Yo! Youth OutLook

Editors Note : During a recent presidential address President Obama was confronted with a barrage of questions about closing the border between the U.S. and Mexico. While the president remains confident that closing the border is not the solution, it's clear that other people around the country believe this would somehow stop the Swine flu virus from spreading. We asked several young Latino men how they felt about the swine flu and the racist undertones it has spawned.

The Swine Flu is a sickness discovered in Mexico, not in Mexicans!

While Listening to President Obama give an address on MSNBC about issues happening around the country I learned a few things: First, the economy is still in the toilet – (well actually I already knew that one since I’ve been looking for a job for like four months). Second, the Swine Flu is a sickness that has been discovered in Mexico, not in Mexicans!

The H1/N1 virus is supposedly a hybrid mixture of the Avian Bird flu, the human flu and swine flue. For all we know, it could have been brought into the states by one of those silly European tourist. I hate to sound so semi–racist, but an issue of racism happened to me on the bus today and it made me concerned about the level of ignorance going on right now. I mean people are jumping to conclusions about Mexicans being the sole source and transmitters of this virus. Take today for instance - I headed out of the house after watching the presidential speech about the swine sickness and really didn’t think much about it, until later that morning.

As I was getting off of my part time job and heading to another a few blocks away, I approached the bus stop and noticed there were two men standing a few feet away from me each wearing surgical masks around there necks. When the bus arrived, I wasted no time hopping on and heading to the back. When I sat down, I noticed the same two men getting on at the front still with the masks around their necks. The front of the bus was full but there were a few seats left in the back, so the two men with the masks made their way towards the back of the bus.

As they approached the back of the bus, I began to feel a little out of place. The two men took a good look at the back of the bus -- filled with Mexicans and Latinos -- then frantically strapped on their masks. I must admit this offended me, but being the nice guy that I am, I think I saved them some embarrassment by choosing to keep my mouth shut.

I could see the other Latinos on the bus were not so understanding of the ignorance and showed their disgust. Two Latin cats in black hoodies from the Mission wanted to start shit over it, with a look on there faces like “This mothafucka!!” They motioned to me as if to say what you think we should do about it – I gave a simple hand gesture as if to say I wasn’t trippin hard enough to start a fight over it cuz it was obvious they were stupid. Looking back I think I saved those two white dudes from a serious beeeat down!!

-John Hanley, 24

Could the Swine Flu Signal the end of Mankind???

After reading yet another article about the Swine Flu today -- and watching the presidential address yesterday -- I am pretty convinced the whole world Is terrified.

Left and right, people are becoming infected with the swine flu. The only option the world has now in this time of crisis is to accept it and think positive, discriminating and closing borders isn’t going to help. The world needs to accept that there is a higher power at work and maybe its fed up with man trying to be God and establishing it’s new world order (money).

In today’s world, Man has tried to establish it’s commandments (laws) and has even tried to be God (judges and scientists), but have we ever stopped to think that just as the dinosaurs became extinct, maybe it’s our time as a whole humanity to become extinct? No one wants to accept this because everyone is afraid to die, but as you can see, humanity’s extinction is a reality and man has no power against God's will.

If humanity’s time is up, than it’s up and we just need to accept it. There are other forces at work in this world besides those that man imposes, which is probably why this is happening. People are being very racist and prejudiced against Mexicans because they say that this virus started in Mexico, but what really needs to happen is that people need to grow and embrace death as a part of life. If we don’t do this, then how are we supposed to move on to the next stage of life? The stage that really matters.

Humans were not meant to live forever, at least not on this world, so to be discriminative and try to isolate each other doesn’t seem very moral. Maybe this is happening because humans do not love each other as God intended. Instead humanity has built borders and governed lives for as far as history can recall, so to say “don’t shake hands” so you won’t die is ridiculous.

Love is the name of the game and to love is to live forever. Many people see this as a time of crisis, but I see this as a message from God to enlighten everyone. If you die, you served your purpose and you get to meet God, but if you live, then God still has a plan for you and you get to serve a purpose on this earth. The main message is humanity needs to work together not individually.

- Juan Cortez, 19

Swine Flu Has People Trippin'

This past week, I have been hearing about this Swine Flu. This flu is deadly. It got people tripping around the country, most of all in all the Border States. This is because the flu is coming from Mexico. So far about 320 people in Mexico have died due to this flu. In the states several people have gotten real sick including a two-year-old boy who died from the flu. The symptoms of Swine Flu are a lot like regular flu, so it's hard to tell. In my opinion, I think the flu has been here for a long time and only now -- since it’s affecting American lives and killing people -- is it becoming a big deal.

Although I was born in San Francisco, I am Honduran. Many people in my family are half Mexican and most of my friends are Mexican. I’ve heard people are saying some pretty ignorant stuff. If I heard someone talking bad about Mexico or Mexicans, I would defend Mexico cause it’s wrong, just because you're Mexican doesn't mean you have the flu. People are just being closed-minded about the situation.

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Giancarlo Cestoni, 17

Swine Flu Sucks

Man, I do not wanna get Swine Flu. From what I hear, it is not the business and all this talk about it has got me real spooked…I heard people get a rash and feel like they got the flu and that's how you know you got it. But what separates those symptoms from just having a regular flu?

I’m hearing that people are dying and people are getting it by touching your mouth, and nose after touching others. They say you could easily prevent spreading the virus by washing your hands. To me that's nothing new because I worked for a sewage treatment plant so I’m used to being extra precautious. At the plant, we had to wash our hands like ten times a day, you can’t eat around the machines, you have wear a respirator in some buildings and just generally be on your P’s & Q’s. They teach you to be very safe.

Right now, it seems like I'm gonna have to take those same precautions on the daily just to get around the city. I think the uncertainty of it all is what is causing people to flip out. It seems like they aren’t even sure what is going on with this flu. They can’t say for sure where it came from or where its going. On another hand, I am half Mexican and I cant stand the people who are hatin' on the Mexicans just cause that's where this virus supposedly came from. Even if this true it is definitely not a reason to be hatin' on us. That’s just how I feel.

- Chris Vargas, 19

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