Organizing https://www.morningsidecenter.org/ en Indivisible and the Tea Party: Holding Elected Officials Accountable https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/indivisible-and-tea-party-holding-elected-officials-accountable <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Indivisible and the Tea Party: Holding Elected Officials Accountable</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>To the Teacher:<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Many people think of their participation in democracy as beginning and ending in the voting booth. However, once politicians take office, there are many ways we can influence their decisions and hold them accountable. In fact, politicians often create opportunities to hear feedback from constituents through town hall meetings and other events.</p> <p>Although these events are commonplace, people do not regularly show up to make their voices heard. Community organizers of many different political backgrounds have found that having people voice their opinions—whether at a scheduled town hall, or by tracking politicians down in their offices or at public events, or by speaking out in the media—can influence what decisions these officials make.</p> <p>This lesson is divided into two readings and is designed to have students consider some of the many ways to engage with lawmakers. The first reading looks at how different groups—both liberal and conservative—have used similar tactics to pressure politicians to respond to their concerns. This reading introduces both the Tea Party and the Indivisible guide. The second explores some recent examples of what has happened when people have asked politicians tough questions at town hall meetings. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</p> <hr> <p><em>Photo: Republican Rep. John Faso of New York is surrounded by constituents protesting his support for his party's proposed rollback of Obamacare. Republicans could not muster the votes needed to pass the measure.</em></p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Reading 1:<br> Lessons from the Tea Party</h4> <p><br> Many people think of their participation in democracy as beginning and ending in the voting booth. However, once politicians take office, there are many ways people can influence their decisions and hold them accountable. One way is through town hall meetings and other events that politicians themselves organize to hear feedback and build support from constituents.</p> <p>Although these events are commonplace, people do not regularly show up to make their voices heard. Community organizers of many different political backgrounds have found that having people voice their opinions—whether at a scheduled town hall, or by tracking politicians down in their offices or at public events, or by speaking out in the media—can influence what decisions these officials make.</p> <p>The Tea Party, a conservative political movement that began in the months following Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, was known for its strategy of targeting Republican representatives at their local events and pressuring them to adopt more conservative positions on issues such as government spending, abortion access, gun control, and immigration.</p> <p>On December 26, 2013, Harvard sociology professor Theda Skocpol <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/why-the-tea-party-isnt-going-anywhere/282591/">published</a> an article in the <em>Atlantic</em> about the Tea Party’s locally-focused actions:</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">At the grassroots, volunteer activists formed hundreds of local Tea Parties, meeting regularly to plot public protests against the Obama Administration and place steady pressure on GOP organizations and candidates at all levels...</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">Tea Party influence does <em>not </em>depend on general popularity at all. Even as most Americans have figured out that they do not like the Tea Party or its methods, Tea Party clout has grown in Washington and state capitals. Most legislators and candidates are Nervous Nellies, so all Tea Party activists, sympathizers, and funders have had to do is recurrently demonstrate their ability to knock off seemingly unchallengeable Republicans (ranging from Charlie Crist in Florida to Bob Bennett of Utah to Indiana’s Richard Lugar). That grabs legislators’ attention and results in either enthusiastic support for, or acquiescence to, obstructive tactics.</p> <p>The Tea Party was successful at pressuring politicians to take more conservative stances in the Obama era.</p> <p>But since the 2016 election, some liberals have looked to the Tea Party for lessons on how to challenge Trump administration policies. To that end, several former congressional staffers wrote a document entitled, "<a href="https://www.indivisibleguide.com/">Indivisible: Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda</a>." In the first chapter of the guide, the authors describe several elements of Tea Party strategy. They write that the Tea Party’s success came down to two critical strategic elements:</p> <p class="rteindent1"><strong>1. &nbsp;They were locally focused.</strong> The Tea Party started as an organic movement built on small local groups of dedicated conservatives. Yes, they received some support/coordination from above, but fundamentally all the hubbub was caused by a relatively small number of conservatives working together.</p> <ul class="rteindent1"> <li>Groups started as disaffected conservatives talking to each other online. In response to the 2008 bank bailouts and President Obama’s election, groups began forming to discuss their anger and what could be done. They eventually realized that the locally based discussion groups themselves could be a powerful tool.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Groups were small, local, and dedicated. Tea Party groups could be fewer than 10 people, but they were highly localized, and they dedicated significant personal time and resources. Members communicated with each other regularly, tracked developments in Washington, and coordinated advocacy efforts together.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Groups were relatively few in number. The Tea Party was not hundreds of thousands of people spending every waking hour focused on advocacy. Rather, the efforts were somewhat modest. Only 1 in 5 self-identified Tea Partiers contributed money or attended events. On any given day in 2009 or 2010, only twenty local events — meetings, trainings, town halls, etc. — were scheduled nationwide. In short, a relatively small number of groups were having a big impact on the national debate.<br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><strong>2. &nbsp;They were almost purely defensive.</strong> The Tea Party focused on saying NO to Members of Congress (MoCs) on their home turf. While the Tea Party activists were united by a core set of shared beliefs, they actively avoided developing their own policy agenda. Instead, they had an extraordinary clarity of purpose, united in opposition to President Obama. They didn’t accept concessions and treated weak Republicans as traitors... Tea Partiers viewed concessions to Democrats as betrayal. This limited their ability to negotiate, but they didn’t care. Instead they focused on scaring congressional Democrats and keeping Republicans honest. As a result, few Republicans spoke against the Tea Party for fear of attracting blowback...</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">With their Indivisible guide, the former congressional staffers sought to outline "best practices for making Congress listen." They <a href="https://www.indivisibleguide.com/web">described</a> the document as "a step-by-step guide for individuals, groups, and organizations looking to replicate the Tea Party’s success in getting Congress to listen to a small, vocal, dedicated group of constituents."</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Within the guide, the authors of Indivisible <a href="https://www.indivisibleguide.com/web">outline</a> what they see as the four most effective opportunities citizens have to communicate with their Members of Congress:</p> <ul> <li>Town halls. MoCs [Members of Congress] regularly hold public in-district events to show that they are listening to constituents. Make them listen to you, and report out when they don’t.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Other local public events. MoCs love cutting ribbons and kissing babies back home. Don’t let them get photo-ops without questions about racism, authoritarianism, and corruption<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>District office visits. Every MoC has one or several district offices. Go there. Demand a meeting with the MoC. Report to the world if they refuse to listen.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Coordinated<strong> calls. </strong>Calls are a light lift, but can have an impact. Organize your local group to barrage your MoCs with calls at an opportune moment about and on a specific issue.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Whatever one’s political beliefs, asking tough questions at town halls, public events, and during office visits can be an important means of participating in democracy beyond the voting booth.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> For Discussion<br> &nbsp;</h4> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Have you ever been to a town hall meeting or visited a politician who represents you? If not, would you consider doing so? Why or why not?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>According to the reading, what are some of the strategies the Tea Party used to put pressure on elected officials?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Both the Tea Party and Indivisible strategies focus on the defensive, which is to say, protecting what has been put into place, rather than advocating for the creation of new policies. What might be some of the strengths and weaknesses of this type of strategy?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> <br> <br> Reading 2:<br> Indivisible Mobilizes Against the Trump Agenda<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Following Donald Trump’s election as president, politicians have been facing tough questions from constituents. Videos of attendees of town hall meetings shouting at members of Congress have gone viral on social media and on TV news outlets such as CNN. Both Republican and Democratic elected officials have been receiving extra attention at public appearances and during office visits.</p> <p>Following the publication of the Indivisible guide, groups throughout the U.S. began to create local chapters to help people take action together. According to the Indivisible website, more than 4,500 affiliated groups have formed. In a March 1, 2017, article for <em>Truthout</em>, journalist John Knefel <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39659-indivisible-meet-the-activists-doing-the-job-the-democratic-party-has-failed-to-do">reported</a> on how the movement is growing nationally:</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">At the center of many of these town hall protests...is a group called Indivisible. It is less an organization than a network of local organizations, many of which sprang up in the immediate aftermath of Trump's victory. Created by former congressional staffers, Indivisible works regularly with well-known liberal clearinghouses like MoveOn, as well as the progressive Working Families Party and a number of community-based organizations. The network released a guide in December suggesting simple strategies to maximize pressure on Congress: Forget the online petition, call your representative and both senators, show up at their offices, show up at public events, and show up at town halls. The response has been even larger and more enthusiastic than the founders expected.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">Following Trump's victory, many individuals began forming ad hoc groups through social media and local meet-ups to deal with the helplessness they felt in the final weeks of 2016. Myrna Ivonne Wallace Fuentes, an associate professor of history at Roanoke College, paid attention to the election, but it wasn't until after Trump won that she really became an organizer, she says. She attended a meeting of Our Revolution, the group that formed out of Bernie Sanders' run, and when the large group broke into smaller break-out sessions, she wanted to focus on a rapid-response network for undocumented people and other marginalized and vulnerable groups.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">That became Roanoke Indivisible. "From that day, we probably got 30 or 40 emails," Fuentes tells me. "But it wasn't until we decided to go to Rep. Bob Goodlatte's office that we started to see exponential growth." Goodlatte, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, made national news on the first day of Congress when he announced plans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. They started flooding his phone lines, and, combined with a national outcry, that was enough to get the Goodlatte amendment rescinded. Twelve members of Roanoke Indivisible still paid his office a visit, dropping off New Years Cards detailing exactly what they expected of him. The Indivisible Guide tells new activists what to expect at their first district office meeting, which was helpful for Fuentes' group, since they didn't have their own firsthand experience.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">"What really appealed to me about the guide was it was incredibly concrete. It looked like a recipe," says Fuentes. "Most of the people coming to Indivisible are new to political activism. People told me, 'I've never called my representative, and my arm was trembling when I picked up that phone.'"<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>As a result of this groundswell of activism, politicians have seen their public events packed with constituents. In a February 28, 2017 article, <em>Slate</em> staff writer Henry Grabar <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/02/the_real_triumph_of_town_halls.html">described</a> a particularly packed town hall meeting for Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley:</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">Sen. Chuck Grassley stood in front of his constituents on Friday like a clown perched over a dunk tank. Picking questioners from the crowd of 150 or so, the 83-year-old Iowa Republican might as well have been passing out tennis balls at the county fair. The suspense lay not in when Grassley would fall, but in the arc, spin, and speed of each petitioner’s throw.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">"I think that when you ignore your constitutional obligation to hold hearings for a Supreme Court justice, that’s a problem," one woman began, to applause. "I have to ask you what makes you put party over country now." The cheers grew louder. "In recent weeks, I have been appalled at being called a paid protester, because as far as I can see, the only person in this room that is paid is <em>you</em>, by Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers." Shouts of approval...</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">Grassley’s event was a study in how an old civic stalwart [the Town Hall meeting] has improbably become a viral video factory, a hot ticket, and the latest stage for the awakening on the American left.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">All this began, arguably, on Jan. 14 in Aurora, Colorado, when Republican Rep. Mike Coffman snuck out early from a planned event at a public library, fleeing voters asking questions about Obamacare. That was a week before the inauguration and a week before the Women’s March made clear the level of left-wing activism that would greet the Trump administration at every turn. It was a sign of things to come.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">By last week, the ritual that snared Coffman had evolved into prime-time television, as Republican representatives were thrust into humiliating confrontations with cancer survivors, 7-year-olds, Muslims, and other Americans angry with President Donald Trump and his party in Congress. Most Republicans have chosen not to hold town halls, canceling scheduled events or declining invitations from activists.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>Republicans are not the only ones being confronted by Indivisible. A new campaign called #WeWillReplaceYou seeks to hold Democrats accountable for their actions in Congress. #AllOfUs, the group spearheading the campaign, is gearing up to support primary challengers against Democrats who they view are not doing enough to stop Trump. As CNN staff reporter Gregory Krieg <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/17/politics/liberal-group-primary-challenge-democrats/">wrote</a> in a February 17, 2017, article:</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">The progressive coalition solidified by Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign and energized by the broad liberal backlash to President Donald Trump is preparing to launch primary challenges against elected Democrats they see going wobbly in the fight against the new administration...</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">"Democrats need to know there is an actual political cost and this isn't just going to be folks showing up at their offices, but folks showing up at the ballot and different organizations supporting challengers who are going to push the party in a different direction," said Max Berger, a co-founder of #AllOfUs, the millennial progressive group that launched the new campaign.</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">Early opposition to the Trump administration, most visibly in the form of mass protests and rowdy recriminations against Republicans at town hall meetings around the country, has turned up the heat on long-simmering efforts by the left to pressure moderate Democrats. With the party now totally out of power in Washington and at a crossroads, activists who gained experience during Occupy Wall Street and through work with the Movement for Black Lives, the Fight for $15 and other aligned causes see an opportunity for greater influence.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>If the groundswell of activism that has followed Trump’s elections continues, politicians across the political spectrum can expect to feel increased pressure from constituents for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> For Discussion<br> &nbsp;</h4> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Based on your experience or the reading above, how might a guide like Indivisible be helpful for people talking to their member of Congress for the first time?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>One of the articles quoted in this reading says that, "most Republicans have chosen not to hold town halls, canceling scheduled events or declining invitations from activists." Do you think this is a legitimate response from elected officials to pressure from the constituents? Why or why not?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>#WeWillReplaceYou, made up of progressives, has threatened to challenge Democrats whom they view as not standing up to the Trump administration. What do you think of this strategy? What might be some pros and cons of running primary challenges to established politicians in your own party?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>— <em>Research assistance provided by Ryan Leitner.</em></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-04-01T13:58:41-04:00" title="Saturday, April 1, 2017 - 13:58">April 1, 2017</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sat, 01 Apr 2017 17:58:41 +0000 fionta 336 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Surprise Victory at Standing Rock https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/surprise-victory-standing-rock <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Surprise Victory at Standing Rock</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Student Reading</h4> <p>For many months, members of the Standing Rock Sioux have been protesting plans to run a stretch of oil pipeline underneath North Dakota's Lake Oahe&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">- a</span>&nbsp;reservoir on the Missouri River that is the only source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Reservation.&nbsp; The tribe has opposed the pipeline because they believe it threatens their water, contributes to climate change, and violates their land rights. (For more background, see our <a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/standing-standing-rock">previous lesson</a>.) The pipeline operator, Sunoco Logistics, has the worst record of oil spills of any pipeline company, according to Reuters. Since 2010, they have had over 200 leaks.<br> &nbsp;<br> Since the spring of 2016, members of the tribe -- and thousands of allies, including members of 280 other tribes -- have camped out near the point where the pipe is scheduled to go under the lake. During the weekend of December 3-4, 2016, protesters were joined by over 2,000 veterans from around the country who had pledged to stand in support of the "water protectors."<br> &nbsp;<br> On December 4, protesters won a surprise victory: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it was reversing its approval for the pipeline section, would require further consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux, and would consider alternative routes. