Language of Human Rights- Final ENG 101

Human Rights are known as the legitimate rights we all are born with. Those Rights are the privileges we have for being members of the human kind. As the simplest definition to language, we can consider it as an indispensable tool to our relations with others. Even if in linguistic we learn in reference to the innateness hypothesis, that linguistic knowledge exists in humans at birth, however it is not given to all the gift of being a charismatic person. In law and Human Rights class, we also learn that even if today many organizations struggle to implement these Rights, there is still a huge gap between the theory and the reality.  In this blog, I will show how language can reinforce someone’s Rights and how it can be used to do the opposite as well: deprive a person from it Human rights. I will also demonstrate how Martin Luther King’s struggle used the language of Human Rights for the recognition of Black people’s rights in the United States with the Civil Rights Movement.

We live in a society where all nations, from different cultural background and religious beliefs interact with each other every day. We are called to be tolerant and respect everyone’s opinion, beliefs and customs. However no one can use its freedom of expression to harm someone else’s   integrity, whereby the “no harm principle”. When judging a person for it acts or behavior we must take into account its culture, since we know that every culture has its own norms and practices. Nevertheless no one should base the action of take away someone’s life on the purpose of religion. Cultural relativism is respected by law because culture it part of our identity, but it cannot be used to deprive others from any of their rights. However this remains an issue for the Human Rights organizations, it is not easy to fulfill this task everywhere on the planet.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ratified after World War II is the recognition of the right of speech and right to social security, the right to education, shelter, health care, our Rights as workers… of all human being on hearth. This document stipules in the first of its thirty articles, that everyone is born free and equal. Martin Luther King used the language of economy to implement the Rights of black citizens to equal opportunities. He appealed to the conscience of those who had the economic power to reduce poverty and let his people access a minimum wage to response to their obligations. When King used the expression “starvation wages”, he reinforced their rights as workers, advocating they deserved to be compensated for the effort they produced.  By accessing a minimum standard of life people can choose the life they value.

Linguistic determinism lets us understand that language determines thoughts. Yet, when referring to the Language of Human Rights we don’t always think of our personal wellbeing, we talk in term of justice and equality for everyone. It is the ideal of those who wrote and signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to live and govern in a word where everyone’s right would be equally respected. This is why we always choose our words with precaution in our relations with others, since anyone would like to be accused of violation of Human Rights. The Language of Human Rights helps us to keep the balance between what it is fair to do say, how to present the final decisions when resolving legal or civil issues and to analyze and judge what it is arbitrary done to people. However, even if the Language of Human Rights is powerful and indispensable in relations with others, it is limited. These limits come into the Language of Human rights when we use our judicial activism to react toward a situation, because we are all human beings. The human kind cannot be totally radical, because diversity, similarity and particularity are what influence our judicial restraint when we talk about Human Rights.  

Power of speech (Eng 101- blog 5)

The charisma that characterizes Dr. King’s speeches is what makes them so effective. In this blog I will discuss effect of his speeches upon his listeners. I will also describe the strategies used to spread his ideology and implant his theory into the mentally of his followers, thereby I will demonstrate how the practice of non-violence is related to the power of speech based on two of Dr. King’s speech; How Long? Not Long! in Alabama in 1965 and the Last Speech in 1968.

  How Long? Not Long! is a remarkable moment in Dr. King’s motivational campaign against segregation and interracial issues in the United States. His speech is not to raise violent feelings among the black community but to open their mind towards a more just society. King is establishing a revolution into the mentality of the people of color. His message does not invite them to reverse the system but to change it, in order for them to fit in, without having to be humiliated.

  The language Dr. King used also played an important role in his campaign of non-violence. His gestures as well, when he is giving his speeches, are among the factors that touched the autonomic nervous system of his audience. King didn’t only sensitize his listeners through charismatic speeches but brought God into their struggle. He placed their faith on the spot as a guide to their battle; arousing thus deep feeling such as joy and confidence. When he placed his hand in the air and evoked the name of God, this is a sign of blessing. The repetition of this phrase as well had a powerful meaning to his audience “do it for him”. This refers us to the ideology of the agape love level. He is not preaching his people to be non-violent because he believes in this concept but he is calling them to be non-violent against their oppressor and also love them because God loves them and because the universe is on the side of justice. This is a call to spiritually regardless your religion, because his struggle assembled a wide range of religions.

