The two stories I chose are Antojos and The Human Body

My choices are The Kiss and American Surprise

my choices are: A Regular Revolution and The Drum

My Choises are: The Rudy Elmenhurst story and Daughter of Invention

My two chosen stories are The Four Girls and Trespass.

Immigration

latino Immigration

http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocus/display.cfm?ID=766

An artical written by Kristen McCabe & doris Meissner, January 2010, disscuses the issues of Immigration in the United states as a whole. They say that,

"Immigration, perhaps more than any other social, political, or economic process, has shaped the unoted states as a nation"

Which is really a far state to make as Americans are there as a result of immigration. The artical goes on to talk about the Immigration laws before 9/11 and after. Its says that the most significant thing was the USA Patriot Act, which then President, George. W. Bush signed october 2001. Baseiclly it allowed law enforcement to allow suspected terrorists to be, "Searched, monitored, detained, and deported; strengthened border enforcement and allowed for the detention of foreign nationals for up to seven days while the government decides whether or not to file criminal or immigration charges"



Machete is a 2010, Robert Rodriguez spoof film, dealing with undertone latino immigration plot. Obviously from the trailer the Latino's are the good guys and the republican white folk are the bad. in the actual movie, events are exaggerated and the Congressman himself shoots and kills Latino immigrants trying to cross the border. 'Machete' has a lot of controversy over this race issue, most importantly tying it too Arizona, saying how the movie basically portrays all white Americans as racist. However this movie is the type that should not be taken seriously.

Latino Immigration

ANTI: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/about.html

I found a site on immigration from a 'national, non-profit, public-interest, membership organization', called FAIR. Looking at the name of the organization and having a glance at the site, it seemed like neither a pro nor anti-immigration organization. However, when I read the ‘About FAIR’ part it said that ‘FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest’ which made me realize that this is not so much a ‘fair’ organization for both sides of the immigration issue, but for the American ‘national’ side of the issue.

They address illegal immigration in a quite positive but quite naïve way, in the sense that their aim is to ‘stop illegal immigration’, as if it is something that can be fixed overnight. Illegal immigration has politically and economically far too many advantages to be stopped and on top of that there is no easy solution for the trespassing of the non-secured 2000-mile border.

In the mission statement it is mentioned that their goal is ‘to educate the American people on the impacts of sustained high-volume immigration’ and to put forward an immigration policy that would be best for the nation. I want to point out here again that I see no sign of seeing the ‘fair’ solution concerning the immigrants. I think therefore that the name of the organization does not explain the intentions of this group, although its main ‘motto’ is to find an immigration policy that suits everyone.

PRO: http://www.naleo.org/

NALEO is another non-profit, non-partisan organization ‘facilitates the full participation of Latinos in the American political process, from citizenship to public service.’ Basically this organization believes that immigration is and has always been a phenomenon in American history and therefore they believe that even though there is vast amounts of Mexican-American immigration like never before, these immigrants should be treated like any other and should be included into the nation. NALEO is also known for the fact that they have made it possible for Latino and Latina to become state officials and have a say in the politics of the country. Their policies seem realistic and accurate and take into consideration the vast amounts of immigration in the last decade and its problems, e.g. ‘The NALEO Educational Fund provides national leadership for important public discussions on the key issues affecting Latino participation in our political process’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0aqohWduc

This is a video of Bill Richardson, the president of NALEO, on CNN talking about Immigration and border control. Having seen many of his speeches and talks, his main aim seems to be that ‘American should stop demonising immigrants’. In another video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0aqohWduc), he explains that it’s the media that makes the immigrants come out like they are criminals, when really they are the people that clean the toilets etc. His opinion is mainly that he sees immigrants as people who come to America seeking for happiness and that these people should not be rejected but should be included into the nation.

Anti and Pro Latino Immigration

http://kellenebishop.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/the-heartstrings-that-will-bankrupt-%E2%80%9Cus%E2%80%9D/

This a blog by Kellene Bishop about the negative aspects in her opinion of illegal Latino immigration. The major point which she focuses on in how much money is being spent on these people.

"There are approximately 5.5 million children of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. presently who are recognized as legal citizens.  As such, the parents of such children are able to literally live on your dime without contributing to society in the form of taxes, community activism, or contributing to the law-abiding culture of our society".

She appears very anti immigration and shares her own opinions on how she feels parents are being perceived by their children for "breaking laws" by entering the country illegally and also how these children will vote when they grow up.

