Rodriguez's Quotes

"Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family's language." (1)

~This quote helps Rodriguez's case by explaining that she is credible due to the fact that she includes herself in the specific group of students she is talking about.

"I'd refer to my parents or my mother and father" (2)

~This quote is there to help the article explain even the cultural differences in the society between English speakers and not.

"...there are two ways a person is individualized" (3) 

~This is to show the fact that there are ways people can be individualized and speaking different languages is one of them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0MW5DdnZyVnpGSHc/view   --Link to article

"All Lives Matter" Quotes

"The real issue is that, while strictly true, "All Lives Matter" is a tone-deaf slogan that distracts from the real problems black people in America face."

~This quote I feel personally summarizes the entire argument that the writer is trying to make. This quote shows that using All Lives Matter is taking away from the fact that the issue primarily is about the violence towards African Americans in today's society.

"That's the situation of the "black lives matter" movement. Culture, laws, the arts, religion, and everyone else repeatedly suggest that all lives should matter. Clearly, that message already abounds in our society."

~This quote shows its relevance to the article by saying basically that in our culture that everyone matters but the sad fact is is that the idea is not acted upon and that African Americans don't get treated the same way others do regardless of what it legally says.

" It's a way of dismissing the statement by falsely suggesting that it means "only black lives matter," when that is obviously not the case. "

~This quote holds its relevance to the article by showing why people may be inclined to say that All Lives Matter. The quote explains that people say All Lives Matter simply because they assume Black Lives Matter means only the lives of African Americans.

http://www.blacklifematters.org/   ~Link to Black Lives Matter Website

How Kozol's Article Related to My Own Experiences

In the beginning of Kozol's article he discusses a church where children often can be found due to it being a low income society. He discusses a story that he shared about a little boy named Cliffie about him going to get slices of pizza for his parents. He comes across a homeless man whom he decides to share his pizza with. Cliffie goes onto saying "God told us- Share" (8). This quote made me think of the time I had gone on a mission trip with my youth group to Pennsylvania to work with a group called Blessings of Hope. It is a food distribution warehouse that me and about ten other kids from my church went to work at for a week. This was our way of filling the gift of sharing with those who cannot afford things. The experience had me meet some amazing people. I also, learned that there are a lot more people struggling in this world than I thought. I met and stayed with a family for a week who were Mennonites. They were the ones who ran Blessings of Hope. I also, got to interact with the people who were coming in to receive boxes of food and also, some of the harder to find toiletry items that we had brought down with us. We had collected over the whole year toiletry items as those are things that are needed by the families but don't always get donated like food does. It made me personally appreciate the little things in my life that we don't always think about. Another quote that I also, found I could make a connection to this trip was on page 22 when David is talking about his mother protecting him even though she cannot protect him. It made me think of the parents I would watch come in on the Thursday that we distributed food and them telling me that they have kids but didn't want to bring them because they were embarrassed that they even needed the help. Personally, this broke my heart to see so many people in need but felt so rewarding when we would tell them that we had toiletry items for them and they would start crying and thanking us for taking the time out of our lives to collect these items for them. I overall, related to Kozol's experience of learning about all the hardships though a real life experience.

http://www.lightofhopeministries.com/blessings-of-hope/   ---Link to Blessings of Hope Website

Kristof's Reasoning

In Kristof's article "U.S.A Land of Limitations" he uses a lot of good points to get across his argument that the United States may no longer be the land of opportunity everyone claims it to be. He uses the statistic that "that in the United States, there is now less economic mobility than in Canada or much of Europe" (2)meaning that we are born into a certain class and that usually means that is the class that we stay in for life. This is relevant to his text because America promises that there is wealth to be found for everyone. He also, uses the quote "in the United States, parents’ incomes correlate to their adult children’s incomes"(2) which means that children often make about the same money as what their parents make. This relates to the text by saying that there really isn't an equal opportunity for everyone in today's society because they usually only make about the same as their parents did. A final quote that really helps to support Kristof's claims in this article is when he is talking about the man Rick that he knew. Kristof says "Rick had given her $600 and skipped the medicine."(3) This basically is explaining that sometimes people in the United States cannot afford to buy medicine they need in order to stay alive. Where as, as a country we stand for the fact that people have the right to and the opportunity to have the medicine that they need making Kristof's claim become even more real.