America In Realization [12.10.14]

Police Shooting, Chokehold Death Incidents

• This is not just a black problem or a brown problem --- this is an American problem : President Obama on chokehold death of Eric Garner (CNN) 

"This is not just a black problem or a brown problem --- this is an American problem. When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law that's a problem and it's my job as president to help solve it," Obama said at the sixth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference."

American Youth

American Youth has proven that America can protest, and protest peacefully - whenever there is an event of injustice or inequality. 

Let there be increased political awareness and constructive political involvement among American youth.

• East Side Community High School Students March to Brooklyn in Protest of Eric Garner Decision (New York Times)

• For Fifth Day, Hundreds Protest Peacefully Grand Jury Decision in Garner Case [New York Times]

"For weeks, thousands have protested across the country following separate grand jury decisions regarding the deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers. In New York, a grand jury announced on Wednesday that it would not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, 29, who placed Eric Garner, 43, in a chokehold in July. The medical examiner’s office found that the chokehold, as well as compression to the chest, caused Mr. Garner’s death.

Ashley Frias, 16, of the Bronx, criticized the justice system, adding, “That family won’t spend Christmas with their kid. It hurts.”

US Education
Student Debt

• What Students Don’t Know About Their Loans : David Leonhardt [New York Times]