The Judiciary

Carllene Brooks
April 28, 2016
Professor Murdaco
Poiltics




Task: Summarize this weeks'  lecture

            Rudyard Kipling once said " If history were taught in the form of stores, it would never be forgotten". This quote suggests that if history were taught more effectively in school then people would never forget it and would also have knowledge in that area. Stores change frequently( they either get knocked down or rebuilt) as well as history.  In this weeks' lecture,  we were asked to look at the many different cases that were turning points in history. However the three cases that I want to speak briefly about are Brown vs. Board of Ed( 1954), Loving vs. Virginia( 1967), and Roe vs. Wade ( 1973). All three of these cases have made significant changes in our nation as well as tie into today's current issues that we are facing.
       Without delay, Brown vs. Board of education was one of my favorite cases. I say this because it gave all children of all races the equal opportunity for the same education. This case ended legal segregation in all public schools. As well as highlighted the changes in both national and social policy. Prior to gaining a better understanding of this case, I never really understood why we were separated due to the color of our skin. At the end of the day we are all human beings, we all deserve the right to equality, as well as the right to the same educational and job practices. I understand that during these times the white race was the " superior race" and we were frowned upon by them. They figured that since they were the superiors, they deserved the best education tools, the best job opportunities, as well as the right to make the decisions. According to PBS. org, the case came about because a little girl's parents( African American) decided to sue because they wanted her to attend an al white school in her neighborhood. ( I think this ties to the Ruby Bridges story). Apparently the decision overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision( 1896). This law/ case allowed state- sponsored segregation, apply to public education.
       Meanwhile, a few years later, another case that caught the nation by storm was the Loving vs. Virginia case ( 1967). This case in my opinion was the start of having two races come together to fight for what they wanted as well as fight for their love. The background for this case prohibited  interracial marriage. Mildred( black) and Richard Loving ( white) were both sentenced to a year in the Virginia jail because of their marriage. How can you punish two people for loving one another; regardless of their skin color they shouldn't be held accountable or punished for their union. Their marriage violated the states' anti- miscegenation law/code. The Supreme Court determined that this prohibition was unconstitutional and they decided to end all race- based legal restrictions on marriage in the U.S. One text to world connection that can be made from this piece of history is the recent decision by the courts to legalize same sex marriage in some states. History does indeed repeat itself.
        Finally, the last case that I want to speak about is Roe vs. Wade. The main idea of this case were the issues surrounding abortion. This case is similar to Donald Trump's view on the topic. According to the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment; it extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion . This case definitely reshaped national politics which divides much of the United States into pro- choice and pro- life camps.
   In closing, we can see that these three cases amongst all the others were turning points in history, and if these events never occurred, who knows what our nation would be like today. As individuals we often forget or have the wrong perception of what has happened in both history and current events. The more knowledge we have on these issues the more we will be able to understand the work we live in.

