Various speakers have been throughout the course, and different speakers touch on different issues and courses relevant to them and their communities. Even though most of the speakers and their speeches are from the past, most of the topics and issues touched on still feel very relevant and relatable in the modern world. Some of the speakers double up as advocates and ambassadors for the issues and topics that they discuss and talk about. The searches are not just meant to be heard. However, appropriate context and understanding enable the reader to experience and conceptualize the message and the details about the specific issues being addressed, ranging from jail reforms to social justice and other social reforms.
There are various themes, and each theme has its significance in the society and the general perception of major socio-economic conditions (Health., 2021). As highlighted, the various speakers touch on different topics they have experienced; they narrate their ordeals and encounters regarding particular societal issues and how they handle specific circumstances. The paper summarizes the different speakers’ key points and perspectives regarding the criminal justice system in the USA and how they impact various members of the society, especially the vulnerable and the minorities.
The paper covers the speeches of eight different speakers and analyzes the key concepts, details, and issues raised in their speeches. The paper highlights the perspectives and perceptions that each Speaker views the criminal justice system, the different views of crime, punishment, and any particular reforms deemed necessary to ensure justice. The paper dissects the fight for inmate rights and how they can be improved to ensure that the individuals who are incarcerated are still treated within their constitutional rights and can access the basic requirements, such as appropriate shelter for survival.
The first selected speaker was the week four guest speaker and her speech about the scuffle with the law enforcement officers in the city. The Speaker highlights an issue that most common individuals and young folks would resonate with because of the various encounters between law enforcement officers and young individuals. From the introduction, the author highlights the plight of a lady who is harassed and somehow belittled, even called derogatory names by law enforcement; the lady is an African American, and that perhaps highlights why she is even arrested or bothered by the police for being found on the street. The Speaker narrates the encounters she and her mother had to endure while trying to make a living and avoid scuffles with the security and law enforcement officers.
The highlighted issues are a small quantity of some of the numerous societal issues that families, especially women, and children, have to contend with; most people living in poor neighborhoods struggle to earn any income, and even with the income, it is also very difficult to sustain the income. The Speaker talks about how life also changed once she turned 18 because she was now eligible for incarceration. Through her story, the Speaker highlights the massive inequalities that existed in the past and still existent in the modern world. The massive influence of poverty and how it shapes the lives of people who grow up and live in low-income communities or areas, these individuals are more exposed to encounters with law enforcement and are also most likely to be arrested and incarcerated for minor offenses. Individual who live in poor neighborhoods are also most likely to indulge in law-breaking activities such as selling drugs and other activities just to sustain their basic needs.
The Speaker generally describes her encounter and experience with the issues that most individuals living in poor communities and areas have to go through most of their lives: the cycle between the prisons and poor living conditions, no employment, no medical covers, no proper education system and access to education, poor security and inadequate housing plans in the poor neighborhoods. The Speaker described the harsh reality that most people do not want to face about the living conditions in poor neighborhoods and the adverse effects that these conditions have on individuals who experience and live in poverty.
The second speaker was Amnesty International representative Schmidt; she introduced her speech by highlighting a conversation and personal message to her father before engaging the audience with her perceptions and endeavors regarding inmates and prisons across the United States and in Africa. The speaker talks in detail about her experience working with inmates and prisons in southeastern Africa, specifically in Malawi(reliefweb, 2023). The Speaker gives specific details about the criminal justice system, how she perceives the system and the key details of the African jails. The author highlights her satisfaction in working with the inmates and visiting the prisons. She also details how she is excited about extending her stay in Africa and completing some of the projects she considers very important for her and the initiative she promotes.
The Speaker advocates for various initiatives that are generally socio-justice issues; the issues she highlights throughout her speech and during the Q&A session indicate her deep passion in advocating and appealing for more concern and regard for the lives of minority groups and the people from poor backgrounds who are mostly affected by the policies and directives that are provided by the established institutions such as the law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The Speaker highlights the importance of understanding and questioning the policies that are recommended and implemented, such as drug policies, which essentially further oppress the people living in poor communities and the minority groups that make up the majority of the population in poor communities. The Speaker also offers details on the numerous human rights and wellness projects they explore and popularize. Some of the mentioned initiatives or issues include the death penalty and execution in the United States of America and how it impacts other people apart from the inmates.
