Ferguson, MO

After hearing that Darren Wilson, a Caucasian American at the age of 28 was not indicted, I was disappointed, but not surprised. Seeing that the United States of America in 2014 was still subject to racial injustice makes me feel uncomfortable. Watching St. Louis, MO being burned and looted makes my skin crawl as I sit by my computer looking up the public's reaction.

How do I feel about the whole decision? As an African American woman with an African American male significant other makes me even more skeptical of raising children in the United States. Especially with related cases like Trayvon Martin (Florida) and Eric Garner (New York). Just seeing that things like this could happen close to home makes me queasy. It is indeed sad that sooner or later African American people who are educated might be targeted next.

Seeing news reports from the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani makes me see that America should stop seeing other issues that, yes should be addressed, but are not exactly relevant to the topic at hand. Here is the video I am talking about here. In this video, Rudy Giuliani states that “White police officers wouldn't be there, if you weren't killing each other.”

It is true that there is a lot of black on black crime, but to bring up black on black crime when the issue at hand was about white on black crime is unnecessary. Hearing that line made me sick to the stomach. It makes me sick that people who are in power are glorifying as well as justifying not only white on black crime, but authority privilege. What do I mean by authority privilege? Anything form of abuse of power.

What can we do about fighting both racial privilege and authority privilege? We should come together as people, no matter what race, socioeconomic background and other demographic classifications and report these injustices. True, social media is indeed impactful, but having another one of our American children become a hashtag is extremely disappointing and morbid. Bringing ourselves to loot and commit arson also doesn't help the situation; it however (sadly) gives others reasons why people are classified the way that they are. We should go back to our roots like the Civil Rights Movement and protest these unjust actions by using civil disobedience instead of violent riots and protests. We should have our politicians and police commissions reflect and alter their program in lieu of cases such as Martin, Garner and Brown.

What can we do as educators? What we should always do: hold discussions about these issues. Further educate yourself as well as the students you work with about these issues. They are indeed our future and in order to help reduce incidents like these are to teach your students about the privileges that some have over others.

Until we do come together to fix this problem, my own generation of African American males and females will be subject to racism based off of what the media glorifies and what politicians use to add insult to injury. We will still face demise as America goes in a nosedive backwards in history.

The Impact of #SoMe and Your Paper and Personal Presence

Today I learned an important lesson on Social Media presence and how it relates to your resume. You need to make sure that your presence online, on paper and in person are on point. Make sure that your LinkedIn is up to date, since it is your online resume. Also, make sure that your other online accounts such as Facebook and Twitter are good too. These are the things that the selection committee will be looking for.

As a person who is part of the "millennial" or "Generation Y" group, I have to especially make sure that what I say on paper and online is really what it is. Like my friend said, #SoMe is a "truth checker." Plus it shows who you really are. Yes, your resume may be one or one and a half pages long and your cover letter is really good, but once someone hits the magnifying glass on the Google Search, it better not be downhill from there.

It is important to constantly Google yourself. Usually your first and last name and what state or country you live in. I have provided an example below:

As you can see in the above picture, I typed in my first and last name and my home state, New York. Now one of the first things that you notice is a LinkedIn page. Make sure that you have one because it makes your online presence more positive and appealing to the selection committee. It will be the first one or two things to appear on your name's Google Search.

The second thing you notice is my Twitter handle, @ElennaMGeffrard. If you do have a Twitter handle and it happens to be your name, make sure that it's a presentable one. My Twitter handle has important things that I want employers to look for: the school that I came from, what I intend on studying, etc. Also it is free from inappropriate things. So this is why I said that your Twitter needs to be "presentable."

The third thing is something from the White Pages or something from your state's employment. About your wages, etc. But that's not what we're going to focus on today.

My name, luckily, is unique. But for someone, let's call her Maria Sanchez, may have at least 5 people that share her name in her location and maybe at least 50 in the country. So Maria has to work hard to make her presence known. She could add a middle name or middle initial to stand out a bit more with her achievements.

But there are other positives in your #SoMe profiles. Employers might be looking for your interests to figure out what kind of person you are and if you fit in their work space. Just once again make sure that your interests are clean. You don't want a random Vine playing or your cover photo of your Facebook Timeline to be of you and your friends drinking kegs of beer.

To close, #SoMe is an extension of you. You are representing your state, your school, or where ever you work. Be sure to fix the loose ends with a fine toothed comb.

Take care everyone! Thank you for reading!