A Justified Case

This unit in Policy we learned about specific cases, their rulings and how it relates to policy. Our class mostly focused on the Brown v. Board case that desegregated schools during the 50's. The final rulings were unanimous and the judges ruled that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. Fortunately, my class had the opportunity to see a case happen at the Criminal Justice Courthouse. After the case was finished, we even had the chance to talk to the Judge. It was an unforgettable opportunity! The purpose of this Action Project was to choose a case that we found interesting and decide whether the final ruling was justified or not. I decided to take on the Tinker v. Des Moines case and explore the effects it's had on society.

Below is my paper:

Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker, (1954), SCOTUSblog.com

The Tinker v. Des Moines case was one that challenged the rights of freedom of expression and speech. John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and their friend Chris Eckhardt decided to plan a silent protest by wearing black armbands to school to protests against the Vietnam War. On December 14, 1965, the principal of the Des Moines schools districts decided to create a policy stating if students were wearing the black armband they would be asked to remove it, students who violated that would be suspended because it would be “disruptive”. 2 days later John, Mary, and Chris decided that they wanted to exercise their 1st and 14th amendments rights by wearing black armbands. During their suspension, the parents of the children sued the school for the violation of their free speech. This case was so important at the time because the students were challenging such a conflicting war during school ground and because students were politically expressing themselves-something school officials weren’t comfortable with. The Supreme Court ruling was justified by stating that this suspension was unconstitutional because it limited the young protesters rights.

Mary Beth Tinker, the plaintiff of Tinker v. Des Moines argued that her suspension due to their silent protest was a violation of her 1st and 14th amendment rights. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the defendant of the case argued that the protest disrupted students during class. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 stating that the first amendment applied to every situation and that school official couldn’t censor speech unless it disrupted the class. Wearing a black armband wasn’t disruptive, therefore the court held that the first amendment protected the student's rights. Justice Abe Fortas wrote the majority opinions: “ It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”The ruling of Tinker v Des Moines is just, the first amendment states:”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble...” The first amendment plays a big factor in the Tinker v Des Moines case, without the first amendment Mary, John and Chris would have been suspended without any justifications.

The ruling of this case affected how our school system is run today; it may have given students freedom, but it also set some limitations on freedom and expression. There has been a numerous of cases that challenge the freedom of expression school groundsnd, for example, the Layshock v. Hermitage case. A student in the Hermitage district was suspended for using vulgar language about her principal on Facebook. Although the words used were offensive and vulgar, the court ruled in favor of the student claiming that punishing students off school ground violates the first amendment(Prezi.com). Because of the Tinker rulings, students have been expressing themselves more freely through their attire. Most schools now allow nose rings and dyed hair but disallow offensive attire such as a t-shirt with a Confederate flag. June of 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that schools can limit student speech that advocates illegal drug use. Concerning a case when Joseph Fedrick, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School who was suspended for having a banner that said,” Bong Hits 4 Jesus” around school grounds(New York Times). The Tinker v. Des Moines brought a term called, in loco parentis, which means in place for parents in Latin. In loco parentis means that school officials can act as your parents on school ground by disciplining the student if it is disruptive.

The Tinker v. Des Moines case allowed students to express themselves, whether it be a political movement or as small as an article of clothing. It allowed for the constitution to override what the school officials deemed to be disruptive to the class. The ruling gave power to the 3 students voice for the protest against the Vietnam War and allowed them to make a change in the world.

Citations:

The New York Times. The New York Times. Web. 28 May 2017.

Constitute. Web. 28 May 2017.

Johnson, John W. The Struggle for Student Rights: Tinker v. Des Moines and the 1960s. Lawrence, Kan.: U of Kansas, 1997. Print.

Leski, Joanna. "How Did the Tinker vs. Des Moines Decision Affect Student Speech?" Prezi.com. 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 May 2017.

"Tinker v. Des Moines - Landmark Supreme Court Ruling on Behalf of Student Expression." American Civil Liberties Union. Web. 28 May 2017.

Building A Better City

This unit in urban planning the junior class learned about urban planning and the history of it. I learned that urban planning is the development of an area that includes the community, nature, infrastructure housing, and services. For a Field Experience, my class got the opportunity to look at the urban planning around Wrigley Field. Our tour guide, James, showed us examples of good urban planning and bad urban planning. This FE helped me plan out what I wanted to do for my Action Project. For our last Action Project, we had to select any area around the world and redesign it. I chose to redesign my neighborhood, Bronzeville, as I wanted to fix the area up in a way I thought was the most efficient.

