Reaction 10

What evidence does LBJ offer as proof of the widening economic gap between black and white Americans? How does he explain this gap? How are the sentiments he expressed represented in this cartoon?

LBJ realized when he became President that he had a large gap to bridge between black and white Americans. Beginning with his election in 1964, Lyndon Johnson knew there was alot to get done as far as making America economically stable, as well as equally fair. LBJ set forth many acts and policies to aid African Americans and other minorities in correcting this economic gap. LBJ explained this widening gap as instability in the African American family due to centuries of discrimination and economic oppression at the hands of white Americans. He also thought white people were the ones to blame for the years of discrimination and oppression.

The first act set in place signed by LBJ was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It prohibited the literacy test in voting, and was a response to activism and violence. His idea in this was to give African Americans the opportunity to get more involved in politics, and therefore, involved in economics. Johnson viewed the election as a mandate for his "War on Poverty," and set out to form "The Great Society." He was influenced by Michael Harrington's The Other America, which focuses on the invisible poor in America.  Johnson's idea of the Great Society included abundance and liberty to everyone, the chance for every child to get an education, the battle for full equality as well as against poverty, and to serve the needs of the people within the community.  This Great Society would have enduring peace between the races, and offer each the same opportunities. He also extended Medicare and Medicaid to the elderly and poor, which would be considered the  African Americans in this case.  In addition, LBJ tried to offer adequate shelter for everyone in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Food Stamp Act of 1964 also offered economic aid to those who were in need financially, especially the unemployed among African Americans. To offer the chance at cleaner and more comfortable conditions on behalf of all those in the inner-cities, usually minorities, Johnson added the Water Quality Act. Job Corps also gave young men the chance to learn skills to have a higher chance at being hired for jobs.  The last bit of Johnson's platform in the Great Society was based more on eduation, like the Elementary and Secondary Eduaction Act, as well as the Higher Education Act, which offered pell grants and student loans to those in need.

In the first frames of the illustration, the weights represent the oppression African Americans received from whites because of slavery brought upon them the few hundreds years before that.  The chains are symbolic of the complete oppression African Americans received before the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed after the Civil War. After the chains are removed, one may observe it is symbolic of Africans being freed from slavery. However, the black man is still suffering as the white man progresses, yet leaves the black man behind to progress by himself. The point being made here is that even thought the black man was freed from slavery, he still had no true rights as an American. In the fifth picture, the black man stands up to fight for his rights, symbolic of the Civil Rights movements that took place in the 1950s. Toward the end of the sketch, the white man apologizes to the black man for putting him through such hard times and difficulty, but however, the white man is still unwilling to offer any help to the black man. The ledge represents the complete American Dream, and prosperity. The reason the white man offers no help in the black man achieving the American Dream was because whites thought they had no reason to aid African Americans because they considered it reverse racism. This idea popped up from the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s through 1970s. White people thought helping African Americans could be considered reverse racism because the idea of Civl Rights was to offer each man the same chances and opportunities, and offering African Americans a hand up on the situation wouldn't make it fair for white people.

Reaction 9

According to C. Wright Mills, Americans during the 1950s were Cheerful Robots. Using his excerpt, what you've read in the text, and heard in class, why is that description fitting (don't just repeat or rephrase what's in the Mills article)?

The 1950's were a time of change and conformity. While the economy got back on its feet, returning Veterans from WWII were beginning to receive federal aid, allowing for increasingly prosperous lives among them and their families. Help from FHA and the G.I. Bill gave soldiers the opportunity to move into Suburban areas, buy new vehicles, extend their families and afford household appliances to assist the wives in their daily chores. 

In Levittowns, thousands upon thousands of homes were built, all the same model and looking exactly the same. Veterans could put as little as $1.00 for a down-payment one of these cookie cutter homes. Auto production tripled, as the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways built highways to make travel between Suburbia and work easier. The Baby Boom increased the average number of children per family from 2.4 to 3.2. This put an emphasis on importance on the Nuclear Family, pressuring women to stay home and play the role of mother and housewife as a career. Women began to marry at younger ages. Having more children younger, and not being allowed out of the house very often led women into depression, as many of their dreams of keeping war jobs were taken from them. They were heavily isolated, and consumed tranquilizers like Miltown and Valium at enormous rates. Worst of all, they took these drugs while also pregnant, always leaving them in a smiling submissive state. Yet nonetheless, these women were expected to fully accept their new lifestyles and were forced to conform to this robot way of life.

