There have been numerous cases of police brutality in America, particularly on African American males. 18 year old Jordan Miles was walking from his mother’s house to his grandmother’s house in Pittsburgh at around 11pm when three undercover police officers jumped out of their car and approached him, so he panicked and tried to run away. The police caught him and punched him several times with closed fists, according to the news reports. The police suspected that the shape of the object under his coat was a deadly weapon. It turned out to be a Mountain Dew soda bottle. His mother suspects her son was assumed to be a criminal because of his race. “I feel my son was racially profiled. It’s a rough neighborhood and it was dark, so they assumed that he was up to no good because he’s black.”

I want to tell you about one incident in which my brother and I were riding in his car. We got pulled over, and the cop went through the regular process of asking for my brother’s “license and registration.” The officer never stated why we got pulled over, so my brother later asked the officer, and his answer was “Oh, you weren’t wearing your seat belt.” My brother replied, “I was wearing my seat belt.” The cop continued to say he knows what he saw, and so he was basically calling my brother a liar, which he is not. The officer gave him a ticket and left. My brother ended up going to court and wasn’t going to pay because he knew he was innocent, and the officer showed up to court, but the case was dismissed because the officer didn’t have any evidence.  I believe this was just another case of racial profiling because the officer obviously had no valid reason for pulling us over, so why did he waste our time and the tax-payer’s money? By bringing the issue of racial profiling to the forefront of society, the question now becomes not if it is the officers who are ignorant, but rather if it is the entire nation that is ignorant to feel safe being protected by such officers.  How can we hold officers accountable for their actions?  What experiences have you had with racial profiling?  Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

When I was 10 years old, my father was killed by his “best friend” whose name was Jay. We are originally from Indiana, but at the time my dad was living in Cleveland, Ohio. One night he went to a bar before heading back to Indiana and he ran into Jay. The two got into a verbal altercation and Jay ended it by shooting my father 11 times in the head. The situation could have been prevented in many ways. If my dad or Jay were having problems with one another in previous days, then when they saw each other that night they both could have walked the other way. They could have spoken honestly and respectfully to each other to make a greater attempt to resolve their conflict. There are always consequences for our mistakes. Because of their actions, my dad will never see his kids grow- up,  teach his sons how to be men, and me, his only daughter how to truly be loved and his “best friend” is in prison for life.

There are a variety of reasons for why you should walk away from a potentially violent situation. For instance, if you are at school and you get into a fight, you will get suspended or expelled, depending on the details of the situation, even if you were defending yourself. Your best bet would be to just walk away and be the bigger person. Do not worry about what others think about you. Nine times out of ten, your real friends will support your decision.

I believe that they went too far on this case, and she should have just gotten detention or a lecture from a police officer on why damaging private property is not a good idea. This isn’t the first case like this either! In 2007, a 13 year old girl named Chelsea Fraser got arrested for writing “okay” on her desk. She was one of several students who got arrested that day. The others were arrested for putting up stickers on the wall. These are two cases where the police were asked to step in and arrest students. I believe the police shouldn’t have been involved. The principal should have just called the parents or made the students stay after school and clean the desks and walls they damaged.

 In conclusion, students should try to avoid these situations all together by not damaging property that’s not theirs. COHS students should try not to write on desks or other private property becuase of the consequences it may bring. Students never know how severe those consequences can get. From personal experience, I would recommend staying away from vandalism and graffiti becuase the consequences can be harsh. COHS students should know about this story so that they know how serious some people take vandalism. Even if the writing or drawing has no profanity or hate, people still take these situations seriously. In the end we should all learn from this story and it’s your choice whether you want avoid these types of situations or not.

I think that it is important for Cosumnes Oaks High School students to know about ROP because we all have the opportunity to get involved in ROP.  Upon the completion of the ROP course, students will receive a certificate of completion. Some of the ROP courses are UC approved, while others lead to industry certification.  It’s good to be caught up on all of the classes you need to take, and make sure you don’t need to re-take any class because when you do ROP it requires you to leave campus early, and replace a couple of your classes.

ROP classes may be taken for 1, 2, or 3 periods. Students may enroll in ROP courses for all four years of high school as long as they don’t repeat the same ROP course more than once. To register for an ROP course, see the ROP counselor or career technician for approval of the course selection and to get information about the course.  You can pick up an ROP application in the ROP office or career center, or you can download it at www.egusd.net/rop. You must fill out the application properly, including parent signatures and student ID number. Return the application to the ROP office or career center as soon as possible. This will replace your elective with your ROP course.

