June 2, 2011
Today was my roommate Janelle’s birthday. So after work, the four or us roommates went out for dinner, and met up with some of Janelle's friends that live in the area. We ate at Eatonville in the U Street, Cardozo area. We got out of the Metro at U Street, and right across the street was Ben’s Chili Bowl, a must visit place in DC. I haven’t gone yet, but I guess whenever Bill Crosby is close enough to it, he sends his assistant, or whoever to pick up food for him. He's been the only person allowed to eat free there, but I guess recently Michelle Obama and her daughters got the nod.
The U Street area has really developed in the last little while. It's a very historic district; it used to be one of the most vibrant black neighborhoods in the country. Duke Ellington grew up here, and what used to be the YMCA in this area was the informal headquarters of local Civil Rights activists for 70 years. U Street was on of the major centers of race riots in the late 60's, and it was known for being a ghetto. But there's been this resurgence into the area, and now there's plenty of clubs and restaurants in the area. It's a happening place; there were plenty of people walking around, enjoying the great spring weather.
June 3, 2011
As apart of my TWC programing, I am taking a night class in U.S. Foreign Policy. My professor sent our class an invitation to the US Institute of Peace, where they were hosting a panel discussion in partnership with the American Red Cross called "Ten Years after 9/11: Evaluating a Decade of Conflicts on the Rule of War."
The panel included people with long, complicated titles, like Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy, and Special Coordinator for the Office of Rule of Law and International Humanitarian Policy. So, they knew what they were talking about. This whole discussion started with a survey the American Red Cross did on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This survey was on US adults and youth (12-17), and their attitudes on acceptable actions during war. The research proves that youth are more likely than adults to believe human rights violations are acceptable during times or war, like torturing captured enemy soldiers. Only 18% of youth and 7% of adults know that the US first adopted rules limiting how wars should be conducted, way back during the American Civil War. Americans have accepted these kinds of actions during war as normal. What's also amazing is that almost 70% of youth in the survey have a close friend or relative who is a veteran of the armed forces. One of the panelists discussed how the core principles of IHL are under attack partially as a response to the changing nature of security in the country.
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| The panelists at the US Institute of Peace. |
One of the panelists commented that as Americans, we should care about the rule of law because it's how we define ourselves as a country. It reflects our values, and the responsibility the United States has to lead in the international sphere, because of this countries founding principles of freedom and democracy. Many of the things they talked about I found fascinating, like the future of International Humanitarian Law, the effects of killing Bin Laden, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison. The law of war was apart of the American character that seems to have been lost. Another fact I found interesting was their research on global versus American statistics on the perception of how detainees are treated. Enemy soldiers are captured because of their future threat and not to punish them because of their past actions. I learned a lot, and I am very interested in studying more about IHL.
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| Me and my friend Shadia from Boston at the Institute of Peace. The architecture of this building is amazing! |
This past Saturday I went with a group from TWC on a Capitol Hill tour. It was pretty cool to see the inside of the rotunda, but I would almost say the building is more impressive from the outside. The only way a person can tour the H of R or the Senate is to make an appointment with their representative (very different from the Parliament building in Ottawa), so our tour didn't go into the chambers. It's quite an impressive place to be though; Americans have definitely honed in their patriotic skills. After that, Janelle and I broke away from the group, and went for brunch at a little dinner on East Capitol Street, called Jimmy T's. It was more or less a hole in the wall place, with really great milkshakes.
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| Janelle and I, Saturday afternoon at Jimmy T's. |
