Final Blog

 This year, we have covered many different court cases and subjects. My favorite subject was our last discussion. What era are we in?

I believe that we are in the era of social media. In today's age, social media controls almost everything. If you post something bad in your teens, it can show up to haunt you later in life.

Social media is not something that just teenagers are on though. Parents, and even grandparents, are adapting to the new technology and social media apps as well. Former presidents are even using social media, like Donald Trump.

We use social media not only to keep up with your friends and family, but also to hear news of what is happening in the world. Social media can control a nation by what news it releases to the public. News sources are able to manipulate stories into being something completely different.

Now, imagine these news sources are now broadcast to the whole nation. You are seeing and reading what they want you to see. Unless you research the subject itself, you will most likely not be seeing the whole story.

Guess Who's Coming Reaction

 In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, John Prentice falls in love with Joey Drayton. This movie is about a black man who falls in love with a white woman before interracial marriages were accepted. 

My reaction to this movie was that the reactions were expected from the parents. In this time period, there were interracial marriages, but it was not widely accepted by society yet. Joey Drayton brings John Prentice back to her house without parents notice, and her parents were extremely shocked. The mother was hesitant at first, but she ended up accepting their relationship. The dad was not at all happy with their relationship. 

Over the period of the movie, John Prentice and Joey Drayton move extremely fast in their relationship. They had been together for 11 days and planned to get married already. It was love at first sight, but society would be hesitant to accept them.

I really enjoyed the ending to this movie. John Prentice's parents fly into town for dinner quickly after some calls on the phone. Once again, the mother is hesitant, but the father is completely against it. Both of the mothers ended up convincing the fathers to accept that they are in love and are ready to take on the difficulties of being married to each other. In the last scene, Mr. Drayton walks in to reject the marriage and end everything. Instead, it takes a turn in events. Mr. Drayton accepts John and Joey's relationship and everyone is happy.

Klansville USA Reaction

 Klansville USA was an interesting video that informs you about much that the listener may not have known. While most people would have believed that the stronghold in the USA must have been Mississippi or Alabama, it was actually North Carolina. They say that North Carolina had more Klan members than the rest of the South combined.

What surprised me most about the Klan in North Carolina was that they were open to the public and would hold these gatherings for everyone to see. They would hold these gatherings in the public to show the world that they are not an organization that operates in the dark, but they are open to the public and want to be seen.

It does interest me in the fact that when meeting with former Grand Wizard Robert Shelton, he says he is always a Klan member at heart. It also says that he drove up to this interview with a License plate that reads "NEVER". This was the segregationist slogan, making it seem like the Klan was still a part of his every day life.

The origin of burning crosses was not present if the first KKK. When the Klan was revived in 1915, the movie Birth of a Nation portrays the Klan with burning crosses. Burning crosses was fiction only in the movie until the second Klan took that image and made it a reality.

Board of Regents v. Bakke Reaction

 The Board of Regents vs. Bakke case was eye opening for school systems in America.

Bakke was turned down from the University of California Medical School because of their racial quota system. He believed that this violated his 14th amendment rights under the Equal Protection Clause.

Both sides of the case gave valid viewpoints on the situation. Different viewpoints such as morals, history, and economics were brought up for each side of the case. 

The morals argument for the Board of Regents is interesting. They said that affirmative action was used, and it was upheld so that race can be used as a factor in their admissions, but the racial quota system is rejected. 

A history viewpoint was also brought up for the Board of Regents. They said that there was a gap between races in the separate but equal era. They also believed that affirmative action is what ethnic groups fought for. Lastly, their main point was that they are not fighting for equality, but they are fighting for equity.

I believe that the Board of Regents' economic viewpoint is the best. Numbers are always helpful to win over an audience. They said that 22% of African Americans had completed a year of college. 78% will end up with minimum wage jobs. 72% of people needing government assistance if affirmative action is removed. They said that if everyone completes one year of college, then the economy as a whole will flourish.

On the Bakke side, they took the same sort of approach as well. They say he had the qualifications to get in, and it is not fair that people below his qualifications could get in because of their race. He was denied because he was not a minority. People with the highest test scores should be admitted, end of story.

They say that his being rejected violated his 14th amendment rights, and inhibits his economic growth because he can not attend medical school. He will end up not having an income because he could not attend. 

