America's Concentration Camps

Germany is known for the Nazi Concentration camps but America has had her own share of the horrors. In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order Number 9066, as a result over 120,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to move to internment camps. Within these camps many families were shoved together within horse stalls that had no ceiling, or into racing tracks with very little supplies to live. When the Executive order was administrated many Japanese Americana's had to leave their homes and drop everything they were doing. To even try and comprehend having to leave everything you have worked for and everything that was familiar to go to a camp where you never knew when or even if you were going to leave.

Something that I thought was really amazing was the fact that even though these people where forced to stay in these internment camps they still continued life as much as possible. Japanese Americana's tried as much as possible to continue their education, sports and even formed culture clubs. These people were humiliated daily; pretty much at every meal. Guards would call the internments by playing "Doggie, Doggie, Doggie, Come and get your food." I think that this is ridiculous because it at the basses is just degrading. One issue that has always impacted me about the Japanese Internment camps is there location. Many were located in the middle of deserts were hypocrisy rained king. Many of the guards of these areas would give the interments seeds to grow a garden, or even blankets, but the hypocrisy lies in where they are located. You can not grow edible food with just seeds in the middle of the desert, a blanket for a family of 11 doesn't even cover it. If America forced people into these condition's what else has happened to make the U.S. comparable to Nazi Germany?

Life In Jail Without Parole

Does LWOP for juveniles violate the 8th amendment." Use lecture, our conversation, and the articles for support.

I do not think that you can classify it one way or the other; it is in simplest of terms circumstantial. In a generalization you can not dictate whether or not someone, actual it is not just someone it is a juvenile, should be put in jail for life with out the opportunity to have parole. A jury and judge dictate what the verdict will be, but a child still has a possibility of changing. It as Max and I discussed, certain circumstances dictate different outcomes. In my opinion we should not generalize the cases that involve juveniles who are sentenced without parole, but look at each case individually. You can not make sure an important decision on a generalization, you have to look at what lead up to the crime, the factors, the background, who was involved, every single variable must be covered. Another topic to take into consideration is that juveniles are being charged as if adults. How is that OK if the courts deem we are mature enough to be charged as such yet not mature enough to enjoy being able to vote, drink, and drive? It does not seem write that a juvenile should be charged as with a verdict that is the same as an adults when they are not yet even able to by that same law be able to enjoy the fruits of being an adult.

Some students voiced within our discussion that if you regardless if you are a juvenile murder someone the you should automatically deserve life in prison with out the option of parole, but what if it was to get away from being killed yourself or to save a family member. There are always to many things to take into consideration when it come to a verdict. So in response to the question I do think that in certain cases LWOP violates the 8th amendment.

My Mum

I know I know it's cliche but hey if there was any other woman who could do so much and still not take our heads off then show me her and she'll be at the top of my list. To start off my mum is retired but instead of living a life of leisure she takes care of our entire family. From my grams to my little brother. She takes care of our Gram covering everything from getting her to appointments, daily calls about the happening of Grossemont Gardens (the assisted care where my Gram is), to making sure she gets to her weekly hair appointment on time. She takes care of my Great Aunt making sure she gets to her weekly eye injections for her Macular Degeneration. Then there comes my immediate family, where she shuffles my brother and I to all of our various events ranging from volleyball to karate to meeting with friends. She helps my dad in his business almost on a daily basis, she is constantly on the phone with suppliers trying to order parts or talking to other men about what piece of equipment is better suited for what we need.

She somehow manages to juggle all of this in and still have time to pay attention and to support us in the things we chose to pursue. I hope that when I have kids of my own that I will be able to juggle half as well as she does. I love her dearly and appreciate her to no end.

White Supremacy?

Although I wish that this country was not a white supremistic country statistics beg to differ. Unfortunately, America is still a "white supremacy" country, at least where it counts. There are many ways to measure this issue; one way would be via the population, this would allow us to gauge an accurate reading as to whether or not we are still a white supremest country. But the only way to officially gage whether or not this country is, is to see the what the nationalities are of the people who hold a place of power in our country. Yes the saying goes that even one person can make a difference but on a realistic level it is the people we have voted to represent ourselves that have the true power. The fist body of power that we can look at is Congress, not only is there a difference in race but of sex. In the Senate there are 18 women and 82 men; within the House there are 78 women and 357 men. As for the race aspect, just with in Congress,

Racial Composition of the 110th Congress
	U.S. House	U.S. Senate
White	332	81
Black	42	1
Jewish	30	14
Hispanic	25	2
Asian	5	2
Native American	1

In one of the most important and powerful bodies of people in the United States the statistics unfortunately do not lie. Now if we move into state governors, for sex the difference is 4 women to 46 men (just the US 50 states not including territories or DC). As for race again the list of governors is predominantly white. Does this mean that the entire population who has voted is either consciously or unconsciously voting for a "white supremacy" country? Why not, if these statistics are showing so then it must be, right? As much as I strived to find statistics that would bust the doors open on this issue and prove that this nation is not a white supremacist country it seems that we are still. What I believe though is that as time has progressed and we have moved farther and farther away from slavery that even though in our government there is a high percentage of "whites" that it is mattering less and less. I believe and hope that race or nationality are becoming less and less important and what is becoming important are the issues being discussed.

