"Why was communication essential to understanding among the children of Promises?"

The movie "Promises" takes place in Jerusalem, where the director meets with 7 Jewish and Palestinian children who live only 20 minutes from each other, but in completely different worlds. Jews all live in west Jerusalem, while most Muslims live in Palestinian refugee camps. While the Jews and Palestinians are in war over the land, which each one claims its theirs, the kids are influenced to be against and hate each other. The movie shows how communication is essential to the understanding of each other's ideas and can help solve problems, such as hate. 

 

Daniel and Yarko are the first two Jewish brothers whom the director meets. They live in west Jerusalem  and start talking about how dangerous it is to take a certain bus, because there might be a terrorist attack on it and they might die. These boys are also not very religious Jews, and do not strongly despise Muslims. They are also the kids which I identify myself with the most, since I am not a very religious person and I do not despise any other different race. Shlomo is a child who is a very Orthodox Jew, shown praying various times and in his Bar mitzvah. Since Shlomo is very religious, he is not required to join the army, like all Jewish citizens are. Another Jewish child is Moishe, who lives in Belt-El in West Bank and really dislikes the Arabs. There are also the three Muslim children, Faraj, Mahmoud, and Sanabel. Faraj lives in a refugee camp, where people have poor infrastructure and resources. He also has a strong dislike for the Jews. Mahmoud is the child who most hates the Jews, he says that he would never be friends with a Jewish kid. He also does not live in the refugee camp like the other Muslims, but in the Palestinian quarter in East Jerusalem, being the son of a merchant. Sanabel lives in the same refugee camp as Faraj. Her father is being kept in prison by the Jews, and has been waiting three years to go to trial. When comparing the problems and challenges faced in the daily life of these children with my own, I realize how complicated their lives are. While they daily worry about being exploded in a bus, or being shot and killed by a soldier, I worry about school grades and other things which seem very futile compared to their problems. 

Daniel and Yarko are the most open minded ones and the only Jews who interact with the Muslim kids from the refugee camp, in a meeting arranged by the director. Faraj is the one who talks on the phone with the two brothers before they meet, and the one who interacts the most. I believe they are the ones who associate with each other the most because they are the most open minded and less religious children. They all seem to share the same interests, such as liking the same kind of sports and food, even though one is Jew and the other Muslim, proving they are not as different as they thought. Therefore, before they started communicating they thought of each other as horrible and hateful people, but when they started sharing ideas, they realized that they were not so different. On their encounter they ended up really liking each other and tried to maintain contact even though it was hard. 

Therefore, communication was essential to understanding among the children of "Promises" because they learned from one another and stopped hating each other for their race. Also learning that they are not so different as they thought. They then realized that if everyone would talk to each other and listen to their side of the story, there would not be so much hate and war as there is between Jews and Palestinians. 

 
Final Quarter Blog Post


"What does it take for someone to move from a position of hate and racism to a position of tolerance and respect like the transformation that occurred in Derek?" 


     What is the definition of racism? Racism can be defined by being the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person's social and moral traits are determined by a person's biological characteristics. Racism is mostly based on skin color, language or place of birth.

    On the movie watched in class, American History X, one of the main characters, Derek, starts the movie clearly in a position of hatred and racism. His racism is caused by his dad's influence and specially intensified when his father got killed by a black person. He was also mostly influenced by an older neo-nazi man called Cameron who was their "leader". However, throughout the movie he proceeds to a position of tolerance and respect towards different races.

     The movie starts with Derek abruptly killing some black guys when they try to steal his car, which leads him to stay in jail for three years. While Derek is in jail, his younger brother Danny is following his same path, he is an extremely racist Neo-Nazi skinhead. When Derek comes out of jail he is completely transformed and states that he is not a skinhead anymore and confronts Cameron, which causes revolt on his previous group. He also asks Danny to not be part of it anymore, his younger brother is confused and Derek talks about his experience in jail. In the beginning he befriended other Neo-Nazi convicts and had to work on the laundry with a black guy, at first he completely ignores the black guy, although he becomes his friend within time. He also learns that his racist convict friends are not as good as they seem and is later gang raped by them in the shower room. Even though he expects to get beaten by the black guys, he is not touched by them. Danny is moved by his older brother's experience and agrees to leave the skinheads. The next day Danny is shot and killed in school by a black guy.

   
     For someone to move from a position of hate and racism to a position of tolerance and respect like Derek did, the person might have to go through some life changing experiences or put themselves on the other person's shoes. Derek is a good example of that because he went through many life changing experiences.


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Response to Seattle Boycott Article

I think that students should be able to show what they learn in class by using diverse methods, which  does not include standardized tests. When being assessed by a standardized test, such as the MAP test, students are not able to show their full capability and knowledge. This occurs due to the fact that these tests are not completely proportional and accurate with what was taught in school. As a student who has taken the MAP test various times, I can testify that some questions ask students things they have never seen been taught in their classrooms before. Also, while students are not able to answer various questions due to their lack of knowledge in the specific question, they are not able to show what they actually learned and know. The Garfield boycott shows that besides students, teachers and parents as well as other educators are protesting, which should be an indicator of how these are not the best option. Students also have a lot of pressure on them while answering the questions that will determine their future, meaning which college they go to, a factor which might cause the student to not reach its entire potential. It also takes away a person's creativity and the right to express themselves, forcing people to think only "in the box". Therefore I completely agree with the Garfield movement. Letting students show their true potential by creating a new effective system of learning and testing, by abolishing standardized tests would be the solution.