Archive for date: September 18th, 2015

On April 9, 1968, Richard Eggers from Red Buff, California wrote to Congressman Harold “Bizz” Johnson to give his insight on two topics that were swiping the country: civil rights and the Vietnam War. Mr. Eggers starts off by saying that he’s studied these two topics rather well, so his opinions aren’t just made on the “spur of the moment.” He also mentions that he is a history teacher and has had to deal with all sorts of questions from his students. However, Mr. Eggers goes on to say he knows that he doesn’t know everything about these topics. Despite this, he feels as if it is his responsibility to let Mr. Johnson know of his opinion so that the congressman could represent him. Mr. Eggers talks about his experience in Washington D.C. shortly after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. He was completely appalled at how people were reacting to King’s death, how he deserved to die, and how the areas where the African Americans lived were in horrible condition. Mr. Eggers mentions that the type of reaction of King’s death was “based on racism, which is based on fear; which in turn results from ignorance and lack of education.” His solution is to fight with federal and state programs that provide better housing, education, jobs, and welfare instead of guns, fire, and violence. He states that he is willing to pay the higher taxes to make this possible. Also, towards the end of his letter, he mentions that he doesn’t see the need to be in Vietnam and wishes that the troops be removed.

While reading this letter, I couldn’t help but think, “Why can’t everyone think this way?” Mr. Eggers seemed to have common sense and saw how inhumane it was to treat other human beings with such disrespect and actually wish death upon them. He saw African Americans as actually people and not a nuisance like many other Americans did at the time.

This week in my University 198 class we read archives again, this time the folder of archives that I had were about the Civil Rights Bill. The folder had letters to Bizz Johnson, most of the letters I came across were written from high school students. Most of the high school students were taking an American Government course. They were writing to Bizz Johnson because they wanted to know his views on the Civil Rights that had recently been issued in 1963. While I was reading the letters from high school student I realized that most of them said the same things that they wanted Johnson to support the Civil Rights Bill. Usually I would expect adults writing letter to congress because they usually know the most about politics but I came across a letter written by a second grade teacher. Only she wasn’t writing on her behalf, she was writing for her students. This specific letter isn’t as long as the ones the high school students wrote. It still caught my attention because even the second graders, Gregg, Dan, Cindy, Ganet, Gale, Jana, and Rogger, knew about this bill. When I was in elementary school I don’t remember knowing about anything to do with politics besides the president’s name at the time. That was honestly shocking because children back then knew what was going on around them without having to find out through social media like most people now a days.

Many events occurred in 1963 that caused the Civil Rights Movement. In Baltimore, students from Morgan State and Howard Universities got together forcefully to end segregation. Some of these students went to jail because of their protest. A week later city officials agreed to end segregation of North wood Theater. In Cambridge, Maryland the city was in the longest unemployment time in a U.S community since the end of reconstruction. This happened because the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee tried to end segregation in local venues. The people who participated in any of those events were only trying to end segregation. The civil rights movement was for the African Americans and so that they can have equal rights everywhere they go. In the 1960’s was when the government was taking action on segregation.

We are lucky to live in a country with equal rights. People back in the days were segregated by color. Therefor, people of color had their own restroom, schools etc. Imagine how much African Americans struggled. They got discriminated just because of their skin color and race. How would you feel if you got discriminated because of your skin color or race? Since now a days there isn’t discrimination we don’t think about how our lives would be different if we lived before the Civil Rights movement.  We wouldn’t be friends with certain people we’re friends with now. Thinking about it I wouldn’t like to live in that time because I am blessed to have my friends even if they are a different race than I am. Having friends of different race is an amazing thing because you get exposed to different cultures instead of just your own.