"How do these children grow up and vote?  Do they vote for the best candidate who promotes honor and virtue?  Or do they vote for the person who’s most likely to keep their parents in the country".

She also shares a point that she feels would the fourteenth ammendment have been drafted in the same way if her forefathers had known that millions of people from one country would be immigrating to the US and not just the immigrants who made a "difficult" journey through ellis island.

 http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/7568

This article focuses on "The Welcome Effects of Latino Immigration" by Michael Barone.

It comments on the importance of the Latino population in the US and makes an interesting point that a lot of Americans know little or nothing about the history of these people but that they make up such a large proportion of the population.

The Latinos seemed to have forgotten when looking at the Kerner Report which believed that America would be split into two societies black and white. They didn't take into account the immigration of Latinos into America because the rush of Latinos since the Immigration Act of 1965 was almost entirely unpredicted. These claims turned out to be wrong as Black people are alot more integrated today than in the 60's. People argue that being such a  divide between language, religion etc that America will seemingly split but "Ethnically, religiously, and regionally, there have always been many more than two Americas, and Americans have, for the most part, been able to live together and build the most tolerant, affluent nation in the history of the world".

The article mentions that generally Latinos are hard working and don’t find it difficult to find work.

"These are people with an exceedingly strong work ethic and a strong loyalty to family. They have gone through bewildering experiences with determination and strength. If they seem silent and stoic at work, the atmosphere on their streets is a lot like Little Italy a hundred years ago".

Latino America

Border Angels was founded by Enrique Morones in 1986, they are a non-profit organization supporting humanity.
The organization consists of volunteers who want to stop unnecessary deaths of individuals who are traveling through the Imperial Valley desert and the mountain areas surrounding San Diego County. As well as the areas located around the United States and Mexican border.
The high percentage of unnecessary deaths have been results of extreme heat and cold weather conditions, also some have sadly been the results of racial-discrimination crimes.

Enrique Morones’ father grew up in Mexico City, moving his family to San Diego in 1954. He worked for Aeromexico during the day and at a market at night to earn enough money to pay for a quality education for his five children. Enrique was the first member of the family to be born in the USA

Enrique has a long history of firsts and accomplishments,

• 1st two time President of the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce;
• 1st Director then Vice President in Major League Sports with the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball
• President and Founder of House of Mexico in San Diego's Balboa Park
• First Director and founder of Mexico's Border Commission and advisory group to Mexican President Vicente Fox ad part of Mexico's Institute of Mexican Abroad

Grassfire, is an organization who has put up billboards that express their anti-immigration stance. The billboards found along the highways say “Stop the invasion: save our border.”
The billboards can currently be found in West Virginia, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and California.
A Michigan activist by the name of John H. Tanton claims to have organized the anti-immigration movement by founding and providing financial support to some groups.
The network consists of 13 anti-immigration groups which include the American Immigration Control Foundation, California Coalition for Immigration Reform, Federation for American Immigration Reform, Pro English, and Project USA among others.

Through their national petition, they hoped to quickly get one million grassroots citizens who by signing their petition oppose any form of amnesty, and who are demanding our government secure our borders by building an effective border fence, and strictly enforce existing laws.

"The sad fact remains that the federal government is refusing to secure our borders. Their continued failure has only emboldened Mexican drug cartels that now control parts of Arizona -- spreading violence and fear among American citizens living in these border areas." "While this lawlessness grows – threatening the lives and liberty of U.S. citizens, the President continues plotting ways to advance his open-border agenda, and grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens – many of which have criminal histories and ties to enemy nations."

Total signers: 212,838

http://www.grassfire.com/117/petition.asp

Amexica

This video is not 100% pro immigration but is interviewing a spokesperson for the anti-deformation league who is trying to raise awareness of the discrimination leveled at Latinos by hate groups that has been adopted by the mainstream media in the conflict over illegal immigration in South West USA. It contains various clips from news shows where authors, politicians and well known names like Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs are shown to be using defamatory language or 'codewords' to describe the influx of Latino people into the region. She suggests that in using words like 'invaders' and 'illegal aliens' these people are trying to paint the Latinos as a threat to American values and instill a fear within the population that is then not only held in regard to illegal immigrants but to legitimate ones as well and hate-crimes have happened as a result. The news clips even at one point show someone Glenn Beck is interviewing describe the situation as 'a war, but the Mexicans are the only ones fighting it'. This kind of inflammatory rhetoric has already come under fire with the Gabby Giffords shooting earlier this year and it seems to be similar culprits i.e. the far right, attempting to utilise it to exploit fears and curry favour when discussing other contemporary issues.

