Black Lives Matter. Do the Movies Matter? ‘North and South’ Film Review

photo by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review

Film:               ‘North and South’

Genre:             Historical Trilogy

Directors:       Richard T. Heffron (Book One, 1985)

                        Kevin Connor (Book Two, 1986)

                        Larry Peerce (Book Three, 1994)

Main Actors: Patrick Swayze (Orry Main) and James Read (George Hazard)

The last post on this blog was an essay on ‘Black Lives Matter. Do the Statues Matter?’ – questioning whether or not their removal would mean deleting culture and/or history. Now that it is argued that all lives matter without any discrimination of race, religion, etc., I want to tackle the movie issue –  as I am a cinema lover (and a theater reading lover J) who also heard of movies being banned within the movement of ‘Black Lives Matter’.

            The ‘North and South’ movie is a TV series whose plot is settled before, during and after the Civil War (1861-1865) between the Northern American abolitionist states (as the ‘United States’ under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln) and the Southern American states – favoring slavery (as the ‘Confederation’ run by Robert E. Lee). The movie follows the story of the two main protagonists: Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) – the son of a plantation owner in South Carolina and George Hazard (James Read) – the son of a factory owner in Pennsylvania from the North. The movie is the story of a beautiful friendship that started when the two were studying at West Point Military Academy and that is followed during and after the Civil War. The clash of mentalities is well depicted in this historical well done classical movie. The two families become relatives as Orry’s sister married George’s brother. But it is George’s sister, Virgilia (Kristie Alley) who plays the role of a vocal abolitionist putting his northern family in an embarrassing situation when hosting a dinner for their southern friends.

On another occasion, following a visit of the Hazards to the Mains, Virgilia has an affair with a black man from Orry’s plantation. She was despised not for the affair, but for the black man she had the affair with. Virgilia fell in love with this former slave on Orry’s plantation that she decides to marry despite family opposition and people’s views. The movie follows her love story, too. She acknowledges being the first woman (or among the very first women) to have married a black man. Although the Civil War was won by the North run by Abraham Lincoln and slavery was abolished on papers, Virgilia had difficult times with the society for being married to a black man. The society could not approve such an inter-racial relationship and her true love story is a downfall story to getting in the streets and in jail. Virgilia is a strong willed character, a woman with personality, with views and outspoken – a one of a kind for the 19^th century. But the society seems to have its own unwritten rules that were opposed to those settled in the U.S. Constitution following the Civil War. Its pressure did not break Virgilia’s love for her husband despite all hardships and humiliations. Well, the society has definitely evolved since then, but to what extend the mentalities have evolved is hard to say.

The first post on this blog was made on January 11^th, 2019. And it was a review of the movie ‘Sun, Sand & Romance’ (directed by Mark Rosman, 2017). I ended my review as follows:

‘It is this short and secondary role of Gus, which made me write this review. It is with this short and secondary role that the movie makes a big human point.’ (to read the review click here)

        This movie depicts the first vacation in a beautiful resort of a publishing executive, Kate (Tricia Helfer) and of a real estate agent, Eric (Scott Elrod). In this vacation, Eric has the ‘one-in-a-lifetime-chance’ to meet his idol in this real estate business – Gus. They spend time together learning business from each other. What I loved about this movie was the director’s decision to invite a black man to play the role of Gus, because in my turn I also share the point of view that the quality as a human being is what matters the most and not the race, the religion, the sexual orientation and so on. And the lack of human quality is transnational, trans-racial, trans-religion, trans-any kind of group one would name. It is what we miss the most and what we need the most for progress. Quality!

The movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ is already banned. Will other movies be banned? Cinema is entertainment, but when it comes of historical movies, I prefer those movies that are as close as possible to the historical truth for educational purposes. Therefore, those movies whose plot is placed in the U.S. colonial times (1607 – 1765) or anytime until slavery was abolished try to describe as well as possible those times. People need to know about those times in all their details: clothing, behavior, wording, etc. There are already many movies that for different reasons are lost forever – gone with the wind! This is already a huge waste for the history of the cinema. It is as if a part of culture is already deleted.

