Links for Blog Review Exercise from Mike

Mr. Money Mustache writes a pithy blog about money, and how to save it.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/


 Here is the link to all his posts for the history of the blog.  Please find two titles and subjects that you are actually interested in to read.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/all-the-posts-since-the-beginning-of-time/

Links to Police Brutality videos. Caution.

I will not make this mandatory whatsoever, but I encourage you to at least watch one or two of these videos if you think you can to get an idea of where some of these charges of racism come from.  Consider the evidence and context carefully in each instance.

These are very disturbing.  Do not watch unless you are prepared to see a life taken, and extreme violence.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/19/us/police-videos-race.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&moduleDetail=undefined&pgtype=Multimedia

exploration 5: Thayne Reinhardt

English subject discussion

Thayne Reinhardt

The 1960’s were a time of great change for African Americans. For years, they had been oppressed in ways many people would hate to think about. The situation had reached a boiling point, starting with student protests and leading to MLK and his leadership bringing together the protests of millions of blacks. One of the biggest changes caused by this, was the Civil rights act of 1964. The law destroyed many previous ways in which blacks could be discriminated against, and was very broad. For instance, previously, many water fountains and bathrooms throughout the country were labeled based on color, with blacks usually having the less attractive facility. The act totally outlawed this, so blacks could now use the same facilities as whites. Also, restaurants and hotels etc. other public venues which used to be able to refuse service to blacks, were now not allowed by law. This enabled the black population to be free of worry on if a particular venue would allow them to come in. Yet this was not all that the act did. It also encouraged the loss of schools with segregation, one of the most insane practices before the act which had children grow up; believing segregation was somehow the norm. These bans and laws allowed society to move on from the awful practices of the past, and blacks to live better lives.

Exploration 5: Kassie Pryor

Direct action is a form of prostest that is non violent. To strive to get equality, college students participated in sit ins to begin this. They would go up to the counter where whites were to sit, and sit there. That is all the did. It is memorable to think that even when under arrest, the students would continue to come in and sit down. That is how willing they were to get their equal rights. Something that stood out to me in the film, was the way that the mayor of Nashville responded to them when they asked questions. “Answer as a man, not a politician.” I believe that sentence is very powerful even in modern days, because people respond to things the way they think other people would approve of. But the mayor in Nashville didn’t do this. He answered the students saying that he didn’t believe it was right to refuse people because of their skin. This really spoke to the students because it made them have hope that their movement wasn’t for nothing.

George Wallace

George Wallace was the governer of Alabama during the civil rights movement. When he one, one of his most famous speeches ended with “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” So, basically this guy was an asshole. To date, he is the only governor that served for 4 terms. When talked about the “Freedom Riders,” Wallace said that you “can’t guarentee the safety of a fool,” which again shows that he was against segregation. He tried to run for president, but that resulted in failure.

Exploration 5 by Kyle Ciballi

The most important thing that stands out to me in the film of Aint scared of your jails is that peaceful protesting and non violent protesting can be the most effective ways. I was astonished when I saw the students in the sandwich bar continue to sit there and get wailed on by other people and law enforcement officers.  A direct quote I think fits this description " after two weeks of non violent sit ins , they were attacked". I think its crazy how well they maintained composure while getting beat on. My first reaction would to be to fight back but I understand the power of not fighting back at all and fighting with direct action.

My research topic was Malcom X. Malcom X was an activist and a outspoken voice of the Muslim faith. He challenged himself very young when he was imprisoned and found faith in Muslim religion. was born of the name Malcom little he changed it to Malcom X to put his past slave life behind him. In June 1964, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Malcom was very faith invested in his lifetime and made the travel to mecca. After he went to Mecca he changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. After his trip to mecca He reports that America had been corroded by the racism and only blacks can free themselves. Later in his life he was assassinated by a Black Muslim at one of his rally's on Feb. 21 1965. before he was killed he wrote out to his organization saying he has little time left and his death will be more important than his life.

