Big Question Final Blog

Freedom-class has been a class structured like no other class that I have taken in college. I have learned about numerous events and court cases most of them in the Civil Rights Era that greatly impacted our generation in the years to come. Examples: Death of Emmett Till, March on Washington, and trial of Plessy v Ferguson to name a few. They all had a crucial impact on our history. For example, the Death of Emmett Till showed the brutality of how whites treated African Americans back in the 1950s. Just for simply flirting with a cashier at a convenience store Till was shot, beaten, eye gouged, stabbed, and thrown down a river. America saw the horridness of the murder when Till’s family had an open casket funeral. This brought light to the brutality of Jim Crow Segregation in the South and was an early momentum boost for the civil rights movement.

The Civil Rights Era revealed the First Amendment's central role in creating social and political change. The many harsh discriminatory events during the Civil Rights Era helped spawn a national crisis that forced intervention by the federal government to overturn segregation laws in southern states, restore voting rights for African Americans, and end legal discrimination (slaves), education, and employment.

Internet would have greatly affected the Civil Rights Era. The internet in general and blogging, in particular, would have had the potential to advance social movements and political mobilizations. It’s crazy how quickly we can get our news when something outrageous or impactful happens in America. Going back to the Emmett Till death, just imagine how quickly that would have been talked about all around America if we had the internet! I believe it would have greatly increased and sped up the Civil Rights Era due to the fact of more publicity of discriminatory events would have been seen around America.

I learned a great deal of what I love from freedom class. I noticed that I love writing about unknown events and other principles more so than listening to lectures and taking a quiz thereafter. I thought it was smart of Professor Smith to change up the flow of what a regular class would look like. He added certain things that I had never done before in a class like writing blog posts and mock trials which was difficult at first, but I got the hang of it after the first month of the semester. More discussion-based learning is what I prefer and Professor Smith’s class was very engaging to me. For myself, I didnt have much trouble keeping up on the blog post due to the fact that Professor Smith would give us a week to complete each one. What I recommend for future students is to have an open mind and not to stress out the first couple of weeks of class. Professor Smith’s class is different in structure than most classes. However, if you pay attention, ask questions when you are stuck, and stay on the task it will be an engaging class that I would recommend everyone to take.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/digital-news/

EOTO #4 Reflection

My fellow casements presented positive and negative events most of them during the 1950s and 1960s that affected our generations in the years to come. Most of the events that were brought forth by both sides I had never studied in history classes during middle school and high school. However one of them really stood out to me. The Masters, Segregated Country Clubs, and Agusta National Club by Alex were very intriguing to learn about. Until recently in many golf clubs, African Americans would be permitted to come under the guise that the club was “invitation only.” Those invitations were only sent out to the white Americans and never to African-Americans to other minorities. What comes as surprising is that the first two cases against golf courses segregation happened in northern states.

The PGA Championship has actually been held at a golf club that doesn't allow African-Americans to golf there which I thought was crazy. (Shoal Creek Club) Club Founder Hall Thompson prompted widespread outrage when he defiantly declared the club would not be pressured to accept African-American members. Thompson is quoted as saying, “we have the right to associate or not to associate with whomever we choose. The country club is our home and we pick and choose who we want. I also didnt know that one of the most famous golf clubs the Even Agusta National Golf Club permitted African Americans from golfing at their club not too long ago. How bizarre! It wasn't until 1975 that the club extended an invitation to its first black competitor Lee Elder. Even after that, it didn't extend an invitation to its first black member until 1990, and then it's finally offered membership to women in 2012. Of the estimated 300 members of Augusta National, there are only maybe eight black members today. One of the most interesting topics I learned about in this class this semester.

Board of Regents v. Bakke - Board of Regents Argument

In this case of  Board of Regents v. Bakke. Mr. Bakke applied in good faith to our universities medical school at Davis twice and without doubt had an acceptable GPA, MCAT, and was worthy of being considered for admission in our school, however, part of our overall mission is to help the unprivileged Americans get a great education. This is right in line with our federal government’s objective to create better opportunities and outcomes for minorities. Minority poverty is a huge problem in America. If we fix this we could fix so many other issues all the way from crime to racism. It is ok to discriminate because it’s the government’s interest. We believe this greater common good is more important than in the plate of one individual white man trying to get into our school.  

