Group work

Every time I look at a syllabus in the beginning of the semester I always check first to see if there is a group project.  I tend to a have a love/hate relationship with group projects.  In some of my previous classes, group projects tend to be simple and straight forward.  And sometimes the goal of the project is too complex or me and my group members might not be on the same page.
However, this group project seems to be straight forward.  My group mates Josh, Elizabeth, and Didier all have an understanding of what we need to do and we expect to get the job done. 

Police

Throughout my life I never had any problems with the police.  When I was in 6th grade I was able to experience first hand how hard the police actually work.  I was at my aunt's house watching tv and I left my bike on the patio in the backyard.  All of a sudden I see some guy run up and take my bike.  My aunt called the police and minutes later my bike was recovered.  From that moment on, my point of view on the police was they were good at their jobs.  Also in the past 3 or 4 years there were times where I should've been arrested but they showed mercy on me and my friends.  Unfortunately people across the US and the world have not had the same experience with law enforcement.

The interviews in the video show the different points of view of how people view the police.  I believe the video is a good tool for people to talk about their experiences of law enforcement.  The people who live in nice neighborhoods might have a friendly relationship with the police and those who live in rough areas of town might have a different perspective.  Also, these interviews might make people more aware of the bad cops that affect other people's lives.  Something that struck me in the video was how some police in different parts of the world are only there to serve politicians and the people in power.  To me that only creates more conflict between the people and law enforcement. The people won't feel safe in the presence of the police and that might force them to fight back when they aren't being treated fairly.  

Presidential Look

Donald Trump has said many head scratching statements before and he did it again.  Trump said Hillary Clinton doesn't have a presidential look and a person running for president should always have a presidential look.  After seeing photos of presidents of the past I have no idea what a "presidential look" is.  Many of those presidents were either bald or had grey hair.  And some were fortunate enough to had colored hair.  So if Donald Trump was implying that Clinton wasn't bald enough, then he certainly has a point.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/09/07/how-hillary-clinton-can-get-that-presidential-look/?utm_term=.d613f8bb14e0

This song is hilarious.  Every time I hear it on TV or a video on the internet I can't help but laugh.

Laquan McDonald

In class we discussed the murder of Laquan McDonald.  McDonald was shot 16 times by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.  There was massive outrage when the video was released because it was said that McDonald lunged at Officer Van Dyke with a knife and he had no choice but to shoot him.  However the video shows McDonald walking away with the knife in hand and Officer Van Dyke unloading 16 shots into McDonald.  Van Dyke clearly shot McDonald because he felt like doing it, not because he was forced.  Laquan McDonald did have prior troubles with the law and was not a perfect citizen but that doesn't justify him being murdered in cold blood.