Exploration 5: Abigail Gerber

Dr. King, students, and tactics of non-violent direct action were presented in the film Ain't Scared of Your Jails. The process of direct action was to protest for black civil rights in a non-violent way. In my opinion, one of the most memorable non-violent direct action in Nashville was when the group of black civil rights activist sat in at a dinner in a white section. This group of people were students who wanted to fight for their rights. The students did this for about two weeks and it was completely non-violent. Eventually people had enough of these sit ins and the students were attacked. The police came and around eighty people were arrested. These students were willing to go to jail for what they believed in. They weren't scared of their jails.

"Uniting for Their Freedom"

I think that one major concept that was learned from this movement is that fighting for your rights and beliefs is a brave and powerful thing to do. The Freedom Riders showed this through their actions during this time. The Freedom Riders were a group of people who challenged racial laws by sitting in the white section in buses through the South. There were black and white Freedom Riders who were fighting for black civil rights. The blacks would sit in the front and the whites would sit in the back purposely to go against the racial laws.This movement started in the month of May in the year 1961.One of the buses that were full of Freedom Riders was destroyed by angry white people. These white people had sticks and weapons and waited outside the bus. They yelled hateful things like "Kill the niggers!" The bus was bombed and attacked and around twelve innocent people were hospitalized. Police did not protect these people like they should have.

The film gave great insight to the black civil rights activist and talked about multiple groups and people who participated. I think anyone who would watch the film would learn at least one piece of information about this topic.

Word Count: 345

Exploration 5: Aaron Walters

Exploration 5: Ain't Scared of your Jails & Robert Kennedy

     The film "Ain't Scared of your Jails" covered the formation and development of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC), which was a student lead civil rights organization. The SNCC was formed in 1960, and organized nonviolent protests against segregation in the south, using sit-ins, marches, and boycotts. Though they were involved in many organized protests, one that stood out was the involvement in the "Freedom Rides", an effort to have a series of buses drive from Washington D.C. through the Deep South with white and black riders distributed throughout the bus. The Freedom Ride ran into trouble as it moved through Alabama, with one bus being firebombed outside of Anniston, and the second being stopped in Birmingham, where its riders were attacked by a mob. The other organizations wanted to end the Freedom Ride there, but the SNCC was adamant that the ride must continue, arguing that letting the ride end because of violence would convince others that they could use similar violence to end other protests. In the film, Diane Nash said "You know, if the Freedom Ride had been stopped as a result of violence, I strongly felt that the future of the movement was going to be just cut short because the impression would have been given that whenever a movement starts, that all that has to be done is that you attack it with massive violence and the blacks would stop." The determination of the students to continue the protest and keep the Freedom Ride going, despite the violence and continued threat of violence, is inspirational to say the least.  The impact of that the Ride and other student protests would have shows that an organized group, regardless of age, can have a significant impact on society.

     Robert "Bobby" Kennedy was the serving Attorney General, serving from 1961 through 1964 while his brother John F. Kennedy was president, and played a very active role in the Civil Rights era. In 1960, when his brother was still running for the presidency, he helped to secure the release of Martin Luther King Jr. from jail. In 1961, Robert was heavily involved in the events surrounding the Freedom Riders protest, helping to try and secure protection for the riders after the violence in Alabama. Kennedy later struck a deal so that there would be no violence against the riders in Mississippi, but the riders would be immediately arrested. Though omitted in the film, Robert Kennedy offered to pay the bail for the Riders, but they refused. Throughout his service as Attorney General, Robert Kennedy involved himself and his administration in efforts to end segregation throughout the United States, taking a balanced approach at times where it was vital, as the rights movement coincided with the height of the Cold War.

MLK and Robbert Kennedy, 1963

 (450 Words)

Exploration 5: Hannah Thompson

While watching the film I learned a lot of things about The Civil Rights Movement that I wasn't taught during high school. But what I took away from this movement is that you don't have to be violent to fight for what you believe is right. Not that I have believed that violence is the answer but it amazes me and I think it's important to watch how the people in this movement didn't become violent even when people were violent towards them. For example when whites attacked them during the sit-ins, or the attack in Birmingham, and being sent to prison. People can only take so much yet going to prison became something these students were proud of and didn't phase them. It was remarkable when Mrs. Alice Walker talked about the phone call from her son when he called and said, "Be cool, mother." As if it didn't phase him so it shouldn't phase her.

