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| Chapter 13: Domestic Policy |
| Get Involved |
32-year-old Derrick Ashong did not plan on becoming a YouTube sensation when, on January 31, 2008, he accompanied his friend to a Democratic primary debate in Hollywood. Ashong had only reluctantly agreed to hold up a sign for Barack Obama outside the Kodak Theater.
Milling around in a crowd of supporters, Ashong was interviewed by “Mike,” an anonymous documentary filmmaker, out to test the commitment of Obama’s supporters. “So why are you for Obama?” Mike asked. He began to grill Ashong with a series of detailed, demanding questions. But Ashong was no novice when it came to social policy. It turned out that he had plenty of detailed reasons why he supported Obama. For about six minutes, he and Mike debated the finer points of Obama’s health care policy. An interesting article about this interview was published in the New York Times This isolated Youtube clip soon attracted mainstream media attention. Responding to its popularity, Ashong soon released a follow-up clip where he testified to other reasons why he supported Obama. This second clip received over 400,000 hits. An aspiring entertainer, Ashong gained thousands of new fans through the Internet, because he first had cared and bothered to learn his health care facts. |
1. Many Internet websites seek to educate the general public on different policy concerns. Student Voices, located at www.student-voices.org, is a website run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. It spotlights debates about different policy disputes. For each policy question, you can first read a summary of the issue, then post your reaction to it. The site also allows you to find elected officials and local newspapers, if you wish to contact others about your concerns.
What is the current question highlighted in Student Voices’ “Speak Out” section? What are some of the other recent debates |
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| 1b. Learn more about your local community, using the Student Voices Census profile on the site. Enter your local ZIP code. What are the racial demographics of your local ZIP code? |
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| 1c. What was the median value of the home in your neighborhood, according to the most recent Census survey? |
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2. Public policy debates can be difficult to follow because it is hard to find unbiased, accurate information on the Internet. Also run by Annenberg, the website FactCheckEd, located at www.factchecked.org, tries to assess policy debates and to provide neutral, informative summaries.
Review and view one of Annenberg’s recent Lesson Plans on factchecked.org. Which topic did you select? Do you have any criticisms of Annenberg’s discussion? |
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3. Solving many public problems begins locally. To use the Internet to get more involved in a local concern, Campus Compact, located at http://www.compact.org/, is an organization devoted to increasing the civic learning and community service of today’s college students.
Campus Compact provides a list of different grants that civic-minded organizations and students can apply for. Under “Opportunities,” click on “Grants and Fellowships.” Describe one of the opportunities here that a college student can apply for. |
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4. Use the Internet to join a local community group. You can research opportunities for volunteering in your area through websites like Do Something, located at http://www.dosomething.org/. This website also provides advice about ways you can impact different social policies, including use of online advocacy. It also keeps you abreast of new competitions and organizations like Film Your Issue [link to www.filmyourissue.com], which has granted cash awards for videos submitted that highlight different social concerns.
The site www.dosomething.org lists a variety of potential causes that students can get involved in. Select one of these causes to learn more about the problem and opportunities to participate. Which cause did you select? |
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| 4b. What is one fact you learned from www.dosomething.org’s website about this cause? |
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