The equal protection clause of the Constitution states that the clause prohibits any state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Unless the government has a specific interest then it is ok to base something on race and clearly in this case we are serving the importance of our federal government by helping more minority students enter the medical profession. This means that more minorities can be successful and not be on federal assistance. This helps raise the standard of living which is clearly an objective of our federal government. Also, The Civil Rights Act prohibits all discrimination, but because the Equal Protection Clause is not violated here there is no discrimination from a legal standpoint. 

This is not a moral argument on right or wrong or being fair and honest. This is an issue of serving the objective of serving our federal government,  so is not violating the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment. This should make us all feel great that we’re helping the underprivileged.

More background, about what Allan Bakke believed and the eventual outcome. 

The case of Board of Regents, (University of California) v. Bakke was a Supreme Court case over the dispute of Allan Bakke believing that he was denied admission to the University of California due to the color of his skin. Bakke was a white man and had better testing scores and grades than some of the African American students that were admitted. 

Bakke sued the University of California in a state court, due to the medical school allegedly violating title VI of the civil rights act of 1964 which ended segregation in public places, and employment discrimination. Bakke views this that although he is white, he is more deserving of the spot in the medical program over the others. As well as the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause that had been violated Bakke argued that he legally should not be rejected due to his race, because he was more qualified than the others who had applied over him. In an age aspect, the board used the argument that he was too old to be entered into the program. But Bakke was serving time in the military so he could not apply to the program when he was in his 20’s. He also thought that having a military background would be beneficial to him, but clearly not. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision that a state may constitutionally consider race as a factor in its university admissions to promote educational diversity, but only if considered alongside other factors and on a case-by-case basis.

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811 

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_regents.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4b77yvDzlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL5xwX0N3Ow

The March on Washington Reflection

The documentaries and episodes on the historic 1963 March on Washington for jobs and freedom were truly inspiring for many, thus changing the way Americans look at equality and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr was one of the most confident and ballsy famous minsters and civil rights activists known to mankind. He stood up for what he believed in and delivered the, “I have a dream” speech that would change this nation forever. Everything Martin Luther King Jr said was true. I could tell in numerous speeches on his part that he simply didnt care about if you were black or white or even if he was going to receive backlash amongst white supremacists. He had full faith in God, no matter what the outcome would happen after he spoke. 

Jr was later killed for his acts of empowerment of the nation and belief inequality due to white supremacists not liking him which was a tragedy because Jr did not commit any crime. A fact that I found to be crazy is Martin Luther King Jr had a $50,000 reward for being killed by a distinguished mafia group at the time which was a huge amount of money back then. It made me realize how unequal our nation was at the time and how outside the box and confident Martin Luther King Jr was for standing up on belief and values of making the US become an equal nation.

Inequality and racism has definitely gotten better but still goes on in our society today in different ways than in the 1960s. One of the biggest events in recent years was the death of George Floyd. I live 15 min away from the incident and it was crazy to me how much publicity and coverage happened for just one sad incident. The protest spread like a wildfire throughout the nation. Peaceful protests can raise awareness for any issues and it can be worth it to participate in them. 

However the aftermath of George Floyd many peaceful, but others were not at all. I will never forget the moments when my city had curfews multiple days where everyone had to stay home at a certain hour because there were dangerous riots going on close to our city. The streets were completely vacant because people didn't know what dangerous things were going to happen. When rioters block highways, burn buildings, break into local businesses, and set things on fire it is simply unethical and immoral. My dad is a chairman at a family-run bank that has a location in Minneapolis. They had to board up the outside of the bank because rioters were coming close to the street that the bank was on. My dad and other high executives at the bank were uneasy and a bit terrified that the rioters were going to come down the street and break into the bank. Luckily by the grace of God, they stopped one street away and the bank was safe. However, I do feel for all of the other local businesses that did get destroyed that summer when doing nothing. That’s just a little story about how peaceful protest can raise awareness, but sometimes it can go way too far when absolutely not needing to!