Banning some historical movies for describing the way people behaved or talked in a certain époque would mean deleting a part of history, too. Furthermore, during the Black Lives Matter movement parallels with the nazi Germany were raised by some people. I have no knowledge of any movie or documentary made during that époque or about those dreadful times being banned. On the contrary, they are displayed, in order for history not to repeat itself. It is through movies and documentaries that people can understand better the level of violence to which racism or what anti-Semitism led and may lead again. What should be banned – actually one should not even waste time and money to produce from the very beginning – are movies with a hateful language encouraging people to be violent with other people (or animals) for whatever reason some people find justified.

Links:

‘North and South’ Movie

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPu2cX_DJg

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RELWr8LHa8I

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFhekDaElSE

and so on…

Black Lives Matter. Do the Statues Matter? (I)

by Laura Lai/Essay

The struggle of the Afro-American people is a long struggle for inclusion in the American nation-building process. The Afro-Americans are black people brought from different African countries to serve as slaves starting with the 17^th century until slavery was abolished in the 19^th century – following a several years-long Civil War between the Northern American states that were slavery abolitionists and the Southern American states.

            At the very beginning neither the Blacks nor the indigenous Indian Americans were considered persons [Last year when I was a Drama Writing student, I wrote a fictive dialogue for my class inspired from a real story of an Indian American, ‘The Standing Bear – The Person’ that I posted on this blog and that you can read here.]. When slavery was abolished, their struggle entered new phases: the fight for the right to vote and the fight against segregation. After long but victorious fights, America elected also an Afro-American President. The fact that an Afro-American man, but no woman – be her white, was elected as U.S. President is the climax of a long and victorious fight to be recognized as a person, as a free citizen and with the right to vote. Under Trump Administration, statistics show that the Afro-American employment rate is historically high. The recent tragic death of the Afro-American George Floyd killed by white policemen shows first and foremost that mentalities are the hardest to change. The tragic death of George Floyd initiated a world movement that gathers all races from around the globe: ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

It is within this world movement that protesters asked for the bringing down of statues of imperialists and colonialists. Black lives definitely matter, but this essay wants also to have a look at the controversy around the removal of controversial statues around the world.

‘Afro-Americans suffer perhaps the greatest injustices of all ethno cultural groups, both in terms of their historical mistreatment and their current plight’, wrote Prof. Will Kymlicka in his book ‘Can Liberal Pluralism Be Exported?’ (Oxford University Press, 2001:47). When I was a MA Political Science student and researching on the topic of nationalism, I had the great chance of a summer school scholarship in Budapest and the great honor to meet the Canadian Prof. Will Kymlicka (from Queen’s University) and be his student for couple of weeks. And ever since I subscribe to the observations made by others (some of them teachers themselves) who told me before that great professors are ‘simple’ and ‘approachable’. And so it is! – as they do not have any reasons to use arrogance to talk down and to behave unapproachable, in order to cover knowledge gaps.

            In his attempt to answer whether or not the Western liberal pluralism can be exported to Eastern Europe, Prof. Kymlicka had first identified several ethno cultural groups: national minorities, immigrants, ethno religious groups, metics (illegal immigrants) and the Afro-American people. And from these five culturally different groups, the Afro-Americans constitute the category who ‘suffers the greatest injustices’ of all. Afro-Americans have no longer any other country but the United States and they do not speak any of the African languages, but English – and the language is the most important tool of integration into the majority nation-building. However, they were ‘prevented rather than encouraged from integrating into the institutions of the majority culture’ (Kymlicka, 2001:46). And federalism – that was the topic of my PhD research that I did not have the financial means to finish, or maybe it was neither the place or the time according to the Devine Grace – is usually seen as a ‘panacea’ of multicultural accommodation complexities. The European federalists definitely see it that way and they consider the American federalism as ‘a united in diversity’ inspiration for the creation of the United States of Europe. Prof. Kymlicka himself points on the advantages of the federal system given its self-governing defining element, but the denial of including the Afro-American in the nation-building shows that American federalism is a territorial federalism – meant to organize a large and diverse territory, rather than to accommodate a racial diverse population. Kymlicka reminds that American states had first to outnumber all minorities. Basically, in the American nation-building process, the Afro-Americans were denied participation in the nation-building.

‘The costs of allowing such a subculture to arise are enormous, both for the Blacks themselves, who are condemned to lives of poverty, marginalization and violence, and for the society at large, in terms of waste of human potential, and the escalation of racial conflict’ (Kymlicka, 2001:47).

