reflect on the article

Check out this article at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/14/18288103.php

If your computer is able to view the video, you might want to see it.

Questions to consider:
1. Why didn't the police arrest the Minutmen member?
2. Would it have been different if the violence had been caused by an undocumented immigrant?
3. Is violence ever okay in a protest?

the border

by J.N.

What is the border? The border is like a subject trying to keep people out. It might be a physical wall, but it is the subject, the idea that is the real border. It's like there is no end to it.

We try to help each other but there is a border. We try to be friends but there is a border. We try but find out what we like and what we don't like. All we want is a conersation, a dialogue between two groups. We try to change the world but there is a border.

So how can we make the world a better place if there is a border? And each year it grows. Without borders we would understand how others need help. The border blinds us, but we would see the poverty on the other side. Without the border, we would know how to create a plan to change the world; because, if you see, you can be aware and if you are aware, you can do something about it. However, as long as there is a border, we will not be able to see.

feminists

What are some of the issues that feminists would have fought for during the Civil Rights? Create a list of at least five ideas.

a solution

Yesterday we talked about all of the different groups that could claim that the land belonged to "them." What is a compromise that could make each group at least moderately satisfied?

fear what?

by K G

What is fear?
And what should
I do?
Fear what?

I go to my room
And hide.
I wonder if fear
just took all my pride

What should I do?
be afraid?
be a warrior?
I'm not sure

I want to face
my fear
I just don't know how
so what should I
do?

What is fear?
And what should I do?
Fear what?

sadness

by R. Parra

Sadness

Dedicated to Richard Parra


My body is aching.My heart is in so much pain.But when I think about you my pain grows more powerful.I miss you so much that I still think that you're by my side.I feel stupid cause I know it can't be true.I loved you with my innermost feelings and you betrayed them.I wish you could still be here but the more I wish I know it's not going to happen.I feel like I'm in sorrow.It's hard to believe that I'm in so much sadness.It feels that my sorrow is suffocating me in everything I do.I can't stand it I want to forget you but the more I try the more your face still stares at me.My mind is gone and my whole figure is wasted.Day and night I look out my bedroom window remembering all that's to be remembered.All the good memories we had together.But the memories we shared just was forgotten.I only have the last little memory left.It shows us going to the beach and running through the waves.As I remember this memory tears roll down my cheeks.The beautiful memory of you has almost disappeared from my mind.The people has seen me suffer for a long time.I have starved myself and gone for days without any sleep.Every night I look up at the sky wishing,hoping,praying that I can see you one more time.People want me to go outside and forget you.But I will never forget you.My heart and soul will always be connected with you.We'll never be separated,The more I think the more it comes to me that you've gone to a place so far away that no matter how much I've tried,I can't reach the place you have accomplished to come to.I miss you!!!I know you miss me.I'll always love you forever.......Gramps.

Fair Housing

Even when the Federal Government passed laws saying that anyone could buy a home, many minorities (such as African-Americans and Latinos) could not afford to buy in those neighborhoods. They were left asking, "What's the point of fair housing if we can't buy a home?"

Was this an example of integration, de facto segregation or explict segregation? Why?

Drinking Fountains

During the 1960's, African-Americans had to use separate drinking fountains. They posted signs saying, "Whites Only" and "Colored."

Was this an example of integration, de facto segregation or explict segregation? Why?

Case: Brown v. Board of Education

In Brown versus the Board of Education, African-Americans sued a school district that separated the students based upon race. The Supreme Court decided that "separate is not equal," and forced the schools to have a mix of races.

Was the Supreme Court decision an example of integration or de facto segregation or explicit segregation? Why?

borders

Read the following article and comment about it. Is this a Civil Rights issue? If so, what can be done to stop it?


SAN LUIS RÍO COLORADO, Mexico — For 10 years, Eduardo Valenzuela has been crossing the border illegally near Yuma, Ariz., trekking over desert scrub and hopping a freight train to get back to his job with a construction company in Phoenix. The clandestine trip has become an annual ritual for him, as he goes home each winter to see his children.

But on a recent afternoon he and four travel companions from his hometown, Los Mochis, plopped down on a bench in a park in the border town of San Luis Río Colorado, exhausted and dispirited. They were beat. Border Patrol agents had caught them twice over three days, hounding them with helicopters and four-wheel-drive trucks.

“It’s become much more difficult,” Mr. Valenzuela said, echoing the comments of dozens of other migrants. “Before, you just arrived here and then you walked a little and got the train. You used to see a border patrol agent every 10 kilometers. Now you see four of them where there was one. Think of it.”