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is supposed to link the oil fields in northern North Dakota with an existing pipeline in Illinois.<br> &nbsp;<br> The decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to seek an alternate route was denounced in a defiant statement by Energy Transfer Partners, which sees the directive as originating with President Obama: "The White House's directive today to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency." The statement says ETP "fully expect(s) to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way."<br> &nbsp;<br> In their fight against the pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux have had support from around the U.S. and the world—support of historic proportions. But the forces arrayed against the people of the Standing Rock Reservation are many. They include:<br> &nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Energy Transfer Partners, an oil storage and transportation company, and their banks, which are financing the pipeline. President-elect Trump is a shareholder of the company.</li> <li>The State of North Dakota, whose governor Jack Dalrymple has blamed the protest on "out-of-state agitators," declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of the protest camps.</li> <li>Federal courts, which have ruled that construction of the pipeline can continue despite the destruction of Native American sacred sites.</li> <li>Bitter cold weather.</li> <li>Local law enforcement, aided by a private security company and police from surrounding areas, armed with military and riot control weaponry.</li> <li>Some local residents are opposed; some are upset with how the occupation has interrupted their daily lives. The Washington Post interviewed several local opponents, including a Laborers Union official who feels that the out-of-state demonstrators have been abusive and threatening, and an excavation company foreman who sees the protests hurting local businesses.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Violence against the unarmed water protectors had escalated since September, when private security guards used dogs to attack them. The occupiers have been hit with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace, water cannons, sound cannons and concussion grenades. The police and security guards were outfitted as if for war, armed with automatic weapons, armored vehicles and a variety of riot control weapons.<br> &nbsp;<br> On November 20, 2016, over 200 people were injured when police attacked demonstrators who were trying to remove two burnt out trucks from Backwater Bridge. First responder Vanessa Dundon was hit in the face with a tear gas canister and may lose vision in her right eye. Sophia Wilansky, 21, received a direct hit from a concussion grenade which blew up her left arm. She faces dozens of surgeries to attempt reconstruction of the arm. Dozens more were treated for hypothermia after being doused by water cannons in the sub-freezing temperature.<br> &nbsp;<br> For their part, the police deny all claims of violence by officers or guards. They say that the water was aimed at a burning vehicle, that dogs did not attack and that they do not use concussion grenades.<br> &nbsp;<br> Despite all this, support for the Standing Rock Sioux has been massive. Perhaps most importantly, they've gotten unprecedented support from hundreds of other tribes around the country. A mass show of camaraderie on December 4 by veterans and clergy culminated in an outpouring of support from all sorts of people. Tens of thousands participate individually and in groups. Here is a sampling of some of those actions:</p> <ul> <li>The union National Nurses United has sent teams of medical volunteers to the Standing Rock camps as well as $50,000 for the veterans contingent.</li> <li>A group of friends in Madison, Wisconsin, held a knitting party to make warm hats for the cold weather in North Dakota.</li> <li>Students and faculty at many colleges found ways to make a contribution: <ul> <li>Fort Lewis College sent 50 people to spend "Thanksgiving" at the encampment. Other schools that sent delegations include the University of Montana and Grinnell College.</li> <li>70 students at the University of Rochester held a "human oil spill" demonstration.</li> <li>Members of Antioch College (with Children's Montessori cooperative) collected equipment during the month of October, to send to the camps.</li> <li>Earlham College hosted a prayer witness and teach-in in support.</li> <li>Several clubs at Goshen College got together to hold a musical event to raise money for Standing Rock.</li> </ul> </li> <li>The&nbsp; NoDAPL Builders Delegation and Supply Caravan began in Vermont picking up construction workers and supplies along the way for delivery in Standing Rock.</li> <li>Thousands of fundraisers on GoFundMe raised money for specific projects in support of the water protectors. They ranged from funds for yurts and heaters, to medical supplies to firewood and solar trailers to tipis. Some of the appeals were to fund individuals or groups' travel to North Dakota. Over $400,000 was raised for Sophia Wilansky and over 25,000 people donated $1 million for Veterans for Standing Rock.</li> <li>Religious denominations including the Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, the Mennonites, Quakers, and United Church of Christ, officially support the water protectors. On November 3, an interfaith group of 500, encompassing many religions, joined the Oceti Sakowin prayer camp at Standing Rock.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> While celebrating a battle won, the water protectors are well aware that the victory may be temporary. Nothing in the statement by the Corps signifies a final decision. The next president is a strong supporter of fossil fuels and very friendly to corporations generally. The blog of the Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock poses a range of questions about the Army Corps decision, including:<br> &nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Will the Army Corps actually conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)? If so, on what portion of the project - just the river crossing, or the whole pipeline?&nbsp;</li> <li>What issues will the EIS take into account? (For example, will it include an analysis of spill risk? how about sacred sites? will it reassess the economic need for the pipeline now that the Bakken [oil field] is busting?)</li> <li>Which alternative routes will be considered? Will a "no-build" option also be considered?</li> <li>What input will the tribe have? What will the public participation process look like?</li> <li>How easily will these decisions be reversed by a Trump administration?</li> <li>How will these decisions be affected by the outcomes of DAPL's lawsuit against the Army Corps, scheduled to be heard on Friday?</li> <li>Is the US government prepared to use force to stop the company from drilling under the river without a permit, if necessary?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> The answers to these questions will determine much about this historic conflict in the months to come.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><strong>For Discussion:</strong></h4> <p><strong>1. </strong>How important in the Standing Rock standoff is the U.S.'s historical treatment of Native American peoples, including invasion and settlement, relocation, forced treaties and broken treaties? Does that history warrant special consideration for the views of the Sioux in North Dakota and Native Americans in other struggles with energy companies - or extra protections?<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>2. </strong>Many energy projects are destructive to the land, water and air. But the projects may provide good jobs for hundreds of construction workers. How do you think we might address these competing needs?<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>3.</strong> Why do you think so many people have come to stand in solidarity with those in Standing Rock?<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>4. </strong>Do you think that actions taken in solidarity with the people of Standing Rock contributed to this latest victory (even if it is not final)?&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>5.</strong> Do you think that even small actions of solidarity (like a local protest or knitting caps) matters?&nbsp; Why or why not?</p> <p><strong>6. </strong>"We know DAPL can appeal. This battle is won but the war isn't over. We're not done yet. This is just the beginning of something extraordinary."<br> -- Danny Grassrope (of the Lower Bruce Sioux)<br> &nbsp;<br> Discuss each of his four sentences. What do you think Danny Grassrope means by "the beginning of something extraordinary"?<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Sources</h4> <p><a href="http://forward.com/news/355224/grenade-tears-limb-off-jewish-21-year-old-at-standing-rock-protest/">http://forward.com/news/355224/grenade-tears-limb-off-jewish-21-year-old-at-standing-rock-protest/</a><br> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/syndication/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/syndication/</a><br> <a href="http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/12/2/obama-administration-denies-final-easement-whats-next">http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/12/2/obama-administration-denies-final-easement-whats-next</a><br> <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2016/12/05/dapl-major-victory-as-army-denies-easement-but-fight-is-not-over/">http://priceofoil.org/2016/12/05/dapl-major-victory-as-army-denies-easement-but-fight-is-not-over/</a><br> <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161204005090/en/Energy-Transfer-Partners-Sunoco-Logistics-Partners-Respond">http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161204005090/en/Energy-Transfer-Partners-Sunoco-Logistics-Partners-Respond</a><br> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipeline-nativeamericans-safety-i-idUSKCN11T1UW">http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipeline-nativeamericans-safety-i-idUSKCN11T1UW</a><br> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/standing-rock-photos_us_5844c3b2e4b0c68e0481849f">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/standing-rock-photos_us_5844c3b2e4b0c68e0481849f</a><br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-06T09:10:00-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 6, 2016 - 09:10">December 6, 2016</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Tue, 06 Dec 2016 14:10:00 +0000 fionta 362 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Exploring Solidarity, Post-Election https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/exploring-solidarity-post-election <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Exploring Solidarity, Post-Election</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>Opening Ceremony</h4> <p>Begin the lesson with this mindfulness activity.</p> <ul> <li>Get comfortable in your seat.</li> <li>Sit up straight.</li> <li>Put both feet down, soles&nbsp;connecting to the floor.</li> <li>Rest your hands in your lap.</li> <li>If comfortable for you, close your eyes, or, if you prefer, find a spot on the floor in front of you to gently rest your gaze.&nbsp;</li> <li>Sit strong like a mountain, tall like a large tree.</li> <li>Image there's an invisible thread attached to the top of your head, gently pulling you up, stretching you out.</li> <li>Allow your shoulders to drop.&nbsp;</li> <li>Take a few moments to notice how your body feels. &nbsp;</li> <li>Check in with yourself as you bring your&nbsp;attention to your breath. &nbsp;</li> <li>Notice how the breath flows ... in ... and out ...</li> <li>There's no need to change how you breathe.</li> <li>Your body is the expert.&nbsp; It knows just how.&nbsp; It needs no guidance.</li> <li>Simply notice each breath coming into the body with the in-breath,&nbsp;and leaving the body with the out-breath.</li> <li>If you notice your mind is caught up in thoughts or concerns, body sensations or emotions, know that this is normal.</li> <li>If your attention wanders, as it will, just notice it then return the focus again to your breathing.&nbsp;</li> <li>Notice the stray thoughts and feelings, but don't dwell on them.&nbsp;</li> <li>Simply allow them to pass as you keep coming back to your breath.</li> <li>Your breath, which continues to flow ... deeply ... calmly ... continuously</li> <li>Feel your chest and stomach gently rise and fall with each breath.</li> <li>Take a few more moments to notice how your body feels.</li> <li>Keeping your eyes closed, notice the sounds around you.</li> <li>Feel the floor beneath you.</li> <li>Start to wiggle your toes.</li> <li>Shrug your shoulders.</li> <li>Bring your attention back to your&nbsp;surroundings.</li> <li>Open your eyes and get adjusted to the light.</li> <li>Straighten out your legs, and stretch your arms and legs gently as you come back into the room.&nbsp;</li> <li>Check in with yourself.&nbsp;</li> <li>What was that like?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Values</h4> <p>Share with students that the 2016 election has included a great deal of incivility and intolerance, which has deepened divisions in our country.&nbsp; Remembering and recommitting ourselves to the values that we share will enable us to have a dialogue about the election and what comes next.<br> &nbsp;<br> If your class has already shared values through a <a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/introduction-circles">circle</a> or by making a community agreement, review those values and agreements. (If you have not facilitated such a process in your classroom, consider doing it now.)&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Decide on which values are most important for us to recommit to in this post-election world.&nbsp; What values do we need to have an inclusive dialogue in our class? What values will allow us to listen to each other and be respectful of one another?&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Solidarity Explored</h4> <p>Write the word solidarity on the wall/board and circle it. If you are using a circle format, you might also write the word on a sheet of paper and put it at the center of your circle.<br> &nbsp;<br> Send a talking piece around or simply ask students to share what comes up for them when they hear the word solidarity. &nbsp;Ask students to share any word associations that come up for them. Chart their responses in a word web by writing student associations on the outside, then drawing lines from the words to the center word SOLIDARITY, thus creating a web.<br> &nbsp;<br> When students are done sharing, ask them to look at the web and reflect on the associations.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>What do they notice about the words in the web?</li> <li>Are there similarities, differences, surprises?&nbsp;</li> <li>Anything else they'd like to say about the words represented?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Next invite students to come up with a definition for the word solidarity.&nbsp; Work with them towards a definition that includes some of the following from dictionary.com:<br> &nbsp;<img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/Pic%201%20solidarity.png" style="width: 486px; height: 217px;"></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <hr> <h4><strong>Quotes on Solidarity</strong></h4> <p>To deepen students' understanding of solidarity further, put the three quotes below in the center piece or post them on the board for students to read.&nbsp; Ask students what comes up for them as they read these quotes.&nbsp; Can they connect it to what they've shared so far today?<br> <em>&nbsp;<br> "Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Walk beside me and be my friend."</em>&nbsp; - &nbsp;Albert Camus, Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist based in France</p> <p><em>"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.&nbsp; But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."</em> - &nbsp;Lilla Watson, Murri (Indigenous Australian) visual artist, activist and academic&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> <em>"Solidarity is horizontal.&nbsp; It respects the other and learns from the other.&nbsp; I have a lot to learn from other people."&nbsp;</em> - Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>Go round:</strong> Send a talking piece around asking students: How do you connect what we shared so far with recent events around the election?</p> <p><strong>Go round:</strong>&nbsp; If student sharing is substantive and time allows, send the talking piece around again, asking students to share connections, reflections and additional comments on what has been shared so far.&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Acts of Solidarity Around the Country</h4> <p>Invite students in small groups to read and discuss ways that people are expressing their solidarity around the country by using the handouts at the end of this lesson.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> You can structure this conversation in one of two ways.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Option 1:&nbsp; Stand Under Activity</strong><br> &nbsp;<br> Post the social media messages below around the room for students to take in.&nbsp; Invite students to stand by the social media message that most speaks to them.&nbsp; Then provide them with the text that accompanies the image. &nbsp;Invite students in self- selected groups to read the text and then discuss:&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>What are your thoughts and feelings about what you just read?</li> <li>How do you think the (different) people that you read about are feeling?</li> <li>How did they respond?&nbsp; What were their objectives?</li> <li>What do you think the actions described in this text achieved?&nbsp; For whom? How?</li> <li>Most of the actions posted around the room took place in the week after the election. What do you know about these actions, or ones like them happening today? What does that tell you?</li> <li>Where could these actions go from here?&nbsp; Where should these actions go from here, according to the people in the text? According to you?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> <strong>Option 2:&nbsp; Small Group Activity</strong><br> &nbsp;<br> Divide your class into five groups and provide each group with a different social media message and text.<br> &nbsp;<br> Invite students in their small groups to discuss the text using the questions above.<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>Regroup</h4> <p>After students have finished their small group discussion (in either format), reconvene the students and ask them to share high points from their discussion, using the earlier questions as needed.<br> &nbsp;<br> Encourage the students who discussed the safety pin text, to talk about the different reactions in the text to people wearing safety pins.&nbsp; Invite them to explain these different reactions.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Next, engage students in a discussion about what kinds of acts of solidarity would be most helpful in your community going forward.<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>Closing Ceremony: Connections</h4> <p>Tell students that for our closing today, we'll do an activity called "connections."&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Explain that "connections" is a time to offer reflections or feelings about the work we've done together today.&nbsp; It's an opportunity to share briefly what's on your mind or in your heart—if you feel so moved. "Connections" comes from the Quaker tradition; it's a practice in which people speak if they feel moved to speak.&nbsp; It's not a discussion or go-round.&nbsp; If there is silence, that's fine.&nbsp; Enjoy the silence as a time for reflection.<br> &nbsp;<br> Set your timer for three or four minutes and let the sharing unfold. When the timer goes off, it's over. There's no follow-up discussion.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>My Fellow New Yorkers Are in Community with Each Other</h4> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/Pic%202%20%20post-it%20wall%20tweet.png" style="width: 486px; height: 570px;">&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> <em>(Adapted from the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/nyregion/subway-notes-offer-a-form-of-therapy.html?_r=0">New York Times</a>, 11/11/16)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Mr. Chavez said he arrived at the tunnel on Wednesday with a stack of sticky notes, some pens and an open mind.&nbsp; "Express yourself," he posted on the wall. Thousands of people responded to his offer by day's end.<br> &nbsp;<br> Since then, the wall has become one of New York's most significant public forums of late — a tribute to the city's diverse voices, a monument to its drive to speak out and a testament to the strength that New Yorkers, in moments of intense emotion, often draw from one another.&nbsp; "I can go somewhere where my fellow New Yorkers are in community with each other and can say what they feel," Abi Treut of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said of the wall. "It's catharsis."&nbsp; One of the messages she posted was, "All women must be wonder women now."