After reading this article i realized that generalizations and labels are necessary for communication, understanding the world around us and grouping. However labeling and making generalizations can quickly turn into a  negative stereotype. It is human nature for people to make generalizations in our heads to help us understand the world but i think its important to understand that every person is an individual and simply because they are a certain race, or gender it doesn’t automatically clump them into your generalization you have created.  For example, I grew up in a very wealthy suburban area so when I drive through Inglewood, or Compton I have assumed this area is dangerous, and even in the day time I will feel cautious. I think my sheltered upbringing has created a skewed perspective on what lower income communities are like.This generalization does hold some truth because there is in fact gangs and crime in the area, however it becomes a negative stereotype when you begin to judge individuals based on the towns they live it. My lack of exposure to a community with more racial diversity causes me to turn my generalizations into unfair stereotypes at  times. Although Inglewood and Compton do intact have dangerous areas i still should not stereotype every individual that lives there.In addition, i can partially blame television for giving me this generalization in the first place being that our local news channels discuss only crime in these areas rather than any good stories.

I thought it was interesting that Sternheimer brought up the idea that childhood and children mean different things to all of us. As a society, we cannot even agree on an age at which childhood begins and ends. Furthermore, everyone experiences childhood differently depending on your social status, living environment, ethnicity, and immigration status. I agree that it is hard to tell wether media is “destroying” childhood, but I also agree that childhood changes from generation to generation. There is more information out there now from when I was younger.

From the stereotypes article, what I found interesting was how students need to learn the difference between generalizations and stereotypes. However, how can someone have a generalized idea about a specific group of people without it being stereotypical? Another thing I found interesting is that we cannot avoid using labels and “without them we wouldn’t be able to communicate about social issues, international relations, or historical events.”

“To prepare rather than protect empowers children to make their own decisions, armed with necessary information.”
How does everyone feel about his idea?

L R Clenots mailed his concerns to congress on May 6^th 1971.  In the letter Clenot’s main concern was to emphasize the importance of ending the war since he had spent a year in Korea  in 1950 and had a horrible experience first hand.  From his tone of voice Clenots lost his faith in government and now trusted and sided with the high school/ college students and their protests to end the war in Vietnam.

In the letter, Clenots states that there were warnings when he arrived in Korea on signs so the U.S. soldiers could see stating that the government and the soldiers should leave.  “Your leaders are wonton War mongers”, “Yankee go home”, ‘I believe them now.’  Clenots was a Veteran from the Korean conflict that saw nothing positive from the war and so when he attended the Madison protest, he saw how the government was indeed a blood thirsty entity that fueled the war being that it dispersed the people using military force and tear gas instead of listening to what they had to say.  This letter is powerful not only in the way that it was worded but also because of the perspective that it was written through.

Clements was resentful in the letter when he realized how blindly he had obeyed and trusted the government, when he was finally able to see through the lying loopholes of politicians like president Nixon at the time having be that he stated, “I have a plan.” This is a valid and reliable source because the author of the article described how the protest when about and the reactions of the protesters as they threw rocks and he even goes about to make a political cartoon showing how sees, “ A man scuffle(s) with an anti-war demonstrator in front of the Madison Federal Building to wrest protest sign away from her.”  This helps give the reader an insight on what Clenots means when he states that he now trusts in the youth and their perspective on the issue of the war because we can see from a 1^st perspective what he lived through and why it is that he felt that day when he mailed that letter in.

Primary Source: Chicago Times – http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/05/06/page/2/article/madison-protesters-dispersed

At the end of the passage, Clenot states, “If our government and KKK voters persist in viewing life thru Gallup polls and Closed Circuit Tv, then they deserve what is coming to them.” Clenots has taken a resentful view of the government for its actions and although I don’t believe he meant to harm anyone, I do believe he meant the government might suffer economically in the future since war is expensive.  An article by Access World News, helps explain KKK voter’s views when the secondary source reports having seen a billboard with KKK’s opinion stating, “Help fight integration and communism.”  Clenots states the word Closed Circuit Television in his last paragraph to explain that some supporters of the war like the KKK do not have any idea of what it is like to fight in Vietnam and are supporters only through what they see in their televisions.  In this secondary source, Steve Bonner states that these groups such as the KKK are all just racist individuals who spread their ideologies but have no idea the damage they cause to the troops who land in Vietnam and have to do the actual fighting.

Secondary source:  Access World News –

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.summit.csuci.edu:2048/resources/doc/nb/news/156F0EFF71187F28?p=AWNB

These two articles help explain the ambiguity seen in the letter to congress by LR Clenots for they give eventful insights of what was happening then and there when the letters were mailed in.  Both of these sources are valid and credible because they both come from respected databases.