C. Wright Mills referred to these new and improved families as "Cheerful Robots" because that is essentially what they became. In the 1950s, when Veterans began expanding their sense of materialism, they also let their freedom of individuality cease. It was all about the nuclear family, the ideal family of the 1950s. And this new family was all about materialism and buying anything that made life easier and more pleasurable. And all this change was supposed to please American families, despite the fact that every family was the same in that they all had the same exact house, car and appliances. They were robots in the idea that they were all the same and had the same things. They were "cheerful" about it because they were so willing to conform to the lifestyles of the 1950s. Those who weren't cheerful were seen as abnormal and crazy. Mills fear was that men and women were becoming increasingly manipulated by contemporary social structures. He is afraid that these robots are happy about being robots- cheerful and willing robots. 

Reaction 8

Read the excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S. did not immediately ratify the Declaration. What policies and practices within the U.S. conflicted with many of the principles of the Declaration? (10 pts)

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted by a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. The goals of the declarations were generally to provide  rights that could be enjoyed by all members of the human family. Some of these rights included freedom of speech, religious toleration, and protection against arbitrary government, along with social and economic entitlements such as the right to an adequate standard of living and access to housing, education, and medical care. So basically, it's main priority was to ensure that a nation's treatment of its own citizens should be subject to outside evaluation.

Although this Declaration of Human rights would seem acceptable in today's society, it caused so much debate and turmoil in the late 1940s that its first covenant wasn't ratified by Congress until 1992. To add to that, the second covenant has still not been passed!

The reasons as to why the Declaration of Rights could not be passed until 1992 was because the United States had to go under massive changes before it could adopt such a new way of life. Most of the principles within the Declaration contradicted policies and practices of the time period within the United States. Segregation played a large role in society after WWII.  It was a way of life, a lifestyle, for both white and black people, as well as other minority groups.  Even women had a difficult time after WWII, as they were expected to go back to being fragile housewives under the control of their superior husbands. The thought of assimilating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into their society would be nearly impossible to adjust to. Almost every article of the Declaration contradicted society in the late 1940s.

Article I, for example, states "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."  Now apply this rule to a white man and a colored man. Of course, the statement would apply to the white man, but ask the white man if the rule includes a colored man in its bank of all who deserve rights, and I can guarantee you the white man would deny this liberty to him. I am trying to support the idea that the white man in the time period after WWII still feels he is superior to, and therefore, far more deserving of life and liberties than any man other than his same skin color. At this time, the idea of "brotherhood" between all men (including minorities) was not acceptable.

Staying on the subject of minorities and how discrimination towards them explains the long awaited ratification of the Declaration, many other articles may be examined.  In fact, Articles 1-19 all directly affect how people of color are treated in society. Article 2 explains how "Everyone" is included in the Declaration, no matter their "race, colour, sex, language..." This Article is aimed toward the white supremacists who always try to find a way to exclude minorities from their rights in Declarations and other documents of the law. Article 4, I'd say, is especially for African Americans who were forced into servitude before. A major hypocritical move on behalf of the US government in regards to this Declaration were the Japanese internment camps of WWII. Had the Universal Declaration of Human Rights been in order then, the US would have been in violation of Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12! To remove an entire ethnic race of people into camps on suspicion of them having something to do with the bombing at Pearl Harbor and other terrorist activities is unlawful. Because of this circumstance, Articles 5-12 apply directly towards minorities because it is clear that they received the harshest punishments before, during and after WWII. In a criminal case, they were the first suspects, and tended to be convicted without proper evidence of their being guilty.  The Declaration would also have been beneficial to the Latin Americans of the late 1940s into the 1950s. Discrimination against Zoot-suiters and workers in the Bracero Program were treated unfairly and add more support in how hypocritical it would have been to ratify the Declaration in 1948.

Women, too were discriminated against in society in the late 1940s after the war. During the war, women took over many of the jobs that once belonged to the men that were at war. They gained a great deal of independence while their counterparts were away. However, as the war ended, so did the independence of the women along with their war-time jobs. Many went back to jobs that paid less then men's jobs, and had no unemployment insurance when they were laid off. For this reason, Articles 23-29 may directly apply to women.  Article 23 especially would have aided women in keeping some sense of accomplishment. However, this wouldn't follow through anytime soon because of male superiority over the woman and the need to save money for the companies that let the women workers go. 