<br> &nbsp;<br> Other comments capture a range of reactions to the election's outcome. Hope: "Keep your head high." Respect: "It's an honor to be in this struggle with you." Humor: "Love is the new black." Calls to action: "Mobilize." One note shows a simply drawn heart, broken and bleeding. There are many references that celebrate New York's diversity.&nbsp; "I wanted to give people the opportunity to express something without talking about it," said Mr. Chavez...<br> &nbsp;<br> On Thursday night, a large group of people gathered near the wall. Many who stopped said that writing a note had helped ease the sense of dread they had been carrying since Mr. Trump's victory.&nbsp; Standing in the tunnel, a college student from Mexico who identified herself only as Linet wiped away a tear. She said she was not a legal resident of the United States. Seeing that her concern about the future was not unique — many of the notes expressed similar worries — gave her some comfort, she said.&nbsp; "I am so scared," she said, her voice trembling. "But I'm not going to be negative about it. I'm not ready to go back home."&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>I Wear My Safety Pin to Show that I Stand with ALL Students</h4> <p>&nbsp;<br> <img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/pic%204%20tweet.png" style="width: 230px; height: 197px; float: left;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/pic%205%20tweet.png" style="width: 230px; height: 198px;"><br> <strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</strong><br> <em>(adapted from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/safety-pins-solidarity-symbol-or-emblem-of-white-guilt/">Washington Post</a>, 11/15/16)</em><br> &nbsp;<br> The election of Donald Trump came as more than a shock for many opponents of the Republican businessman. After&nbsp;the results were tallied, fear spread that Trump's more extreme supporters, emboldened by his victory ..., would intimidate or attack&nbsp;people of color, women, immigrants, Muslims, or members of the LGBT community.<br> &nbsp;<br> The concern was not unfounded. Reports of hate crimes and election-related harassment have&nbsp;surged&nbsp;since last Tuesday. Critics allege that the president-elect has encouraged hateful behavior through his history of vulgar, racially charged and inflammatory remarks — a claim the Trump campaign has denied. Trump has urged people to "stop it."<br> &nbsp;<br> In an attempt to show their solidarity, Trump opponents across the country last week started&nbsp;fastening safety pins to their clothes and posting&nbsp;selfies on social media. The gesture was supposed to signify that the wearer was a "safe" ally, ready to stand up for anyone who might be the target of abuse, whether verbal or physical.<br> &nbsp;<br> But that's not how some people have seen it. Just days after the impromptu campaign went viral, the decision to don safety pins has come under fire from critics — including several black and Hispanic writers — who lambasted it as a poor excuse for action and a self-indulgent way for white people to distance themselves from Trump voters.<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;"Let's call these safety pins what they are: an empty gesture," Demetria Lucas D'Oyley wrote ... "These pins, not the wearing of them nor the pictures posted of folks wearing them, are not about safe spaces. They're about not wanting to be perceived as a racist. Like, ‘I might be white, but I'm not like them, over there. I'm enlightened.'" ...<br> &nbsp;<br> "They are nothing but badges made for white people to assuage white guilt and declare themselves allies completely autonomously," he wrote. "It signifies almost nothing at all. It is a self-administered pat on the back for being a decent human being. Privilege at its finest."<br> &nbsp;<br> "Of course, everyone needs to do more than wear a pin or post a note of hope," Heather Dockray wrote ... "But that doesn't mean we should shame and attack people who are trying to do something within the first week of a crisis, especially when millions of Americans didn't even bother to show up at the polls this election, and millions more want a very different kind of ‘something' for their country."<br> &nbsp;<br> Demetria Lucas D'Oyley ... left readers with an admonition: "Your pin will actually count for something if the next time you see something bad happening to a person of color, you speak up and intervene instead of staring wide-eyed and silent and then writing about it in a status update that's all about how you were traumatized by witnessing a terrible thing that happened to someone else," she said. "Actually create a safe space instead of cheaply designating yourself one because you fastened a piece of malleable metal to your sweater."<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>University of Michigan Students Joined Forces to Protect Their Own</h4> <p>&nbsp;<img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/pic%206%20fb%20post.png" style="width: 457px; height: 610px;"><br> <strong>&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> <em>(Adapted from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-human-chain-muslims-interfaith_us_582b4217e4b0e39c1fa66670">Huffington Post</a>)</em><br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Reports of harassment and intimidation of Muslims and other minorities have&nbsp;spiked&nbsp;in the days&nbsp;since the election of Donald Trump. During his campaign, the president-elect sparked controversy by suggesting that Muslims should be&nbsp;required to register in a database&nbsp;and suggesting a&nbsp;total ban&nbsp;on Muslims entering the United States. The ban later morphed into an "extreme vetting" of immigrants.<br> &nbsp;<br> Although Trump has largely stayed silent on his stance towards American Muslims since election night, some activists fear that Trump's victory could embolden those who are intent on spreading anti-Muslim hate.<br> &nbsp;<br> In outright defiance of the&nbsp;rising levels anti-Muslim hate&nbsp;in America, University of Michigan students joined forces on Monday to protect their own.&nbsp; After hearing that a Muslim student had reportedly been&nbsp;threatened for her faith,&nbsp;hundreds of&nbsp;students and faculty&nbsp;showed up to stand guard around classmates who had gathered in a main square to perform one of Islam's five daily prayers.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The public&nbsp;<em>Ishaa</em>&nbsp;prayer, or nighttime prayer, was&nbsp;organized&nbsp;by the university's Muslim Student Association. Club president Farhan Ali, a junior, told The Huffington Post that members of his group wanted to show the campus that they were proud to be Muslim.<br> &nbsp;<br> "Some individuals were afraid that we might be vulnerable during our prayer, so we had the idea of calling allies to support us and create a circle around us while we prayed and they ensured our safety," Ali told The Huffington Post in an email.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> But Ali wasn't expecting such a strong and substantial turnout, from the Muslim community and from allies. &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> "Hundreds and hundreds of people came out for both prayer and showing their support," Ali wrote. "The amount of support was overwhelming and absolutely wonderful, and it brought some ease to the Muslim students [and]&nbsp;showed that we have other individuals who are willing to stand with us."<br> &nbsp;<br> Mohammed Ishtiaq, the university's Muslim chaplain, told The Huffington Post that both the Jewish and Christian communities on campus came out to show their support. He said some members of the crowd held signs that read, "You Belong Here." &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> "Although it was a cold night, the amount of support we got was really heart warming," Ishtiaq said in an email. "Events of solidarity like this give us hope."<br> &nbsp;<br> Ali said that at the University of Michigan, there was some "sadness, fear, and uneasiness"&nbsp;in the Muslim community immediately after the election. But now, the group is trying to mobilize and organize.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> "We must roll up our sleeves and get to work because the fight does not end with the election results," Ali told HuffPost. "We have allies who are with us and we have a community that is resilient and will not succumb to fear in light of these attacks."<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Campus Solidarity</h4> <p>Many college and high school students organized rallies and protests across the country to show solidarity with those who have been targeted.<br> &nbsp;<br> <img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/pic%207%20campus%20solidarity.png" style="width: 486px; height: 210px;"><br> &nbsp;</p> <p><em>(Adapted from the <a href="http://amherstwire.com/18010/current-affairs/high-school-students-stage-walkout-to-address-trumps-impact/">Amherst Wire</a>)</em><br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> AMHERST —&nbsp;The Monday after the presidential election brought a lot of unusual absence notes to the Amherst-Pelham Regional High School (ARHS) principal's office. Students from ARHS staged a walkout Monday ... to stand in solidarity with those who felt the repercussions a Donald Trump presidency could bring. Abigail Morris, event coordinator and Amherst-Pelham High School Junior, made clear through the Facebook page for the event that the walk-out was neither an anti-Trump protest nor a protest against their school.<br> &nbsp;<br> "It's to show the community, the world and anyone that will listen that just because we're kids and we can't vote, that doesn't mean our voices aren't going to be heard," said&nbsp;Morris.&nbsp; "We're the future," she added. "The next presidential election, four years down the line, we are still going to be here and we are still going to be fighting."<br> &nbsp;<br> Principal Mark Jackson sent out a letter to parents of students at ARHS Sunday recognizing the walkout. He stated&nbsp;his two interests: providing&nbsp;students with the opportunity&nbsp;to express themselves politically and maintaining&nbsp;order within the school. If a student wished to participate in the walkout, their parent had to sign the letter for the student to hand into the main office.<br> &nbsp;<br> Right after their lunch break at 12:20 p.m., students signed designated poster boards in the lobby and marched out of the building towards the Amherst Town Common. Other local students and community members joined them along the way.&nbsp; Students formed a circle in the center of Amherst Town Common and shared the pains and concerns they feel with Donald Trump's future presidency. ...<br> &nbsp;<br> Marchers chanted "the people united, will never be defeated," as they proceeded downtown. They were joined by their parents, members of the community and college students.&nbsp; Isaac Kupferschmid,&nbsp;ARHS junior, said he walked out to support his family.&nbsp; "I'm protesting because my sister is gay and I want to make sure she has the right to be who she is without being discriminated against," said Kupferschmid.<br> &nbsp;<br> Abelíz Lebron Cdón, a junior at ARHS, expressed concerns for her and her family being of color.&nbsp; "This election has affected my family. It has completely split my family apart. People from my family want to leave the country," said Cdón.&nbsp; Despite this, Cdón shared a message for her peers. They should&nbsp;stick to their beliefs, she said, even&nbsp;if they are told otherwise.<br> &nbsp;<br> Other students spoke out about how important it is to be engaged and involved with&nbsp;national affairs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Solidarity event aims to unite following Trump's election win</h4> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/pic%208%20protest.png" style="width: 486px; height: 377px;"></p> <p><em>(Adapted from the <a href="http://journalstar.com/news/local/solidarity-events-aims-to-unite-following-trump-s-election-win/article_136eda19-9acc-56a7-8988-f7a286d782c6.html">Lincoln Journal-Star</a>)</em><br> &nbsp;<br> Three Culler Middle School teachers stood on the Nebraska Capitol's north steps Saturday holding signs. One was in Spanish, and a second sign adjacent to it translated: "The wall that separates us only exists in the minds of the ignorant."<br> The signs referred to President-elect Donald Trump's proposal to build a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico.<br> &nbsp;<br> "The wall has been talked about as a literal thing, but it's also figurative," said teacher Jessica Nickum as she held the sign in Spanish. "My idea of the wall is that it only exists for people who live their lives in fear and are scared about the things they don't understand."<br> &nbsp;<br> People driving by laid on their horns as they passed, some waved. One man in a truck rolled his window down to yell "Get a job hippies! Go Donald Trump!" at the peaceful crowd of about 100 people. "He can have his feelings and thoughts, but this whole election has divided our country," teacher Sherri Robinson said about the heckler. "We have to be about positive change."<br> &nbsp;<br> The event, called "We Stand United" on Facebook, was just that: a space for people upset about the surprising outcome of the presidential election to gather, grieve and meditate on positive, peaceful change.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The speakers disagreed with Donald Trump's past statements about women, immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ community, Muslims and other minorities as reason to mourn the news of his election. The gathering was planned through a Facebook event page, which was shared with around 2,600 people.<br> &nbsp;<br> "I wanted to facilitate a space for like-minded people to come together and connect with each other in a positive way to facilitate conversation and meet each other and sit in peace," said event organizer Kjerstin Egger. ...<br> &nbsp;<br> Losh says the election has been difficult because "Donald Trump ran a campaign essentially making us unsafe." She says her community is going through a process of collective mourning. She is a transgender woman married to a woman and says she takes Trump's past statements about the LGBTQ community personally.&nbsp; "It's disheartening to feel a sense of progress only to have a backlash and feel so many people standing up and feeling comfortable in their hate in this country," she said.<br> &nbsp;<br> But while some people were closing their eyes for the meditations, others were feeling frustrated that there wasn't more of a call to action at the event.&nbsp; "I think the luxury of coming together to grieve is an expression of privilege," said attendee Andrew Swenson, who noted that the gathering was largely white, despite the vocal support for minorities. "What I'm afraid of, as white people, we grieve and then we feel better about ourselves. If we have the opportunity to talk to a bunch of people at events (like these) let's not waste it by not talking about steps for action."<br> &nbsp;<br> But others feel like the grieving process and self-care is a necessary step is important for people to get to the stage where they can be actors in movements for change.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> "I think after we grieve and take this space we need to organize and be an ally and advocate for people who feel in danger," said Kelly Seacrest while holding a sign that said "All are welcome." "When you come from a place of privilege, you have a duty and responsibility to fight for those who are being actively oppressed."<br> &nbsp;<br> "I feel like it's very important to start out from a place of love and compassion — action is very important — but first we need to realize that people are grieving and hurt and we need to come together," said Losh. ...<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-05T14:56:07-05:00" title="Monday, December 5, 2016 - 14:56">December 5, 2016</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Mon, 05 Dec 2016 19:56:07 +0000 fionta 363 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Verizon Strike and a Union Primer https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/verizon-strike-and-union-primer <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Verizon Strike and a Union Primer</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>Quick Quiz<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Can Verizon Beat the Unions?<br> — 247wallst.com headline</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> In this headline, what does the word "union" mean? (Those who have studied for standardized tests may already be familiar with this type of question.)<br> &nbsp;<br> a) a marriage that is not quite a marriage<br> b) a group of workers that bargains with a company<br> c) a pipe fitting that connects two lengths of pipe<br> d) the northern states of the United States<br> &nbsp;<br> Answer: b) That was easy, but a lot of people don't really know what unions are.<br> <br> <em>Read the information below, or ask a student to read it.</em>&nbsp;<br> <br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>A Short History of Unions &amp; Strikes</h4> <p><br> For as long as some people have worked for other people, there has been conflict over pay and working conditions. To improve his or her lot, the worker would have to approach the owner and request an improvement. It was up to the employer to decide. &nbsp;For most of time, the only option for a dissatisfied employee was to quit (if they could) and try to find a better job.<br> <img alt src="/sites/default/files/pictures/Verizonstrikers2.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 299px; float: right; margin: 8px;"></p> <div>In the 19th century as cities grew and the size of businesses grew, people began to address their grievances as groups rather than individuals. Working conditions were poor:</div> <ul> <li>12 hour days (or more) were typical</li> <li>child labor was common</li> <li>safety was seldom addressed</li> <li>pay was abysmal</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Behind all bargaining lies the power of the bargaining parties. It turned out that bargaining as a group was very different than bargaining as a single person. Employers had to wonder what would happen to the business if all the workers were to stop working. As the worker groups became more popular and formed permanent structures, unions shifted the power balance—more in some industries and regions than in others.<br> &nbsp;<br> What success the unions had was in large part the ability to threaten to (or actually) stop work—in other words, call a strike. In the twentieth century, unions grew, formed alliances and became legal. It was not an easy process. Many people were fired, jailed or lost their lives in the struggle for labor rights.<br> &nbsp;<br> By the 1950s about a third of all workers belonged to unions. Today, the percentage is about 11%. There are a lot of reasons for the decline and scholars are not unanimous in determining which factors are most important:&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>In the 1940s, Congress reacted to the growing power of unions by passing laws making it easier for companies to resist unionization. Today, many states are rolling back rules that made it easier for people to be in unions.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Labor solidarity, which was crucial in many fights, was severely diminished by political battles within unions. In the Cold War era, anti-communist union leaders purged many leftist unionists, who together did some of labor’s most effective organizing.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>The largest employers—manufacturing corporations—began to move factories to low-wage areas: first the south and later overseas.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Technological change eliminated many jobs in unionized industries</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Quiz on unions today&nbsp;</h4> <p><br> 1. The overall rate of unionization is 11%. What percent of private sector (non-governmental) employees are in unions?<br> <br> a) 89%<br> b) 50%<br> c) 6.7%<br> d) 23.1%<br> &nbsp;<br> 2. How do wages of union workers and non-union workers compare?<br> <br> a) non-union workers make 79% of union workers<br> b) union workers make 90% of non-union workers<br> c) there's no statistical difference<br> d) "I'm going to make America great again."<br> &nbsp;<br> Answers: 1. c; 2.a<br> &nbsp;<br> As union membership has declined, so has the number of strikes. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 12 major (involving more than 1000 workers) strikes in 2015 for a total of 47,000 workers.&nbsp; By contrast, in 1974 there were 424 strikes involving 1.8 million workers.</p> <p><em>Read the following, or ask a student to read it.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Verizon workers strike</h4> <p><br> On April 13, 2016, about 40,000 Verizon workers from two unions went on strike. Their last contract (agreement between the union and management) ended in August 2015, and they've been working without a contract since then.</p> <p>One big issue for the workers is that Verizon wants a new rule that will allow them to send Verizon technicians on the road for up to two months at a time. According to the wife of one striker, "I will tell you what it is like to be married to someone who works for Verizon. His schedule is so erratic. You can never plan anything. He works from 7:30 am till whenever..."