Sources:

http://www.thisnation.com/congress-facts.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors

Proud

I am most proud of this poem. It is a 'found' poem; meaning that it's composed of words and phrases taken from a story or any type of literature. I am very proud of this because I was really apprehensive about how it was going to turn out. In the end I ended up loving the message that I portrayed and how the poem flowed. If I was to go back and rework it I think that I would have made it longer. I would also research the authors story thoroughly so that I could chose words and phrases that optimize the message that I am trying to portray. Overall I gained a respect both for the author for whom I borrowed the words and phrases from and this type of poetry.

Here is a link to the poem;
http://humanitiesbethl.blogspot.com/2009/11/zitkala-sa.html

Zitkala-Sa Found

I lost my spirit
Shuddering with fear
I heard footsteps near, loud voices calling my name
Steps quickend, voices excited
The sounds came nearer and nearer

The room fills with sudden light
I lost my spirit
Dragged out, kicking and scratching wildly
Suddenly tied fast in a chair
I cried aloud, cold blades against my neck
I lost my spirit

I had suffered, taken from my mother
Poeple had stared
I was taken from my mother
I moaned for her in anguish
No one came to me
No soul reasoned with me
I was taken from my mother

These words and phrases were taken from Zitkala-Sa's first hand accounts of her life in an Indian bording school. This is a found poem.

Borders of Death

Two people die everyday from illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. Many of these people are women and children; they cross to find work to sustain families and or to leave their own country for a better future. They trudge through the Sonoran Desert dying of dehydration, heat stroke, and sickness’s, led by “guides” or coyotes that only care about their own greed. Who is to blame for these devastating deaths? Blame can not be placed with just one person or one government. Blame should be thrust upon the United State’s government and the government’s of Central and South America. It is not the fault of one but many.

Two billion dollars are spent yearly by the United States government for border enforcement. Border enforcement in the last few years has multiplied by erecting new fences, increasing patrols and funding. Leading to thousands of undocumented workers crossing remote areas because these are the only places left unprotected. The United State’s government is partially to blame for illegal immigration. A new system of immigration needs to be implemented. One that enforces the restriction of legal immigrants to 300,000 or less per year. The system would also allow legal immigrant’s spouses and minor’s to cross into the United States legally, allowing the government to stabilize the U.S.’s population. These goals are part of FAIR (the Federation of American Immigration Reform), an organization advocating lower levels of immigration. This organization strives to reduce the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border into the United States. Leading to a reduction in the number of death associated with illegal border crossings.

Illegal immigration into the United States has been a leading cause of death for families from Central and South America. Left with no other opportunity they leave their homes in search of a better future for their families. Their government leaves them no other choice, by sustaining the less than mediocre lifestyle that these people thrive to escape. Third world countries with economies crumbling due to natural causes, political corruption, and unfair living conditions are only an insufficient amount of reasons as to why these immigrants are forced to leave. Ten years is an unacceptable amount of time to obtain citizenship when a family needs food on the table or clothes on their backs. Left with no other choice they hire “guides”, known commonly as coyotes. People who promise to take them to the United States safely and cheaply with legal papers. They spin a tale that plays on the hopes and dreams these people have for their families and their future. The coyotes however are only concerned with their payment and how fast they can smuggle drugs and or other illegal substances across the border. Many coyotes not only smuggle people across the border but also require these people to transport drugs either internally or externally on their person. The more responsibility the Central and South American governments act in changing the standard of living within their countries boundaries; the less we will hear about border crossing death tolls. This in turn will negate the number of associated deaths of family members killed by border patrols or left behind by coyotes.

Blame can not be placed on one country above another. It is apparent that the blame should be shared by all responsible parties; governments, peoples, and legal or illegal groups. It is an involved effort centering on the individual governments first, by setting new policies agreed upon by all parties involved. All keeping in mind the goal is to reduce the amount of deaths due to the illegal border crossings between Mexico and the United States and reducing the onslaught of a million plus legal immigrants. By changing the United States immigration policy we would have the ability to negate the illegal immigration and reduce the possibility of a collapse in the United States economy. With the help of the Central and South American governments creating new economies of scale, their workforce would be encouraged to stay and not immigrate. It has to be a joint effort on both sides of the issue. Only then, I believe people who want to immigrate to the United States will see no need to cross illegally but instead do so through legal processes. This will fulfill FAIR’s policy of 300,000 or less legal immigrants per year into the United States.

Two people die everyday from illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. Each death represents a statistic that no government is proud of. No family benefits from the loss, nor does any country mentioned above. There is a way to make that statistic disappear. But it will take the conscientious effort by all involved parties. This includes changes in the United States immigration policy to reduce the amount of legal immigrants accepted into the country. Central and South American governments will increase the opportunities for their citizens by providing economies of scale. This would include more avenues available for their population to prosper. By making a change in the job structure the need for “guides” or coyotes would be greatly reduced if not depleted entirely. If a person has a job that sustains their family there is no need to immigrate, legally or illegally. FAIR would then have accomplished their immigration goal. I am not looking at who to blame but how each of us can solve this problem. I believe that if we start to work together a permanent solution will be found and the needless loss of life as well as illegal immigration will be at an end.