My overall theory about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that it all comes down to how much a nation is willing to sacrifice in order to have a moral community. It would take a nation a great deal of time (decades), and money to renovate a reputation which was once completely hypocritical. This is why it took so long for the United States Congress to ratify the Declaration of Human Rights. They wanted to confirm that the country had gone through enough civil, political, economic, social and cultural change before it could confirm these rights in a Declaration.

Reaction 7

Why were the Korean Comfort Women “silent” so long? To answer this question, one thing you will need to think about is how much women’s “worth” is tied to their status as virgins or “sexually pure” and how women who are not “pure” are shamed in societies. You also need to reflect on how rape has been characterized as simply an “unfortunate consequence” of war—this is not true, of course; rape does not “just happen.”
Why could the words and actions of Japanese officials and government be interpreted as attempts to further silence them?

During World War II, 80,000 to 200,000 Korean women were tricked into leaving their homes for what the Japanese government told them would be factories in which to work. Most of these Korean girls were in their teenage years, yet some were as young as twelve. They were chosen from their families to go work for the Japanese government in what they thought would be factories. Little did they know, but soon each girl would succumb to rape, abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addictions, unbearable miscarriages, and death. These girls would later become known as Comfort Women, who were chosen as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers fighting in the war. Girls would be raped up to thirty times a day, satisfying one soldier right after the other. They were beaten and slapped until nearly dead by soldiers and officers who took pleasure in raping them. Those who did not commit suicide barely survived and/or were brutally murdered by soldiers. As this occurrence was wide-spread and well known throughout all of Asia, surprisingly, no Comfort Women chose to tell of their grievances or stand up to the Japanese government for doing this to the women of Korea. It was not until the late 1980's in which these traumatic stories started to be told.

Korean Comfort Women were silent for so many years because they were frowned upon in society as "unpure" if they had admitted to being a sex slave, or having sex with hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers. Another contributing factor could also be because it is not a woman's place in society to stand up and become verbal in any situation. A woman's role is to stand behind her husband, and never to question his authority. Past Comfort Women most likely chose not to expose their experiences simply because it was too painful emotionally to recollect and tell of their horrific experiences. 

In Asian cultures, a woman's worth may be based on her purity sexually. Women who are not virgins are looked down on in society, no matter the circumstance as to how they became "impure." At these camps, the girls who were virgins had the highest status, until after about five months, in which their status just dwindled after that. They were made to look like prostitutes. Even today, the Japanese government tries to portray the idea that the Korean girls became Comfort Women because they needed the money. So why would a woman want to put herself in the position of being shamed in society? That is why they stayed silent. The girls were stripped of the purity in which their culture so greatly valued. And to make matters worse, the past Comfort Women who tried to become normal members of the society once again after WWII could not assimilate comfortably despite their efforts. This is because many couldn't even have children, since the Japanese made conceiving nearly impossible. 

What appalls me the most is that the cases of the Comfort Women of WWII don't seem to be of any concern to the Japanese government whatsoever. They have been caught red handed and still are denying all accusations. They have used the excuse that they did not all know what was happening, or that these Korean women were not forced into prostitution, but more or less, they volunteered for the job. The pride of the Japanese government is over their heads and justice needs to be served to the Korean Comfort Women. The Japanese government has made it seem as if the rapes were just an "unfortunate consequence of the war," but nothing about this passive statement is moral. It is most definitely an understatement, by all means. I believe the Japanese refuse to admit their ties to Comfort Women because they initially lost the war. I feel they are sympathetic to themselves, and no one else. They could care less about the women who were scarred physically and emotionally for life. To be put into easier terms, the Japanese soldiers felt that everyone lost the war, so everyone was effected negatively somehow. And unfortunately, the Korean Comfort Women were caught under this umbrella of most traumatic experiences. I feel that still even today, the Japanese government attempts to silence the Korean Comfort Women because it would hurt the reputation of the country as a whole. They cannot risk admitting their mistakes in WWII, and therefore, must continue to deny all accusations made.Of course the Japanese government has given some compensation to the Comfort Women and their families, but all efforts were made towards individuals, and not to the Korean Comfort Women as a whole. They have yet to receive a public apology from the Japanese government, and being paid individually just further supports ideas in these women actually being prostitutes. 