I think it’s a good idea for students to get involved in ROP if they want to get started early with their career. ROP also benefits you because if you think you want to do something in your future, ROP can help you be sure that this is what you want in to do in your future. It’s also a good chance to be able to leave school early if you don’t really care for school. It’s easy, and it’s fun, so you should definitely consider ROP if you want to get a head start on your career!

Instead of trying to educate students on the difficult reality ahead, administration prefers to keep us sheltered, choosing to discuss more watered-down, “socially appropriate” topics.  Everyday we are confronted with news of controversial subjects such as teen pregnancy, rape, drug abuse, religion, and terrorism, but rarely are we allowed to discuss these topics openly at school. Students aren’t as ignorant and naïve as society makes them out to be. We see what goes on around us and we are confronted with these issues on a daily basis. All students ask for is to have a voice at school, and discuss what is really going on in our lives besides reading, writing, and arithmetic. Censoring school newspapers, prohibiting books, and avoiding discussions of hard-hitting topics, are all examples of how students are constantly being restricted from being educated on life, and how it really is in the “real world”. Allowing controversial subjects to be discussed in school would benefit students in life both now and later on down the road.

Difficult topics will always surround students because being a teenager during this day in time is difficult in it’s self. Discussing these topics would be constructive to our awareness, however there are many people that think it would be more harmful to have fewer restrictions over what is aprpropriate for students to discuss in school. Some parents would rather their children be sheltered from certain subjects, usually due to personal beliefs or religious ideals, and in order to reduce complications with parents, administration censors many aspect of our true daily life.  School newspapers are forced to write about watered down subjects instead of what truly interests students, and class discussions get shut down when they reach a certain level. Although I do agree that there are some subjects that just are not appropriate for school, there are still many topics that we should be able to discuss which are currently restricted. Censoring isn’t always a bad thing, but it does have a time and place. Adults need to take a step back and realize that they are sheltering us from things that we are going to experience, whether they like it or not.

In many parts of the world including areas of Sierra Leone, Somalia, Egypt, Niger, and parts of Asia, female circumcision is a tradition for female children and teens between the ages of ten and fifteen. Female circumcision ranges from partial or sometimes complete removal of the prepuce (hood) of the clitoris. Many Western and European countries look at this as barbaric, and see it as a terrible thing and an ignorant ritual, but is it fair to lay judgment on other culture’s traditions? Fatmata Kabba a seventeen year old student at Valley High School told me about her experience as a female who considers herself a victim of genital mutilation, “I always used to see girls go in to the secret club (which was called Bondo), and come out really pretty and there was always a big party. All I knew was that I wanted to do it too. When I was finally old enough my mom told me it was time to go and I was so excited. The first thing that happened when I got there was my mom and grandma held me down and I remember getting a part of me cut out with a razor blade. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed so much prior to, or after that. Then they put me in hot water to stop the open bleeding and fed me hot soup. During that entire month, I was in the secret club where I learned how to cook, clean, and braid. At the end of the month I had my hair done, and my grandma made me a beautiful dress. I had the biggest feast ever, but after knowing the cost it really wasn’t worth it anymore.” Some people would say that is a horrible thing that has happened to her but others say that if that is her culture then that is her culture. Ashley Grummel puts it in her own words by saying “Every culture has their own right to do what they want, and personally I think its none of the rest of the worlds business”.

Countries like the United States and Canada protect girls who try to escape “genital mutilation” by making it an illegal practice, but is it a country’s right to tell parents what they can and cannot do with their children? Mireya Jimenez states “No, because they are the parents so they are in control even with those types of decisions.”  Another student, Garrett Bibb stated, “No if the parents think that’s what’s best for the children, then…”  I strongly agree with these two statements.  None of the intentions of female circumcision are bad, but western countries try to make it seem barbaric. Some of the reasons for female circumcision are religious rituals, hygiene, promotion of abstinence, tradition, and a passage from childhood to femininity. Female Circumcision is never used as a punishment, and parents who do this strongly believe it will benefit their young daughters. Should it be fair to call cultures that practice female circumcision ignorant? Ashley Grummel stated, “All cultures are ignorant to other cultures in the fact that they rarely change or want to listen to what another culture has to say.”  Christian Durham states, “No, I don’t think they are ignorant, but since it’s a taboo to western culture, they feel the need to denounce it.”  Both of these statements are to the entire world. Something that is unheard of or strange is usually put down by people who find it weird.