<br> &nbsp;<br> For the unions other issues include:<br> &nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>The company’s increasing use of contract (non-union) workers who have no job security or benefits.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>The company’s demand that workers pay more for their health insurance.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>The company’s plan to freeze its contribution to workers’ pensions (retirement benefits) after they’ve worked for 30 years.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>The company’s refusal to negotiate a fair first contract for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Both the company and the unions are making their case for public support. For its part, the company says they are offering a fair pay increase and are willing to involve a mediator. They see their wireless operations (which are mostly non-union) as representing the future of the industry and are anxious to reduce costs for the (mostly unionized) landline telephone and cable operations. &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The workers point out that the company is extremely profitable, with billions of dollars in profits each year. And they note that the top five executives at Verizon receive a total of more than $47 million a year in compensation.<br> &nbsp;<br> Workers are hoping that the rising concern about stagnating wages, disappearing middle class and rising wealth inequality will encourage consumers and others to put pressure on the company, media and government to address their concerns. The strikers argue that by standing up against a corporate giant, they are standing up for all workers, and they've invited supporters to join them on their picketlines. (A picketline is a line or gathering of striking workers and their allies, usually outside the place they are striking.)</p> <p>(For a view of how workers see the strike and scenes from the picketlines, see <a href="http://district1.cwa-union.org/video/entry/on_strike_day_1">this 2.5-minute video</a> produced by one of the striking unions, Communications Workers of America District 1.)<br> <br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> &nbsp;<br> For discussion:<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>1. According to the Economic Policy Institute think tank:&nbsp; "To a remarkable extent, the level of inequality—which fell during the New Deal but has risen dramatically since the late 1970s—corresponds to the rise and fall of unionization in the United States." Do you see a possible link between the drop in union membership and the rapid rise in income inequality? Why or why not?<br> <br> 2. The federal and state governments have at different times taken steps to make it easier or harder to form unions. What do you think the government role should be in labor relations?<br> <br> 3. Other than joining unions, what ways do workers have to better their pay and conditions—especially when their employers are resistant?<br> <br> 4. The Fight for 15 campaign for a higher minimum wage has raised the profile of minimum wage workers who often have poor working conditions and no unions. Do you think we will soon see workers at McDonalds and Subway unionize?&nbsp;</p> <p>5. &nbsp;Do you think that by standing up to Verizon, the strikers are helping all workers? Why or why not?&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;<em>Photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standuptoverizon/">Stand Up to Verizon</a></em><br> <br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Sources<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p><a href="http://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2016/04/21/can-verizon-beat-the-unions-putting-the-current-strike-in-historical-perspective/">http://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2016/04/21/can-verizon-beat-the-unions-putting-the-current-strike-in-historical-perspective/</a><br> <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm</a><br> <a href="http://www.jwj.org/five-reasons-to-care-about-verizon-contract-negotiations">http://www.jwj.org/five-reasons-to-care-about-verizon-contract-negotiations</a><br> <a href="http://www.epi.org/news/union-membership-declines-inequality-rises/">http://www.epi.org/news/union-membership-declines-inequality-rises/</a><br> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/business/verizon-workers-strike.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/business/verizon-workers-strike.html?_r=0</a><br> <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2016/04/16/cullen/Pc03XV1aXWA6TbgU9W84RK/story.html?event=event25">http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2016/04/16/cullen/Pc03XV1aXWA6TbgU9W84RK/story.html?event=event25</a><br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-05-08T10:32:55-04:00" title="Sunday, May 8, 2016 - 10:32">May 8, 2016</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 08 May 2016 14:32:55 +0000 fionta 396 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Teachable Instant: Low-Wage Workers' Fight for 15 https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/teachable-instant-low-wage-workers-fight-15 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Teachable Instant: Low-Wage Workers&#039; Fight for 15</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>Ask the class what the slogan Fight for 15 means. Does it mean:</p> <p>a)&nbsp; lower the voting age to 15</p> <p>b) increase the size of soccer teams to 15</p> <p>c) at least 15 minutes recess for students in all grades</p> <p>d) 15 additional words allowed on Twitter</p> <p>e) none of the above</p> <p>Answer: None of the above. Fight for 15 refers to the nationwide movement to increase the hourly pay of low-wage workers to $15 per hour.</p> <hr> <h4>In the News</h4> <p>On April 15, 2015, low-wage workers across America will go on strike and demonstrate for increasing their pay to $15/hour. Worker organizations supporting the wage increase have been joined by a growing number of unions, civil rights groups, religious institutions and sympathetic individuals.</p> <p>Some opponents of a higher minimum wage argue that it will force businesses to cut jobs. (However, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office recently projected that a $10.10 minimum wage, which President Obama has proposed, would lead to only a slight decrease in jobs.) &nbsp;Opponents also say that raising the minimum wage will lead to higher prices that will hurt low-income people the most.</p> <p>Nevertheless, support for increasing workers' wages is growing. The movement to raise wages, which had been building slowly over the last decade, has recently picked up steam. &nbsp;Instead of fighting individual battles in each low-wage industry (fast food, hospitality, childcare, retail, etc.), workers and their allies have joined forces to press for a larger share of the economic pie. While Congress has been unable to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour, the fight has been carried successfully to many states and cities.</p> <p>Among the recent successes:</p> <ul> <li>Some of the country's largest employers like Walmart, Target, McDonalds, the Gap, TJ Maxx and Starbucks have all recently announced wage hikes for their minimum-wage employees.</li> <li>In every state where minimum wage hikes were on the ballot in 2014, voters approved the increase. Notably, this included such conservative states as Alaska, South Dakota, Nebraska and Arkansas.</li> <li>Some&nbsp; cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, and&nbsp; Oakland, have raised the minimum wage to $12 to $15 per hour.</li> <li>Public opinion (as measured by opinion polls) is strongly in favor of raising the minimum wage.</li> </ul> <p>Groups fighting for $15 per hour have viewed the increases as (at best) steps in the right direction. McDonalds workers, for example, point out that their wage increase only affects the employees at McDonalds-<em>owned </em>restaurants--not at the 90% of McDonalds that are owned independently. Even the highest minimum wage, in Seattle, won't apply to all businesses until 2021.</p> <hr> <h4>Quiz: What do Americans think?</h4> <p>Ask students to take this quiz on what the American people think about government action to reduce the expanding gap between rich and poor.</p> <p><strong>1.</strong> &nbsp;True or False: A majority of Americans believe that the government should do something to reduce the gap between the rich and "everyone else."&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>(Answer: True. 43% say "a lot" and 26% say "some" action.)</p> <p><strong>2, </strong>&nbsp;What percentage of Republicans favor raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour?</p> <p>a) 19%</p> <p>b) 38.2%</p> <p>c) 53%</p> <p>d) 87%</p> <p>(Answer: C, 53%, or 73% of all Americans)</p> <p><strong>3. </strong>&nbsp;What percentage of Americans favor automatically raising the minimum wage to account for annual inflation?</p> <p>a) 19%</p> <p>b) 40.1%</p> <p>c) 66%</p> <p>d) 82%</p> <p>(Answer: D, 82%)</p> <hr> <h4><br> For discussion</h4> <p><strong>1.&nbsp;</strong> Put yourself in the place of a low-wage worker who is considering whether to strike on April 15. What might make you decide to strike? What might make you decide not to?&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>2.&nbsp;</strong> What effect does public opinion have on corporations raising wages or on governments raising minimum wages?</p> <p><strong>3.&nbsp; </strong>Should fairness play a part in setting wage structures? The movement for raising wages often cites "fairness" in its public appeals: Is it fair for corporate CEOs to receive tens of millions of dollars in compensation when many of the company's workers get minimum wage? Is it fair for corporations that are making large profits to deny their lowest-paid workers a share in the profit? Is it fair for a society to require a parent to work two or three jobs to support a family?&nbsp; &nbsp;What do you think about these arguments?</p> <p><strong>4.&nbsp; </strong>What is the role of government in making sure that wages are enough so that people can afford basic necessities like food, shelter and healthcare?</p> <hr> <h4>Optional activity</h4> <p>Break the class into groups of four or five students. Have each group read one article arguing against raising the minimum wage, and another arguing for it.&nbsp; Then ask the group to discuss the merits of each argument against raising the minimum wage. If there is time, have students from each group report back to the class on the key arguments pro and con.</p> <p>Articles against raising the wage:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/feeling-the-pain-of-a-12-25-minimum-wage">http://www.cbsnews.com/news/feeling-the-pain-of-a-12-25-minimum-wage</a></li> <li>http://www.republicanreader.com/15-reasons-raising-minimum-wage-is-bad/&nbsp;(no longer active)</li> </ul> <p>Articles for raising the wage:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://robertreich.org/post/82134788482">http://robertreich.org/post/82134788482</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/top-ten-arguments-for-rai_b_6879220.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/top-ten-arguments-for-rai_b_6879220.html</a>?</li> </ul> <hr> <h4>Sources:</h4> <p><a href="http://www.people-press.org/2014/01/23/most-see-inequality-growing-but-partisans-differ-over-solutions/">http://www.people-press.org/2014/01/23/most-see-inequality-growing-but-p...</a></p> <p>http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/polling&nbsp;(no longer active)</p> <p><a href="https://raisetheminimumwage.com/minimum-wage-state/?mode=state&amp;active_dataset=current%20minimum%20wage">https://raisetheminimumwage.com/minimum-wage-state/?mode=state&amp;active_dataset=current%20minimum%20wage</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/minimum-wage-hikes-where-voters-gave-themselves-raise-n241616">http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/minimum-wage-hikes-where-v...</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-protests-mcdonalds-minimum-wage-20150402-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-protests-mcdonalds-minimum-wage-20...</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2015-04-12T10:24:18-04:00" title="Sunday, April 12, 2015 - 10:24">April 12, 2015</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 12 Apr 2015 14:24:18 +0000 fionta 468 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Labor Day, Then and Now https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/labor-day-then-and-now <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Labor Day, Then and Now</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>To the Teacher:</h4> <p>Labor Day has come to symbolize the unofficial end of summer for many Americans. However, the national holiday, which traces back to 1894, is also an opportunity for reflection on the impact of the labor movement on our lives.<br> &nbsp;<br> Below are two students readings. In the first reading students learn about the history of Labor Day and examine some of the labor movement's accomplishments in the past 100 years. In the second reading, they learn about organized labor's hard times in recent decades and consider prospects for its revival. Questions for class discussion follow each reading.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br> Reading 1:<br> A History of Labor Day in America<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Labor Day, which takes place on the first Monday of September each year, has come to symbolize the unofficial end of summer for many Americans. However, the national holiday, which traces back to 1894, is also an important opportunity for reflection on the impact of the labor movement on our lives.<br> &nbsp;<br> The tradition of celebrating Labor Day began in the 1880s, when unions organized city-wide parades followed by recreational activities for workers and their families. The first such Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882. However, it took more than a decade for the holiday to gain federal recognition. In 1894, the U.S. Congress established the first Monday in September as a federal holiday. This day was set aside to ensure that "the nobility of labor be maintained," in the words of the House Committee recommending approval of the holiday.<br> &nbsp;<br> The selection of early September for Labor Day is unusual, since most other countries celebrate the contributions of working people on May 1, or May Day. As an August 2007 article in<a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/30/labor-day-history-forbeslife-cx_ml_0830mayday.html"> Forbes</a> magazine explains:<br> &nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Most of the world marks Labor Day on May 1 with parades and rallies. Americans celebrate it in early September, by heading to the beach or firing up the grill. Why the discrepancy?...<br> &nbsp;<br> May Day's origins can be traced to Chicago, where the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, under its leader Samuel Gompers, mounted a general strike on May 1, 1886, as part of its push for an eight-hour work day. On May 4, during a related labor rally in Haymarket Square, someone threw a bomb, which killed a policeman and touched off a deadly mêlée. As a result, four radical labor leaders were eventually hanged on dubious charges.<br> &nbsp;<br> In 1888, Gompers's union reorganized itself as the American Federation of Labor, and revived its push for the eight-hour day. Gompers laid plans for a strike to begin on May 1, 1890—the fourth anniversary of the walkout that had led to the Haymarket affair. Meanwhile, in Paris, a group of labor leaders were meeting to establish the Second International.... In an act of solidarity, the Second International set May 1, 1890, as a day of protest...<br> &nbsp;<br> The Panic of 1893 touched off a national wave of bankruptcies that plunged the nation into a deep depression... Things came to a boil with the Pullman Strike, which erupted in Chicago in May 1894. The striking Pullman Palace Car Co. workers quickly won the support of the American Railway Union, led by Gompers's rival Eugene V. Debs. Railroad traffic in much of the country was paralyzed.<br> &nbsp;<br> President Grover Cleveland, a conservative Democrat, was determined to squash the strike. But he did not want to alienate the American Federation of Labor, which was not yet involved in the Pullman dispute. Moreover, 1894 was a midterm election year, and the Democratic Party could ill afford to be seen as an enemy of labor. Cleveland and the Democrats hit upon a possible solution: They would proclaim a national Labor Day to honor the worker. But not on May 1... &nbsp;Fortunately, an alternative was at hand.<br> &nbsp;<br> Back in September 1882, certain unions had begun to celebrate a Labor Day in New York City. By 1894, this event was an annual late-summer tradition in New York and had been adopted by numerous states, but it was not a national holiday. Nor was it associated with the radicals who ran the Second International...<br> &nbsp;<br> On the contrary, the September date was closely associated with Gompers, who was campaigning to have it declared a national holiday. Gompers opposed the socialists and was guiding the AFL toward a narrower and less-radical agenda. Gratefully, Cleveland seized upon the relatively innocuous September... On June 28, 1894, he signed an act of Congress establishing Labor Day as a federal holiday on the first Monday of September.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> Owing to this history, <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/5/may-day-occupy-wallstreetlabordorothyday.html">some activists</a> have charged that "replacing May Day with Labor Day was part of a decades-long effort to stifle the vibrancy of populist movements."<br> &nbsp;<br> Such reservations notwithstanding, the holiday has gained widespread acceptance. As labor historian <a href="http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/rachleff/reclaiming-labor-days-turbulent-origins">Peter Rachleff</a> writes for the Twin Cities Daily Planet:<br> &nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Despite its official and non-radical identity, "Labor Day" offered the occasion for the labor movement to express solidarity. Parades, pageants, picnics, and rallies marked the day across the country, complete with banners emblazoned with the symbols of particular trades or expressing labor slogans and mottos. Workers listened to speeches, engaged in political debates, and joined in collective songs. Union members' families were an integral part of the labor movement. Labor Day allowed for the building of a labor culture. Over the next century, the vitality of "Labor Day" ebbed and flowed with the overall energy and life of the labor movement.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> The holiday still provides an opportunity for reflection on the impact, successes, and future of the labor movement in the United States.<br> &nbsp;<br> Among the labor movement's most striking and far-reaching achievements were those accomplished during the 1930s, when widespread discontent about unemployment and poor working conditions provided support for landmark legislation. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the U.S.'s largest public services union, published a list of "<a href="http://www.afscme.org/news/publications/newsletters/works/novemberdecember-1999/labors-top-10-accomplishments">Labor's Top 10 Accomplishments</a>." Among these achievements are:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Passage of the Social Security Act (1935)<br> This New Deal legislation provided workers with unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children and rehabilitation for the physically disabled. It also improved public health and provided pensions to workers in their old age...<br> &nbsp;<br> National Labor Relations Act (1935)<br> Also known as the "Wagner Act," this law served as the foundation for current U.S. labor law, granting unions the right to organize and obligating employers to bargain collectively on hours, wages and other terms and conditions of employment...<br> &nbsp;<br> Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)<br> The FLSA granted sweeping protections to workers — establishing a minimum wage (25 cents an hour) and the 8-hour work day, providing for overtime, and prohibiting the use of child labor in all businesses engaged in interstate commerce. Despite breaking important ground, the FLSA excluded large numbers of workers, not the least of whom were public service workers...<br> &nbsp;<br> Occupational Safety &amp; Health Act (1970)<br> Providing a safe workplace had been a primary goal of the labor movement since its inception. Many years later, President Nixon — a conservative Republican — was convinced to sign the first comprehensive federal legislation covering safety in the workplace. Unions work daily to enforce OSHA's regulations, and also to expand and refine safe protections for all workers.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> Although most people today associate Labor Day with picnicking and taking the day off work, it's also a good time to remind ourselves that the collective action of working people can bring about huge changes that affect the whole society.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>For Discussion:</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li>Do students have any questions about the reading? How might these be answered?</li> <li>According to the reading, why is the date of the Labor Day holiday in the United States controversial? Why do some labor advocates prefer to celebrate on May Day?