   Another remarkable speech which had influences his followers is the one he gave before he got killed in 1968; the Last Speech. In this speech Dr. King is more than ever deep into his struggle. The tone of his voice changed, but not because he got mad; it changed because he implicitly evoked that he knew his time will come soon and he could not see this freedom. But his willingness to suffer for those he loves is more important than the satisfaction of this desire. Yet the confidence he had already spread into his audience and followers is significant. When he said: “I have seen the promised land”, this prophetic address of Dr. King to his people is a message to strengthen their faith even if he knew that it’s going to be hard to get there. Martin Luther King was confident that the battle will continue until they reach this land of peace social respect and good will. 

Non-violence Eng 101

In this blog I will discuss the third chapter of A Testament of Hope: The Power of Non-Violence. Martin Luther king, in his speech on non-violence method is promoting this strategy in order to approach his opponents at an emotional level. King brought the topic of love, universality and faith into his struggle. His philosophy targeted the sensibility of the white citizens by promoting a brotherhood behavior, while demonstrated how this method lead to a united and stronger spiritual society. Spiritually in King's method is fundamental; since those who he is trying to convert believe that God is their guide.

Eng 101 blog 4.

  Since I started this cluster found it interesting. The courses on human rights, the new knowledge I acquired in the linguistic courses and the skills I learn in eng 101 are very effective and helpful.

 In law class I learn about rights that I didn’t know that I had and how they affect me and my surrounding. The notion of legality and the application of what it says in the constitution is not something that I am familiar with, but in professor Bojana’s class and Dr. Cooper’s class I definitely got. Even if the courses sound different but in reality they are not and with the cluster I quickly assimilated the topics study in class and the materials used such as videos and documents; they are relevant. The books choose by the instructors are very effective, the texts they contain are explicit which help us understand the subject easily.

  Since the first day of class, professor Bojana, in her introduction said that this cluster should be considered as a learning community. Therefore, in a community diversity is what makes it interesting and the interactions and exchanges between the members of this community is what makes the learning process richer. We are all different from each other; ethnicity, cultural background, religion, nationality… but we all respect each other’s opinion customs and beliefs even if we might personally disagree. I personally find the connections between the Law and English 101 classes right away. I found it interesting and very helpful because it helps us understand better what it says in the constitution. The way you, Dr. Cooper explain us help us understand better the reality in today’s socity with your speeches on actual events they make it more evident. This is where I found the relation to language; the language we use gives form to what we think and expose who we are with clarity to others. I learn how it can be used to deny or reinforce someone’s rights, and how it used by law to achieve the government’s goals and satisfies it needs. Nevertheless it took me a while to finally understand the relation to the ELL 101 courses. Sometimes I’m still confusing but its ok, I’m getting it. As long as I understand what is being thought in class I’m fine.

  The LIB 110 class is like the instructors said a space to share who we are with others, so I think is well connected to the cluster because in the learning community in which we are interacting during the semester, having this space to explore other’s diversity and discover from their personal experience is part of what we call community interexchange, whereby the book we are working on now. I think it’s a great initiative because it will be the portrait of our learning community and will show how together, regardless our origin’s differences, we can produce something amazing. For my part everything is well connected so far in the cluster.

Violence towards AA before and after the civil war (contradiction)

There were contrasting strategies of violence towards the African American community before and after the Civil War in the Southern United States. Both periods tended to promote the same ideology; imposing the white’s rules on a race of people judged bestial, inferior. Their bodies were the element which their racism and sadism had targeted.