https://www.pbs.org/video/new-york-now-march-washington-50-years-later/

https://www.openculture.com/2013/08/the-march.html

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom

Brown v Board of Education Reflection

The Brown v Board of Education Mock Trial brought forth by my fellow students was very well put together with many factual and ethical points that opened my eyes to how the two sides in this argument tried to prove their points during the trial in 1954. To give a little bit of background that I learned, the case was known as a landmark decision with the two sides debating the segregation of black and white schools. The brown side argued that segregation by law implied that African Americans were inherently inferior to whites. The Board of Education argued that the separate schools for blacks were equal in every way, and were in complete compliance with the Plessy standard. The trial was run from the consolidation of 4 similar cases together, 4 public government-run school systems. These cases established the separate, but equal doctrine. They were brought under the 14th Amendment, also the equal protection clause.

The group that won me over in this mock trial was the Brown side due to the fact that they had more factual evidence and examples from the Bill of Rights, Bible, Constitution, and an individual’s morals. There were many good points that I found to be intriguing including… 

• The Constitution is color blind, doesn’t make a distinction between men and women, class, and most importantly race.

• There are a set of laws that discriminate against black people, but no laws that discriminate against white, something is wrong with that!

• African American children are still young. This is happening to a child by no fault to his/her own decision-making. (The way you were born). It creates an unfair advantage for white students. 

• “The golden rule” in the 14th Amendment doesn’t lift any exception like African Americans.

• We can look at passages of the Declaration of Independence and the bible of how “all men are created equal.” 

• President Truman (nonjudicial precedent action) integrated the military. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play baseball. These were events that were happening within the era, but still segregation in schools!? 

• If there is a mutual decision to become equal it will help benefit the economy.

Although the Brown team had some very strong points with the Constitution and individual morals, the board of education made some strong points as well, however not as many as the Brown side in my opinion. Here are some of the points that I found to be quite solid… 

• “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” notion. We don’t know what would happen. It could lead to a riot. 

• History repeats itself. They should remain separate, but equal to keep communities safe.

• Black children were already at a disadvantage in learning the skills of white people in school because of their ancestor’s IQ.

• They’re gonna take our jobs if they come to our schools! 

• Ruin the student-teacher ratio.

Emmett Till Murder EOTO Debate

A young African American boy brutally murdered at age 14!? How did it really happen and was it right to do so? Emmett Till grew up in South Chicago in a working-class neighborhood. Emmett had attended a segregated elementary school, however, he was not ready for the segregation that was about to happen when he moved to Mississippi. His mother had warned Till to not pull little pranks because of his race, but TIll fed into being a prankster. Every time someone would dare Emmett to pull a prank on an individual he would do so because he himself and his peers thought it was funny.

On August 24 a little prank would change Emmett Till’s life forever. He was at a country store in Mississippi with his African American friends. The friends roamed around the store looking at the things to purchase. One of Emmett’s friends dared him to ask a white woman sitting behind the store counter for a date simply because the friends disbelieved the fact that Emmett’s girlfriend back home was white.

So Emmett did so, he went up to the cashier to buy some candy. After buying the candy he left the store saying “bye baby” to the white cashier after allegedly flirting with Carolyn Bryant, the white cashier for a minute before. Roy Bryant, the woman’s husband, returned from a business trip a few days later and heard how Emmett had allegedly spoken to his wife. Enraged, he went to the home of Till’s great uncle, Mr. Wright, with his friend Millam in the car in the morning of August 28.

He demanded to see Emmett Till. Despite the pleas and cries from the great uncle of Till, he was forced into Roy Bryant’s car. It would have been a whole different story today with technology and simply calling 911 after the incident. After apparently driving around in the night, and perhaps beating Till in a toolhouse they drove him down to the Tallahatchie River. Emmett was not seen for 3 full days later until his dead corpse was recovered by Till’s great uncle Mr. Wright in the Tallahatchie River. Mr. Wright could only recognize Emmet simply because of his initialed ring on one of his fingers. That just shows how brutally murdered Till was for simply not committing any crime of violence, just a funny prank on a white cashier at a county store.