The Presidency

Carllene Brooks
April 24, 2016
Professor Murdaco
Politics



Task: Summarize the lecture at hand



            John F. Kennedy once said " My fellow Americans , ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." This is such a powerful statement because he is asking us as Americans how we can make this country a better place. There are many answers to his general statement. In this lecture we were asked to look at a number of speeches regarding the many different presidents we have had during the recent years.
         To begin with, John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address( 1961), was a speech that was given not to change the way Americans perceive the country; however it was more of a motivational speech in my opinion. He wanted to motivate Americans to come together in order to make this country a better place. He urged us to recognize the damage that was done in the past, and try and find ways to become better and not make the same mistakes.  He opens up his speech by saying that he has asked everyone to join him today so that they can celebrate their freedom as well as a renewal of change. I feel that as President JFK really took the time to understand his country and find ways to improve the many corrupt things that were going on during these times. One close observation I made while reading was how he states that the world is now different; not only that but he also says that man holds power in his own hands and not held in the hands of rate superior.  His speech allowed him to gain the opportunity to introduce his similar vision of government in a clear manner. Throughout his speech he goes on by making valid points and making commitments and promises on how he is going to make this country a better place. One statement he made which resonated with me was how he emphasizes the people who are less fortunate than us. These people live in huts and villages, we as a nation as well as individuals  should help them help themselves. His concept on running an efficient nation/ country is how we can come together and try to find ways to help people in poverty. We shouldn't just turn our backs on them and have them suffer; if we have the tools and necessities to help them, then we should do so. JFK isn't saying this to get press or more votes or more supporters, he is saying this because its the right thing to do.
      Meanwhile,  in both Ronald Reagan's State of the Union and his 1st Inaugural Address he emphasizes America's past mistakes and how in today's society we should work on ways to not repeat history. In his 1st speech, he really elaborates on the issues America faced in it's past. For example: inflation. tax issues, and the government's overspending problems. Reagan argued that the government, ( isn't the solution) to the problems America has faced during these times. Not only does Reagan address the faults that the government is facing, he strongly believes that the government must work alongside and not over the very people who gave them power in order to restore America to its original greatness.  Whereas in the State of the Union speech, he kind of piggyback's off of the same ideas he made during his 1st address. The address elaborates on the conditions of our nation, as well as allow the President to outline his legislative agenda. The main idea of this speech was to bring awareness to the rules in Article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. This requires the President to periodically give Congress information on the " State of the Union".
     Lastly, our most recent President Barack Obama, has made a handful of speeches to our nation. Most of his speeches are aimed to talk about the issues we are facing today ( like many of our Presidents).  The two speeches that caught my attention were his "Speech on Race; A More Perfect Union". and his 2008 Inaugural Speech. Prior to reading his Speech on Race; I used my context clues and hypothesized that the main idea of his speech was to find ways on how we as a country can come together and form the " perfect union".  The main purpose of his speech was to address the issues of racial tensions, white privileged and the race and inequality that seems to be persistent throughout the United States.  One point that he made in his speech was " black anger" and " white resentment". This probably means that Blacks are angry that we are still being treated as the minority and that we are looked at as the lesser value. Whereas the whites resent the blacks who actually make something out of themselves as well as prove statistics wrong. One important thing to note is that he highlighted the tension between the concept of equal citizenship and freedom expressed in the Constitution. He briefly touched on the history of slavery and connected both the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement into his own personal goals in his campaign. Lastly another point I would like to touch on is how he spoke about the comments made by his former pastor; Jeremiah Wright. Even though he and Obama have a personal relationship, Obama does not support his wrong doings and he does make his audience aware that what Wright said was wrong and how he offended both the white and black communities.  Furthermore, in Obama's Inaugural Speech, his main points addressed same sex marriage as well as climate change. By Obama speaking on same sex marriage it really opened a lot of doors because no other Presidential candidate soon to be President has even thought of speaking on this issue.

Congress

Carllene Brooks
April 23, 2016
Professor Murdaco
Politics




Task: Summarize the main points of the article
 

          To begin with, we were asked to analyze the speeches or analyzations of Christopher Ingraham. In his first article" America's Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts", he talks about the concept of gerrymandering and how it affects certain districts. Gerrymandering is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantages. My opinion of this article is that it is very informative to those who are unfamiliar with the gerrymandering process such as myself. This process is said to help people stay on the safe side when trying to secure votes. According to the article it states that gerrymandering is supposed to help people stay on the safe side. Not only do they stay on the safe side, it's supposed to give your opponents a small number of safe seats ,while drawing yourself a larger number of seats that aren't safe. But it still allows you to win comfortably. By Ingraham giving pictorial examples and diagrams, it really gives you a visual eye/ idea on how gerrymandering in certain districts occur.
      In like manner, the two points that really caught my interest are points #1 and #6.  The main idea of the first point is that gerrymandering is not to draw yourself a safe seat; but its supposed to put your opponents in safe seats by cramming all of their supporters into a small number of districts. This allows you to not only allows you to cram your supporters, but you have the opportunity to spread your own supported over a larger number of districts. Whereas in the sixth point, the main idea is that gerrymandering is easier to get away with in more densely- populated areas. This means that the more diverse your community is then you are more likely to have a little "leeway" in drawing their districts.
    In Ingraham's follow up article " What 60 years of political gerrymandering looks like"' he is trying to answer the pondering question of how beneficial and effective gerrymandering actually is. In order to better explain his thesis or idea he went along and gathered data from the early 1950s. When looking at this data you can see that gerrymandering  has consumed the likes of many different states. The most increasingly high numbers of gerrymandering have occurred in Pennslyvania, Ohio and Illinois. By having a certain amount of changes within these states, it allows the other states to better control the extent of gerrymandering.
    In closing, we can see that the topic of gerrymandering has become increasingly important when trying to secure a certain amount of wins in certain districts. Prior to reading these two articles, I had no knowledge of what gerrymandering was and how it helps people in the race better their chances in the race.