</li> <li>What are some of the accomplishments of the labor movement that are mentioned in the article? Have these changes affected your life? If so, how?</li> <li>Many people celebrating Labor Day may not be aware of the holiday's purpose and history. Do you think we should change the way we observe the holiday? How?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h4>Reading 2:<br> The U.S. Labor Movement, Past and Present</h4> <p>&nbsp;<br> Labor activism has been a part of the U.S. since its founding, with the first labor strike dating back to 1768. In the 20th century, the labor movement achieved major wins, including the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which brought about the 8-hour day for all workers. In the decades after World War II, many unions focused their attention on improving the wages and benefits of their members rather than on a wider vision of economic and social justice.&nbsp; However, by upholding good wages and conditions for union members, unions helped raise standards for all workers, which played a major role in building a healthy middle class in the United States.</p> <p>In recent decades, U.S. labor unions have been in decline. As journalist Josh Levs explained in a December 12, 2012 article for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/us/union-power-analysis/">CNN</a>:<br> &nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">American unions already have a fraction of the influence they did a few decades ago. Only about 12% of workers are union members, down from 20% in 1983, according to federal data. In the private sector, the plunge has been even steeper: union membership has dropped from 17% in 1983 to 7% today...<br> &nbsp;<br> So why the downfall of American unions? That depends on who you ask.<br> &nbsp;<br> Big businesses are behind campaigns to squelch organized labor, and they are seeing some success, according to Gordon Lafer, a political science professor and opponent of right-to-work laws.<br> &nbsp;<br> "The anti-union campaigns of the last three years, starting with Wisconsin [where Governor Scott Walker has targeted labor], have really been driven... by big national organizations and money," said Lafer, a union member and who teaches labor studies at the University of Oregon.<br> &nbsp;<br> "I think an important question to think about is: Why are big private companies spending a lot of money and energy fighting public sector unions? They want more free trade, lower minimum wage, the right not to pay sick leave, and all those things which are not per se about union contracts. But the biggest single opponent they have is the labor movement, even in its shrunken and weaker state."<br> &nbsp;<br> Lafer blames businesses and key business figures for lobbying to push such laws "not because of what unions are doing now for their own members but to get them out of the way on issues that will affect everybody else."<br> &nbsp;<br> These campaigns stigmatize unions and encourage people who are unemployed to resent unions rather than big business leaders, he argued.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> Despite the obstacles they face, working people are still organizing to take collective action. While some are attempting to join traditional unions, others are coming together through what have been called 'alt-labor' organizations."<br> &nbsp;<br> Reporter Josh Eidelson describes one such "alt-labor" organization in a January 29, 2013 article in&nbsp;<a href="http://prospect.org/article/alt-labor">The American Prospect</a>:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">On a warm evening in July, the Chrysler Center Capital Grille in Midtown Manhattan had more than customers to contend with. Inside, diners feasted on a $35 prix fixe dinner as part of the city's Restaurant Week promotion. Outside, protesters handed out mock "menus": "First course: Wage Theft. Second course: Racial discrimination." Some passersby rolled their eyes; others pumped their fists. Dishwasher Ignacio Villegas yelled: "No more exploitation of workers!" His fellow demonstrators—a few co-workers and a couple of dozen staffers and activists from the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC)—picked up the chant, Occupy-style...<br> &nbsp;<br> The ROC is a labor group. But it's not a union. It represents a new face of the U.S. labor movement—an often-ignored, little-understood array of groups organizing workers without the union label. As unions face declining membership these workers' groups—like the mostly union-free job sectors they organize—are on the rise, particularly in New York. Because of their efforts, more restaurant workers in the city get paid sick days, domestic workers receive overtime pay, and taxi drivers will soon have health insurance.<br> &nbsp;<br> Twenty years ago, when Rutgers labor professor Janice Fine first set out to count the nonunion groups that were organizing and mobilizing workers, she found just five in the entire country. Today, her tally stands at 214. These groups organize farmworkers and fashion models. They go by names like "workers' centers" and "workers' alliances." Some are rooted in the immigrant-rights movement as much as the labor movement. Lacking the ability to engage in collective bargaining or enforce union contracts, these alternative labor groups rely on an overlapping set of other tactics to reform their industries. The ROC teaches workers their rights and also restaurant skills; advises and publicizes model employers; and helps organize protests like the ones at Capital Grille, making customers aware of what goes on behind the dining room. The ROC also lobbies state and local lawmakers for reforms and helps workers take legal action when all else fails...<br> &nbsp;<br> Why are alt-labor groups like the ROC proliferating? To begin with, unions are in crisis. Over the past 20 years, private-sector unionization has plummeted to just 7 percent. Formerly stalwart pro-labor states, like Indiana, are increasingly emulating Southern states' "right to work" laws, which make unions harder to sustain and easier to break.<br> &nbsp;<br> There's another reason for the rise of alt-labor: For an increasing number of U.S. workers, unions are not even an option. Labor law denies union rights to increasingly significant sectors of the workforce, including so-called independent contractors and domestic workers, whose numbers are expected to double as baby boomers enter elder care. In 1989, the United States had twice as many manufacturing jobs as service-sector jobs; now the numbers are nearly equal. But many corners of the service sector are virtually union-free—even where, as in restaurants, workers have the right to organize.</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> Both U.S. labor law and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights assert that all people have a right to come together with their coworkers to advocate for fair wages and just treatment on the job. Although the form that labor organizations take might change over time, the drive to fulfill this fundamental right continues.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>For Discussion:</h4> <ol> <li>Do students have any questions about the reading? How might these be answered?</li> <li>According to the reading, what is one reason labor unions are experiencing decreasing membership?</li> <li>What are "alt-labor" groups? Why are these emerging at this time?</li> <li>Based on your experience, how are labor unions viewed by the American public? How do you think unions can improve public perception of their work?</li> <li>Have you had any work experiences where you or your coworkers were treated unfairly? Did you take collective action to address this problem? What was the result of your experience?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;<br> <em>&nbsp;- Research assistance provided by Yessenia Gutierrez.</em><br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2014-08-28T10:53:42-04:00" title="Thursday, August 28, 2014 - 10:53">August 28, 2014</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:53:42 +0000 fionta 523 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Our Food, Their Struggle: Farmworker Organizing https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/our-food-their-struggle-farmworker-organizing <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Our Food, Their Struggle: Farmworker Organizing</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4><strong>To the Teacher:&nbsp;</strong></h4> <div>Many people have begun to look for organic or locally grown food in the grocery store or restaurant. But how often do we consider those who work to bring us our food?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Farmworkers working in the fields in California, Florida, Texas, and other states (and countries) are a critical component of the food chain that provides us with the fruits and vegetables that we eat. However, millions of farmworkers are paid poverty-level wages and labor under difficult and often exploitative conditions. The abuses faced by these workers were made famous by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s. Although the UFW's efforts resulted in some improvements, migrant farmworkers still face injustice today, so they continue to organize for better conditions. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This lesson consists of two readings. The first reading gives an overview of some the conditions facing farmworkers in the United States. The second reading profiles the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization working to improve conditions for farmworkers today. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</div> <div><br> &nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <h4>Student Reading 1:</h4> </div> <h3>Exploitation in the Fields</h3> <div>Many people have begun to look for organic or locally grown food in the grocery store or restaurant. But how often do we consider those who work to bring us our food?&nbsp;</div> <div><br> Immigrant farmworkers working in the fields in California, Florida, Texas, and other states (and countries) are a critical component of the food chain that provides us with the fruits and vegetables that we eat. However, millions of farmworkers are paid poverty-level wages and labor under difficult and often exploitative conditions. The abuses faced by these workers were made famous by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s. Although the UFW's efforts resulted in some improvements, migrant farmworkers still face injustice today, so they continue to organize for better conditions. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/about-farmworker-justice/who-we-serve">Farmworker Justice</a>, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving conditions of farmworkers through government lobbying and legal defense, describes some of the demographics of those who work in the fields:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">An estimated 2 million farmworkers work on farms and ranches in the United States. Including farmworkers' spouses and children, there are roughly 4.5 million farmworkers and family members in the U.S. The large majority of farmworkers are immigrants, and the majority of those immigrants (53%) lack authorized immigration status under current U.S. laws.&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">According to the most recent report of the Department of Labor's National Agricultural Workers Survey (from 2001-02):</div> <ul> <li class="rteindent1">Foreign-born workers make up 78% of the workforce</li> <li class="rteindent1">United States citizens make up 25% of the workforce</li> <li class="rteindent1">Legal permanent residents make up 21% of the workforce</li> </ul> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">In general, education and literacy among farmworkers are limited. On average, 7th grade is the limit of farmworkers' formal education.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Farmworker Justice goes on to <a href="http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/about-farmworker-justice/who-we-serve">describe</a> the socioeconomic difficulties faced by agricultural employees:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Farmworker communities generally deal with a high level of poverty; few farmworkers have employment benefits or access to unemployment benefits. According to data from 2001-2002:</div> <ul> <li class="rteindent1">At least 30% of farmworkers earned wages placing them below the poverty line</li> <li class="rteindent1">Annual income for an individual was roughly $10,000 - $12,500</li> <li class="rteindent1">Annual income for farmworker families was roughly $15,000 - $17,500</li> <li class="rteindent1">The average hourly wage was $7.25.</li> </ul> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Most farmworkers do not receive much needed benefits like sick leave, paid vacation or health insurance. Because many agricultural employers are exempt from unemployment taxes, many farmworkers are not eligible for unemployment benefits even though they perform jobs that are seasonal and intermittent.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Despite the high level of poverty, most farmworkers do not receive any public benefits. In 2001-2002, only 8% of farmworkers received food stamps, 11% received WIC (a supplemental nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) and 15% received Medicaid.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>One farmworker, 40-year-old Odilia Chavez of Madera, California, provided a first-hand account of her experience in the fields. Chavez was quoted in a November 6, 2013, article for a <em><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2013/11/farmworker-confessional/">Modern Farmer</a></em> magazine article by Lauren Smiley. Chavez stated:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">I'd never worked in a field. It was really hard at first — working outdoors with the heat, the daily routine. But I've certainly learned. In a typical year, I prune grapevines starting in April, and pick cherries around Madera in May. I travel to Oregon in June to pick strawberries, blueberries and blackberries on a farm owned by Russians. I take my 14-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son with me while they're on their summer break. They play with the other kids, and bring me water and food in the field. We'll live in a boarding house with 25 rooms for some 100 people, and everyone lines up to use the bathrooms. My kids and I share a room for $270 a month.</div> <div class="rteindent1">...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">You come home really tired. I'll come home, take a shower, put lotion on my hot feet, and be ready for the next day. I'm usually in bed by 9:00 to get up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to make and pack some tacos for the day. Also, undocumented workers don't have any medical insurance — so the majority of us just buy over-the-counter pills for any problems. Luckily, I haven't had many health issues yet.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Organizing seasonal migrant workers to improve conditions in the fields has been a notoriously difficult task. Perhaps the most famous and successful organizing drive began in 1962, when Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). &nbsp;Chavez had grown up in a family of migrant farmworkers. He left school in the seventh grade and went to work in the fields full-time so that his mother wouldn't have to. After years of picking peas, lettuce, cherries, beans, corn, grapes and cotton, Chavez joined Huerta, a young civil rights activist, in creating the NFWA, whose aim was to improve the lives of farmworkers. &nbsp;</div> <div>Rick Tejada-Flores, director of the 1997 documentary <em>Fight in the Fields</em>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez1.html">summarizes</a> the emergence and success of the NFWA:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">From 1962 to 1965 Cesar Chavez and a small group of organizers traveled up and down California's agricultural valleys, talking to people, holding house meetings, helping with problems, and inviting farmworkers to join their new organization. They didn't call the National Farmworkers Association a labor union, because people had such bad memories of lost strikes and unfulfilled promises. It was a slow and tedious process.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Everything changed on September 8, 1965. On that day another farmworker group, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), struck the Delano table grape growers. Most of AWOC's members were Filipinos who had come to the U.S. during the 1930s.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">One week later the NFWA voted to join the strike. Among the joint leadership were Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla from NFWA, and Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan and Philip Veracruz from AWOC...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">The farmworkers wanted people to see their strike as something bigger and more dramatic — a battle for justice and human dignity. It became the cause,<em> la causa!</em> The strikers reached out to church groups and student activists. Both had been drawn to the civil rights struggles in the South, and both responded to the "David vs. Goliath" battle taking place in Delano. The public was also attracted to the farmworkers commitment to non-violence. Chavez saw non-violence as both a moral principle and a tactic. Under his leadership, the farmworkers movement would adopt non-violence as its guiding philosophy...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">By 1967 farmworkers were enlisting consumers in their battle. When the Giumarra Corporation tried to disguise their shipments by using other grape growers' labels, the farmworkers began a national boycott of all table grapes. Striking farmworkers spread out across the country, forging alliances with students, churches, and consumers and other union members to try to stop the sale of grapes...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">At its height, more than 14 million Americans helped by not buying grapes. The pressure was irresistible, and the Delano growers signed historic contracts with UFWOC in 1969.&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">What had the farmworkers won? There was an end to the abusive system of labor contracting. Instead jobs would be assigned by a hiring hall, with guaranteed seniority and hiring rights. The contracts protected workers from exposure to the dangerous pesticides that are widely used in agriculture. There was an immediate rise in wages, and fresh water and toilets provided in the fields. The contracts provided for a medical plan, and clinics were built in Delano, Salinas and Coachella.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The UFW was able to make considerable gains for farmworkers in the 1960s and 70s. However, immigrant farmworkers continue to be one of the most vulnerable populations of working people in the country, and conditions in the fields remain harsh.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h4>For Discussion:&nbsp;</h4> <div><strong>1.</strong> Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>2. </strong>How would you describe the working and living conditions that farmworkers typically face?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>3.</strong> Why might it be difficult to organize migrant farmworkers? What are some of the factors that might inhibit collective action within this group?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>4.</strong> What were some of the strategies that the UFW used to push for change?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>5. </strong>What tangible gains were the United Farm Workers able to achieve?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <h4>Student Reading 2:</h4> </div> <h3>Farmworkers Rallying for Justice: The Case of the Immokalee Workers</h3> <div>Farmworkers in different parts of the country continue to organize to improve working conditions for those in the fields.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>One of the most visible and successful campaigns to emerge in the past decade has been led by the Coalition of Immokalee Worker (CIW), a group of farmworkers &nbsp;and activists based in Southern Florida. The CIW has spearheaded the Campaign for Fair Food, which lobbies major corporations to improve pay for workers, investigate worker complaints, and buy only from growers who comply with a program of improved labor standards.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In an April 24, 2014 <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/business/in-florida-tomato-fields-a-penny-buys-progress.html?_r=2">New York Times</a></em> article, labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse highlights the CIW's remarkable successes:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">By enlisting the might of major restaurant chains and retailers — including Walmart, which signed on this year — the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has pressured growers that produce 90 percent of Florida's tomatoes to increase wages for their 30,000 workers and follow strict standards that mandate rest breaks and forbid sexual harassment and verbal abuse...</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">So far, the agreements between retailers and growers are limited to Florida's tomato fields, which in itself is no small feat considering that the state produces 90 percent of the country's winter tomatoes.