There are many risks that come from female circumcision. For example, in some countries the procedure is done with a broken piece of glass, or a sharp stone with no proper medical attention, which carries a great risk of infection and over-bleeding. In areas where there is proper medical attention, too much tissue can be removed, damaging that area of your body forever. A positive aspect female circumcision is that it is more hygienic. Many of the other positive aspects only exist in that culture such as mystical or ritualistic factors. No matter how it is done or why it is done, many western cultures think that it’s barbaric and while many other areas in the world think it is perfectly fine. In my opinion, female circumcision is something that is acceptable long as it is done safely. I don’t think it is fair for the rest of the world to judge people based on their way of life, especially if they people don’t fully comprehend why something is done. People need to understand that everybody is different, and it’s not only their way that is acceptable. Before condemning someone else’s beliefs and traditions, they should try to understand why something is being done.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
 Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
the bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
 Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
for the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
here is a strange and bitter crop.
 By: Billie Holliday

The scent of corpses and rotten flesh still linger in our history as well as the broken tree limbs still on the ground. The pain of losing a loved one still paints the picture of our beautiful America, know as the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”. I mention brave because from 1607 to 1865, many African Americans were lynched, tortured, and starved. Many of the men and women’s bodies were left to shrivel up and rot. They swayed and swayed in the wind until their very last possible moment of life remained. From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings had occurred in the United States. 3,446 of those people lynched were all black.  The blacks lynched accounted for 72.7% of the people lynched. However, blacks were not the only ones to be lynched. Whites accounted for 27.3 percent of lynchings, most of the time they were lynched for helping or aiding blacks. Willie Lynch was the author and creator of the word lynch, and he said, “Gentlemen, you know what your problems are: I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a fool proof method for controlling your Black slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 hundred years . My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it.” His method was lynching. Lynching in his mind brought fear into the eyes of children and parents. By lynching parents in front of their children, this assured himself that slave masters wouldn’t have any problems for years to come. However, its 2010 and we’ve taken a half step up and gotten a black president. From lynching’s, to now having a black president.

Know your history…Black history

 Q: What school did you come from?

A:  Rahkeem- McClymonds High school in Oakland.

A: Gilbert- Arvin High School in Arvin.

Q: Did you want to come to a new school?

A:  Rahkeem-It didn’t really matter because I don’t care about changing schools, and I like meeting new people, but I don’t like being the lonely new guy.

A: Gilbert- Kind of but not really because I had friends at my old school.

Q: Which school do you like better?

A: Rahkeem- McClymonds is a lot less confusing because it’s easier to get to my classes.

A: Gilbert-Since I am brand new here, I still like Arvin better.  Maybe when I get used to COHS and have some good friends, I will feel more comfortable here.

Q: How are the students here treating you?

A: Rahkeem- Good.  It’s really heart-warming how welcoming all the ladies have been here.  Especially all the kids in my first period class.

A: Gilbert- So far everyone’s been nice.  People talk to me in class and people are not rude to me during lunch and passing periods.

Q: What is your opinion on the school?

A: Rahkeem-It’s cool because … I can’t really explain why, but this school is just “da business”, ya know what I’m sayin?

A: Gilbert- The campus is too small so that makes it feel crowded, at least compared to my old school which was a lot more spread out.

Q: Do you wish you were still at your old school?

A: Rahkeem- No, because my old school was getting boring because there was only 11th and 12th graders going there, because they were shutting down the school, so we were going to be the last graduating class. 

A: Gilbert- Yeah, because I miss my old friends.  That’s really the only reason.

Q: As a new student, how do you feel about the rules?

A: Rahkeem- The rules are fair.  They’re not really that strict, and they make sense.

A: Gilbert- They’re strict, but not really that strict.  I mean, they try to make it seem like it’s so strict here, but the rules are pretty much the same as my old school.

Q: Have you made any friends?

A: Rahkeem- Yeah, Anisse Broadway is a really cool chick.  She doesn’t ask me for change, and she always has candy, but she is pretty stingy with the candy.

A: Gilbert: Yes, Felicia from my Algebra II class.

Q: What are your goals for this year?

