The Teachings of Evolution, Illegal?

For the last project of my Policy course (the last Humanities course of my junior year), we were asked to analyze a controversial case that made it to the Supreme Court. I chose "Scopes' Monkey Trial," which is a case where a teacher (John Scopes) taught his students about Evolution. The teachings of evolution was outlawed in Tennessee at the time. Well, that may sound a bit crazy or excessive, and that's exactly why most people thought that this case was unconstitutional. The purpose of this project is to understand the decisions of the Supreme Court and to dig deeper into finding out how these decisions shape society. I learned that a lot of court cases are very controversial and some may even be called ridiculous. I also learned that the decisions made by the Supreme Court actually do affect society heavily. I think that this project was pretty challenging, but more expressive and informative. This is yet another project where my school allows the student to explore and express themselves. I am quite proud of my work, and I'm super excited about closing out my junior year with a bang!

 

Why The US Occupied Haiti

For the second unit of my last Humanities course of junior year, we were asked to create an organized position on a war being just or not. We specifically targeted wars that the US were involved in, such as World War's I and II. I chose the Occupation of Haiti because I was looking for something different that not many people know about, I saw "Occupation" instead of war and I had to read more. After reading up on the causes and effects of this war, I decided that it was unique enough for me to tackle. This occupation was kind of controversial, but in this case, I believe that the US did what was necessary to protect our country and our allies. This project is one of my favorite projects, where the students can address situations with almost full creative power. I normally never promote war, but this time I have pushed myself to open my horizons and think of the country first. Not the most ideal thought to have in my book, but I am trying to challenge myself as I enter into the last stages of my high school career.

Wikipedia. "United States Occupation of Haiti," Web. 05/11/16

The Occupation of Haiti was what many called "a catastrophe." In 1915, July 28th, Woodrow Wilson ordered 330 US Marines to Haiti, under the influence that foreigners would overthrow the land. The US, being friends with Haiti, thought it would be quite logical to help them fight off Haitian Rebels. That sounds about right, doesn't it? Well, our allies were in trouble and we helped them, but is it really that simple?

US Representatives had the power to veto the Occupation of Haiti, but no such thing happened. Haiti at the time, was using Capitalism. Capitalism is a political system in which private owners profit off the trade and industrial manufacturing of the country, and this could definitely be reason to rebel against the country. The "Cacos," (Haitian rebels) as Americans called them, were quite ruthless in their acts to "purify the country." Haitian rebels were supported heavy by German forces, even though Germany was still recovering from World War I, they still supported the Cacos however they could, including financial investments and additional soldiers. The Cacos also engaged in terrorism and other war crimes against our troops, as well as the Haitian Government and civilians.

The ratification of the Haitian-American Convention allowed the United States to intervene with events that happen in Haiti. With the ratification of this policy, Haiti is vulnerable to US tampering in their country, and the policy also gives the US security and economic oversight of Haiti. The Senate of the US is primarily responsible for this ratification. The US Constitution doesn't seem to contradict the ratification of the Haitian-American Convention policy, although it seems a bit wrong, I feel as if the initial reasoning for this policy was to help Haiti. There is always more negatives and positives though, including 15,000 lives lost during the Occupation of Haiti under the H-A Convention policy. Not to mention the involvement of Germany during their recovery from World War I and the amazing contributions to Haiti's infrastructure.

To wrap things up, I believe that the US Occupation of Haiti was possibly more necessary than we may have thought. The US had legal right to be in Haiti, and that doesn't make it completely right, but the intentions of our country were semi-positive in my opinion. I feel as if Haiti benefited from our supervision. The rebels were going to take over Haiti, and not to mention the constant support of Germany, leaving us more vulnerable for attacks if Haiti was under the control of our foes. So was the Occupation of Haiti just or not? I believe, controversially, that it was.

Works Cited:

globalsecurity. John Pike “Occupation of Haiti (1915-34),” N.D. Web. 12 May. 2016.

windowsonhaiti. Marie-Josée Mont-Reynaud “The Failure of the American Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934,” March. 2002. Web. 12 May. 2016.

Office of The Historian. N.P. “U.S. Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915-34,” N.D. Web. 12 May. 2016.

Wikipedia “United States Occupation of Haiti,” N.D. Web. 12 May. 2016.