(to be continued below)

Black Lives Matter. Do the Statues Matter? (II)

by Laura Lai/Essay

I cannot agree more with Prof. Kymlicka that it would be moral to introduced reforms in order to prevent such problems for the whole society. Besides, the Blacks are American English-speaking people with great human and intellectual potential – lots of talented people in many fields are Black – that is a great waste for the society as a whole to continue preventing them integrating and keeping them at the edge of poverty. Some reforms introduced by the current Trump Administration to support Black Colleges and Universities, as well as economic reforms that show the greatest employment rate among Afro-Americans, as well as Latin-Americans; reforms to protect the indigenous people showed some progressive steps in the recognition and integration struggle.

But the tragic death of the Afro-American George Floyd brought up all the injustice so far and the police brutality. The Blacks argue that such brutality happens regularly and we all heard of judicial errors through which Black people served tens of years in prison without being guilty. If that would be a matter of individual choice, I place myself on that side, who prefers an innocent good Black person walking freely and I would definitely feel very insecure to know that a white murderer is walking freely around.

Obviously the tragic death of George Floyd was like the drop that filled up a deep glass of long injustices and discriminations. The protests are a democratic right. People have the democratic right to voice their demands, but the violence – with which I fully disagree and that I also do not understand, because Black people’s shops were also vandalized – shows the anger and the frustration accumulated all these years. Some protesters’ anger and frustration directed towards some statues that they pulled down by themselves (ex. the statue of a slave trader pulled down and thrown in the river Thames in London) or asked to be removed (ex. anti-racists protests in Oxford). There is also a third case – that of New Zealand – in which the local council decided to remove the statue of the British naval officer John Hamilton, known also as a racist and imperialist. Such demands were formulated by protesters not only in the United States and the United Kingdom, but also in France and Belgium – and maybe in other parts of the world I do not know about.

The debate surrounding the pulling down of the statues (and what to do with them if removed) was a heated debate. Is that deleting culture? Is that deleting history? Do all statues need a reassessment? What to do with those controversial after removal? Shall we melt them? Or maybe shall a Museum of Racism be created the same way as Museums of Holocaust or Museums of Communism were made?

An overwhelming majority of those I have heard agreed with the protests and condemned the violence. Some people questioned also the right to protest amid COVID-19 pandemic when there are laws demanding social distancing, wearing masks and that do not allow large crowds of people – rules broken everywhere where anti-racist protests took place. These people are not anti-protesters, but their worry is justified by the quick spread of the virus that may put everybody at risk, cancel all progress made during the lockdown and put more pressure on the already overcrowded hospitals and overburdened medical staff. As the virus does not distinguish among races or any other category of people, and as there is no vaccine against it yet, protesters showed lots of courage in front of the virus, putting their lives in danger, too. This shows that they were strongly motivated to make their anti-racist voices heard. Is the removal of some controversial statues like deleting history or deleting culture?

A statue is a monument that represents the carved figure of a person, who at some point in history played a significant role in literature, music, politics, etc. A research undertaken by the University of Otago (New Zealand) that studied 123 statues concluded that one in four statues is vandalized and that is usually the statues of royalties, politicians, army officials (ex. the statue of King George V in Matakana was decapitated five times). Professor Nick Wilson, said:

 

    ‘These attacks are quite clearly driven by issues around colonization, and also militarism. 

    People are attacking these statues because of past injustices.’

 

Therefore, the argument advanced by some people – maybe slightly hesitant about whether or not to remove these statues – that X or Y (whose statue was asked to be removed) was also a philanthropist does not count for the protesters. To be honest, such an argument does not count for me either. According to the same Holly Bible we all know and those philanthropist were familiar with, one must share from the little it has worked for; if one does not earn anything has nothing to share and there is nothing to blame. I have all due respect for philanthropists who share from what they earned (as computer inventors/devices that we all use, as sportsmen, etc.), but I do not call a philanthropist a person who shares a wealth made on others’ sufferings. (to be continued below)

 

Black Lives Matter. Do the Statues Matter? (III)

by Laura Lai/Essay

 

According to the results of Prof. Nick Wilson these attacks against statues are not a novelty with the Black Lives Matter movement, but they have been existing since the 1930s. Although he relates this aggressively attitude with the past injustices, it may also be the fact that some segments of the population may feel offended to pass by ‘carved’ representations of a political or military historical figure that did not treat their keens fairly. During the debate around the controversial statues there were also a parallel made with the nazi Germany and the reasons why there are no statues of the leader of the Nationalist-Socialist Party in Germany, Adolf Hitler. For the same reasons there are no statues of communist leaders in Eastern Europe or for the same reasons there are not statues of Saddam Hussein, etc.