This video is a mix of various prominent Latino community leaders and politicians talking about the issues associated with immigration in the South West or as some of them deem it 'Aztlan'. When listening to what they are saying there is a feeling of injustice, they feel cheated of the territory that was originally theirs and though the politicians are careful in regards to how confrontational their language is the other speakers out right declare that Latinos should take it back. When you hear this and the see the demonstrator images and redrawn maps of the USA it becomes easy to understand how predominantly white conservatives at the other end of the nation are getting concerned about what the aims of this ever increasing section of their society are. Though there are some extreme views expressed by some speakers the majority are talking about assimilation and acceptance that they want from the rest of the country. The images of protesting crowds are holding masses of American flags and waving them with gusto, would they be doing this if they wanted to annex the South West back to Mexico?

African americans

Black African Americans are treadted In the United States of American comepletly differantly to across the world, starting from the very beginning of the counrty's discovery and is an issues that very much dicussed even to today. even thought American has come a long way from were it was at the beginning of the 20th century, it still shockingly not enough. And i believe there is far to much rascism there then protrayed.



Here is an interview with Singer Jill Scott, where she talks about the historyand the battle of African americans and how its still shows today but obviously in a smaller way. she also discusses how Manly Black women face the worst of it.

"So theres this kind of quite pain, its quite but its there. I dont fell that way when im in London, I dont feel that way when im in paris, and i dont feel that way in Holland its just this history of United States hasn't necessarily been brushed away, and we have to deal with it."

African American Separatism is a movemnt that firmly believes that White American's Dominate. often some believe and seek for a seprate homeland where they can belong without any prejudice. Most Black Separatism ideas are that they generally do not believe that they can not procress in society that is dominated by white majority.

With the break throught that Barak Obama has had in him becoming the first Black president of America, it certanily has had an effect on the american socitey and they the way they view black americans. Before he won, Actress Sophia bush puts things into prospectus about before his election, the country had been in a mess.

"Everyone has been so disheartend by the state of our nation. we are like this beautiful, classic building thats just hasn't been taken care of, and things are falling apart and we are not takening care of each other, or our country or us standing in the world well at all."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg8iAzHTkG8

This video is set up by the New York Public Library. It is a debate about the possible death of Black Nationalist Culture. The guy in the back left corner argues that Barack Obama created the idea that Black people are to blame and so are White people (and in that sense creating peace). Then he argues that Black people are definitely not the people who brought slavery up and that Black people didn't invent the Jim Crowe laws and he basically says that Obama's statement is wrong. However, since Barack Obama is the president, his audiences (the people in America) pick up on what he says and believes that its a 50/50 situation and that there is no reason to think back at the unfair times of slavery and separatism. This is eventually how they believe that Black Nationalism has come to its end.

I think it was inevitable that black nationalism would come to an end in the 21st century, because people in America (and in the rest of the world) made it seem like the times had changed when Barack Obama, a black president got elected, and made it seem in fact like times of separatist/ racist thoughts were over.

It is worth mentioning that when i was going through Youtube.com to find a video on this topic I found quite a lot of videos of people expressing their views in a different way saying that Black Nationalism should have been seen as racism too. Meaning that the thoughts behind Black Nationalism and the way Black people are becoming racist towards White people nowadays should be seen as bad. I personally think this are wrong ideas and that the past can't just be forgotten and changed. What happened, happened and that can not be forgotten in the Black Community, but apparently so, times have changed.

This is the link of the video with the extreme view against Black Nationalism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em55RSIS--s&playnext=1&list=PL996DF7B9A1D71A9F

UNIA-ACL

http://www.unia-acl.com/

The site I've found is for the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Originally founded as the UNIA by Marcus Garvey its power was greatest in the 1920's and since the 1940's has divided and most of its influence has disappeared. It's ideals keep pretty much true to those it was founded with in that it seeks political, social and physical separation of all races to enable them to promote their own ideals. It also strives towards the 'creation of a powerful Negro nation in Africa'.

The extent that this organisation has fractured and lost support over the last sixty years perhaps suggests that the mode of thinking is outdated and not aligned to modern peoples views and desires. Though it is separatist in thinking it is not racist in anyway, it doesn't portray African Americans as superior but merely suggests that there are differences between every race and that the only solution is division of the respective societies. This differs from many other separatist thinkers and groups in not wanting to seek retribution for the ills delivered to Black people during centuries of oppression. It seems perhaps then a segway between the two major camps of thought containing as it does the spiritual harmony and conduciveness of Rev. Martin Luther King while maintaining the reactive physical divisions wished by militant groups and Malcolm X.

