Society & US
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By: Ramon Galindo Justin “Jussie” Smollett is a Brazilian American actor and singer. He’s most known for being in the show Empire. Smollett claimed that he was a victim of a hate crime. One week before the alleged attack, a letter arrived at the Fox studio where Empire is filmed. According to News Sources, the letter contained racist and homophobic slurs. It also contained the slogan, “Make America Great Again.” A week later, Chicago police opened a hate crime investigation after Smollett claimed he was attacked by his apartment. He stated that 2 men yelled racial and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him, and wrapped a noose around his neck. A day later, police released an image of the 2 possible suspects. On February 1st, Smollett makes a statement saying that he has been, “100% factual and consistent on every level,” after there were allegations of a hoax. Smollett made his first public appearance in a sold out concert. The 2 primary suspects were released on February 15 with no charges after “new evidence” was discovered. The day after, CBS News found out that the 2 suspects were brothers named Ola and Abel Osundairo. They reveal that Smollett paid them to stage the attack. Smollett knew these two brothers because they were extras in the show Empire. Days later, The Cook County, Illinois, state attorney files a felony disorderly conduct charge against Smollett. Surveillance video showed the 2 brothers buying the materials they needed to stage the attack. The Chicago police believe that the motive was to make himself a more public figure and to up his salary in Empire. Smollett turned himself in to face the charge. On March 8, The Chicago grand jury charged Smollett with 16 felony accounts for every lie that he told the police. Even with all the evidence against him, he claims he is innocent.
I believe that he is guilty because of all of the evidence stacked against him. I feel pretty angry that he thought it was a good idea to stage a fake hate crime just for his own benefit. It’s disgusting because real people who are minorities and who are gay do go through these things and it’s a real problem. Racism in America is a big problem. For him to utilize this problem so he could get a raise is terrible. At this moment he is currently innocent but I do hope that the justice system will find the truth. He makes the minority community look bad. I interviewed a few people to see what they thought of this situation. I interviewed a fellow KSJC student named Ximena Castańeda. She said that she thinks that Smollett is guilty. She stated, “Yes. From the things that CNN have said he paid people to assault him. He staged a fake hate crime.” She then explained why she thought the case was a huge problem. She said, “Other people have actually experienced hate crime and have been bullied for their sexuality. For him to stage one for his own personal benefit… it’s just bad.” She says that this case has wasted a lot of time. This shows that a lot of people think that Smollett is guilty and what he did was wrong. We hope that the justice system will not fail and bring justice to the crimes that Smollett has committed.
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![]() By: Juan Garcia Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day We all know about St. Patrick’s Day, where we observe the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, drinking and of course, a bunch of green. During St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, roughly 26.1 billion pounds of beef and 2.3 billion pounds of cabbage were produced in the United States. There are 32.2 million U.S.residents with Irish ancestry, according to a census in 2016. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17, the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have celebrated this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. It falls during the Christian season of Lend, Irish families would attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. People would go against Lenten prohibitions, against the consumption of meat and would dance, drink and feast-on the traditional meal which consisted of Irish bacon and cabbage. Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. He was born in Roman Britain but kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave when he was 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. In the centuries following Patrick’s death (believed to be on March 17, 461), the stories about his life became more ingrained into Irish culture: One of the most well-known legends is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) by using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock. These have been a few paragraph describing the origins of St. Patrick's day, where we celebrate the patron saint Patrick who brought christianity to Ireland, and how its traditions have changed throughout history starting in the fifth century to today. ![]() By: Anissa Amparan February break this year for KSJC students goes from February 16th to the 24th. Breaks are one of the most desired things for students when getting through both semesters. It is the time they are allowed to go and finally take breaks from all that dreaded school work they go in every day to face. This February break will be the last one students will have in a while, until Spring Break all the way in April. After that break in April, it’s all work from there with all the last ACTs and wrapping up with all the huge final test at the end of the semester. During this break, students do multiple things such as going out, spending time with family, etc. But on the other hand, all students have been guilty of wasting their break with doing nothing but staying in the house, sleeping in, on their phone or games. Not that there's anything wrong with that in particular, we all enjoy that occasionally, but students must admit it does get boring once in a while. So I am here to list things to do over this February break to make it more enjoyable.
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