There are documentaries in which young Germans from poor families were helped by the Nationalist-Socialist Party to go school, to have a meal without knowing that later there would be asked to enroll in the army. There may also be people remembering the urbanization that Ceausescu (Romanian dictator) did, or others praising the way a dictator like S. Hussein kept a religiously diverse country together. Furthermore, the Oxford Dictionary explains that a statue is a ‘sculpture’, ‘figure’, ‘effigy’, ‘statuette’, ‘figurine’, ‘idol’. Therefore, there is no room for such ‘idols’ in a democracy. A statue of Adolf Hitler would not only remind the past injustices, but it would also be disrespectful towards the victims and those who survived. The Blacks are by no means different: besides the long period of historical injustice, then the long struggle for rights and integration, they also have to pass daily by carved representations of some people that did their ancestors lots of harm by enslaving them and God knows what other atrocities.

And once removed what shall we do with them? If there is something I truly love about democracy are the freedom to express our ideas and their free circulation. Sometimes there are so many ideas as heads are. I would not place my opinion to the extreme of melting them, for example, because that would mean to delete culture – in a way. Whatever carved figure it had been done by artists, usually talented ones. Therefore, melting a controversial statue would mean to delete the cultural work of an artist – definitely hard work, more or less paid. Besides, there are documentaries, pictures, artifacts, etc. from different dictatorial times since the Roman Empire. They are part of history. Nobody can delete or change history. History must be remembered in order not to repeat the same mistakes again. Colonialism is a historical time period in the colonial powers’ history, as well as in the history of the colonies. All the removed controversial statues can be placed in a history museum or in a museum of racism as some suggested. In which concerns the question of with what/whom to be replaced, I am convinced that people do not lack ideas and suggestions.

In conclusion, the struggle of the Afro-American people is a long struggle for being recognized as a person, then as a citizen with the right to vote and a struggle for integration in the majority nation-building process, as they do not have any country but the United States and they do not speak any other language but the majority language that is English. The tragic death of the Afro-American George Floyd brought up the injustices and the discriminations that the Black community had to bare so far. The participation of all races to the Black Lives Matter protests all around the world ignoring even the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic (when there is not vaccine yet) shows a world solidarity for the Black community. It also shows that a great deal of people do not agree with the idea of ‘race superiority’. I do not even understand it: Let us only remember that the doctrine of the Nationalist-Socialist Party was based on ‘race superiority’. And in the name of the ‘race superiority’ doctrine a nazi government made of white people killed Jews… who were also white! Logically, it is a nonsense, unless it was just an excuse to kill innocent people, because we are all (regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation) innocent until proved guilty. But the American judicial system has some unfortunate examples of Black people who served many years in prison although innocent. Black Lives Matter world movement is a collective voicing that this is not the society we aspire to and a public demand for a change.

Many protesters asked the removal of controversial statues and some local councils started removing them (in Hamilton (New Zealand), in Oxford (UK) the statue of Cecil Rhodes). History can never be outdated. It must definitely be remembered so that the same mistakes not to be repeated again. That is the reason why a decision to melt the statues would mean to delete the hard work of artists and would mean deleting culture. But their relocation to a national history museums or a newly created museum of racism – as some suggested – would make history remembered and culture not deleted. As for what to replace them with, there are no worries that the world lacks ideas. Democracy encourages the free expression of ideas and their free circulation until better choices are made. An assessment of all the controversial ones is necessary as those glorifying racism do not correspond anymore to the values of the current multicultural societies we have become and that we aspire to by constantly improving together. (the end)

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

― ‘Statement from the University on Anti-Racism’. June 15^th, 2020. Website.  http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-06-15-statement-university-anti-racism

Anderson, Charles. ‘City of Hamilton in New Zealand Removes Statue of British Naval Captain’. The Guardian. June 11^th, 2020. Website. https://www.msn.com/en-xl/australasia/australasia-top-stories/city-of-hamilton-in-new-zealand-removes-statue-of-british-naval-captain/ar-BB15nBsu?li=BBKxOg5&ocid=mailsignout#image=BB14RQOP|93

