Angela Davis- Stanford 4/15/15

Just recently, on a random Wednesday night a couple of friends and I, heard about Angela Davis speaking at Stanford. My two other friends are very interested in social issues and aware of people like Angela Davis. They were appalled that I have never heard of her, and how she was, is a living Black Panther. This seemed very interesting to me so, we visited Stanford Campus and listened to her speak about her thoughts on modern racism, mass incarceration, and the struggle of reform today. You obviously did not assign this, or inform us about this, however I found her speech to be relative to the topics we've covered in class.

In terms of racism, we learned how the establishment of slavery served as a foundation of the white belief in racial superiority. During her speech she opened my perspective to how our democracy was initially based and established with racism. She explained the starters of democracy, or our Founding Fathers, were incredibly racist. How that foundation then evolved to where we are today, where we see militarization of police due to the many controversial events of racist police officers. Also, what the effect of 9/11 did to our police force, associated with the war against terror. To the extent that even some campus police forces are being offered grants to militarize (Berkeley). 

Her words were too captivating to be explained, merely limited to a blog post. Her views on reforming these unjust systems, starts from knowing what we want. One of her quotes that really struck me, "We should ask for what we want, not to what we think will be offered to us." In the midst of her passionate, and inspiring statements, Angela showed a warm personality with her smiling face. I truly took that moment in that night, making me think in a third person perspective of myself. Me choosing to leave LA, to go to school in the Bay Area, made me realize how much I've learned that some people from this region of truly devote their life to having their voice heard about social justice. It was like I was meant to make certain decisions in my life, that led me to that event that night. In addition to her speech, as well as sitting in your lectures weekly, I have learned that I was raised to believe that capitalism is good thing. Now that I have made it to a university I see how capitalism affects other countries, and how the power in our government is not brought on by the people, but by the corporations. 

Paul Brockmann: Ebola Presentation

I did not fully get to take in the presentation because, I was hosting the event itself, and I had to work the slideshow in the room next to the lounge. My friend would point to me when Paul would say next slide, so I did not really hear much of the event I put together. However, I did find out that Paul is in fact not a Doctor. It was kind of funny because I posted fliers all over campus saying Dr. Paul Brockmann, assuming he was a doctor since he works with MSF. What I did learn was that he managed doctors on his trip to Sierra Leone and, you do not have to be a doctor in order to help the cause. He was a great speaker and gave insight to the commitments, as well as risks one would have to take on in order to endure that particular line of work.

In terms of Colonialism, a student managed to ask him a question about it and I remember him briefly replying by saying something on the lines of "people did bad things." He was basically saying that it brought a negative impact to some of the countries he worked in, yet he did not see a direct effect during his time.

Property: CST

Property may be owned by a single individual, yet it is ultimately owned by God. Where all of the land should be available to all of humanity. Despite our social status, we are all bonded by being apart of the same human community. The Catholic social teachings showed the divide private owners were causing on the rest of society. Where a wealthy owner of fertile farmland might be thriving, yet on the other side of their land there are starving peasants. This section brings up Marxist ideas in that, these private landowners are so driven by profit, that they would never voluntarily give up their land. This then lead to expropriation, an unjust acquisition of land from previous owners. Where people are exploiting natural law, because as humans we are all reliant on aspects of industrial production. These industries contain all the electricity and power, yet not all people are being supplied by these entities. 

The church’s ideals based on labor make the formation of unions to be a human right. Where as humans we are entitled to band together and organize unions, to have fair and equal working conditions. 