All along the border, there are signs that the measures the Border Patrol and other federal agencies have taken over the last year, from erecting new barriers to posting 6,000 National Guardsmen as armed sentinels, are beginning to slow the flow of illegal immigrants.
The only available barometer of the decline is how many migrants are caught. In the last four months, the number has dropped 27 percent compared with the same period last year, the biggest drop since a crackdown immediately after 9/11. In two sections around Yuma and near Del Rio, Tex., the numbers have fallen by nearly two-thirds, Homeland Security officials say.
“We are comfortable that this actually reflects a change in momentum,” Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, said in an interview last week during his first official visit to Mexico City. “I’m always quick to say it doesn’t mean we can declare victory. To some degree, I expect the criminal organizations or smugglers are pulling back a little, watching to see if we lose interest.”

Some immigration experts said it was too early to tell if the enforcement efforts had caused a permanent downturn. In the past, tougher enforcement has only caused smugglers to seek new routes. “It’s the squeeze the balloon phenomenon,” said Roberto Suro, the director of the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. “Sometimes you can’t tell where the bubble will come when you squeeze until later.”

Nor can they rule out other factors, like a relatively cold winter on the border and Mexico’s solid economic growth last year. Border Patrol commanders say they see no explanation for the drop-off across the entire 2,000-mile border other than stiffer enforcement deterring migrants. The slackening flow, they argue, belies the conventional wisdom that it is impossible to stem illegal migration. Many veteran officers in the force are now beginning to believe it can be controlled with enough resources.

The new measures range from simply putting more officers out on patrol to erecting stadium lights, secondary fences and barriers of thick steel poles to stop smugglers from racing across the desert in all-wheel-drive trucks. The Border Patrol has deployed hundreds of new guards to watch rivers, monitor surveillance cameras and guard fences.

In the Yuma headquarters of the Border Patrol, for instance, Chief Ronald Colburn said that with the help of the National Guard the patrol had doubled the agents in his sector to about 900, extended the primary steel wall eight miles past the end of the Mexican town of San Luis Río Colorado, and constructed a vehicle barrier six miles beyond that. “It’s the right mix, the right recipe,” he said.

The federal government has also begun punishing migrants with prison time from the first time they enter illegally in some areas. For instance, along the 210 miles of border covered by the Del Rio office of the Border Patrol, everyone caught crossing illegally is charged in federal court and, if convicted, sentenced to at least two weeks in prison.

Walls or War?
by Antonese

Their heads faced against the wall. Around them are their family. The look in their eyes is confusion. Why is there a wall here? Why can't we come? Which gets you thinking. Why do nations create walls? My honest opinion is that nation build walls because they have no trust for others. Fear and greed over rule them forcing things of this sort. They have fear of what the people from other nations might do such as over power them. They have greed and say we have such a nice place which share. Many effects could happen because of this. Our world is already separated with some hate as it is walls will just make it much worse. Nations could go into war because they took the message the wrong way. Nothing positive could come out of complete separation. That brings me to a question on what the president has in our future,so why are we going to make them?

Why Is It There?
By Mackenzie

Why is it there?
It separates them from us.
Lots of people go across.
But lots also get sent back.
People don't like it.
Some die when they pass this hurtful wall.
Its like racism.
Is that why its there?
Some people use it for a way to hurt people.
Some use it to create a better life
Kids ask why is it there?
Others say its not supposed to be there
Some say lets destroy it
But others say its not that easy
It causes so much pain
So I still ask
Why is it there?

Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr.

	Malcom X	Martin Luther King Jr.
Can all races get along?	Segregation – All races should be separate and leave one another alone	Integration – All races should live and interact with each other
Faith	Muslim	Christian
Methods	Violence might be necessary when protests are not enough, but also try boycotts and protests and speeches.	Never use violence. Instead, use boycotts, protests, speeches, etc.
National Identity	Be proud of your race and consider yourself a nation of your race instead of your country	Be proud of your American identity and your race at the same time. The goal is for all races to be part of our nation.

Imagine you are an African-American during the Civil Rights movement. You have just heard speeches from Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. What are their similiarties? What are their differences? Whose approach do you like better? Which man would you choose to follow?

Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr.

	Malcom X	Martin Luther King Jr.
Can all races get along?	Segregation – All races should be separate and leave one another alone	Integration – All races should live and interact with each other
Faith	Muslim	Christian
Methods	Violence might be necessary when protests are not enough, but also try boycotts and protests and speeches.	Never use violence. Instead, use boycotts, protests, speeches, etc.
National Identity	Be proud of your race and consider yourself a nation of your race instead of your country	Be proud of your American identity and your race at the same time. The goal is for all races to be part of our nation.

What are their similiarties? What are their differences?

Whose approach do you like better?