Bond, Jordan. ‘Statues of historical and political figures more likely to be vandalised – Study’. RNZ. June 17^th, 2020. Website.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419192/statues-of-historical-and-political-figures-more-likely-to-be-vandalised-study

Cruse, Ellena. ‘Two Women Arrested after Statue of British Explorer James Cook Vandalized in Sydney’. EveningStandard. June 15^th, 2020. Website. https://www.msn.com/en-xl/australasia/top-stories/two-women-arrested-after-statue-of-british-explorer-james-cook-vandalised-in-sydney/ar-BB15sSIR?ocid=mailsignout

Kymlicka, Will and Opalski, Magda (eds.). Can Liberal Pluralism Be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Osborne, Samuel. ‘Cecil Rhodes: Oxford University to Remove Statue of Imperialist after Anti-Racism Protests’. The Independent. June 18^th, 2020.  Website. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rhodes-statue-down-oxford-university-black-lives-matter-a9571896.html

Radio LBC on https://www.globalplayer.com/live/lbc/uk/

Online Safety for Kids. Advices for Adults

photo by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review

‘Talking with Kids about Being Online’, May 2018 – promoted by the First Lady Melania Trump within the international ‘Be Best’ Campaign (it can be downloaded FREE of charge from here)

The raise of technologies and Internet are meant to improve our quality of life. Nowadays, we can book, study and pay online – which saves us lots of time. People with disabilities find Internet connected devices and different downloaded applications as being useful tools that improve their life quality. It looks like the virtual world was created by man, in order to improve some aspects of the real life that technology can improve and/or facilitate. Therefore, if the virtual world is some kind of reflection of the real world, it means that what we call a ‘villain’ in the real world, it would most probably be a ‘scammer’, a ‘trafficker’ etc. in the virtual one. So, since we are all simultaneously exposed to both the benefits and the dangers of the online connection of our computers and mobile devices, what to do in order for us to enjoy mostly the benefits and protect the children and ourselves from the online dangers?  

The booklet ‘Talking with Kids about Being Online’ issued by the U.S. Federal Free Trade Commission and promoted by the First Lady Melania Trump within the international ‘Be Best’ campaign – that focuses on the well being of children, their safe online exposure and their healthy living away from opioids – presents on the one side, the dangers to which the kids are exposed while online, and on the other side, it suggests the best solutions for adults to protect them.

           Most adults and children build public profiles, share photos/videos, share location, plans, thoughts – and how much is too much is for each of us to decide. This booklet advises us to post what we are comfortable with, without losing sight of the fact that whatever each of us posts can be seen by a large category of people: employers, admission officers, teachers and colleagues, the police, and so on. It warns about the following three issues:

• inappropriate conduct (cyber bullying through bad words/comments that some people would not do in the real world, but somehow they feel more free to do it in the online forgetting about hurting people);
• inappropriate contact (being approached by strangers with bad intentions, such as human traffickers, financial scammers, etc.);
• inappropriate content (violent/hate speech, pornography, etc.).

It is suggested that adults should supervise their children – at least until they are confident – when they are online, to talk to them, to be patient with them especially that ‘[m]ost kids need to hear information repeated, in small doses, for it to sink in’ (p.3).

Adults are advised to teach their children that not everything on Internet is true, that not everybody on Internet is what it seems to be and that certain things must stay private (such as: address, phone number, social security number, credit card number, etc.). The booklet presents some control mechanisms that adults have, in order to protect children in the online. Here are some of the suggestions:

• filtering and/or blocking certain websites, apps or images;
• blocking outgoing content;
• installing browsers with search engines appropriate for children;
• reviewing the list of virtual friends of the child is also a suggested solution, and so on.

These mechanisms of filtering, blocking and installing appropriate browsers are justified by studies pointing that ‘[t]eens who don’t talk about sex with strangers online are less likely to come in contact with predators’ (p.9).

But filters installed on computers do not work on mobile devices. Therefore this booklet also shows the advantages of passwording computers, mobile devices (especially when financial operations are operated from the smartphone), home wireless system and the dangers of the phishing scams – a fraudulent practice of collecting personal and financial details by sending texts, e-mails, pop-ups, attachments to be downloaded or links to click on. It shows how to avoid phishing and where to report it.