Institutions such as Amnesty International have been at the forefront of championing human rights and equality. The fight for equality and human rights should not be an issue left only for select specific groups or individuals to deal with. Instead it should be an issue that the general public accepts as important and key for the harmony of the society. Sensitization is a very important step in ensuring that many groups of people can deal with the issue of injustice, systemic oppression, and the general oppression and stereotypic notions that are used to dictate how people from different backgrounds and areas are treated. It is somehow detrimental that institutions such as Amnesty International have to depend on charity and volunteers in order to sustain their activities and projects. Yet, they try to address crucial human rights issues all across the world and are mostly at the forefront of dealing with and addressing the specific issues. In an alternative situation, it is supposed to be the role of the government and other established public authorities to see to it that human rights and equality are maintained in all aspects of life. The speaker emphasizes the key role of government in protecting and upholding the rights of the citizens.
The Speaker highlights their concerns with the government, which was then headed by former president Donald Trump; they highlight and illustrate the reasoning and the cause of publicly criticizing and calling out the president and some of his policies. At that particular time, the then-American president was under much scrutinies for his proposed policies, which included closing the border, deporting immigrants , and other unpopular suggestions and opinions in regards to women, religion, and human rights. Amnesty International views itself as a body responsible for oversighting the government and ensuring that any leader is not abusing their powers. The Speaker highlights the need for constantly championing and advocating for human rights and ensuring that the rights ambassadors are released and treated fairly by their government during arrest. The Speaker highlights the letter-sending program that ensures that the safety of the human rights activists who are arrested is maintained even while they are detained. Getting attention and applying pressure to the authorities who are oppressive is a tool that has proven very effective all along in history, as also highlighted by the Speaker. The Speaker also mentions that their activities and initiatives are not limited to the USA alone but also other continents and nations worldwide.
The speech is necessary for sensitization purposes because the speaker highlights the various human rights violations that are committed in countries such as the USA, where many people assume it is impossible to have human rights violated. The Speaker specifically highlights the executive orders and numerous campaigns about the ban of Muslims and other immigrant families from the USA.
The third selected Speaker is Hector, the guest speaker video from week 7; in this particular speech, the Speaker highlights the key and complex underlying issues that happen in Latin America and the South American region as a whole. The Speaker talks about the violent history of the region and some of the socio-economic impact of the continued violence, gang wars, and gang related operations (Defensores de Paz – Capítulo II – Héctor Carabalí, 2018). The Speaker specifically highlights the fact that he was born during the war, even worse in war, and still continues living in a war-ravaged area even into his adulthood. The Speaker highlights the criminal atrocities that have ravaged the South and Central America region for many decades; he highlights the adverse impact that the numerous military operations have in the region and in Colombia, specifically because there have been multiple drug operations by the cartels in the regions for numerous decades and the operations have destructed the socio–economic harmony in the region in general. The Speaker highlights the long-term impact of the extended conflict in Colombia, which has left over 10 million Colombians affected in various ways by the aftereffects of the war. Numerous families are broken up, and some are left to suffer the ravaging consequences of the war. The Speaker documents some of the tribulations he has gone through during his activism and community work efforts; he mentions receiving threats from the cartel and other groups that seem to be against the efforts to restore peace and some order in the region. The Speaker also mentions the threats that are directed towards his family, children, and wife; he illustrates the absolute power that the cartels and criminal organizations have in the low-income areas of the country and how intimidating they can get in the effort to curb any individual or organization that does not bow to their threats.
The Speaker highlights the plights and efforts of other popular groups and organizations and how their efforts have led to some form of change and betterment; he highlights the human rights organizations and groups that fought for the right of people to return to the region of Naya. The Speaker in the video and the whole message highlights how dire some situations are and some of the poor conditions that individuals and organizations go through to ensure that there is change in terms of equality and fair treatment of the poor and vulnerable in societies. The Speaker also highlights the great sacrifice it takes to sustain a rebellion against the status quo regarding the poor and less fortunate accepting the terms and conditions that the establishment has set or provided. The Speaker has highlighted his deep and sincere commitment to ensuring that the people in the various poor regions of Colombia are also considered, and their lives are changed. He mentions that he is not very intimidated by the threats of death and that he would rather die while trying to fight for the rights and the privileges of the poor. The situation that the particular Speaker goes through is deeply disturbing and cannot be ignored or taken lightly because the poor living conditions have been normalized,. No one is willing to be accountable and take up the responsibility of fighting or standing up for the rights of the people hence individuals are left to face life threatening challenges all alone and eve die as martyrs in most cases.