Surrendering Freedom

I find Ayatollah Khomeini’s essay to be both interesting as well somewhat contradicting. Contradicting based on the selection of wording, when initially mentioning how Islam is religion of freedom, yet one must surrender to certain practices or beliefs. It find it hard to follow, when he uses both surrender and freedom in the same essay. Having a sense of freedom means not having to comply or follow certain characteristics. In some ways, freedom can also mean rebellion. However, this essay truly brings to light how one can use Islamic teachings as a driving force for radical extremism. The fact that Islamic governments were founded by militant groups, evokes a sense of violence. Most of essay mentions acts of violence, as sources of punishments to certain crimes. Coming from an American perspective, I find it easy for someone to be afraid of associating Islam with government. The effect of the American government depicting Muslims in a negative light is a unfortunate thing. Given that I grew up essentially being taught to be afraid of Islamic practices, is a result of being exposed to the media post 9/11. It is unfortunate that our government has put a negative light on Muslims, causing some Americans to associate Islamic looking people with terrorism, yet not all Muslims are extremists. I choose to frown upon the American government for constantly associating Islam with terrorist acts, causing Americans to internalize that idea for years.

Central Powers

Countries that were left in vulnerable and susceptible positions to be contended by fascist imperialisms due to the instability of their governments. Conflicts between countries that routinely went to war were usually the case when a nation was fragile. In reference to WWI, populations greatly diminished due to harsh number of trench warfare casualties. The outcomes of the war left countries to believe that the West was not the lone superior country, with the highest amount of technological innovation. The disillusionment in Europe grew, Japan began to expand throughout China and the U.S. had a stable economy. All was well economically until The Great Depression hit, restraining many families out of work and essentially penniless.While the stock market crashed in the US, Stalin was gaining power within the USSR with fascists rapidly surfacing.

Groups like anticommunists, antidemocratics, antifeminists emerged when Europeans grew a fortified nationalism. That is until Hitler began his European conquest. Before the beginning of his human “purification” against non-Aryans, democracy was being denied to countries like Italy, Germany, and Japan. His plans unfolded quickly because he promised a struggling Germany that as a passionate dictator citizens would see an improved way of life. His convincing words allowed Hitler to eradicate populations of countries through warfare and concentration camps. 

Heading to the far East, despite the size of this country, the Island of Japan maintained an authoritative power. The economic growth within the 1920’s established a solid foundation for the country. With the growing economy along came the expansion of Japan's military. Additionally, the government had no single party, nor did they have a single ruler. After being at war against China and Russia, Japan was able to build empires in countries like Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria. To gain more resources, Japan began to invade Southeast Asian countries, leaving many Asian countries victim to the harsh conditions of war. Until the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. was essentially unaware of Japans happenings causing the U.S. to join The Allies against Fascism. As a result of being at war, the U.S. re-stimulated its economy and got itself out of its depression. Through his New Deal, President FDR established innovative things in our government that still hold weight in our modern politics. In addition to political progression, the foundation of nuclear bombs was discovered when military actions led to a whole new level of technological advancement when scientists of the Manhattan project figured out how to split atoms.

Call to Action: Treasure Island

Christian Mirto 

Professor Andrews 

World History II

26 March 2015

Call to Action Day: Treasure Island 

Today was my first time participating on Call to Action Day, given that it is my second year, here at NDNU. There were about eight of us who traveled to San Francisco to work with middle school students at the Treasure Island Sailing Center. This volunteer event was a pretty desired activity since we were supposed to go sailing on the San Francisco Bay. I was very excited to be able to go sailing for my first time in Northern California, however not excited for our 7:30 am check in time. Since I stayed up until four in the morning, I had a rude awakening the next day. 

Once I got up out of bed, the check in was in the quad and we then split into two groups, to travel in the one of the many rental SUV’s. This gave me a great opportunity to take a power nap, and once I opened my eyes we were at the Treasure Island Naval Base. We got to sailing center and were all just waiting on the middle school students from San Bruno. The kids were all in seventh grade, and were in the very beginning of their teenage years. I personally wanted to work with kids a bit younger, maybe at the fifth grade level, because middle school students have more of annoying attitude. I mean the younger kids can get out of hand, but they still have a grasp on their innocence. But all of this didn't matter because we were all excited to go sailing. Unfortunately, there were too many kids attending and we exceeded the boat capacity so none of the NDNU volunteers were even able to go on the sailboat. We all felt a bit bummed out by it, but instead we stayed in the classroom to work with the kids while the other group went out on the sailboat. 

