murder.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/trayvon-martin-case-timeline-of-events/

Since the public notice of the devastating news, people across the nation has brought attention to the injustice and discrimination that took place. Family member, close friends, and even some witnesses have now spoken out about what really happen on that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8DemEfSHWA here is the clip of the final phone call of Martin to he girlfriend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cWwUAbbWnk&feature=related Witnesses speak in the Trayvon Martin Case.

The outrage has struck a cord with the nation and people are coming from each corner of the country to show respect and help with the investigation. Just this week President Obama spoke out about the matter saying, “If I had a son, He’d look like Trayvon,” illustrating how this issues affect him on a personal level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hujkMw2fCQw

Just last night, the Miami Heat all wore hooded jump suits in honor of Martin, and to take a stand in the movement. What happen on that day hold a spot in the heart of many around the nation. An innocent black teenager gunned down because of suspicion. No one thought that racism was completely dead but no one thought that it was this prominent in today’s society.

Justice must be met, not only for the Martin family, for our youth and our nation. Many has compared Trayvon Martin’s tragedy to the Emmett Till injustice that happen in the 50’s. Both young, innocent, black teenage men killed because of the color of their skin.

Why is the racism that was alive in the 50’s still alive in 2012, nearly 60 years later? Where does it stop? And will justice ever be served?

– Deon

Absent Minded or Racist???

For years the Walt Disney corporation has been viewed a racist company and the only ethnic cartoon characters they presented were animals or terrible stereotypes. This is a link that brings attention to what people think are the top most racist characters from Disney, http://www.listal.com/list/racist-disney. Well my recent discovery bright some light as to why the world has been saying this for so long.

Just under a month ago my god-daughter receive a Disney princess adventure hut for her birthday. I immediately notice that the ethnic princesses like Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Tiana were nowhere on the play hut. I then began to wonder exactly how long ago the hut was designed and looked to the ever google search engine. Not only did I find out that the hut is relately new, the that Rapunzal became a Disney princess in 2010, when Disney released the film, Tangled.

I was told that my disvovery was just me over reacting and there were other huts that featured those missing princesses. This particular play hut featured Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Aurara (Sleeping Beauty), and Belle.

I then began to look up the different huts that were available on the toys-r-us website, and out of the five different models only one displayed those other characters. I called the local toys-r-us to see how many of the specific model they had available and they were “sold out” of that particular one. A sales associate informed me that the store only orders a certain amount of each item so when they are out of one item they’re just out, but you have the option to order online. For example, if a toy store orders 50 units of each product and 20% of the products feature characters of the minor, that 20% would be “sold out” before the other 80%. But my question is; why isn’t there a equal amount products distributed to the same toy store? When it comes to boy toys and girl toys there are equal amount of product in the stores, so why not for the majority and the minority?

A lot of people blame it on the area that the toy stores are in, and on what product they think parents would be more interested in buying for their children. I refuse to blame it on the demographic of a specific area. Not only is thing matter shown in the products Disney release, but in the children’s movies. While looking into this matter I ran across an article from Libby Brunette, Claudette Mallory & Shannon Wood titled, Stereotypes & Racism in Children’s Movies http://www.nhaeyc.org/newsletters/articles/Racism_in_Childrens_Movies.pdf . In the article, it basically spoke of how young children are introduced to racism through movies alone. It listed a few movies where the unlined racism didn’t go unnoticed.

Disney is sending the wrong messages to the youth. By being the leading company in children’s entertainment, kids are inspired and influenced by what they see through Disney. Much like society, Disney is painting a one dimensional picture of what is acceptable in the worlds eyes. By putting accents on certain characters sways the mind of children. Disney puts out a message that if you do not speak with an American accent or have fare skin than your not good enough or good at all. So what do we do as a society? How do we teach our children that what they see in their favorite movies isn’t always the best? Do we try to fight one of the biggest entertainment corporation in the world and let them know that what they doing isn’t right nor fair, or do we continue to think… is Disney being absent minded or racist???

– Deon

Facebook, phone apps, politics??

A report has been taken about one of the more powers Facebook has on the world. Facebook has plans to create a phone app that makes users determine what politic party they side with.

Everyone thinks this is a good idea and thinks that the app will get people more involve with the debates of the presidential elections. But there are some people who believe that the app is set up to try and decide where the deciding vote is going to go.

Those same people feel that if you don’t talk about politics in public, then why would you do so on Facebook. They feel the app is designed to appear as something and actually being used for a completely different reason.

I am one of those believers who feel this is a government scam for some citizens to get sucked into.

If trying to get the public more involved why wouldn’t pushing them to reading more about the political debates. And if you decided not to talk politics and something is designed to force you to state your opinion, wouldn’t it be a little annoying.

If you choose to speak privately about your political party, it should remain private decussions.

The country is aware of how drawn people are to social networks and plan to use it as an advantage.

So now the question is; Will the Facebook users allow the app?

If the application gross low interaction the percent would seem too drastic. It wouldn’t show the numbers the creator were looking for.

Now as the public, we play the waiting game. We wait and see if this creation is a success. We wait for the power of Facebook.