The fourth Speaker selected for the report is the week four guest speaker materials, in this section, the Speaker chooses to discuss capital punishment and the various visible and observable impacts, whether the form of punishment is still necessary in the current society and how effective or impactful the punishment has been in reducing or discouraging criminal offences and perpetrations (Pierre M. Gentin, 2018). The Speaker begins by identifying a sister who he refers to as an ally due to the fact that she also advocates for the abolition of capital punishment and because they were all born during the Second World War. The Speaker also highlights quotes from Pope Francis and the Catholic Church referring to capital punishment as an attack to the dignity of the individual being subjected to the capital punishment. While there is some sense in the sentiments and perceptions of the Speaker in this case it is also clear to understand that the issues of capital offence and capital punishment are usually dictated by the various states and nations in context with the types of the offence and the different influencing factors in regards to the people involved the criminal justice system and the perception of the particular offence s by the general public. The Speaker highlights various instances and cases of capital punishment and even brings up the history of capital punishment in the ancient Jewish tradition and how it was perceived. The Speaker argues that in the bible, the murder of Abel, which was perpetrated by Cain, was punished by God not through capital punishment of death but by being exiled. The Speaker references various sources, including spiritual books from catholic, Jews, and even muslim, in regard to making sense of his arguments about capital punishment. In most cases, there are usually minimal divided opinions in terms of capital punishment and what the perpetrators should suffer, but other cases also require different perspectives and second opinions to avoid wrong executions.
The fifth Guest speaker referred to for the semester was particularly interested in social justice reforms, especially in the minority groups in the United States (Martin Luther King, 1963). The material is a letter from the famous Civil- rights activist in the USA, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr who wrote the speech at a time when he was particularly confined and arrested for taking part in non-violent protests, which were the most popular and effective way of making their voices heard and creating awareness in regards to the serious issues that they felt needed to be addressed during that period. In the letter, the Speaker details the efforts that he and his accomplices go through in their quest and effort for social justice, especially in the African American community in the country at the stated time. The Speaker introduces the speech by highlighting his response to the critics who call their efforts of demonstrating ‘unwise’.
The Speaker goes further and responds to the critiques who question the need for his presence in Birmingham at the time, he went further ahead and states that he leads a cause of individuals willing to fight for justice and ensure equality and also further states that he is in Birmingham because there is lots of injustice in the region. The Speaker further clarifies the steps of identifying and standing against injustice and states himself on the desires and the intentions that they had when demonstrating. From the excerpt, the Speaker seemed well-articulated and was very concerned about the issues that he felt were unjust and needed to be addressed. The Speaker seems fearless and relentless in his quest to highlight and voice any form of oppression at that given time and his efforts are evidently not immediately effective and they may even land hi in trouble with the authorities and the powers that are relevant but he does not seem bothered or intimidates.
The sixth Speaker highlighted for the guest speaker report was the guest speaker Michelle Alexander. The Speaker talks about the struggles and the issues that Dr.King was championing for during his whole career. The Speaker talks about Dr. King’s career and the role of theology and any profession in standing up and fighting for a particular cause. The Speaker is passionate about the civil rights, the current form of the criminal justice system and how it is set up to oppress the minorities in the country (Pepalis, 2023). The Speaker highlights the efforts and how they are relevant to the current system and the current situations in the world. The Speaker highlights the efforts and protocols that were highlighted by Dr.king in regards to identifying and standing up against social injustices, she briefly highlights the four listed steps and how they are relevant to the issue being witnessed in the modern world both on the internet and on the mainstreams media. The Speaker highlights the difference between the current approach to any form of injustice and the approaches that Dr.king was advocating for, she highlights the fact that most people currently opt for the confrontational and somehow violent solution to any form of oppression without properly assessing, identifying, negotiating and self-assessing the issues related to oppression as suggested by Dr.King.