The research subject I chose was James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality. James Farmer was a leader in the Congress of Racial Equality and helped shape this movement with his non-violent activism such as the sit-ins and the Freedom Rides. He played a huge part in the Civil Rights Movement and after was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 and wrote an autobiography Lay Bare the Heart in 1985 about the Civil War. Now the Congress of Racial Equality was founded in 1942 and became the leading organization for the Civil Rights Movement. CORE organized the Freedom Rides, the Freedom Summer voter registration project, and the 1963 March on Washington. CORE was very big on nonviolence protesting and in 1955 sent people to the south to train demonstrators. CORE is known as the biggest and most effective group in the Civil Rights Movement.

James Farmer leading CORE activists.

Exploration 5: Josh Braunstein

Exploration 5: Sothern Christan Leadership Conference.

Direct action is an organized public form of protest. The film Ain't scared of your Jails focused on the 50's and 60's era where non-violent direct action was successful. The most memorable non-violent direct action in Nashville was the sit-ins. Diane Nash does an excellent job telling us that the restaurant closed for the day and that "the waitresses were nervous and they must have dropped $2,000 worth of dishes that day" She also describes the power of the movement. On February 27th more than 80 people were arrested. On this day the police came to arrest Diane and her fellow colleagues who were performing the sit-in with her and refusing to not leaving when the police asked them to. Regardless that they would be arrested waves of people continued to replace the wave before them. The reason why Diane Nash is a good source in this film is that she was actually there and was apart of the first sit-in.

The Sothern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in 1957 by most famous MLK jr, and 4 others in hopes "to have a regional organization that could better coordinate civil rights protest activities across the south. The SCLC was the reason that non-violent direct action tactics continued to be used in order to protest the discrimination. In Ain't Scared of your Jails Diane Nash said "Ella Baker was very important giving direction to the student movement. And not giving direction in a way of her making decisions as to what the students ought to do, but in terms of really seeing how important it was to recognize the fact that the students should set the goals and directions and maintain control of the student movement." One way she acted as a guide to the students is that "she advised the students to stay independent of adult organizations." She did this because it allowed the students to set goals on how they want to shape their future. MLK Jr was a huge role in the SCLC. He managed to keep everyone involved in this movement calm and focused on the end goal. MLK jr held a rally at First Baptist Church where the church was surrounded by angry protestors. While being surrounded by violence MLK said in his speech "the main thing I want to say to you is fear not, we've gone too far to turn back. Let us be calm, we are together, we are not afraid, and we shall overcome." On August 28, 1963, MLK hosted a peaceful march on Washington. An estimate between 200,000 and 300,000 peaceful protestors gathered and marched to Washington and when arrived MLK gave his famous I have a dream speech. This walk goes to show that the SCLC was a key part in keeping non-violent protests because it was able to coordinate with a quarter million people to march on Washington and have them be completely non-violent.

200,000-300,000 non-violent protestors
march on washington 

The Ebenezer Baptist Church where
MLK jr founded the SCLC in 1975

Word Count: 476
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/sclc.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Christian_Leadership_Conference

Exploration 5 Libbie Price

Diane Nash, one of the leaders in the sit-ins

 Learning about the non-violent direct action done by a group of students from Nashville, Tennessee was really amazing to me. I think it helped society learn that students can have power. It doesn't take only government officials or important adults to change something, but anyone willing to be courageous. One thing that really stood out to me, were all the student that were willing to put themselves on the line for what they believed. So many people were continuously hurt and others kept joining despite the danger. I was really amazed with the sit-ins. Sit-ins were where African American students went into a bar for whites and sat down at the counters. They didn't talk or do anything but sit and take up space. These students were denied service just because of the color of their skin. The first sit-in was lead by a couple people, one of them being Diane Nash. She talked about how the waitresses were so nervous and they broke so many dishes in the times they were there. She said she had to force herself to not laugh, they didn't want people to think they were mocking them, they just wanted to make a point, also along with a sense of laughter was a feeling of being scared. They were terrified of what might happen. The police refused to defend them and they were beaten and hit by others. They didn't fight back though, they sat peacefully as they were being tormented. Then, students started getting arrested if they sat on the bar, they hauled many off to jail. However as soon as they took the first group of kids, another sat down. This continued, there was always another group. I think being able to see your friends get taken to jail and know that that will happen to you if you follow and then you continue to follow is amazing. It would take a lot of courage and bravery. Later Diane Nash asked Ben West, the Nashville Mayor, "Do you feel its wrong to discriminate against a person based on their race or color...". She forced Ben West to take a stand. He came out later saying he does think it's wrong, and he was given a lot of hate for it. Diane Nash made the Mayor take a stand and start a movement of so many people.
Word count: 394