To sum up, this booklet is centered on children’ s online safety, but it contains relevant information for adults. I chose to read, review and post it on the occasion of the U.S. Children’s Day – although I’m not a parent myself (at least, not yet!) – because of the great summation of possible dangers and interesting insights on cyber security. As technology is evolving and so is our Internet and technology need that grows with it, I find any piece of cyber security information as being valuable for both adults and children. I gladly discovered that I am doing the right thing when before downloading an application I read the description, the reviews and the other users’ ratings – as, to me, it is the only way to decide whether or not is the application I need. I also found in this booklet the arguments I needed for an online security issue I was already considering for quite some time. All in all, I found the different warnings justified, the advices equally useful and the layout friendly.

International Children’s Day 2020. Adults and Children, ‘Be Best’!

Introduction

Since 1925 when it was first proclaimed in Geneva (Switzerland) the day of June 1^st has been celebrated as the ‘International Children’s Day’. It is also the day when adults – like me – hope, from the bottom of the heart, to read some positive statistics on the improvement of children’s life quality. But then come recent statistics released by the ‘Eurostat’ stating that almost a quarter (23,4 percent) of the European Union’s children (with Slovenia scoring the best and Romania scoring the worse) are ‘children at risk of poverty and social exclusion’.[1] I try to be optimistic – at least on Children’s Day – and hope that maybe the other three quarters are living in wealth and social inclusion.

            On the International Children’s Day, children gathers, in order to make drawings on the paper or on the streets, they participate in different contests, share balloons, etc. Actually adults, who take decisions in the states the children are living, can do more than organizing contests and streets drawings. They can work to find ways so that more money to be monthly allocated to children, in order to cover their parents’ expenses with raising a child. Children can be allocated more money to buy books, to buy a cinema/theatre ticket, visit a museum or make a trip, buy candies or balloons, but somehow adults can’t and children aren’t. States can create mechanisms that children’s money not to be spent on alcohol by their parents where such is the case, but somehow states don’t and children are spent the money. Therefore, the International Children’s Day is the day to remember that children have rights and adults have obligations towards them.

‘Be Best’ is a campaign …

In the United States the International Children’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of June – it looks like the whole month of June there are global children’s celebrations. One of the national and international programs that center itself on children and youth is the ‘Be Best’ initiative, but let us not forget the ‘Reach Centre’ recently inaugurated by the First Lady at the Kennedy Center – a campus for Arts and Humanities where youth can gather to experience music, theatre and all other performing arts.[2]

On May 7^th, the ‘Be Best’ campaign celebrated 2 years old. It is a child, too, but who did so much work as for an adult: it met medical doctors, teachers, ambassadors, government leaders, elected officials, representatives of the tech community, nearly 4,000 students, visited over 20 classrooms, invited thousands of children and students to the White House on different occasions (ex. Family Theatre night screening a movie on the great contribution of the Afro-American women to the NASA project),[3] read Christmas and Easter stories[4], and it toured nationally and internationally to raise awareness on the challenges children and youth face. Amid COVID-19 pandemic it sent books, games, bags, pencils and stickers to the medical staff and young patients in hospitals.[5]

… that has three pillars…

From the very beginning this campaign focused on three pillars: the well being of the children (meaning a healthy living, encouragement, kindness and compassion) – regarding the children as human beings, who have the right to be respected and treated equally; the second pillar is the online safety – in this context meetings were hold with the tech community for programs and applications for online safety and innovations that can improve the life quality of children with disabilities, too. Furthermore, a booklet of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission with lots of useful advice for adults concerning the online safety of their children is promoted (and can be downloaded free of charge) within the ‘Be Best’ campaign.[6]

And the third pillar focuses on the opioids pandemic that caused thousands of overdose dead – it supports families and children affected by opioids to recover and teaches about healthy pregnancies. In October 2019 statistics showed first signs of healthy recovery from the opioid pandemic with a national drop of 5.1 percent in overdose deaths with a serious drop in most-hitted states: Ohio (24 percent), Pennsylvania (23 percent), Iowa (19 percent), Kentucky (17 percent), etc.[7]

…and that goes from national to international.

This campaign raises awareness and gives a voice to the concerns and struggles of children in the United States and in the world. The ‘Be Best’ message was taken so far to Egypt, Ghana, India, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, United Kingdom.[8]

‘Be Best’ is run by the First Lady, Melania Trump,…

It is said that as long as each of us has parents, we are still children, even if children become adults and have children of their own, as it is also the case of Melania Trump, who said that she runs this campaign as a First Lady and as a mother.