In the classroom, we started off with teaching the kids how to use a compass. This happened to be a learning experience for me, as well as the kids. We were then given maps with riddles, and had to have the compass point north, then turn the dial to the needed degree to solve the mystery location. After that, the two facilitators of the classroom gave us a lesson about the sea breeze. Based on the sun heating the Pacific Ocean, this is the cause of the fog that is existent during the summer. Thus, making the Sacramento Valley much much hotter since it is farther inland. After, the instructors had a windmill model and explained to the kids how it conducts electricity and energy for cities. The also explained how the design of the large windmills must be far into the valleys away from cities, since they need space to turn there large fan wings. For our last activity, we needed to work with the kids to make little sail cars. Each group was given straws, four lifesaver mints, paper clips, tape, and paper. The goal was to design a sail-powered car that will travel the farthest when the fan blows against it. We had thirty minutes to design them and at the end we were all going to race them, to see who had the most successful design. The race was not based on speed, but distance, and this definitely had to be the highlight of the day. You could feel the amount of competition that the kids were feeling, and even us students from NDNU were starting to get into it as well. So we lined up all the sail cars, had our test runs, and we were now ready for the race. The instructor turned on the fan and some sail cars started to go in opposite directions, and some even just fell over. The group I worked with got second place, and was just a few inches away from the farthest sail car. This was the highlight of the day because everyone was fully invested and everyone was cheering each other on.

This Call to Action Day may have been a let down since we weren’t even able to go sailing, however we still got to learn some new things and interact with the middle school kids. As a group we made the best of it and had a cute little lunch sitting on the dock of the bay. However, we did find out about other sailing events at Treasure Island, so it all just takes a trip back if we want to experience sailboating. 

Catholic Teachings: Colonial Development

Colonization brought on wealth to European cultures, yet as as a result left countries to suffer in poverty. Exploitation was placed on people through resource deprivation as well as the brutal practices of the slave trade. With Europeans as the facilitators of superpower imperialism, they also brought religious leaders with their many soldiers and explorers, to help spread Christianity on their lands of conquest. However, what those religious leaders lacked to shed light was the injustices they brought onto nations. In turn, Protestant and Catholic missionaries played a large role in being vocal about of the abusive injustices that were steadily being practiced during European colonialism. Reading through this chapter gave me a sense of the corruption that many Sisters of NDNU help eradicate. The Catholic social teachings help serve as a foundation to unite us to a single human race, despite the many heterogenous groups of our world. This opened the blinds for people to be aware of the impoverished lands, that were blocked for many generation by the growing wealth from early capitalism. 

Being aware of the social injustices throughout history is an important characteristic relative to our contemporary time. How the “thirst for power” affected the masses of populations through greed over profit. There are many evils that are practiced today in a similar capitalistic way, which as a result also contribute to global poverty. Catholic teachings may seem restrictive when practiced devotionally, however the practices are characterized by the dedication to charity and philanthropy. 

European Colonization

In Europe, industrialization and imperialism were very much hand in hand. When resources became scarce in one country, they could be acquired in a new country. With Europeans being the primary facilitators of this revolution, this caused a new way they viewed themselves, as well was other cultures. Although Europeans had a sense of superiority, it is important to note that they took influence from different societies. Europeans mixed with cultures like China and India which were considered to be less technologically advanced, thus placing a title on them known as “noble savages.” The Europeans definitely thought highly of themselves, so once they have set a tall personal standard, it becomes easy to see others as inferior. These thoughts help normalize racism and prejudice against cultures that were different, making Europeans ethnocentric. In terms of Social Darwinism, with thoughts of superiority, war and aggressive imperialism seemed normative, allowing only the strong to survive. With colonial empires arising, the concept of education was relative to prestige. Those born into wealth and privilege were obviously more likely to have a strong education, which left those who were illiterate or native to be considered as primitive. 