Exploration 5: Jacob Cluff

The process of direct action is to use nonviolent strikes, demonstrations, and protests instead of riots and other violent means. This did not stop people from getting arrested, though. The simple act of staying in a store where they were refused service led to eighty demonstrates getting arrested, where previously they were being beaten by a gangs of white people. The fact that these people were beaten and arrested for wanting to be treated equally is disgusting. "I think that people who strive to gain social acceptance through their -- Although they're called nonviolent or passive resistance, there's a most violent -- I also think that it is in violation to my civil rights if someone can say you must serve me. If you own -- If a man owns an eating establishment, if he can't choose whom he pleases to serve or not to serve, that can affect me and you and anyone else." From Ain't Scared of Your Jails, this quote comes from a white resident of Nashville in the 1960s. It stands out to me because of the blatant ignorance and hypocrisy and that this was not uncommon then.

From this movement we can learn that everyone wants to be treated humanely and that people will be persistent in gain the rights that everyone else has. Jim Crow laws were what made segregation okay in the eyes of the law. They originated from what were called the Black Codes. The Black Codes were laws of similar principle that restricted the rights of black people in the 1860s. Jim Crow laws were what allowed the Freedom Riders to be arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for not going riding in the sections designated for their race. Without these laws, segregation would not be legally enforced. Most of the arrests of black citizens in Ain't Scared of Your Jails came from the breaking of these unconstitutional laws. What was left of the Jim Crow laws in the 1960s were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

(Word Count: 340)

Exploration 5: Sydney Schuman

There are countless lessons that can be learned from the Civil Rights Movement. It’s nearly impossible to choose the best or most important one, but using the film we watched in class as a lens, the lesson that stood out to me the most was that anyone can be a leader. Before watching this film, I had pretty much considered Dr. King as the leader of the movement. I was very, very wrong. In Nashville, this movement was started by college students. Although they had adult mentors, these young adults led a movement that would eventually change an entire country. Ella Baker exemplified the concept that everyone has the ability to be a leader in the film. Diane Nash said, “Ella Baker was very important giving direction to the student movement. And not giving direction in a way of her making decisions as to what the students ought to do, but in terms of really seeing how important it was to recognize the fact that the students should set the goals and directions and maintain control of the student movement.” Ella Baker could’ve just told the students what to do, but rather she passed on her wisdom to the next generation of leaders so that they could control their own movement.

Rev. C.T. Vivian's mugshots from when he was arrested in Jackson,
Mississippi during the Freedom Rides.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, short for Cordy Tindell Vivian, was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, an author, and a minister. Vivian was born in Missouri, however, he grew up and started college in Illinois. Just around the time the student movement was beginning in Nashville, Vivian was attending American Baptist College in Nashville, studying ministry. He took part in some of the first sit-ins and marches, and, along with Diane Nash, confronted Mayor Ben West publicly of the morality of racial discrimination. This confrontation proved to be a turning point in the movement in Nashville. Later, Vivian became a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and helped organize many events, such as the Freedom Rides. On top of assisting with all of these groups, Vivian created an educational program called “Vision”, founded the Black Action Strategies and Information Center (BASICS), co-founded the Center for Democratic Renewal, and even wrote his own book, Black Power and the American Myth! Rev. C.T. Vivian is still alive today, at the age of 93, and spends time traveling around the country and world to speak publicly and do workshops.