            In February 2020, the First Lady was invited by the Palm Beach Atlantic University to be awarded the 2020 ‘Woman of Distinction’ Award.[9] And Melania invited her parents at this ceremony to thank them for the support over the years, their efforts and struggles. Therefore, the First Lady would like that children find in the ‘Be Best’ campaign the support they need to ‘become their very best selves.’

…is a 2 years old campaign that is still learning…

On the occasion of her trip to India, the First Lady participated in a ‘happiness curriculum’ class, which is something rare around the globe. It is a mindfulness program that most probably explains why many people from poor countries usually answer that they are happy in statistics that measure the level of happiness.[10]

On the occasion of the second anniversary of the ‘Be Best’ national and international campaign, Melania Trump said:

‘I’m reminded that now, more than ever, we must continue to work together and champion the issues that face our children in order to strengthen, protect and provide them with a safe and more secure future.’[11]

…and gathers many fans around the world.

Like me! I appreciate the sincerity and the commitment of this first non-native American First Lady, born in Slovenia, who has looked into her heart and chose to focus on children and youth – as the future of her adoptive country that she wants great again; and for which she volunteers.

Conclusions

To sum up, the International Children’s Day is celebrated by most of the countries on June 1^st, as well as in other days during the month of June or during the year – depending on the traditions in each country. It is an occasion to remember that children have rights, too and that adults have responsibilities and obligations towards them. Those adults empowered to take decisions can and should take more measures to improve the quality of life of both children and adults.

            ‘Be Best’ is a national and international campaign run by the First Lady Melania Trump. It raises awareness on the challenges children and teens face and it promotes their wellbeing, their online safety and a healthy life out of the use of drugs. This campaign for children and youth reached 2 years old and I wish it and all children:

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! and

MANY HEALTHY AND HAPPY YEARS AHEAD!

---

[1] ‘Children at Risk of Poverty and Social Exclusion’. Eurostat. March 4^th, 2020. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Children_at_risk_of_poverty_or_social_exclusion

[2] ‘First Lady Melania Trump Attends a Dedication Ceremony at the Kennedy Center. You Tube. September 11^th, 2019. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJYhCQNuM3w

[3] ‘First Lady Melania Trump Hosts Students at the White House Movie Theater’. You Tube. February 13^th, 2020. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gejp20VWR3A

[4] ‘White House Easter Egg Roll: Reading Book with First Lady Melania Trump’. You Tube. April 2^nd, 2018. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxRbG0s2420

[5] Superville, Darlene. ‘First Lady Sends Gifts to Hospitals Dealing with Coronavirus.’ AP News. April 24^th, 2020. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://apnews.com/48d951909e6104922f25e301e7afa0cc

[6] ‘Talking with Kids about Being Online’. Be Best. May 2018. Website. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Talking-with-kids-about-being-online-_2018.pdf

[7] Stein, Shira. “Overdose Deaths Drop Sharply in States Hard Hit by Opioid Crisis”. Bloomberg Law. 30 October 2019. Web. 2 December 2019. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/overdose-deaths-drop-sharply-in-states-hard-hit-by-opioid-crisis

[8] ‘Be Best International’. Be Best – First Lady Melania Trump’s Initiative. Website. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/bebest/

[9] Lewis, Victoria. ‘First Lady Melania Trump Receives Award from Palm Beach Atlantic University.’ WPTV. February 19^th, 2020. Web. May 28^th, 2020. https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/west-palm-beach/first-lady-melania-trump-receiving-award-from-palm-beach-atlantic-university

[10] Scandinavians are usually first runners in statistics measuring happiness (expected given many life quality factors). Surprising results are those related to poor countries, where respondents say that they are happy. My assumption started from the fact that people are generally either spiritual or materialistic and those who are spiritual do not need lots of material things to feel happy, while those more materialistic search into the material world for that special feeling of happiness – and some find it, while others need to accumulate more. Now, I learned to consider this ‘happiness curriculum’ as an alternative possible factor that may explain polls’ results on happiness. Anyway, my belief is that ‘happiness’ and ‘comfortability’ are two concepts that relate to ‘spirituality’ and to ‘materialism’. Therefore, I think that where life quality can be improved, people are not only feeling happy, but also more comfortable (and they can live longer, healthier, etc.).

[11] Trump, Melania. ‘Be Best’. Twitter. May 7^th, 2020. Tweet. May 28^th, 2020. https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1258411264419729408