Justice must be served to the Korean Comfort Women of WWII, as well as to all other girls who were tricked into sex slavery by the Japanese government. And most of all, these women deserve  a full acceptance back into society, as they were forced to have sex and should not be blamed for it. Their "impurity" is at the fault of the Japanese government, and they do not deserve to be excluded from society.

Freedom from Want & Freedom from Fear

Of FDR's four freedoms, the goal of freedom from want and freedom from fear especially reflect American and European experiences during the 1930s and 1940s. Briefly explain what FDR meant by "freedom from want" and "freedom from fear" and explain how the desire for these freedoms was the result of American and European experiences during the 1930s and 1940s.

On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union Address to the United States Congress. In this speech, also known as the Four Freedoms speech, he proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy. His inclusion of the latter two freedoms, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear, went beyond the traditional American Constitutional values protected  by the First Amendment, and endorsed a right to economic security as well as an internationalist view of foreign policy that have come to be central tenets of American liberalism today. They also anticipated what would become known decades later as the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.

Freedom from want, straight from Roosevelt's mouth, means "economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world." I believe that FDR is trying to say that there should not be any international trade barriers. FDR is trying to protect the future standard of living for the American worker and farmer by hoping to prevent another Depression after war. He wants to eliminate Americans feelings of need they experience during times of economic instability. For example, during the Great Depression, more and more people tended to go the movies and take part in more leisure activities because, although it was only causing them to become more in debt, they could escape the harsh reality of Depression through these films and other forms of entertainment. Roosevelt wanted to stop the foolish spending of money on unnecessary activities for American families. If Americans could share this freedom from Want, they could pull out of Depression, somewhat at least, and stop Americans desire for things they do not need. Internationally, this means that countries shouldn't trust each other whole-heartedly because at any given time, a country's considered ally may turn on it.

"Freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world." The main goal behind this fourth freedom was to decrease the amount of arms so that nations may not go against each other. If two neighboring countries strongly disliked one another, what better way to take the other out than to use weapons? But if the weapons have been removed, there is no way to be aggressive against the enemy, therefore, removing all possibilities of war. FDR used this as a goal to benefit "the future days, which we seek to make secure." Ultimately, freedom from fear was strongly desired, as Americans didn't want to live in fear of being attacked or of loved ones at war being killed.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the Great Depression caused banks to collapse, industries to go bankrupt, and many people to lose their jobs in America. In Europe, another Depression took place which was far more devastating than in America, as countries were in debt and still recovering from WWI and agricultural land was destroyed, causing many to starve. As Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, fear was instilled in all Americans. FDR wanted nothing more than to destroy all feelings of fear and of need in America, as his job was to not only physically protect all American citizens, but also to keep a country in which all Americans should feel safe and secure. He further promoted this idea for Europe, and desired for international stability. It was war that cause the desire for freedom from want, and freedom from fear, for freedom from want would stop the American people from distracting themselves of the war and freedom from fear would help all nations to feel secure once again.

Alain Locke's book of essays, entitled "The New Negro," is a literary work in which came to symbolize the Harlem Renaissance. During the Harlem Renaissance, not only was African art, jazz, blues, dancing, and poetry flourishing, but so were the people who created it. In an excerpt, Locke describes many of the ways in which the "New Negro" has formed and is taking a new stand in society. For African Americans, it was a time of "rising racial self-consciousness, growing awareness of the interconnections between black Americans and persons of African descent elsewhere in the world, and of a vibrant black cultural community that established links with New York's artistic mainstream." Blacks were on their way to re-establishing stereotypes and were discovering ways in which they could take pride in their heritage. Locke describes the younger generation of the "New Negro" as being "vibrant with a new psychology." African Americans truly had their own Progressive Era as a race. They were working towards a newer, more contemporary, lifestyle. The reason as to why Locke refers to "The day(s) of 'aunties,''uncles,'and 'mammies'" as being "equally gone" was because of the numerous changes being made within the African community during the Harlem Renaissance. I believe Locke was, more or less, trying to support the idea of "out with the old, and in with the new." This makes sense because Locke writes about all the changed attitudes and lifestyles of the "New Negro," which would imply that some traditional habits would cease to exist. One of these old habits would be the title of family members. As opposed to the traditional, "auntie," "uncle," and "mammie," the "New Negro" may begin to use other, more proper, names such as "aunt" or "mother." Locke writes, "The popular melodrama has about played itself out, and it is time to scrap the fictions, garret the bogeys and settle down to a realistic facing of facts." Locke goes on to discuss that while many changes have been made in creating the "New Negro," some traditions have remained. Yet "the traditional lines of opinion drawn have rendered these quite obsolete." Furthermore, Locke states key points in describing the "New Negro" and does so successfully. His excerpt was factual and to the point. His support in "rehabilitating the (African) race in world esteem from that loss of prestige for which the fate and conditions of slavery have so largely been responsible" was noble and justified.