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">But gaining the heft and reach of Walmart — which sells 20 percent of the nation's fresh tomatoes year-round — may prove far more influential. To the applause of farmworkers' advocates, the retailer has agreed to extend the program's standards and monitoring to its tomato suppliers in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia and elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard. Walmart officials say they also hope to apply the standards to apple orchards in Michigan and Washington and strawberry fields in many states.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">"This is the best workplace-monitoring program I've seen in the U.S.," said Janice R. Fine, a labor relations professor at Rutgers. "It can certainly be a model for agriculture across the U.S. If anybody is going to lead the way and teach people how it's done, it's [the CIW]."</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Since the program's inception, its system of inspections and decisions issued by a former judge has resulted in suspensions for several growers, including one that failed to adopt a payroll system to ensure pickers were paid for all the time they worked...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Amassing all these company partnerships took time. The workers' coalition organized a four-year boycott of Taco Bell to get its parent company, Yum Brands, to agree in 2005 to pay an extra penny a pound for tomatoes, helping increase workers' wages. In 2007 the coalition sponsored a march to Burger King's headquarters in Miami, pushing that company to join the effort. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Chipotle and Subway have also signed on.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Although the CIW started without a large membership, over the years it has swelled its ranks through several aggressive organizing campaigns. As the organization <a href="http://ciw-online.org/about/">explains</a> on its website:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">The CIW began organizing in 1993 as a small group of workers meeting weekly in a room borrowed from a local church to discuss how to better their community and their lives... &nbsp;Combining three community-wide work stoppages with intense public pressure - including an unprecedented month-long hunger strike by six members in 1998 and an historic 234-mile march from Ft. Myers to Orlando in 2000 - the CIW's early organizing ended over twenty years of declining wages in the tomato industry.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">By 1998, farmworkers had won industry-wide raises of 13-25% (translating into several million dollars annually for the community in increased wages) and a newfound political and social respect from the outside world. Those raises brought the tomato picking piece rate back to pre-1980 levels (the piece rate had fallen below those levels over the course of the intervening two decades), but wages remained below poverty level and continuing improvement was slow in coming.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">While continuing to organize for fairer wages, the CIW also turned its attention to attacking involuntary servitude. Over the past 15 years, 9 major investigations and federal prosecutions have freed over 1,200 Florida farmworkers from captivity and forced labor, leading one US Attorney to call these fields "ground zero for modern slavery."</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">The CIW was key in the discovery, investigation, and prosecution of seven of those operations. Through these efforts, they helped pioneer anti-trafficking work in the US, contributing to the formation of the Department of Justice Anti-Trafficking Unit and the passage of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">In 2001, having won some wage increases for Florida tomato pickers and investigated some of the country's earliest cases of modern-day slavery, the CIW did a deep analysis of the industry to understand where the power to make true systemic change resided. It became clear that the corporate food industry as a whole - companies such as current campaign targets Kroger, Publix, and Ahold USA &nbsp;- purchased a tremendous volume of fruits and vegetables, leveraging its buying power to demand the lowest possible prices from its suppliers, in turn exerting a powerful downward pressure on wages and working conditions in these suppliers' operations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The CIW is currently engaged in a two-year campaign targeting Wendy's in an effort to get the fast food giant to meet the demands of the Campaign for Fair Food. <a href="https://ciw-online.org/blog/tag/just-harvest-usa/">Just Harvest USA</a>, an organization that works in coalition with the CIW and other labor rights organizations, explains the campaign:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Of the five largest fast food corporations in the country -- McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell (Yum! Brands), and Wendy's -- Wendy's stands alone as the only one who has refused to join the Fair Food Program and respect the rights and dignity of farmworkers in its supply chain.&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Wendy's is one of the very largest buyers of tomatoes in the restaurant industry, an industry that for decades purchased low cost tomatoes whose harvest relied on the exploitation of workers. Given its market power, Wendy's has not only an opportunity, but an obligation to work with the tomato industry to be part of the solution to Florida's longstanding history of farmworker abuse and poverty: the Fair Food Program.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">As Wendy's positions itself to implement sustainable business practices and promote its sourcing of "honest ingredients," it must realize that respect for human rights and worker participation are integral components of the genuine sustainability that today's consumers expect and demand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Farmworker advocates are calling on consumers to contact Wendy's to tell the company to participate with the Campaign for Fair Food.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The CIW has achieved past gains in large part through its ability to engage the public in support of its campaigns, with sympathetic consumers signing petitions, expressing their concerns to corporations, and attending public demonstrations.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h4>For Discussion:&nbsp;</h4> <div><strong>1.</strong> Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>2. </strong>According to the reading, what are some of the demands of the Campaign for Fair Food?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>3. </strong>What are some of the CIW's past achievements? What is the nature of their current campaign?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <h4><br> Considering activism:<br> Small and whole-group discussion</h4> </div> <div>Ask students to break into groups of 3 to 5. &nbsp;Give students in each group five minutes to discuss each of the questions below.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>1. </strong>&nbsp;Are you concerned about the working conditions of people who produce the fruits and vegetables you eat? Why or why not?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>2.</strong> What do you think could be done to permanently improve conditions for farmworkers?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>3. </strong>&nbsp;Should our class consider taking some action to support farmworker organizing or support improved conditions for farmworkers in some other way? If so, what could we do?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Reconvene the whole class and ask the groups to report on their discussion. &nbsp;If there is interest, support the class in taking action in support of farmworkers. &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>-- Research assistance provided by Yessenia Gutierrez.</em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2014-06-11T12:15:44-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - 12:15">June 11, 2014</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Wed, 11 Jun 2014 16:15:44 +0000 fionta 531 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Gay Pride: Exploring a Movement, Past & Present https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/gay-pride-exploring-movement-past-present <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Gay Pride: Exploring a Movement, Past &amp; Present</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>Objectives:</h4> <p>Students will:&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li> <p>Learn about the history of discrimination against gay, lesbian, and transgender people in the United States</p> </li> <li> <p>Learn about the history of Gay Pride Month, which is in June</p> </li> <li> <p>Learn about the movements for equal rights for gays, lesbians and transgender people</p> </li> <li> <p>Look at examples of people who have been trailblazers in the movement for equal rights</p> </li> <li> <p>Examine their own assumptions about privilege and heterosexuality and how anti-gay discrimination affects everyone&nbsp;</p> </li> </ul> <h4><br> Skills:</h4> <ul> <li> <p>Research</p> </li> <li> <p>Critical thinking&nbsp;</p> </li> </ul> <h4><br> Materials needed:&nbsp;</h4> <ul> <li> <p>Today's agenda on chart paper or on the board</p> </li> <li> <p>Chart paper (or space on the board) for writing timeline and ideas</p> </li> <li> <p>Copies of timeline of gay history</p> </li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4><strong>Additional resources:</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Copies of historical documents and exhibits can be found at <a href="http://outhistory.org">outhistory.org</a></li> <li>More information about the Stonewall riots can be found via Google or <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/culture/the-spark-that-lit-the-gay-rights-movement-four-decades-later/1873/">here</a>&nbsp;(from PBS). &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4><br> Gathering</h4> <p>Ask students to share a time when either they themselves or another person stood up for someone who was being discriminated against or made fun of (perhaps because of a different accent, the clothes they wore, their body size, etc.). They can use an example from their own lives or something they witnessed.<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>Check agenda and objectives</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Movements for Equal Rights:&nbsp;A Short History&nbsp;</h4> <p><em><strong>Note to teacher:&nbsp; </strong></em>Before beginning this discussion, please read this fairly simple <a href="http://internationalspectrum.umich.edu/life/definitions">explanation of different sexual identities</a> from the University of Michigan.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students if they have been following the news about marriage equality - that is, marriage rights for people who want to marry people of the same sex. Several states now allow same sex marriages, and the federal government recognizes these marriages as legal. This means that&nbsp; gay or lesbian couples can now receive the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples, such as Social Security when one spouse dies.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> You may want to explain some terminology. A hundred years ago, people who were sexually attracted to people of the same sex were called homosexuals. Starting in the 1960s, many people began using the terms gay (primarily for men) and lesbian (for&nbsp; women). Today, the word gay is often considered too limiting, and so people instead refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people as "LGBTQ." People who call themselves "queer" have reclaimed a formerly negative word to signal their refusal to be confined by society's definitions.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> LGBTQ people have existed in every culture and have made important contributions to society throughout history. Today, we will learn about some trailblazers who have worked to make the world safer for LGBTQ people and why people celebrate June as Gay Pride Month (or Pride Month) in many communities throughout the world.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Nevertheless, there is still a lot of prejudice, discrimination and misinformation about LGBTQ people. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/may/-sp-gay-rights-world-lesbian-bisexual-transgender">This map</a> shows what kind of discrimination exists around the world.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The United States has a long history of discrimination against LGBTQ people. In the 1950s, they were not allowed to have federal government jobs (and in many states they can still be fired from some jobs).&nbsp; Homosexuality was considered a mental illness, and many people thought that being homosexual led to becoming a criminal.<br> &nbsp;<br> Today, being gay or lesbian is not considered a mental illness, nor are gay people considered any more likely to be criminal than anyone else.&nbsp; However, discrimination and prejudice continue. In the United States,&nbsp; LGBTQ youth make up an estimated 40% of homeless youth; many were kicked out of their homes by parents who could not accept their sexual identity.&nbsp; Because of discrimination, LGBTQ young people are four times more likely to attempt suicide than non-LGBTQ young people.<br> &nbsp;<br> Fortunately, a powerful movement demanding full rights and respect for LGBTQ people has made huge progress in overcoming discrimination in the United States and many other countries around the world.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Exploring the History of the Gay Rights Movement</h4> <p>Hand out <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html">this timeline</a> of movement activity.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students to break into groups of four. Give them a few minutes to read the timeline. Ask students in each group to talk about what they find most interesting or&nbsp; have questions about.<br> &nbsp;<br> Suggest that they look at the years when their grandparents would have been young, when their parents or guardians were young, and when they themselves were younger. How have public attitudes changed for these generations?<br> &nbsp;<br> Reconvene the whole class and ask for highlights from each group. What are their questions? Note the questions on chart paper. You might ask for volunteers to research these questions.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Stonewall and Gay Pride Month</h4> <p>Give students some background about Stonewall and Gay Pride Month based on the information below. <em><strong>Note: </strong></em>This discussion is about courage in standing up to prejudice. If students make comments that veer toward sexual suggestiveness or other unhelpful directions, be relaxed but stay focused and don't let the discussion be derailed.<br> &nbsp;<br> At one time it was illegal to serve alcohol to gay people in New York. Therefore, even when people went to what were known as "gay bars," they could be arrested at any time. It was common for police to raid gay bars and arrest the people in them.<br> &nbsp;<br> The Stonewall Inn was a bar in Greenwich Village, which at the time was considered one of the largest communities of gay people in the country. Early in the morning of June 28, 1969, police raided the bar. But this time the patrons didn't hide their faces and climb into the police van or try to run out the back door.&nbsp; They fought back, starting what were called the Stonewall riots.<br> &nbsp;<br> The publicity brought more people to the Village to demonstrate against police harassment and laws that made it illegal for gay people to buy drinks. The protests became a demand for equal rights. While LGBTQ people had formed gay rights groups in the past, many were afraid to join, fearing that they would lose their jobs, their friends and their family if they "came out."<br> &nbsp;<br> In the wake of Stonewall, gay rights activists formed the Gay Liberation Front and planned protest marches. An activist named Brenda Howard became known as the "Mother of Pride" because she coordinated a rally and then a march to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots (the first Pride march). She also thought of having a week-long series of events around Pride Day.&nbsp;The rainbow flag, which represents the diversity of the LGBTQ community,&nbsp;first flew at a Pride parade in San Francisco in 1978 and remains a common symbol of gay pride.&nbsp;</p> <p>There are now Pride celebrations around the world. Most are held in June, but some are held in different months - whenever people in that country experienced a major milestone in advancing equal rights for LGBTQ people.&nbsp; (In the United States, October is sometimes celebrated as "LGBT History Month" because National Coming Out Day is on October 11 and the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was held in Washington, D.C. in October 1979.) &nbsp;</p> <p>The Stonewall rebellion is considered the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement, though it built on the activism of others. In 1969, the time was right for building a movement. As one of the participants told historian David Carter, "There was something in the air, freedom a long time overdue, and we're going to fight for it. It took different forms, but the bottom line was, we weren't going to go away. And we didn't."</p> <p>Carter cautioned that "Just to concentrate on Stonewall without going into groups like the Gay Liberation Front or the Gay Activists Alliance is like studying the fall of the Bastille but absolutely knowing nothing about the French Revolution."&nbsp; Stonewall was important in part because of the organizing that both preceded and followed it.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Trailblazers</h4> <p>Every movement has people who are willing to stick their necks out and "live free" rather than give in to discriminatory laws and other injustices. Sometimes these trailblazers lose their livelihoods - or even their lives - because they had the courage to stand up. But their actions lay the groundwork for those who come after.<br> &nbsp;<br> Tell students about <strong>Frank Kameny</strong>, an astronomer who worked for the U.S. government. In 1957, Kameny was fired because he was gay. Kameny fought this discriminatory firing all the way to the Supreme Court. He lost his case, but he did not give up.&nbsp; He spent the rest of his life as an advocate for gay rights. He co-founded the Mattachine Society in Washington, D.C., one of the earliest gay rights organizations. He campaigned tirelessly to stop homosexuality from being defined as a mental illness, to legalize homosexuality, and to defend U.S. Armed Services members who had been&nbsp; dishonorably discharged because they were thought to be gay. It took thirty years, but his bill to legalize homosexuality in Washington, D.C., finally passed in 1993.&nbsp; The American Psychiatric Association dropped homosexuality as a mental disorder from its diagnostic manual in 1973.<br> &nbsp;<br> In 2009, the U.S. Government formally apologized to Frank Kameny for firing him more than fifty years before. In July 2012, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/48142044/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/asteroid-named-gay-rights-pioneer-frank-kameny/">Minor Planet 40463 Frankkameny</a> was named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union.&nbsp;The person who discovered this asteroid wanted to honor Kameny for his activism and because Kameny had been denied the opportunity to work as an astronomer.<br> &nbsp;<br> Another trailblazer is <strong>Martina Navratilova</strong>, who is considered by many to be the best women's tennis player ever, if not the best tennis player ever. Navratilova came out as bisexual more than thirty years ago. She paid a big price, including millions of dollars in potential sponsorships. However, she blazed a path for many gay and lesbian athletes who came later.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students if they know of any recent gay rights trailblazers in the field of sports.<br> &nbsp;<br> In early 2014, <strong>Michael Sam</strong>, a college football player who, it was assumed, would be picked in the NFL draft, came out as gay. He was the first openly gay college player. Later, when he was picked by the St. Louis Rams, he became the first openly gay NFL player. (See our <a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/gay-nfl-michael-sam-comes-out">TeachableMoment lesson</a>.)&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> In 2013, <strong>Jason Collins</strong> of the NBA came out as gay. (See our <a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/coming-out-jason-collins">TeachableMoment lesson.</a>)&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> At the time, Collins was a free agent. He was the first active male athlete in one of the four major North American professional team sports to go public with his sexual orientation.&nbsp; For a while, it looked as if no team would take him, but in 2014 the New York Nets invited him to rejoin the team. Collins wears a jersey with the number 98 on it in memory of Matthew Shepard,&nbsp; a young gay man whose 1998 murder in Wyoming is widely considered a hate crime.