It seemed rather odd to me that Marcus Garvey promoted such an ideal of returning African Americans back to Africa because he was originally from Jamaica. After reading more it seems that though his efforts before he was deported were concentrated in the USA his concern was with the plight of Black people the world over as he had traveled to many countries and discerned general trends for their mistreatment everywhere. This perhaps atones for why back to Africa than and independent nation elsewhere.

Nation of islam - Farrakhan

I chose a brief video which shows Minister Louis Farrakhan (leader of the Nation Of Islam) talking about the White Man as being the devil. I already knew who Farrakhan was but after watching "Malcom X" by Spike Lee I learned more about the organisation in which he has power over at this time.

The Nation of Islam believe in separatism as opposed to Martin Luther King's "dream" of integration. Seperation is seen as a kind of last resort if no terms of equality can be reached:


In an 13 April 1997 interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Louis Farrakhan to explain the Nation of Islam's view on separation:

Tim Russert: "Once a week, on the back page [of your newspaper] is The Muslim Program, 'What the Muslims Want' [written in 1965]. The first is in terms of territory, 'Since we cannot get along with them in peace and equality, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by white America justifies our demand for complete separation in a state or territory of our own.' Is that your view in 1997, a separate state for Black Americans?"

Minister Louis Farrakhan: "First, the program starts with number one. That is number four. The first part of that program is that we want freedom, a full and complete freedom. The second is, we want justice. We want equal justice under the law, and we want justice applied equally to all, regardless of race or class or color. And the third is that we want equality. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society. If we can get that within the political, economic, social system of America, there's no need for point number four. But if we cannot get along in peace after giving America 400 years of our service and sweat and labor, then, of course, separation would be the solution to our race problem."

Instead of promoting equality between races the Nation of Islam is an organisation based on Islam which believes that the black man is the superior race, this view can be seen as understandable becasue of the turmoil in which their race has been sujected to in America's history but this is just driving a bigger divide between people of different colour than bringing them together.

Belief	Traditional Islam	Nation of Islam
God	Allah is one, who has no partners	Wallace D. Fard came as God incarnate (God is the black man)
Muhammad	The final prophet of Islam, no one comes after him	Elijah Muhammad is the prophet to tell about incarnation of Fard
Race	All are equal regardless of color of skin, judged on behavior	The original black race of man is superior
Creation	Allah created the universe, first humans were Adam and Eve	Black scientists created the plan which repeats every 25,000 years
Qur'an	Revealed to Muhammad from God through the Angel Gabriel	Black scientists created and revealed the Bible and the Qur'an
Sharia law	Sacred rules and laws of Islamic life, based on Qur'an and Sunnah	Not followed, created own, such as 4-6pm meal or avoid white-flour cake meals

Black Power

Kamau Kambon is a former North Carolina State University visiting professor of African-American Studies.


This video was recorded right after Hurricane Katrina. Could a White person say the same things? (3mins, 4.30mins, 6.45mins, 8.30mins)



Dr. Kamau Kambon is in support of black folks moving to a new country under control of a Black government. He says that white people will control our economy, our politicians, our foreign affairs, etc. According to the Dr. black people will finally have a voice in the world. This would then according to some "stop a coming a war against whites".

He is probably most famous for a speech delivered October 14, 2005, at Howard University, urging genocide of whites, saying, "We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem of racial injustice.

"We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.”
“...because white people want to kill us.”



Kambon’s solution received slight applause in the room, to which he responded, “I don’t care whether you clap or not, but I’m saying to you that we need to solve this problem because they are going to kill us.”

Immigration

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss

I have not looked at any one individual school and how they are portraying immigration but at the Californian State Board of Education who issue comprehensive guidelines on learning outcomes for children through all subjects. In the History-Social Science standards introduction immigration is shown to be significantly important right away,

'They recognize that America's ongoing struggle to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution is the struggle to maintain our beautifully complex national heritage of e pluribus unum.'

This significance is re-enforced by the fact that students are to be introduced to the concept that a diverse population with a varied ancestry is a positive thing that makes America great in the First Grade (ages 6-7). Discussing issues to do with immigration with children so young creates an awareness of the importance of it in both a historical and contemporary sense.