Below is my Slideshow:

Brown = Houses

Green = Park

Red = Mall

Orange = Gas Station

Purple = Trader Joe's

Scale = 14ft/2mm

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The Unjustified War

This unit in Policy we learned about wars, war policies and the soldiers who fought in them. Specifically, we focused on the Vietnam War and the Korean War. Throughout the unit I read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a collection of stories about the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. The chapters we read focused on the specifics of war and the effect it had on the soldiers. Occasionally we would have discussions and got to share our thoughts with one another. As a class, we visited the National Veteran Museum where we visually got to understand war and inside the minds of the veterans.  A tour guide showed us the Things They Carried exhibit,  where I got to put the war in my own reality(it was quite eye-opening). For this Action Project, we had to choose a war that we've been learning about in or out of class. Then we had to choose whether America's involvement/entry in it was justified or not through the policies and actions throughout it. I choose to write a paper about Vietnam War because  I feel strongly about it being unjustified and I believe it was morally wrong.

Below is my paper, enjoy!

Vietnam War, Britannica, 1955

The Vietnam War was a brutal, costly and strung out war that lasted 20 years. The US involvement in the Vietnam war was unjustified and morally wrong. The US had no real concrete reason as to join, other than the fear of the domino theory. That fear got enhanced by violence which led to more violence. Vietnam War destroyed lives(mentally and physically), took away people's homes and destroyed Vietnam's natural resources. Although we may have won the fight, we lost within our morals.
The Vietnam War officially began on November 30, 1955, it all started with Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader in North Vietnam who founded the Indochinese Communist Party. He wanted to unite Vietnam under communism so he declared war in 1959 (Olson,6). South Vietnam was opposed to this idea and wanted independence from communism, in order to do so they got help from anti-communist countries such as the United States, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, and the Kingdom of Laos. The anti-communist fought against North Vietnam, who was allied with Soviet Union, North Korea, Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge.The war was fought in four different locations: North Vietnam, South Vietnam , Laos, and Cambodia. America spent roughly $780 billion on bombs during the Vietnam War. US troops would use a burning chemical called Napalm. Napalm was a mixture of plastic polystyrene, benzene and gasoline that creates a jelly substance that burns up to 1,500 Fahrenheit to 2,200. It would usually be used on buildings (vietnamawbb.weebly.com) . Another tactic used by US ground troops were Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide that would destroy plants and agriculture. Agent Orange was later deemed a violation of the Geneva Contract and using any other herbicides during war. The Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of communism of Southeast Asia, the immediate causes of it was: the communists attacking the capital of Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin incident.The underlying causes was to stop communism for the sake of capitalism. In order for capitalism to thrive in the U.S there must be other countries to build the market.The domino theory (the concern that communism would spread across the world) opposed to what capitalism wanted- free market and the ability to become rich.

The presidency in America throughout the war had no conclusion as how to deal with the it knowing that we were already in a sticky situation. The Vietnam War lasted for such a long time that 4 presidents served over the course of the 20 years: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. As the years progressed, America got more immersed in the war, something we did not expect or want to happen. Dwight Eisenhower didn’t want to get involved with the war. During the President’s News Conference of 1955 Eisenhower stated: “I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in any of those regions.”(Presidency.ucsb.edu)JFk tripled the military in Vietnam thinking that it would be best for America and Southeast Asia. Lyndon B Johnson was appointed president in 1963 during the Vietnam War after the assassination of JFK. After assuming the position of Kennedy, LBJ had to take part in the crisis that was happening in Vietnam. His primary goal was to put an end with the involvement of the war , but instead he ended up deploying more soldiers. After two U.S warships radioed that North Vietnam had fired onto their surface, President Johnson requested permission from US congress to increase our military in Indochina. August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that would further any military actions that Johnson saw fit to retaliate and maintain peace in Southeast Asia. This led to more violence, making the US more involved in the war than we ever were.

In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution. Congress proposed and passed the War Powers Resolution due to the negative and messy aftermath of the war. Congress wanted to ensure that there was an agreement between both legislative and the executive branch. It states that the President must notify Congress within 48 hours of sending armed forces into military action. The War Powers Act was passed by the House of Rep and Senate but was vetoed by President Nixon.