The Speaker tries to highlight the misinterpretation of the fight for civil rights and any form of injustice with an opportunity for individuals to get confrontational and destructive. The Speaker tries to highlight that the revolutions do not have to necessarily be confrontational and violent for them to be effective and appropriate for achieving equality and acknowledgement just as Dr.Martin Luther King suggested.
The seventh guest speaker is the week 13 guest speaker Jimmy Badillo ,he starts by highlighting his personal experience in being rebellious and even being very confrontational with his loved ones (Mangual, 2023). The Speaker highlights how he felt alone and that no one cared about anything he was doing, and so he also did not care. The author highlights his personal encounters with the law enforcement, how useless he felt without any support system back, the Speaker narrates his encounters how the phases that he was going through while also being a mess himself led to him being arrested multiple times. The Speaker narrates his incarceration, how much he suffered and felt when he was jailed, and the main lessons he took away from jail. The Speaker highlights his deep passion for reforms and helping younger individuals change their lives and avoid going through the kind of life that he went through. The Speaker tries to use his encounters and his life as a lesson that other people could use to model and learn from in regards to the criminal justice system and the impact that it can have on an individual’s life. The author mentions how his life changed after coming out of prison, how he completely turned around his life even though most people had given up on him and went back to school and studied for a degree. The Speaker talks about taking hold of his own life and being more responsible.
The Speaker highlights the deep issues that affect society and lead to most individuals, especially those from low income areas, have to encounter. The Speaker’s situations can be assessed and defined as him being more of a victim of his environment, situation and circumstances around him just like many other individuals in low income backgrounds have to contend and put up with similar situations.
The eighth Speaker talks about her relationship with her father and about restoring and having a relationship with her father.She highlights the behaviours and attitude of her father not only towards her but also his grandchildren, who are the Speaker’s children. The Speaker seeks to address and make things clear to her father and also mentions how broken the relationship and interaction with her father is and how much she regrets the condition of the relationship.
In conclusion, the eight highlighted speakers had various issues in regard to the social justice system, and they were all passionate and dedicated to achieving their target for social justice. Even though the different speakers may have slightly differing approaches, hic are majorly influenced by their environments and the conditions that they have to deal with in their efforts. It is still very commendable seeing the commitment from the various speakers. The speakers all highlights issues that should be viewed and addressed in simple terms as simple human rights issues and bare necessities that are now treated as privileges in the various areas and regions that the individuals are attached at in their organizations and efforts. The speakers highlight the efforts and the challenges that individuals and organizations encounter, especially in remote and poor regions, which are filled with cases of corruption, lawlessness, and conflicts. Almost all the speakers have highlighted that they encountered some form of violence in their lifetime, and while performing their roles, some have to deal with violence, threats, poor resources, and numerous other life-risking encounters. Social justice efforts should not be left to only particular groups of individuals, but they should be issues that are generally accepted and addressed as a whole by the society.
References:
Defensores de Paz – Capítulo II – Héctor Carabalí. (2018, June 25). Retrieved from youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjak3amwBeE&t=118s
Health., t. A. (2021, December 9). Violence increased most in marginalized neighborhoods early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from health.ucdavis.edu: https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/violence-increased-most-in-marginalized-neighborhoods-early-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/2021/12
Mangual, R. (2023, July 19). ‘Raise the Age’ laws are making youth crime worse. Retrieved from nypost.com: https://nypost.com/2023/07/19/raise-the-age-laws-are-making-youth-crime-worse/
Martin Luther King, J. (1963). Letter from Birmingham Jail. Birmingham: The Atlantic Monthly.
Pepalis, B. (2023, December 1). Sandy Springs to host Martin Luther King Jr. Art & Film Celebration. Retrieved from roughdraftatlanta.com: https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2023/12/01/sandy-springs-to-host-martin-luther-king-jr-art-film-celebration/
Pierre M. Gentin, J. (2018, November 14). Capital Punishment:. (S. The Reverend Patrick J. Ryan, Interviewer)
reliefweb. (2023, December 1). Retrieved from reliefweb.int: https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/they-live-dark-older-peoples-isolation-and-inadequate-access-housing-amid-russias-invasion-ukraine
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