What's the difference?

For our last unit of Rhetoric, we dove into the topic of uniting and what that looks like. We looked into the 13 U.S. colonies and made an emphasis on the reasoning behind the American revolution that soon led to U.S. independence. In order to make the United States of America the United States of America, there needed to be this sense of unity. We were able to go down to Marquette Park to look into an art piece by an organization, Inner City Muslim Action Network, which is known for being one of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S. We visited their public art work that used rhetoric in order to display an image of the freedom march back in 1963. After seeing the impact art had to convey a certain message to the public, we decided to do the same. For this AP we used art to unite. My piece of art is focused on the Uighur muslims in China and the horrible circumstances they have been facing for years now in concentration camps. Learn more about my piece down below!

NB. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? (2019)

Artist Statement

I am a Mexican/Moroccan, Muslim, 17 year old living in Chicago. This piece is for the Uighur Muslims, who, according to Business Insider, have been held in concentration camps for the past two years. News has not been properly published, and it’s time for news stations to make a change. It’s not right that the current education system includes the Holocaust into their history curriculum, yet when it comes to Muslim concentration camps, no one speaks on that topic. CNBC Stated, “around 2,500 prisoners at the camp, ranging in age from 13 to 84, and from a variety of backgrounds, all subject to the brutality of the Chinese state.” Uighur Muslims are being held against their will. Business Insider stated that Uighurs in these camps face “horrific conditions during [their] detention, including inadequate health care, crowding, and almost nonexistent hygiene. Prisoners who were observant Muslims were forced to eat pork, a food that's considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam.” Another news source, Independent, stated “Muslim women whose husbands have been detained in Chinese internment camps are reportedly being forced to share beds with male government officials assigned to monitor them in their homes.” This just goes to prove that unless you look up the situation currently happening in China, you will not receive information like this on daily news. When people pass by this piece, I want them to feel a level of concern for the Muslims in China. I want them to feel that they need to post this, educate themselves, and educate others along the way. In order to unite, we need to make sure that we are educated on the topics that we are ignorant on. This is not the fault of the public, but of news stations that focus their time on political issues that have nothing to do with the public than human crisis around the world. I decided to present this piece through digital media. Digital media is a way to share quickly and easily, and it is a platform that almost everyone uses, especially news stations. People will be able to follow a link that leads to an article speaking more on the topic of Uighar Muslims and what they are experiencing, and afterwards they will be able to share the post on their story. Once they share, they can potentially tag a news station for the news station to receive the post. The only material that I needed for this art piece was my ipad. This also gave me an opportunity for me to understand how powerful social media truly is and how I can make not only a social, but global impact. By using images that focus on eye contact, you begin feeling some sympathy for the person you see through the piece. The whole piece is a simile. Comparing two different historical events, but finding union in one topic, what should be published? Ideally, I would love this digital piece to bring attention to different news channels that have decided to not pay attention to this issue like CNN, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, etc. This piece should be a sign for news stations to wake up and truly decide what they should have been publishing for the past two years.

In conclusion, this piece really gave me an opportunity to reflect on what kind of impact social media can have. Digital art can be shared throughout different platforms and reach attention to news stations directly. Uighur muslims are being put through the harshest situations, and I personally find no difference to this situation to the holocaust. The next time you hear about Uighur muslims on social media, share the information. We share in order to educate one another on topics that we are ignorant on. In order to unite, we need to make sure we are educated and see who are the people who are making history repeat itself.

Citations:
1. Baynes, Chris. “Muslim Women 'Forced to Share Beds' with Male Officials after Husbands Detained in Chinese Internment Camps.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 6 Nov. 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/muslim-china-uighur-forced-share-beds-male-officials-detention-camps-a9185861.html.

2. Ioanes, Ellen. “Rape, Medical Experiments, and Forced Abortions: One Woman Describes Horrors of Xinjiang Concentration Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 22 Oct. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/muslim-woman-describes-horrors-of-chinese-concentration-camp-2019-10.

3. Ma, Alexandra. “China Is Reportedly Sending Men to Sleep in the Same Beds as Uighur Muslim Women While Their Husbands Are in Prison Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 4 Nov. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/china-uighur-monitor-home-shared-bed-report-2019-11.

iChile Desperto!, but have respected news channels done the same?

For our second unit of Rhetoric, we focused on the question,"How can we use rhetoric to change the status quo?" For some of us, this idea of "what is the status quo?" was confusing, but for the rest it's an idea that is constantly on our minds. To think more about the question, and how it fits its true form, we decided to speak with Ugo Okere, a twenty-two year old candidate running for Chicago Alderman of the 40th Ward. We learned more about him and how he used rhetoric throughout his campaign. We also brought in Troy Laraviere who plays an important figure not only in rhetoric, but in Chicago's education system. He also ran for mayor of Chicago last year. Laraviere is the current president of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. He is known across the Chicagoland for curating an Op ed speaking on behalf of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, and why it's just as important to get the principals who are running the schools opinion as the Chicago Teachers Association. Reading Laraviere's Op ed led us to focus our action project on creating our very own an a timely topic. I chose to write about the current situation in Chile and how respected news channels that the majority of society follow can be false, while social media can sometimes be telling us the true story. Read my op ed down below!

