no-knock warrants. Of course, one of
the biggest things BLM has accomplished
is the public discourse on racism
and the racial disparities in police
training, incarceration rates and the
judicial system. Changes in these systems
may be accomplished by this
movement. I feel that inequality is going
to be inevitable in America until
there is proper representation in higher
branches of government. Of course,
there are strides being made with
people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
and Ilhan Omar in office, but there are
still long ways to go. Martin Luther King
had a dream and that dream is still
prevalent in black Americans today.
Ilmaisuvapauden puolesta
Viime syksynä jo 41. kertaa järjestetyn lukiolaisten
kovatasoisen englanninkielisen kirjoituskilpailun voitti
Vilma Nieminen Kauhavan lukiosta.
— Osallistuin kirjoituskilpailuun,
koska Yhdysvaltojen politiikka ja
kulttuuri kiinnostavat. Päädyin kirjoittamaan
”Freedom of expression”
-aiheesta, sillä olin seurannut
BLM-protesteja ja niiden jälkipuintia
hyvin paljon. Koin, että aihevaihtoehdoista
osasin kirjoittaa kyseisestä
parhaiten, kertoo Vilma Nieminen.
Icelandairin matkalahjakortin
palkinnoksi saanut tämän kevään
abiturientti pitää Yhdysvaltoja mielenkiintoisena
matkakohteena mo-
nimuotoisen ja kauniin luonnon takia,
mutta ensimmäinen USA-reissu
suuntautuisi kuitenkin itärannikon
miljoonakaupunkiin.
– Heti kun matkustusrajoitukset
sen sallivat haluan matkustaa New
Yorkiin sen taidenähtävyyksien, kuten
Guggenheimin, MoMA:n ja The
Metin takia. New Yorkissa on myös
kiinnostavia vanhoja delicatesseneita,
kuten Katz’s.
Kirjoituskilpailuun osallistui 88
opiskelijaa 28 lukiosta.
Freedom of expression by Vilma Nieminen
The Black Lives Matter movement was
started a few years ago, when the killing
of unarmed black men started to
surface in the mainstream media. This
racial divide had been brewing under
the surface for some time. Huge protest
began in Charleston. Since then,
names such as Tamir Rice, Ahmaud
Arbury, Breonna Taylor and George
Floyd have been engraved in the
minds of Americans. I’d compare the
Black Lives Matter movement to the
1960’s Civil Rights movement lead by
none other than Martin Luther King
Junior. Back then, black people were
trying to break themselves out of the
shackles of the Jim Crow laws, which
created nation-wide racial segregation.
What many American people
don’t get nowadays, is the deep gene-
rational pain stemming from slavery
and Jim Crow laws.
The Black Lives Matter movement
is being characterized as a terrorist
organisation. This broad generalization
causes a deeper divide in the country
ruled by the two-party system. Calling
looters and rioters “hooligans” and
“thugs” isn’t helping the problem either.
The violence ocurring in these protests
is a sign of true hurt experienced
by black people in America. And we
should look below the surface and try
to understand what is the catalyst for
this kind of behavior. Of course, the
looting and rioting are some of the
biggest challenges of this movement,
since in a capitalist society where one
has to fend for himself, property is
valued over human lives. As the fear
of communism is so deeply rooted in
American society, this kind of movement
shouting for equal rights is seen
as marxist and socialist. People don’t
seem to understand what the movement
is about – or they don’t want
to acknowledge the downfalls of the
great “American dream”. Therefore,
people are trying to explain the movement
to people with anecdotes, such
as the popular “house on fire” -anecdote.
As for the accomplishments of the
movement, it already has some. The
Breonna Law was put in place. This
law stems from the no-knock warrant
that eventually killed Breonna Taylor.
The Breonna Law bans the usage of
OPISKELIJAT
Kiitämme
yhteistyöstä:
1.palkinto,
Icelandairin lennot Yhdysvaltoihin:
Vilma Nieminen, Kauhavan lukio
Yhdysvaltain suurlähetystön
kirjapalkinnot:
Mimosa Jurmu,
Tampereen klassillinen lukio
Linnea Lensu,
Jyväskylän normaalikoulu
Aino Myllärinen,
Lappeenrannan lyseon lukio
Nina Pavlova, Ressun lukio
Emmi Pekkarinen, Schildtin lukio
Sara Peräaho,
Jyväskylän normaalikoulu
Tino Poutiainen,
Lahden Yhteiskoulun lukio
Otso Saari, Kotka Svenska Samskola
Sabahsaad Shahid, Ressun lukio
The English Teacher of the Year:
Päivi Pieti-Granath,
Kauhavan lukio
SAM MAGAZINE 3/21 | 17