At only age 14 Emmet was brutally murdered. The family of Till soon later had an opened casket during Emmett’s funeral to show the public the brutality of the murder and to show the world what the racist murders did to her only son. The acts of violence were truly horrendous in the murder including beating, eye-gouging, shooting Emmett in the head, and throwing him down the river on top of a cotton gin from the evidence brought forth during the trial that was about to happen.

Later after TIll’s body was buried Bryant and Milam went on trial in a segregated courthouse in Mississippi. The trial went on for only about an hour through deliberation and numerous points of evidence on Till’s side, however, the all-white jury issued a verdict of “not guilty.” They explained that they believed the state had failed to prove the identity of the body. Numerous were furious and outraged at the decision because it was clear that Roy Bryant was the killer. They were also outraged by the state’s decision not to indict Bryant and Milliam on the separate charge of kidnapping.

This act prompted outrage and activism amongst African Americans and numerous others from the terror Emmett experienced from not even committing a single crime. The shocking brutality of Till’s murder served to galvanize civil rights workers in Mississippi and beyond. The African Americans that would stand up for change amongst African American lynchings would be risking their own lives on it happening to themselves due to segregation and the Klu Klux Klan in full swing during Till’s murder. The Emmett Till murder trial brought light to the brutality of Jim Crow Segregation in the South and was an early momentum boost for the civil rights movement.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/murder-of-emmett-till/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emmett-Till 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjr6XLcCXgU

Defending Plessy (Plessy v Ferguson Trial)

Homer Plessy bought a first-class ticket in 1892 for a trip that he was going to go on in Lousiana. Homer settled into the coach section for whites. The conductor told Homer Plessy to move to a different coach because the conductor thought Plessy was not white. He refused and the conductor threw him off the train and put him into a jail cell.  

Is it ethically and morally right to put Homer Plessy in jail for just simply sitting in one of the coaches with white passengers on a train? I don’t think so! Plessy bought a ticket for a first-class coach seat on a train in good faith. That means the seller’s action on behalf of the train sold a ticket that should have been honored by the train. He was kicked out of the train simply because of the conductor’s poor ethics and morals. Keeping black people away from white people is a violation of our civil rights. Our Constitution is ethically color blind. A state could not constitutionally debrief citizens of their rights based on their races.  Plessy should be treated as equal as a white passager on a coach’s train. 

The conductor apparently used physical force to throw Plessy off the train. While Plessy didn't use any physical force on the conductor, therefore, the conductor should be charged with assault. Furthermore, the conductor disrupted the train which resulted in the peace and tranquility of other passengers’ trips. Pleesy didn’t deserve to be in jail because any crime that he had committed on the train didn't have victims. No one was ropped, hurt, etc.

When Plessy stepped into the car and the conductor kicked him out, (Separate Car Act) his rights were violated within the 13th Amendment which was the banning on slavery as well as the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment. The trains that were racially segregated that were deemed as separate, but equal cars were a complete farce. It makes no ethical sense for a person to get a nicer more sophisticated seat based on race which meant that the “Jim Crow” coach full of dark-skinned individuals were being treated like slaves. The Lousiana law is unconstitutional. 

(Homer Plessy looks like a white passenger) 

There was no definition of Caucasian so a reasonable ethical person would say 7/8 Caucasian which Homar was is close enough to a white individual. 1/8 means one of eight great grandparents were black and seven out of eight great grandparents were Caucasian.  It makes no ethical sense to put Plessy in jail when he did not commit any crime of violence to the passengers on board. There was no victim in this crime therefore Homer Plessy did not deserve criminal punishment because no one was impacted, hurt, or taken advantage of. That is unethical. Plessy has his own 1st Amendment rights which should trump other rights that produce segregation because they are unethical in our society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj54KP16Ilw 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDa3ft9VcYc 

https://www.britannica.com/event/Plessy-v-Ferguson-1896 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/163/537