A: Rahkeem- Get good grades and graduate on time.

A: Gilbert- Make more friends.

Q: What are your goals in life?

A: Rahkeem- Graduate college, become a kinesieologist, and have a lot of money and cars.

A: Gilbert- Graduate high school and go to college.  After that, I would like to pursue a career as an architect.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

A: Rahkeem- I like to play sports such as basketball.  I also like to watch TV.

A: Gilbert- Texting my friends back in Arvin and going on myspace.

Q: What is your greatest fear?

A: Rahkeem- Failure.  I just don’t want to a failure to society because that doesn’t feel good and I don’t want to be a bum.

A: Gilbert- Dying a horrible death, like being murdered in my sleep.

Q: On what occasion do you lie?

A: Rahkeem- When I’m about to get in trouble and toward annoying people.

A: Gilbert- When I don’t want to say the truth and I’m talking to someone I don’t respect.

Q: Which words or phrases do you most over use?

A: Rahkeem- WTF

A: Gilbert- They are all curse words so I really can’t say.

Q: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

A: Rahkeem- My name because I hate it because it’s Muslim.  I would like to be named … anything else.

A: Gilbert- I would like to be taller, like 5′8″ would be good.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

A: Rahkeem- My son because that’s my seed.

A: Gilbert- My cell phone because it’s my communication link to the people in Arvin.

Q: What do you most value in a friend?

A: Rahkeem- Honesty.

A: Gilbert- Honesty.

Q: Who are your heroes in real life?

A: Rahkeem- I don’t really have any heroes just yet, because no one really registers as a hero on my radar, but maybe someday I will find one.

A: Gilbert- Easy E because I like his music. 

I found out a number of things about Rahkeem and Gilbert that allowed me to get to know them better. Rahkeem and Gilbert are really nice people, so if you see them around campus, don’t forget to say hello.

The first day was dance, which was a lot harder than I thought.  I walked into the room with over 75 other people, all competing for the few leads in Annie.  We were then taught a somewhat complicated dance by Mrs. Peterson, the dance teacher here at COHS.  We got about 45 minutes to practice it and then we were all called 4 at a time to do it in front of 4 judges, which were Ms. Chun, Mrs. Peterson, Mr. Mangonon, and Mrs. Homer.  I did okay, but I missed a couple steps in the routine.  The next day of auditions was the singing audition, which was judged by the same judges of course.  I had to sing for about a minute with bright stage lights shining in my eyes.  I was very nervous at first, but once I started to sing I felt more relaxed and confident.  I think I did a good job, but Friday’s results would be the final verdict on what part I get.  The final day of auditions was the acting audition, which everyone had to do in front of everyone who got a callback for that day.  When it was my turn to go up I was surprisingly clam.  I guess having my friends in the stands helped me focus and do my best. 

There was some awesome talent throughout all three days of auditions, and I am very shocked that I even got a shot at such a big role as Daddy Warbucks with all of the talent that was there.  Honestly, this school is filled with talent, and I bet there are a ton of you out there that have some serious untapped potential.  I have never acted before in my life and I got Drake the butler, so whether you have a passion for acting or just want to try something new and have fun, I recommend auditioning for a play here at COHS.  If I can do it, so can you.

Roe v. Wade in 1973 was the case that led to the ruling which made abortion legal in the United States, and it is one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in U.S. history.  Jane Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woman’s life. After granting certiorari, a writ issuing from a superior court calling up the record of a proceeding in an inferior court for review, the court heard arguments twice. The court held that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over her pregnancy during the first trimester, and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. As a result, the laws of 46 states were affected by the court’s ruling.

I myself am pro choice. Although I am against abortion, I feel every woman should have the right to do with their bodies what they please.  Abortions are considerable under certain circumstances, like rape or failed birth control.  Even though rape pregnancies are not that common, a woman should have the right to make the choice of terminating the pregnancy because 9 times out of 10 that baby isn’t going to have a good life because it is unwanted, and some women may feel as if it is a mistake from their past.  I also feel that a young teenage girl should be able to make the choice to terminate her pregnancy without parental consent. It’s her body, her responsibility, and it should be her decision do with it what she wants.  A lot of teenage girls are unaware of the consequences of sex and have little information about birth control which results in these mishaps.  Save yourself from going through this pain and a rollercoaster of emotion, and get educated on how to prevent pregnancy.