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Martina Navratilova called Collins a "game changer," because he was the first male team player to come out. She noted that people who played in more individual sports such as tennis, might suffer for coming out, but not as much as someone who has to depend on teammates and coaches for support. She wrote about a group called Athlete Ally, which is made up of straight athletes who stand by gay athletes. (For more on this see <a href="https://www.si.com/more-sports/2013/04/29/martina-navratilova-jason-collins-reaction">Sports Illustrated</a>&nbsp;piece.) Navratilova said of Collins:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Collins has led the way to freedom. Yes, freedom -- because that closet is completely and utterly suffocating. It's only when you come out that you can breathe properly. It's only when you come out that you can be exactly who you are.... Millions of kids will see that it is OK to be gay. No need for shame, no need for embarrassment, no need for hiding.</p> <p>Ask students if they know of LGBTQ trailblazers in other fields. Record their responses for possible further research.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Heteronormativity: How discrimination against LGBTQ people hurts everyone</h4> <p>As sociologists have long documented, the dominant group in any culture or community tends to think that whatever it does is "normal," and what other groups do is not. Thus, if everyone in the town has brown eyes, the blue-eyed person is considered weird. If most of the people in a country are of one religion, they think that anyone with a different religion is weird. If a majority of a group has a certain accent or dresses in a certain way, the people who don't conform are considered weird.&nbsp; People who are in the minority and therefore "weird" are sometimes threatened or attacked. They can be attacked even if they simply look as if they belong to a targeted group.<br> &nbsp;<br> Fortunately, negative ideas and harmful actions against about those who are considered "not normal" can be challenged and changed, as activists throughout history have proven.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students what they think "heteronormativity" might mean in this context.&nbsp; It means that some people think the things heterosexuals do are "normal" (because they are the majority), but the things gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans people do are not normal.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students to talk in pairs about a time when they or someone they know has been targeted for not looking totally heterosexual. (This might be because of their clothes, hair, or other aspects of their appearance.)&nbsp; Do students sometimes hear people say, "That's so gay" about anything they don't like or that makes them feel uncomfortable?<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students: Have you ever worn something or behaved in a certain way to keep from being teased for being "gay"?<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students for their thoughts about this and write them on chart paper.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Allies</h4> <p>Every group that has ever been discriminated against has fought against that discrimination. And every group that is discriminated against has found allies: people who are not in the group being discriminated against, but who understand that their own freedom is bound up with other people's.</p> <p>Tell students about the German Lutheran pastor named Martin Niemöller, who stood up for those being persecuted by the Nazis. At first, Niemöller supported the Nazis, but when he realized what they were doing, he became outspoken. He spent seven years in a concentration camp, imprisoned even before the war started because the Nazis saw him as a threat. Nazis targeted not only Jews and political opponents, but LGBTQ people, Roma, and developmentally disabled people. Nazis made Jewish people wear yellow stars and gay people wear pink triangles so that they could more easily target and kill them. LGBTQ people sometimes wear pink triangles at Pride events or use the symbol in other ways as a statement of pride and defiance.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The following poem, a famous one, is based on speeches Niemöller made&nbsp;about his experience:</p> <p class="rteindent1">First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—<br> Because I was not a Socialist.<br> Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—<br> Because I was not a Trade Unionist.<br> Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—<br> Because I was not a Jew.<br> Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>Ask students to talk in pairs about a time they saw allies speaking up for someone who was being discriminated against - or when they themselves spoke up for someone who was not part of their group.</p> <p>Ask for their thoughts and write them down on the chart paper.</p> <hr> <h4>Suggested Activities&nbsp;</h4> <p>Ask students to pick an area (dance, theater, Armed Forces, baseball, education, economics, any field) and find the gay and lesbian trailblazers in that field.&nbsp; Some have more than others, but all have someone.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students to research famous gay writers, performers, and artists.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students to look for articles about Gay Pride during the month of June and make a bulletin board exhibit.<br> &nbsp;<br> Ask students to find out about discrimination in their own city or state: Are gay people allowed to be married? Are there any laws against gay people holding certain jobs?<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Closing&nbsp;</h4> <p>Ask students to name one way that they could be an ally to another person this week. They do not have to commit to doing it, just to think of it.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2014-06-05T09:06:30-04:00" title="Thursday, June 5, 2014 - 09:06">June 5, 2014</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:06:30 +0000 fionta 532 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org 50th Anniversary: The Civil Rights Act & the Movement Behind It https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/50th-anniversary-civil-rights-act-movement-behind-it <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>50th Anniversary: The Civil Rights Act &amp; the Movement Behind It</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>To the Teacher:</h4> <p>This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. On July 2, 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law landmark legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations, it was widely regarded as a culmination of many years of organizing, campaigning, and protest by civil rights activists.<br> &nbsp;<br> This lesson is divided into two readings aimed at having students think critically about the Civil Rights Act, the historical forces that resulted in its passage, and how we interpret this history today.<br> &nbsp;<br> The first reading gives a general overview of the Civil Rights Act: What was it and why was it so difficult to get passed? The second reading looks at the role different forces played in pushing the Civil Rights Act forward: Was the legislation the work of idealistic politicians, or was it "written in the streets" through the tireless work and sacrifices of everyday citizens?<br> &nbsp;<br> Questions for discussion follow each reading.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Student Reading 1:<br> What Was the Civil Rights Act of 1964?</h4> <p>This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. On July 2, 1964, after years of organizing, campaigning, and protests by civil rights activists, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law this landmark legislation, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public accommodations.<br> &nbsp;<br> The need for federal civil rights legislation to combat discrimination against African-Americans had been apparent for many decades, reaching back to the first years after the Civil War. While Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves and Congress subsequently passed amendments to the Constitution mandating equal protection under the law and full voting rights for African Americans, in practice racial divisions and discrimination remained the order of the day, particularly in the South.<br> &nbsp;<br> In the decades following Civil War, "Jim Crow" segregation took hold in the South. Jim Crow was a system of legalized discrimination: African American voters were &nbsp;disenfranchised &nbsp;and denied the use of public accommodations, facilities were kept separate and unequal. For African Americans, it was a reign of terror that included violence and lynchings to punish those who defied racial codes.<br> &nbsp;<br> African Americans and others spoke out against Jim Crow and other aspects of racism, and in the 1950s, a Civil Rights Movement began to grow. In 1955, activists organized a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregation.<br> &nbsp;<br> That movement helped fuel legislative action. Despite repeated attempts by Northern and anti-segregation legislators to pass Civil Rights legislation through Congress in the early part of the 20th century, Southern legislators used their influence to block civil rights bills.<br> &nbsp;<br> The first successful effort to pass any legislation against segregation through Congress in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era came with the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Though the bill that was originally proposed by President Eisenhower had some strength, the version that ultimately passed was weak and did little to end the Jim Crow order.<br> &nbsp;<br> The 1957 bill met with opposition from conservative Southern Democrats such as Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, an avowed segregationist. Thurmond famously mounted a record-setting 24-hour filibuster against the bill. More moderate Senators, including future president Lyndon B. Johnson, supported a weakened version of the bill, which they believed would have a better chance of passing through the Congress. In a September 12, 2007 op-ed for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/opinion/12nichols.html?_r=0">New York Times</a>, historian David A. Nichols, author of a book on President Eisenhower, describes the result of these debates:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Eisenhower and his attorney general, Herbert Brownell Jr., first proposed strong legislation, and it was Johnson and his Southern cronies who weakened it beyond recognition.<br> &nbsp;<br> Johnson wanted a cosmetic bill that would enhance his presidential ambitions without alienating his white Southern base. It was a balancing act, as even a weak bill depended on Eisenhower's new legislative coalition, which formed after he persuaded the Republicans to abandon their longtime opposition to civil rights legislation. (Republicans provided 37 of the 60 yes votes when the final bill passed the Senate.)<br> &nbsp;<br> The Eisenhower proposal had four main parts. The first two — the creation of a civil rights commission to investigate voting irregularities and a civil rights division in the Justice Department — survive to this day. The other two pillars, unfortunately, became victims of politics. Part 3 proposed to grant the attorney general unprecedented authority to file suits to protect broad constitutional rights, including school desegregation. Part 4 provided for federal civil suits to prosecute voting rights violations.<br> &nbsp;<br> Senator Richard Russell of Georgia led the attack on Part 3, accusing the attorney general of conspiring "to destroy the system of separation of the races in the Southern states at the point of a bayonet." Johnson eventually told Eisenhower he had the votes to kill the entire bill unless the president dropped Part 3. Eisenhower reluctantly capitulated.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The 1957 Act did nothing to address the issue of segregation of public accommodations and, in practice, did very little to protect African-Americans' right to vote. However, it was important symbolically in opening the door for further reform.<br> &nbsp;<br> After passage of the 1957 bill, the Civil Rights Movement continued to grow, focusing public attention on the persistence of racial injustices, particularly in the Deep South. The movement staged major protests, including a 1963 mass mobilization in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Southern law officers attacked the nonviolent demonstrators with police dogs and fire hoses. In the wake of this protest, the Kennedy administration was moved to put forth more comprehensive civil rights legislation. But this bill, too, was met with resistance in Congress, and President Kennedy was assassinated before it was passed.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In a 2008 article for<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.alternet.org/print/story/77507/who_passed_the_civil_rights_act_of_1964">Dissent</a>, historian Nicolaus Mills describes the difficult process through which the Civil Rights Act finally became law in 1964:<br> &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="rteindent1">The act had its legislative origins in a June 11, 1963, speech that President John Kennedy delivered on national television after Justice Department officials, aided by federal marshals, forced Alabama Governor George Wallace to stand aside while two black students were admitted to the previously segregated University of Alabama. "If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?" Kennedy asked the country.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">But Kennedy's speech, which was followed hours later by the murder of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, did not guarantee a speedy passage of civil rights legislation. A coalition of southern Democrats and conservative Republicans stood in the way and the best that Kennedy could do before his November 22 assassination was to get his civil rights bill voted out of committee.</p> <p class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">It fell to President Lyndon Johnson to get Kennedy's civil rights legislation enacted. Soon after taking office, Johnson made his intentions clear. "We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights," he told a joint session of Congress on November 27. "It is time now to write the next chapter and to write it in books of law." At this same time, Martin Luther King was playing a crucial role in shaping public opinion. His April 16 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and his August 28 speech "I Have a Dream" galvanized millions of Americans who in the past had remained passive when support for civil rights was needed.</p> <p class="rteindent1">Still, it was not until 1964 that Kennedy's civil rights bill got through Congress. On February 10, the House passed the bill by a vote of 290 to 130 and on June 19, in the wake of a record-breaking 75-day filibuster, which took up 534 hours, the Senate passed its version of the civil rights bill by a 73 to 27 margin. Now Lyndon Johnson began pressuring Congress to reach agreement on a bill that he could sign by July 4.</p> <p>Passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took a combination of popular pressure and legislative action. In the next reading we will consider how these two forces interacted.<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>For Discussion:</h4> <ol> <li>Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</li> <li>What was "Jim Crow"? What forms of discrimination were faced by African-Americans in the first half of the 20th century?</li> <li>According to the reading, how did Southern politicians weaken the earlier Civil Rights Act of 1957?</li> <li>Today the Civil Rights Act is seen as a landmark piece of legislation, but at the time it was very controversial. Can you think of issues that are currently controversial today but that might be remembered by history in a different way? Explain your examples and defend the reasoning behind your position.</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Student Reading 2:<br> "Written in the Streets": How Social Movement Pressure Moved Politicians to Act on Civil Rights</h4> <p>On April 10, 2014, President Obama and three of his predecessors, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, appeared at a Texas summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act through Congress. The leaders highlighted President Lyndon B. Johnson's important role in seeing the act become law. In his speech, President Obama underscored Johnson's reputation as a legislative mastermind and a hard-nosed negotiator.<br> &nbsp;<br> In recent years, there has been considerable debate among historians about how much credit President Johnson deserves for passing the Civil Rights Act, and how much credit should be given to civil rights activists who risked their lives to protest in the streets. This debate played out on the 2008 presidential primary campaign trail when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama disagreed about the history. In an April 8, 2014 article for the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lbjs-presidency-gets-another-look-as-civil-rights-law-marks-its-50th-anniversary/2014/04/08/d31b9d2e-bf2d-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html">Washington Post,</a> reporter Karen Tumulty described how Clinton had credited Johnson for bringing the Civil Rights Movement's ambitions to fruition:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">Comparing Johnson's role in the civil rights struggle to that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Hillary Clinton said: "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act. It took a president to get it done."<br> &nbsp;<br> At the time, her rival Barack Obama characterized her comment as "an ill-advised remark," saying, "She, I think, offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act."&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;<br> Clay Risen, author of The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act argued in an April 6, 2014 article in the <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20140406_Civil_rights_battle_fought_on_two_fronts.html">Philadelphia Inquirer,</a> that it is inaccurate to think of the passage of the Civil Rights Act merely as a result of actions in Washington, DC:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">When we think about the Civil Rights Act, our minds are drawn to scenes of obstructionist Southern politicians and presidential arm-twisting. But we often forget the broader context of activism and protest in which the bill's long journey across Capitol Hill took place.<br> &nbsp;<br> These two stories - the political theater inside the Capitol, and the violent tumult of civil-rights protests outside it - did not happen independently. Each drove the other. Few pieces of legislation in American history have been as intimately connected to its social context as the Civil Rights Act.<br> &nbsp;<br> This relationship went back to the very birth of the bill. One of the goals of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with his protest campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, was to spur federal action to take on the Jim Crow South.<br> &nbsp;<br> As King said in a sermon on May 7, "The hour has come for the federal government to take a forthright stand on segregation in the United States... I am not criticizing the president, but we are going to have to help him."&nbsp;</p> <p>Before mass protest demonstrations in places like Birmingham, the Kennedy Administration had been reluctant to take on the civil rights issue, considering it too politically controversial to touch. Instead of pursuing ambitious legislation, the administration tried to deal with civil rights incidents on a case-by-case basis, attempting to keep the issue out of the headlines. Historian Adam Fairclough, who has examined the effect of Civil Rights protests on the Kennedy White House, writes in his 1987 book, <em>To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.</em>:</p> <p class="rteindent1">For two years, Robert Kennedy had attempted to deal with each racial crisis on an&nbsp;ad hoc&nbsp;basis. Birmingham finally convinced him that the crises would recur with such frequency and magnitude that the federal government, unless it adopted a more radical policy, would be overwhelmed.<br> &nbsp;<br> Not long after the end of the Birmingham campaign, President John F. Kennedy, announced that he would put forward major civil rights legislation. In a major televised address he explained, "the events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased cries for equality that no city or state or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them."&nbsp;</p> <p>Clay Risen further describes on to describe how outside pressure was essential in giving the civil rights issue a sense of constant urgency:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">King and other civil-rights leaders gave the bill another boost in August with the March on Washington, which brought 250,000 people to the capital. Though it had little immediate impact on congressional vote counts, the march, which was televised into millions of homes, rammed home for ordinary white Americans the peaceful, righteous nature of the movement's demands - creating a wave of public support for the bill as it trundled through the House and Senate over the next 10 months.