President Nixon vetoed the War Powers Act believing that it took away the rights of the President as the Commander in chief.“(The war resolution act) would attempt to take away, by a mere legislative act, authorities which the President has properly exercised under the Constitution for almost 200 years. …The only way in which the constitutional powers of a branch of the Government can be altered is by amending the Constitution.”(Presidency.ucsb.edu) Nixon began bombing Cambodia in secret without consenting with Congress or announcing to the public. People began to lose trust in the government because of this and that feeling of distrust intensified when the Pentagon Papers(a compilation of papers that revealed secret information about America’s involvement in Indochina) became public in 1971(Billofrightsinstitute.org). I believe that the War Powers Act is legal in every aspect. The role of Congress to is to declare war; the war powers resolution act assures that the President doesn’t declare or make any decisions along those lines. Stated in Article 1 section 8, Congress has the power to “...To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”(Loc.gov) Thus meaning that Congress and only Congress can declare war, but some may argue that the President as commander in chief has the right to send armed forces to the military. This blurs the role of the legislative and executive branch that eventually leads to conflict.The effects of the war powers resolution of 1973 were that it led to confliction between the executive and legislative branches.

America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust, chaotic and immoral.We fought for free market-capitalism and to stop the spread of communism. America spent over $780 billion over the course of 20 years on bombs, weapons, and equipment. $780 billion wasted on killing people-- some even innocent--, destroying the lives of veterans that we as a country don’t acknowledge and ruining the land of Vietnam. Next time you hear about the Vietnam War, do not parade what seems to be a win on our part but recognize our losses.

Citations:

Dwight D. Eisenhower: The President's News Conference - February 9, 1955." The American Presidency Project. Web. 22 May 2017.

Napalm, Agent Orange - The Vietnam War. Web. 22 May 2017.

Nixon and the War Powers Resolution." Bill of Rights Institute. Web. 22 May 2017.

Olson, James Stuart, and Randy Roberts. Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945-2010. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014. Print.

"Richard Nixon: Veto of the War Powers Resolution - October 24, 1973." The American Presidency Project. Web. 22 May 2017. 

"War Powers." War Powers | Law Library of Congress | Library of Congress. Web. 22 May 2017.

Saving Energy

This unit for Urban Planning, we learned about electricity, the flow of electrons and how to make a successful circuit. I learned about AC and DC: AC is alternating current that was founded by Nikola Tesla, it's usually used for long distances. DC is direct current and used for modern electronics with computer chips and anything powered by batteries For our FE we went to Robot City, an organization that teaches the youth how to build robots. We built a speaker from a circuit, it was a bit confusing but overall it was fun building it and looking at the robots they've built. The purpose of this Action Project was to build an energy efficient circuit that would represent household items. This action project was fairly easy and simple. Below is my slideshow, enjoy!

              

Trussful Bridge

This term in Urban Planning, we learned about the process of building a city; I learned more about why things are placed where they are. We also went in depth about Newton's Laws of Motion and how they connect to bridges. Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction, this means that a bridge's downward force is reacting with the normal force of the earth and the bridge's support. My favorite FE was when we walked from Michigan to Hubbard St. and looked at the different types of bridges around the city. The purpose of this AP was to create a truss bridge given 60 popsicles that would uphold at least 10 pounds. Surprisingly, our bridge held 10 pounds only weighing 60.4 grams! I didn't expect to hold that much because the base wasn't as supportive.

                               

The Magic of Life

This elective term, I've been taking a course called M.A.G.I.C, which stands for Mentoring, Achievement of Goals and Inspiring Champions. During this course, I've been learning about people who inspire us, why they inspire us and why they are seen as successful. I chose to research and study Martin Scorsese, Martin is one of the most famous directors and producers ever. I chose him because I look up to him for inspiration for my films since I want to become a director or editor, I often remind myself of his path of success. During this course, Adam brought in a numerous of people ranging from mentors to a soccer coach, my favorite speaker was Amara. Amara was such a down to earth and was genuine with every answer, even though she was my favorite, I feel like I got a piece of new information from every speaker that will stay with me.  The purpose of this action project is to reflect on this course, by looking at your inspiration, mentors and your goals in life.

Citations: 

"Martin Scorsese Timeline." Martin Scorsese Timeline. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

"Martin Scorsese." Box Office Mojo. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.