Word Count: 402

Exploration Five: Eric Jankowski

     There were many white allies of the civil rights movement, people who were able to see through the lies of the corrupt "separate but equal" system that had plagued the South,  taking away the freedom of American citizens.  One of these allies was James Peck, a pacifist who fought nonviolently to secure the freedom for the colored population of the South.

     James Peck was a nonviolent activist who fought for peace during World War Two, and for civil rights during the civil rights movement through peaceful protest and civil disobedience.  Throughout World War Two, he protested the war, and protested the draft as well, and was sentenced to three years for being a conscientious objector. 

       During the Civil Rights Movement, Peck participated in the Freedom Ride, a protest movement where civil rights activists, both black and white, rode in a bus convoy all along the South, with the whites sitting in the back, and the blacks sitting up front, which was the opposite of the norm of the time.  In addition, the riders would use the other race's facilities during stops.  All of this was done as a sort of message to show how ridiculous the Jim Crow segregation laws were.

       At the first stop in Atlanta, Georgia, the lead bus was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan.  When the bus later pulled into the station at Anniston, eight members of the Klan boarded the Freedom Ride and assaulted the riders.  Peck was beaten severely and required fifty stitches as a result of the attack.  Further into the ride, the riders stopped at Birmingham, Alabama, and were immediately met by angry Klansmen.  The Klan quickly assaulted the riders immediately when they got off of the bus, Peck being one of the first.  They beat him down to the ground and then proceeded to hit him while he was down, until his face was reduced to what could only be described as a bloody pulp.  He was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which denied him treatment, so he was transferred to Jefferson Hillman Hospital, which was much more welcoming.

       Peck later continued on with the Civil Rights movement after the Freedom Ride, and continued to practice nonviolence. 

Word count:  367

Exploration 5: Prathik Shivanna

Southern cities maintain segregated public facilities like a Greensboro, North Carolina lunch counter, where four black college students staged the first sit in. The nonviolent sit in movement spreads through 69 cities across the south with black communities organizing economic boycott and sympathetic northerners picketing stores. In Nashville, protestors were attacked and arrested but they did not retaliate. Jim Zwerg, a freedom rider, stated that "Segregation must be stopped, we'll take hitting, we'll take beating. We're willing to accept death, but we're going to keep coming". The bombing of Z. Alexander Looby's house, a lawyer working with activists led to thousands of people march to the City Hall. Mayor Ben West conceded that lunch counter segregation is wrong and that businesses should desegregate. Elated with success, students found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC).


Raphael Benjamin West was born in 1911 in Columbia, the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. Working his way through college, Ben West attended Vanderbilt University and Cumberland Law School. Ben West was an attorney, politician and mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1951 to 1963, and state senator from 1949 to 1951. While he was a state senator, he supported a change from at-large to single-member district voting to the Nashville City Council. This broadened representation on the council, enabling the African-American minority to elect candidates of their choice; women also gained seats on the council. In 1934,Ben West began work as an assistant district attorney in Nashville. He also became active in politics, joining the Democratic Party. The state had effectively disenfranchised most blacks since the turn of the century. This hollowed out the Republican Party in much of the state. Many elections both local and state, were settled in the Domestic primaries, the true competitive contests. In 1951, West won election as mayor of Nashville, along with the first two African-American councilmen in 40 years. All three men were attorneys. As mayor of Nashville, West supported other voting rights reforms, particularly a state campaign to reapportion rural and urban voting districts in the state legislature to reflect demographic changes.

Ben West provided leadership in the desegregation of Nashville public schools. After a school was bombed, he and the Board of Education obtained a federal court injunction to help protect the schools, students and parents. At a critical moment during the sit-in demonstrations of 1960, following the bombing of the home of Z. Alexander Looby, city councilman and defense attorney for the students, 2500 protestors marched to the city hall and challenged West to take a stand against segregation. West appointed a biracial commission, and the Nashville business community quickly agreed to desegregate department store lunch counters. Nashville was the first southern city to desegregate public facilities.

Ben West at the City Hall

Word count:- 451 words