Conclusion

Overall, I thought this Op ed was good way to wrap up unit two of Rhetoric. Being able to use rhetorical devices on a timely topic allowed me to see just how rhetoric is used on a day to day basis. I was also able to find myself and think about my overall view on this situation in Chile, but also see the way that social media can make an impact when it comes to political situations going on around the globe. This op ed really allowed me to reflect on the fact that news channels will play it safe when it comes to writing about political issues, and how it's a choice to maintain the status quo rather than changing it.

Iran Nuclear Deal Plan with Elizabeth Warren

For this humanities course, Rhetoric, we focused on studying the art of rhetoric. Some of us had no idea what rhetoric was and how it was used, only to find out that we use rhetoric everyday. We started off by learning about Aristotle’s ethos, pathos, and logos. Using credibility, emotion, and statistics to prove an argument. This term, we were able to visit Leo Burnette, which works with different brands in advertising and marketing.We learned about the art of rhetoric that is used within different brands to convince a customer to choose their brand. This was an interesting experience and also got me thinking about our AP. For this AP, we were given a democratic candidate who is currently running for presidency in 2020. We were asked to curate a question that could come up throughout the candidate's presidential campaign trail, and create a two minute speech in which the candidate will respond to. I got Senator Elizabeth Warren and her topic will be foreign affairs, specifically Iran Nuclear Deal. Read and watch my response to learn more!

Video:

Q. Senator Elizabeth Warren, as a Persian myself, I am tired of seeing my country and America not being able to make amends for the past four decades (especially now). In previous interviews you have stated that Iran is a “significant threat”. I am hoping that in the future, Iran and the U.S. could make amends. If elected president in 2020, what would you do in order to gain back a relationship with Iran?

2 Minute Summary:

I have stated in previous interviews that Iran is a “significant threat” to the United States. But what is more of a “significant threat” is the fact that our president has put us at risk of a nuclear war with Iran by withdrawing the U.S. from the JCPOA back in 2018. A president that is supposed to protect us has just put us at risk of nuclear destruction. As I've stated before on warren.senate.gov, “America should be a country that keeps it promises. The Obama Administration negotiated a landmark agreement to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” This was a monumental moment in U.S. history. Finally being able to be a part of a peaceful agreement with Iran meant we might finally hold a stronger relationship with Iran, and a safer one. I’d rather deal with Iran’s bad behavior with a nuclear deal than without it. Our president has isolated us from many deals that could be pointing America to a better future, but instead has just isolated us. Now that we withdrew from the JCPOA, President Trump’s “administration has pummeled Iran with crippling economic sanctions.” according to Business Insider. Since September, Iran has already begun taking a “big step away from the deal when it announced it would begin developing more advanced centrifuges that allow for more rapid uranium enrichment.” from business insider. The JCPOA deal only limited Iran to “3.67% of Uranium enrichment to maintain the country’s energy needs.” according to NPR. That percent would not give Iran the ability to build a nuclear bomb. Now that we have Iran fighting back, we have increased our potential of nuclear war. As a senator serving for almost eight years, I have seen our presidents make decisions that can destroy America’s future. I will treat America like my baby if elected president. If I am elected president, I will make sure that every family in our country is in safe hands and never at risk of nuclear destruction. If elected president in 2020, I will make sure to get us back on that deal. Foreign affairs seems like an Eye of the Needle for some presidents, but it’s an issue we must address. We, as Americans, need to make sure that we make amends with countries like Iran before we go ahead and make other plans to better this country. We, as Americans, need to make amends with countries like Iran for the safety of this country. We, as Americans, need to make amends with countries like Iran in order to keep these influential generations alive and love this country. We have been divided for too long and it is time for us to make America what it should have been these past four years.

Overall, this AP got me thinking about America’s future. Next year, I will be able to vote for the very first time. I want to make sure that as a voter I make the right decision about the candidate I choose, and I want to make sure that our next president is able to make a difference for our country. Foreign affairs is a topic that I really look into when thinking about what makes a good candidate. I personally feel that in order to set orders on what can make our country better, we need to think about the countries we need to make amends with first. We need to make foreign affairs priority for the safety of our country.

Citations:

1. Gathright, Jenny, and James Doubek. “Iran Will Surpass Uranium Enrichment Limits, Officials Say.” NPR, NPR, 6 July 2019, www.npr.org/2019/07/06/739171142/iran-could-surpass-uranium-enrichment-limits-on-sunday-according-to-top-aide.

2. Haltiwanger, John. “Here's What's in the 2015 Nuclear Deal with Iran That Trump Withdrew from, Sparking a Crisis That's Led to the Brink of War.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 Sept. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/iran-nuclear-deal-explained.