The defendants of Bakke also say that he was denied while unqualified minorities were being admitted. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Act in the 14th Amendment are both present in this case. This case provides that the University of California had discrimination behind the scenes. This would mean that we are returning back to Plessy v. Ferguson because the quota system treats people in categories instead of as individuals.

In the end of the case, Bakke was admitted to the University of California Medical School.

EOTO #4

 My part of the EOTO was the War on Poverty. 

On January 8th, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson introduces the War on Poverty legislation. President Johnson introduced the War on Poverty legislation in his first State of the Union address. The War on Poverty is a set of government programs, designed to help poor Americans. It included measures for job training and improvement of housing.

President Johnson believed that our percentage of poor Americans was a national disgrace that merited a national response. The percentage of poor Americans at the time was 20% of our country. He also believed that the cause of poverty was not personal moral failings, but the cause of poverty was a societal failure.

The War on Poverty found its way into law quickly. With the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the War on Poverty started to make its way into law. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 created the Office of Economic Opportunity. 

The Office of Economic Opportunity provided funds for vocational training, created job Corps to train youths in conservation camps and urban centers, and established Vista (Volunteers in Service to America).

There was some resistance to the War on Poverty though. The War on Poverty faced resistance from almost all quarters of America. The South resisted on issues of race. The Conservatives believed that federal money should not be used to help the poor. The liberals believed that reforms did not go far enough.

In the end, the War on Poverty was ultimately limited in its effectiveness because of the economic resources being consumed by our increasing involvement in the Vietnam War.

Hazel Scott

 Hazel Scott was a famous American jazz and classical pianist and singer. She was the first African American to host her own television show called "The Hazel Scott Show" as well.

Scott was a musical prodigy from a young age. She moved to New York City when she was four and had received scholarships at the age of eight. She ended up studying at the Juilliard School and would perform shows while still in school.

Scott would regularly perform on the radio at the age of sixteen, gaining popularity fast. She would play in various nightclubs, spreading her name out. She ended up being the lead attraction at all branches of the Cafe Society. Cafe Society is a platform where all races ad ethnicities could perform. By this time, Hazel Scott was known nationally, and she would be making 75,000$ a year. 75,000$ back then is the equivalent to what would now be 1.1 million dollars.

Hazel Scott Playing Two Pianos

If you don't believe she was amazing at playing the piano after all of this, watch the video above. She is seen here playing two pianos, one black and one white.

Hazel Scott was also committed to civil rights activism. She would not play at segregated venues. She brought a law suit to the owners of a restaurant in Washington, because a waiter refused to serve Scott and her friend because "they were Negroes."

Scott eventually moved to Paris when her career had been faltered. Her career was damaged during the time period of the Red Scare. Her name would appear in Red Channels, so she made an appearance before the "House Un-American Activities Committee. Her television show would be cancelled a week later.

When Scott moved back to America in 1967, she continued to perform occasionally in night clubs. She ended up dying of cancer in 1981 at 61 years old.

"In the Heat of the Night" Reaction

 In "In the Heat of the Night", we are shown a black Philadelphia police detective who was suspected of murder. Virgil Tibbs, the black detective, was taken to the police station because of his race and nothing else. In this movie, we see the hostility of a town in Mississippi on the subject of racism. 

Virgil is judged the moment he came into this town. He was forced to work with the racist police station in order to figure out who the killer was. Over time in the movie, he is constantly looked down upon and even attacked by men from the town. However, the police chief ends up changing, as he is working with Virgil. 

The police chief ends up protecting Virgil, and he even begins to follow and listen to what he has to say. I believe this movie perfectly portrays that even in the worst places, you can find good people. In the movie, the police chief goes from extremely racist to the exact opposite. The chief is even questioned by people in the town when he begins to take Virgil's side in disputes. 

As the movie continues, Virgil begins to be respected by a small amount of people, but because this movie is set in the South, most of the people in the town still reject and hate him. 

I really liked the ending of this movie. Virgil puts the pieces of this case together and gets attacked by a mob of people from the town. The killer was one of the men's friend, who also impregnated his 16 year old sister. There ends up being a shootout between the men and the case is solved. 

Overall, The movie perfectly displays the racist South and how people can change. The emotions of the chief and Virgil were both brought out and the case was solved in a neat and interesting way.