World War I Soldier's Diary Entry

April 30, 1915

My name is Anthony R. Howard and I am an Englishman. I fight on the side of the Allies. I've have been in this treacherous war since early 1915. My Regiment currently resides in Ypres, which is in Belgium. I am a member of the 9th London Regiment, also known as Queen Victoria's Rifles. 

A few days ago, I fought one of the toughest battles I'd hoped to never encounter. On April 17th, we mounted an attack against the Germans on Hill 60.  We were doing the best we could at keeping the line on the Western Front. Prior to the attack, the hill had been undermined for days with five galleries being driven under the Hillock. The plan was to detonate large mines under the Hill to destroy the enemy and their positions, then we, the 13th Infantry Brigade, would occupy the area. 

The plan was thorough and well-organized. Yet we could only hope everything would go according to plan.  Once we captured the Hill, I was ordered to the Front Line in preparation for the Germans to make their counter attack. We became animals in cages at our trenches as we were bombarded with hand grenades. The man to my left was dead; the man to my right moaning in agony as he was shot in the left side of the head. The sounds of the shelling was overwhelming. The sounds of the men who were suffering in "no man's land" was unbearable. We as soldiers were helpless. To retrieve a comrade would be suicide. The decision between bravery and death or cowardice and life is a difficult one. Two corpses from me, there was a younger lad, about the age of sixteen. He huddled in the corner of the trench, death-grip on a picture in his hands and tears running down his face. He had just seen his best friend die in agony.  For thirty-six hours we lay there, fighting off the Germans. At dawn, we began to smell the rotting corpses of our previous comrades. I reflected on one soldier who had died telling me of his children back at home including a pregnant wife. Oh, the many sad letters I have delivered for fallen soldiers to families. 

The life of the soldier consists of death and misery. I sympathize for all the men who have fallen. Many of my comrades have I seen die brutally. Some died from bullets; some from bombs or hand grenades. Occasionally, one was hit straight between the eyes by a sniper. Machine guns could take out an entire Regiment in minutes. I've heard that not too many miles away, a Regiment was even hit with poison gas by the Germans. Our Allies hit not too far from us had no gas masks, and therefore many were killed by it, or blinded. But worst of all was that these weren't the only causes of death. I've seen many soldiers fall to Malaria, Trench Foot and other diseases spread throughout the unlivable trenches. Yet, those of us who have survived haven't done so easily. 

In trenches, we must avoid mud when it rains and attempt to stay warm when it snows. We have to fight off the rats when eating what little food we have, which is already of poor quality. If I get the chance for some shut-eye, I keep my helmet on to prevent the rats from crawling on my head and eating the grease in my hair. And this helmet I wear is nothing but mere decoration. It does nothing to protect a soldier's head, as I can prove in witnessing a bullet go through a helmet straight through a man's head. I have witnessed this on numerous accounts. 

The life of a soldier is emotionally disturbing. Some soldiers have gone insane with Shell-Shock battle fatigue because of what they have seen and heard. I have experienced so many people die instantaneously feet away from me, splattering their blood over my face. Their last facial expressions will forever be imprinted in my memory. I will have nightmares years to come of these brutal battles. I say years to come because I have not had a solid night's sleep since this dreadful war began. The thing I have hated most about fighting in this war is leaving my comrades behind. We must abandon them in retreat, running away from them as they waste their last breaths begging for help. I will forever hate myself for leaving those soldiers behind.

I pray every chance I get between firing my gun that this war will soon be over. We have been told though, that soon we will be heading to France, where there should be more troops to fight along our side. That day will be a glorious day.

After a hard-earned victory,

Anthony R. Howard