SMITHSONIAN. Helen Thompson “The United States Once Invaded and Occupied Haiti,” 3 August. 2015. Web. 12 May. 2016.

Civil Wrongs Act of 1964

In the first unit of my last Humanities course of Junior year, we were asked to pick an act or policy to address, or even create our own. I chose the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because I don't believe it's living up to its expectations. The policy states that it "outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." My concerns are that this policy isn't very well carried out and enforced. Our main mission as a class was to address each of our policies by sending a letter to a person of power that could properly address our issue. I found no other option better than writing to the president himself. I feel like this project went pretty smooth, especially since I am very passionate about the topic I chose and trying to rat out the corrupt power figures in our government. I am definitely proud of my letter as a whole and the fire I used to compose it. That's not literal fire, don't you know the fire you get from wanting to speak your mind? I did learn that with writing a letter to the president, comes a lot of proofreading, and I'm sure my letter is not perfect.

Amazon. "Civil Rights Act of 1964," Web. 04/29/16

DR
GCE Lab School
1535 N. Dayton
Chicago, IL 60642

April 24, 2016

The One and Only Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
White House, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500


Dear President Obama:

"Civil Rights Act of 1964- Outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."
I could come at the Civil Rights Act a couple of different ways. One being the extreme lack of employment benefits for women. Another being the corruptness in the Police Department, specifically targeting the racism in the executive branch. Another way I could attack the Civil Rights Act, is by simply pointing out that there is still discrimination in the US. There's discrimination small-scale and large-scale, so what's the point of this big act? Don't ask me.

I could break this down deductively, by stating the facts:

• African-Americans comprise only 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of the monthly drug users, but are 37% of the people arrested for drug-related offenses in America. - dosomething.org. N.D.
• After being arrested, African-Americans are 33% more likely than whites to be detained while facing a felony trial in New York. - dosomething.org. N.D.
• Equality in pay has improved in the US since 1979 when women earned about 62 percent as much as men. In 2010, American women on average earned 81 percent of what their male counterparts earned, - International Labour Organization. N.D.

These statistics are not only true, but extremely sad. How can we be proud to call ourselves Americans? We have done society so wrong for so long that we have trained our minds to think that an increase of woman:man pay from 62% to 81% is actually okay. That 19% is obviously significant, but we glorify gender inequality by looking over the fact that there is still 19% to go. As of 2014, according to the AAUW Organization, there has been a decrease to 79% in the woman:man ratio, meaning there's now 21% remaining. By no means, is this acceptable.

Some may say that there's a reason for women not being payed as much, but there's no legit reason. Is it that women don't work as hard as men? Of course not, that can't be why because that's not at all true. Some people believe that women shouldn't be working and should stay at home and tend to household things, but why? That's equivalent to saying men should stay at home and do "household things," then who would work? Complete non-sense!

There has been recent uproars regarding young men who suffer from racial profiling, racial discrimination, and police brutality. Me and these young men have the same complexity and the only thing that separates them from me, is the fact that I didn't run into the wrong police officer at the wrong time. As I commute back and forth from the south side to the north side of Chicago to get to and from school, I fear for my life as I am just like those of our lost ones in these officers' eyes. Does this not frighten you as president, as much as me being a potential victim? Chew on that.

Me and my mother live in Chicago IL, born and raised in the US, our home country. How can we call this place our home when my mom works a nine hour shift and is only getting payed a 79,000$ yearly salary, whereas her male counterpart works the same exact shift and "earns" a 100,000$ yearly salary? My mother is then put in a position where she has to tell my little female cousins that they have to be men to earn fair pay. If this doesn't ring a bell in your mind, then I don't know what will!

I propose a reinstatement and stronger legislation of our former Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Thanks for viewing this letter and I would like to close by just saying that these problems are picking the US apart. You, as the president, have some type of power to make a difference. If you understand that you are being a witness and bystander to the horrible things that are happening to YOUR people that voted for YOU, to get YOU to where you are now, then you would understand that before you leave office, you need to address some of these problems with more passion. Remember, I meet the profile of being black and I could be next at any time. The next cop rolling down my block, deciding that he wants to use excessive force, you're gonna wish you made a difference. It's never to late too try your hardest.