Before the Civil War the Afro American community was considered as properties of the white men, their bodies didn’t mean so much to the white owners but the amount of black they had at their service was all that matters. They could beat them to death but would to keep them alive to ensure the prosperity of their lands. Mary Reynolds, an Ex-slave who has undergone the barbarism of slavery at these times reported: “He hanged me by the wrists from a limb on a tree and spraddled my legs round the trunk and tied my feet together. Then he beat me. He beat me worser than I ever been beat before, and I faints dead away” (M. Reynolds 109). This slave, Mary Reynolds, has experienced the hate of those people because of their thirst of wealth and prosperity. The part of her body that was targeted to inflict the punishments was the ones she needed to produce the work in the fields. At that point, we could say that the physical punishments they received were not to exterminate them rather to teach them a lesson.   Whereas, the violence used against the black community was to keep them from being self-sufficient and multiplied their race. The extension of African American’s population in the society represented a danger for white citizens. They reinforced their rules and applied their laws through some lethal methods such as lynching and sadistic reactions. The purpose of the violence exercised towards the black community was not to make them obeying the white laws nevertheless it was to control their lives.

LIB 110 intergrated project and bio.

  

Moreen Valerie Narah. Tonny, I was born in Haiti in April 14th 1991. I am the youngest of a family of four children. I moved to the United States few months after the earthquake that devastated my country in January 12th 2010.  I am a native French speaker. I grew up speaking French and Creole, my ancestry’s language. In the Haitian society the languages you speak tell a lot about your education and open you to better opportunities. My first contact with English was at 5 years old, when I first came to the United States. Few years later, I started learning Spanish in school and by traveling to the Dominican Republic.     I lived in Haiti my entire childhood. I was raised in the French educational system. I went to a catholic school The Sisters of Sainte Anne for three years then I left because I felt oppressed there. Then I went to a unisex school named Cours Prives Edme, a private institution, whereby I first understand the real meaning of human rights, and I discovered there my passion for arts and languages.

My project for this book will be something inspired by my personal experience I am orphaned of father, but that never affected me like many children who have been raised by a single mother. Because my mother made the impossible becomes possible to ensure me a brighter future. She is my heroin. Nevertheless one thing about the sad reality of my country that has always intrigued me, was the situation of children living in the streets, being prostituted, abused, those who cannot receive at least a primary education and those dying with diseases that could be cured but because they have not access to health care are not getting any attention.

I have witnessed all forms of violations of human rights in my country. I lived in the capital, where everyone from the country side thinks if they move there, they will have more chance to have a better life. Most of them believe if they give their child to a relative out there this child will have a decent life, which is most of the time 75% false.

 I am a defender of Human Rights, since they are known as the rights we are all equally born with. They are the privileges that every single human being in the world is protected by and entitled to enjoy. Therefore I feel responsible for the rights of those who cannot defend themselves, and do not have the knowledge necessary to express their thoughts and claim their rights.  By that I mean the rights of the children to have access to the minimum standard of life; the right to health, shelter and food, education and social security.  The United Nations states in article 26 of the Universal declaration of Human Rights that everyone have the right to education, but the theme of education is a major issue in Haiti. Language is the base of this issue, whereby 65% of the population is illiterate. Education is transmitted in a foreign language they teach in French when only 1/3 of the population can properly speak it. Therefore the lack of education becomes an obstacle for people over there to claim their rights, based on what is written in the constitution. Their limited knowledge obstructs them to plenty enjoy the rights they are entitled to.

A red record

 

In her the book titled "A Red Record", Ida B. Wells raised many ideas among which constitutional equality, indignation, outlawry, sadism, anarchy. All her thoughts and work went against the exercise of racism established in the society by the white men.

 She argued that the black men are part of the nation, therefore they should be protected by the laws and the government who gave those rights is responsible to preserve the integrity of their person. She is outraged to see how a class of people, in order to preserve their supremacy upon another can denied the laws of a land based on human rights, equality and social security, whereby the outlawry sight of her campaign. Wells also mentioned the sadism with which white men shot into pieces the black people bodies. Pointed lynching as an act of terror perpetrated against the African American population in order to maintain their power and control over their lives. The absent of government's interference as Wells revealed it boosted the anarchy that was going on in the southern states in the early 1890.