Throughout the varying aspects of history and through the Grades, immigration is discussed in relation of cause and effect to virtually all major American events. Each and every time when it is discussed it's shown in a positive light as a quintessential factor that has made America great.

The amount about immigration taught is probably due to the fact that these standards are for California, a state with a large immigrant population, and as such perhaps there would be less influence of it in other states.

These standards are also slightly dated now having been issued in 1998 and though immigration from Latin America was high then in the years since it has increased massively so perhaps there might be a need for more teachings relating to that issue.

I found this weeks blog task probably the toughest in terms of actually pinning down a website with the relevant information. I wanted to choose a school in new york as I think it would have been interesting to see how they teach immigration from the 19th/20th century because the majority of the immigrants would have to settle or pass through New York. I spent hours going through new york schools websites and couldn't find anything of much use.

http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/webquests/immigration/immigration.htm

The above link is for Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, North Carolina. It shows a brief overview on what these 5th graders will be covering also the tasks and processes which will entail.


"North Carolina Standard Course of Study: 3.02 Examine how changes in the movement of people, goods, and ideas have affected ways of living in the United States."

It doesn't really state how the subject will be taught to the student in the sense of how immigration is perceived but it looks as if the majority of the work is to be undertaken by the student to find out for themselves. The fact that they have to read an account from a child of a similar age to them from that time period may help them to engage and get a more realistic feel for the events instead of them reading an account by an adult. They also have to interview a person who is an immigrant from another country to America this will give them an insight from the actual person as to why they came to America and also to look at their classmates and see the different/similar reasons as to what motivates immigrants.


Students will:

• Students will use the internet in order to view original pictures taken during the immigration period at Ellis Island.
  
• Students will build their their vocabulary by completing a Word Search puzzle and by defining the words related to the project.
  
• Students will develop reading skills by reading a true account of the journey to America told by an immigrant child.
  
• Students will develop their interviewing and writing skills by interviewing a person who is an immigrant from another country to the United States and publishing their story on the web for others to read.

Immigration Teaching in American School

http://www.concordacademy.org/academics/academicscoursecatalogue.pdf

from: http://www.concordacademy.org/

The concord academy is one of the top 10 K12 American Schools in the US. it is a private preparatory school for grades 9 to 12 situated in Concord, Massachusetts. on their main website I found a link to their curriculum and under the subject of history it had a little paragraph about immigration called 'Immigrants in America: Beyond the Melting Pot'. While reading the paragraph I did not see a lot of difference with the lecture we had on immigration. There did not seem to be a direct feeling of telling the 'story' differently.

In the 'module' it examines the history briefly, but mostly asks debate questions like: 'We discuss when different groups arrived, how they were received and represented, and how they have made their ways in America.' which seems to show that there is a larger interest in what immigration has done for/to America and less in what the lives of the immigrants were like before they moved to America and how it affected their lives.

At the end of the paragraph it says that the Prerequisite courses for the course are American History 2 and Geographical distribution, which I find quite peculiar in the way that it doesn't seem important for this course to know what life in Europe, Asia etc was like. Even though this is a history course that involves history in more than one part of the world, for the American immigration it apparently does not seem relevant to know who these immigrants actually are. Debates like how the immigrants were received and represented come up during the course which might have some sort of hostility towards immigrants since they will be represented by the teachers as 'intruders' more than inhabitants of the same country.

However this course does debate questions like 'when different groups arrived,

how they were received and represented, and how they have made their ways in America.' which shows that they do show interest in the immigrants from the point where they entered America.

Overall, this is a quite exclusive school with quite a lot of immigrants since their motto is: 'Concord Academy (...)enriched by a diversity of backgrounds, so that is maybe why this school might have had to have this more neutral look on immigration to avoid any form of discrimination between its students. the more typical public American schools might have a more 'American-viewed' immigrant history curriculum.

Immigration

http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/

The National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) has a threefold mission: to develop and provide teachers with curricular materials that will engage students in exciting explorations of U.S. and World History; professional development for K-12 history teachers; and to collaborate with schools in building their history curricula.

Through publications, professional development, and community engagement, NCHS links UCLA to teachers and students in Los Angeles and across the United States. They help the best thinking about U.S. and World History understandable for teachers and their students.

U.S History for us all is a section that points to web resources available for teaching US history. The pages are organised by the eras as outlined in National Standards for History. They provide Primary sources and lesson plans for teachers also interactive games for the children to use in order to learn more.

Era 1 starts with Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
http://www.apva.org/
Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/nietz/
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)