Overall, I find the colonization of empires to be positive, due to the flourishing of societies. People  learned to apply themselves by using science to stimulate economy, establish hierarchies and form societies. However, it is hard to be proud of the racism that was strongly accepted during this time. Where even racism was broken down to a science, making white men to be normally referred to as master, while grown men of african descent were referred to as boys. Today’s sense of equality is tarnished from these origins and although we have come a long way, it is important to know how people were treated in the past, due to what they were born with, their race. 

Atlantic Revolution

Although History may seem Eurocentric, during the Atlantic revolution, there were remarkable phenomenas happening based on the spread of knowledge. Physically people were traveling across the Atlantic basin, yielding much more than just tangible cargo. I found it refreshing that people were bringing a new sense of living in terms of liberty, and how people should be treated. It seemed as though people before this time were living a close-minded life, in which they only wanted to believe in what was engrained into them as children. This caused discrepancies when new enlightening ideas arose. Now people were not ordained as sovereigns by Divine Right instead, they governed political positions based on poplar sovereignty. This showed a huge shift in the way people began to govern their lives based on their altered mentalities for how the world was made, and how it should function. 

Scientific Revolution

The birth of Modern science could now join religions like Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity, to spark people’s personal beliefs on the world. Overall I find the revolution of science to be an enlightening movement, in which provided the world with a better perception for natural phenomena. However, I find it disappointing that science was used to justify racial and gender inequalities. It is saddening to think that people took their old definitions of racial superiority, and reinforced with new scientific knowledge. Before it was assumed by God, that one person is better than another, and as time progressed there is now a scientific explanation for it. What this time period lacked was empathy, in which we are all equal, but are only different based on how we treat others. 

World of Religions

Christianity may have been a characteristic of Europe, however, it is not fair to not include the many various cultures that reacted to it. In regards to cultures such as Asia or Africa, they did not generally participate in Christianity, instead they stayed true to their beliefs in Buddhism or Islam. Opposing opinions based on religion, could also spark conflicts between cultures. Although religion is something that may seem like a peaceful practice for spirituality, it can result in quite violent events. To force a religion onto someone is almost like a crime against humanity, in which you force someone to go against their original beliefs. 

Aside from the spread of religion, I believe that the spread of science was an important progression in our history. The world began to have a different perspective for natural phenomena. No longer will explanations for all things be related to the workings of a divine being. Instead people could use scientific methods, based on observations, to essentially create their own set of beliefs. 

Trading Freedoms

With the growth of modern industry and agriculture, necessity for hard labor was very much needed in the modern world. European settlers in America set their sails out for Africa in order to acquire the needed workforce. At this point in history, people in the Americas had exponentially contributed to making slaves a tradable asset.

Now that slaves were primarily being brought in from Africa, generations have now been established in the Americas. This was the root of the oppressive perspective that were placed on Blacks, based on them being racially inferior to the White man. At this time, Black slaves were judged by their skin pigmentation and were regarded as lesser human beings and treated like animals. These discriminatory thoughts served as a foundational mentality for this particular ethnic group. These types of prejudices were engrained into White America for preceding generations. No matter how far in history we are today, there is no doubt that some of the discrimination faced during from the slave trade have contributed to contemporary racial issues. 

Global Commerce: Fur

Due to the promotion of booming business, fur has now joined the list of valuable commerce items. Like most trading items, there is work to be done to acquire it. Given that fur is a natural biological resource, there are methods that the average businessman did not have in his or her bag of skills. Trapping was a skill honed predominantly by native peoples, in this instance, in America. European traders would travel into parts of America, like New England, or the South to find chief trappers for fur. Although these natives were paid for their labor, this in a sense, broke up the culture for those tribal practices. For the tribes, trapping fur was not a means of business, but a means of survival. With cold winters, warmth was a necessity to help each population survive. As a result, with the increasing demand for fur, the supply became scarce, by eradicating populations for their pelts.