<br> &nbsp;<br> Almost three weeks later, tragedy struck, when four young girls were killed by a bomb planted inside Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. As awful as it was, their murder, and the national indignation it unleashed, opened the door for the bill's supporters to strengthen it significantly, adding what became a landmark ban on employment discrimination.<br> &nbsp;<br> Throughout the fall of 1963 and the following winter, the spear point for strengthening the bill was not liberal congressmen, but the lobbyists from the NAACP, United Auto Workers, and National Council of Churches, who brought thousands of civil-rights workers, preachers, rabbis, and union members to Washington.<br> &nbsp;<br> These activists not only won a stronger bill, but also convinced conservative Republican House members to join their liberal colleagues in voting for the legislation. It passed the House by an overwhelming 290 to 130 votes on Feb. 10.&nbsp;</p> <p>Martin Luther King, Jr. contended that the Civil Rights Act was "written in the streets."&nbsp;In a March 15, 1965 article in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/let-justice-roll-down">The Nation,</a> King argued that it was the overwhelming demand for civil rights legislation not only led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but also made sure it was respected in practice:&nbsp;</p> <p class="rteindent1">The Civil Rights Act was expected by many to suffer the fate of the&nbsp;Supreme Court&nbsp;decisions on school desegregation. In particular, it was thought that the issue of public accommodations would encounter massive defiance. But this pessimism overlooked a factor of supreme importance. The legislation was not a product of charity of white America for a supine black America, nor was it the result of enlightened leadership by the judiciary. This legislation was first written in the streets. The epic thrust of the millions of Negroes who demonstrated in 1963 in hundreds of cities won strong white allies to the cause. Together, they created a "coalition of conscience" which awoke a hitherto somnolent Congress. The legislation was polished and refined in the marble halls of Congress, but the vivid marks of its origins in the turmoil of mass meetings and marches were on it, and the vigor and momentum of its turbulent birth carried past the voting and insured substantial compliance.&nbsp;</p> <p>Understanding that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came about because of the demands of ordinary people taking action collectively—and not merely the decisions of presidents and other elected officials—is important in shaping our view of how change happens throughout American history.<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>For Discussion:</h4> <ol> <li>&nbsp;Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</li> <li>&nbsp;What did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mean when he said that legislation supporting major social change is "written in the streets?" What were some of the efforts by the Civil Rights movement that helped push the Civil Rights Act forward?</li> <li>&nbsp;What do you think? Are politicians responsible for creating social change through legislation, or should the activists who create pressure through social movements get more of the credit? Explain your position.</li> <li>&nbsp;Are there issues today on which you see ordinary people achieving meaningful change? Are there issues today where citizens' actions have been ahead of politicians?</li> <li>Is there a critical issue we face today that you think calls for the building of a mass movement?&nbsp; What is it?&nbsp; What would it take to create the kind of change you would like to see? &nbsp;</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2014-05-27T13:40:45-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 27, 2014 - 13:40">May 27, 2014</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Tue, 27 May 2014 17:40:45 +0000 fionta 534 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Freedom Summer in 1964 and Voting Rights Today https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/freedom-summer-1964-and-voting-rights-today <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Freedom Summer in 1964 and Voting Rights Today</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>To the Teacher:&nbsp;</h4> <div>This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer, an effort by civil rights groups to register African American voters in the Deep South. One year after Freedom Summer, President Lyndon B. Johnson voted into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave the federal government the power to oversee voter registration and elections in counties where discrimination had historically occurred.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Despite the historic progress spurred by campaigns such as Freedom Summer, challenges to voting remain to this day in the United States. In the past year several states, including North Carolina, Texas, and Ohio, have passed laws making it more difficult to vote. Critics argue that measures such as voter ID requirements and the elimination of same-day registration have a disproportionate effect on communities of color. These policies, and challenges to them have reignited debate about how to protect the voting rights of historically disenfranchised people.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This lesson consists of two readings. The first reading reviews the history of the Freedom Summer project, which took place 50 years ago. The second reading discusses some of the challenges to voting rights that we face today. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <h4>Student Reading 1:<br> Freedom Summer at 50</h4> </div> <div>This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer. This initiative was a collaborative effort by several civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to register voters in the Deep South. The campaign focused on Mississippi, the state with the lowest percentage of African Americans registered to vote at the time, and it took place in the context of Jim Crow segregation and the systematic disenfranchisement of black voters. One year after Freedom Summer, President Lyndon B. Johnson voted into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave the federal government the power to oversee voter registration and elections in counties where discrimination had historically occurred.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>An essay by the <a href="https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS3707">Wisconsin Historical Society</a> describes the intent of the Freedom Summer project:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Freedom Summer was a nonviolent effort by civil rights activists to integrate Mississippi's segregated political system during 1964.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Planning began late in 1963 when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to recruit several hundred northern college students, mostly white, to work in Mississippi during the summer. They helped African-American residents try to register to vote, establish a new political party, and learn about history and politics in newly formed Freedom Schools.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In a February 4, 2014 article for<em> <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/03/freedom-summer-1964/5190961/">USA Today</a></em>, Deborah Barfield Berry describes how Freedom Summer activists aimed to overcome Jim Crow restrictions on voting in Mississippi: &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">"If you wanted to change the face of the nation, you started where the problems were the worst," said [Marion] Barry, 77, [the first chairman of SNCC and now a] city councilman in Washington. "You crack that, you can crack anything. That was our philosophy. We were fearless. We were the revolutionary storm troopers." ...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">It was a dangerous mission, in a state where whites vehemently and violently opposed change. Murders, lynchings and beatings were used to intimidate blacks and keep in place segregation in schools and other public places. Student activists, led by SNCC, the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality, were determined to challenge voter registration requirements — such as poll taxes and literacy tests — intended to prevent blacks from voting.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">"It's a moment in history where all these people came from all across the country: lawyers, doctors, teachers, students, activists, historians," said Robert Moses, 79, who headed SNCC's Mississippi operation and now runs the Algebra Project, a non-profit education program in Massachusetts. "They just converge for a brief moment in time and make something happen that nobody thought could happen."</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>While most of the key organizers for Freedom Summer were African American, they consciously chose to recruit an interracial group of volunteers, including many white college students from the North. As Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy explains in a July 26, 2010, article for <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2010/07/honoring_good_white_people.html"><em>Slate</em></a>, they did this with an awareness of racial biases, including the biases of the media:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Frustrated by the inattentiveness of politicians and journalists when it was "only" black activists who were being brutalized, leaders in SNCC suspected that the response would be different if white youngsters were hurt. They proved to be correct. White activists received much more coverage than their black peers. The contrast was so blatant that it prompted Ella Baker, a formidable elder amongst the dissidents, to remark that they must carry on "[u]ntil the killing of black mothers' sons is as important as the killing of white mothers' sons."</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Starting on June 14, 1964, the first group of about 1,000 recruits arrived at a training site to learn how to register voters, teach literacy and encourage political participation among local residents.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On June 21, just one week later, tragedy struck when three civil rights activists were murdered. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were arrested and detained by police while investigating the burning of a church. Police released them several hours later on the outskirts of town, where members of the Ku Klux Klan were waiting. The Klan members abducted and murdered the activists.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This tragedy quickly drew national attention. The FBI became involved, launching a major investigation and search for the bodies, which were not found until six weeks later.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Some Freedom Summer volunteers, scared by the murders, decided to go home. However, the majority stayed, more determined than ever. Volunteers created 41 Freedom Schools, which taught both traditional subjects (such as reading and math), and subjects meant to politicize participants (including leadership skills and black history).</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Over the course of the summer, some 17,000 African Americans challenged racist restrictions by attempting to register to vote. Their actions highlighted the systematic violations of federal law that were taking place in Mississippi as citizens were routinely denied their Constitutional rights.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The <a href="https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS3707">Wisconsin Historical Society</a> concludes:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Americans all around the country were shocked by the killing of civil rights workers and the brutality they witnessed on their televisions. Freedom Summer raised the consciousness of millions of people to the plight of African Americans and the need for change. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed Congress in part because lawmakers' constituents had been educated about these issues during Freedom Summer.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Today Mississippi is the state with the largest number of black elected officials in the country. Freedom Summer continues to be an inspiration for anti-racist activists.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h4>For Discussion:&nbsp;</h4> <div><strong>1. </strong>Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>2. </strong>According to the reading, what were the major goals and initiatives of Freedom Summer?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>3.</strong> Who participated in Freedom Summer? What was the significance of bringing together an inter-racial group that was not from the local area?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>4. </strong>Those who volunteered for Freedom Summer risked their lives, and indeed three activists were murdered. Was it responsible for civil rights organizations to send outside volunteers into a dangerous environment? Explain your position.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>5.</strong> What were some of the changes that resulted from Freedom Summer?</div> <div><br> &nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <h4>Student Reading 2:<br> The Ongoing Battle to Protect Voting Rights</h4> </div> <div>Despite the historic progress spurred by campaigns such as 1964's Freedom Summer, challenges to voting remain to this day in the United States. In the past year several states including North Carolina, Texas and Ohio have passed new laws making it more difficult to vote. Critics argue that measures such as voter ID requirements and the elimination of same-day registration have a disproportionate effect on communities of color. These measures - and challenges to them - have reignited debates about how to protect voting rights within historically disenfranchised populations.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Voting Rights Act of 1965 included a section that made it illegal for states with a history of voter discrimination to pass laws that change voter registration requirements without approval from the federal government. However, in 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in the <em>Shelby County v. Holder</em> case that conditions in these areas had changed since the earlier law was passed, making the previous formula for federal oversight of elections unconstitutional. As reporter Dana Liebelson wrote in an April 8, 2014 article for <em><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/republican-voting-rights-supreme-court-id">Mother Jones</a></em> magazine:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">When the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to overturn a key section of the Voting Rights Act last June, Justice Ruth Ginsburg warned that getting rid of the measure was like "throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." The 1965 law required that lawmakers in states with a history of discriminating against minority voters get federal permission before changing voting rules. Now that the Supreme Court has invalidated this requirement, GOP lawmakers across the United States are running buck wild with new voting restrictions.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Of the new measures being passed, one major type is the "Voter ID law." These laws typically require that people bring state-issued identification when they go to vote. Defenders of these laws argue that they help to reduce fraud. However, there is little evidence that such fraud exists to begin with. In a November 5, 2012 <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws"><em>ProPublica</em></a> article, Suevon Lee writes:</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">There are "very few documented cases [of fraud]," said UC-Irvine professor and election law specialist Rick Hasen. "When you do see election fraud, it invariably involves election officials taking steps to change election results or it involves absentee ballots which voter ID laws can't prevent," he said.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">An analysis by News21, a national investigative reporting project, identified 10 voter impersonation cases out of 2,068 alleged election fraud cases since 2000 - or one out of every 15 million prospective voters.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>While Voter ID laws do little to prevent fraud, their main impact is to disenfranchise people who are legally allowed to vote. Moreover, these laws disproportionately affect low-income people, people of color, and the elderly. Obtaining an ID can not only be time consuming, but the fees associated with it can be onerous for vulnerable populations. As Suevon Lee <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws">explains</a>:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Obtaining photo ID can be costly and burdensome, with even free state ID requiring documents like a birth certificate that can cost up to $25 in some places. According to a study from NYU's Brennan Center, 11 percent of voting-age citizens lack necessary photo ID while many people in rural areas have trouble accessing ID offices...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Attorney General Eric Holder and others have compared [Voter ID] laws to a poll tax, in which Southern states during the Jim Crow era imposed voting fees, which discouraged blacks, and even some poor whites -- until the passage of grandfather clauses -- from voting.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Given the sometimes costly steps required to obtain needed documents today, legal scholars argue that photo ID laws create a new "financial barrier to the ballot box."</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The increase in laws that make voting more difficult has led to a call for renewed activism to protect peoples' right to vote. As Benjamin Todd Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP, argued in an April 9, 2014 article for <em><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-we-need-second-freedom-summer-2014">MSNBC</a></em>:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">[Freedom Summer] was massively successful in drawing attention to civil rights abuses. The organizers' message of education and empowerment struck a nerve with Americans of all backgrounds, supercharging the larger civil rights movement and leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the following year.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Fifty years later, the Voting Rights Act is in limbo, with key portions struck down by the Supreme Court. Inevitably, voter suppression has once again reared its ugly head. Since 2011, a number of state have introduced laws to make voting more difficult, with the burden usually falling on poor people and communities of color. This year alone, Wisconsin and Ohio have passed laws to cut early voting, while North Carolina has gone forward with a suppressive voter ID law. Some of these laws are set to take effect for the 2014 midterm elections - now seven months away.</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">The question remains: Will the civil rights organizers of today respond with a sustained push for voter registration to overwhelm the tide of voter suppression? &nbsp;...</div> <div class="rteindent1">&nbsp;</div> <div class="rteindent1">Freedom Summer organizers risked their lives and transformed our nation for the better. Today, we need to summon the courage to ensure their efforts are not being rolled back. History has taught us that we can be powerful agents of social change when we organize, agitate, and - most importantly - vote. The summer of 2014 will be an important test for the cause of freedom.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h4>For Discussion:&nbsp;</h4> <div><strong>1. </strong>Do students have any questions about the reading? How might they be answered?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>2. </strong>What did the Supreme Court ruling in the case of <em>Shelby County v. Holder</em> decide? How did dissenting justices such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg respond to the majority decision?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>3. </strong>According to the reading, what are Voter ID laws? Why do defenders of these laws think they are necessary?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>4.</strong> Why might these laws disproportionately impact low-income and minority voters?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>5.</strong> Do you believe that it is necessary for another campaign such as Freedom Summer to take place today? Why or why not?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>Research assistance provided by Yessenia Gutierrez</em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2014-04-29T09:01:29-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - 09:01">April 29, 2014</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Tue, 29 Apr 2014 13:01:29 +0000 fionta 535 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org