CORE did a lot and held many sit ins and demonstrations for civil rights causes from the time it was created in the 1940′s.  It was really the first group of its kind to be made in Lawrence to help students at the University of Kansas find a way to fit in to the white dominated society.  Students all across the United States were forced with same kind of segregation of races and discrimination as did the students attending the University of Kansas; however, to me, learning about the events that occurred in Lawrence brought everything so much closer to home and therefore all the more real.

One particular aspect that continues that both caught my eye at first and completely appalls me is a certain pep organization which was organized at KU in the 1920′s.  This pep club, which was a part of a larger organization which was called Pi Epsilon Pi, was known as the Ku Ku Klan on the University of Kansas campus.  Later named the Ku Ku Klub, the group performed just as any other pep club would: at halftime of sporting events.  Their “uniforms” were white hooded robes with a Jayhawk emblem sowed on one side.  To top everything off to me, Chancellor Lindley supported these activities along with the segregation on campus.

I just find it so hard to believe how different everything was back then, and the things people accepted as ordinary.  Some of those things, like the pep club, would be considered outright ridiculous in today’s time.  Although I am certainly very relieved to learn most of America no longer thinks this way, it doesn’t change the feelings of anger and maybe even shame, that I feel when I think of times years ago.

I think this movie really went along with what I have been learning in both of my summer classes, because in both we are reaching information that is more recent and fresh in society’s minds.  In my other class, we are learning of organization put together by Native Americans in the 1960′s and 70′s to work to better their living and working conditions. Some groups were somewhat modeled after organizations such as the Black Panthers.  Today, I also learned that many Native American women were sterilized without proper knowledge and consent.  These things were happeneing when my own parents were alive! Although doctors gave explanations, I cannot imagine a good excuse for this horrible act that was done to thousands of Native American women.

The video we watched in class today gave more inside information on the Brown v. Board of Education court case; it’s true that many people probably only know about the little black girl who wanted to go to a white school with her friends and was turned away.  It was good to be further educated on the events and work that went into getting that court case heard at the Supreme Court. 

Minorities have struggled for thousands of years to be accepted into the American society; and today our country is so diverse how can it even be determined what a true United States citizen should look or act like.  With issues such as immigration put aside, people who have been born and raised in the United States are from countless backgrounds. 

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.”  The last quote in the movie, which Danny put at the end of the paper he was assigned to write, really brought about a proper end to the movie; it was touching, but yet really true.  All men must learn that they are not meant to be enemies, but to live among each other in freedom and equality.

I was not very familiar with the siege before doing the research for my paper. St. Petersburg at one time was named Leningrad, among other names it was given.  During World War II, when Hitler and the Nazis decided to take over the capital of Russia, Leningrad decided it would not go down without a fight.  The people of the city became completely blockaded in, with bodies of water on one side and the Nazi army closing in on the others.  While the men went to the front to fight, the women became more involved with work throughout the city during this time than any other instance I have heard of.  They even wanted to go straight to the front lines to defend their city! The people of Leningrad had courage and determination that no one else has had.  Many say that is the only way that Leningrad survived the Nazi rule.

The rations for the people of Leningrad were far worse than any ration of any kind that people in the United States ever received during World War II.  While I cannot remember specific numbers at this time, I do know that the numbers of food and supplies dropped very dramatically during the first winter through the siege.  Many people died, and other barely had the strength to get up in the morning.  People who survived often talked about how they would get up and walk in the morning, even if they had nothing to do because they knew they would die if they stayed in bed.  They often ended up with no clothes except for the ones on their backs.

Some supplies were brought to Leningrad across a makeshift bridge on a large frozen lake.  That is also how some people escaped to other parts of Russia.  However, many supplies never found their destination because ice would break and trucks would go under, never to be seen again.  And, most people chose to stay in Leningrad for as long as possible, despite the horrid conditions.

The brave people of Leningrad lived in these horrible, diseased conditions from September of 1941 through January of 1943 when the blockade was finally broken and the Germans defeated from taking over the city.  This was a particularly sobering paper for me to write as I found out more details, some I do not even wish to discuss.  I cannot imagine living a couple months in these conditions, let alone more than a year.  These experiences make me feel foolish about complaining of the little things in life that go wrong.  The determination of the people of Leningrad should be known everywhere and tells stories of undaunted courage and hope that cannot be found anywhere else.

It is true that alcohol impairs judgement; I’m sure most of us have experienced this effect at some time or another.  It even stems back to the times of European settlements in the United States.  Europeans would give Natives large amounts of alcohol, which often led to the Natives giving up their lands much easier.  So, in a way, many Natives were cheated out of their land.

Also, alcohol became a huge factor with Hitler’s armies of Nazi soldiers.  Of course, the Nazis were had to be horrible people to commit such gruesome murders, but what a lot of people don’t know is how much alcohol was consumed during these tragic deeds.  The soldiers began drinking more and more in attempts to block out the innocent men, women, and children that they were killing each day.

We can see that alcohol has been a source of evil and blame for centuries.  But, it also seems that the human race is quick to place the blame of their own misjudgement and wrong doings on something else besides themselves. Ironically, I’m pretty sure alcohol still gets blamed for countless events today.  So is it really that liquor’s fault? Did that bottle of whiskey hold a gun to your head and force you to drink its contents? I doubt it; there are numerous other things besides alcohol that become addictive.  I think what it really comes down to is the self control each person has, or lack there of.

In another class I am taking, we learned of a specific group and how they were forced to part with their beloved homelands in the southeast.  The Choctaw were one of many groups who endured the Trail of Tears that relocated them to strange lands.  I know about the Trails of Tears and generally what happened, but this particular lesson brought to light a more tragic scene.  The Choctaw were a group that believed that they belonged, spiritually, the land they lived on; they were born from it and thrived on it.  So naturally they did not understand why they should leave something they belonged so closely to.  They had built mounds in which they buried their dead in.  The spirits of their ancestors lived there, so that is where they felt they must remain.  They believed that if they left their ancestors, something terrible would happen.  Worse yet, the west to them was seen as what the white man would call “hell.”  It was filled with evil spirits and other horrible things; and this is where the U.S. government wanted them to go. 

The Choctaw were given no choice but to locate to those foreign, awful west lands.  Suicide sadly became a common practice.  Those who lived to the end of the Trail of Tears encountered a couple horrible disasters, including a great flood and a spread of whooping cough, which killed a giant portion of the people.  This happened, the Choctaw believed, because they left their ancestors behind in their original homelands. 

So, not only were Indian groups dying during the hard duration of the Trail of Tears, but the before and after effects were just as grave.  How could one ever come to terms with leaving a land so connected to them, that they felt they would literally die if forced to leave it?

One specific era of history that I find myself struggling with from time to time is the time leading up to and surrounding the Civil War.  When I was younger, I was sure that the south were the bad guys and north were the good guys.  Everything was black and white.  I was born in Kansas, the place I was born was full of all the good northerners, right? Wrong.  After only one day of covering the events leading up to the Civil War, I quickly learned of the bloody fighting that went on and realized I had no idea about the truth.  But then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so critical of my teachers from my younger years.  I am sure they carefully found ways to safely edge around the truth so they were still able to educate without sending their students home crying and prepped for nightmares.  Or maybe it was just much easier to simply draw up the “black and white” sides to make educating a much younger generation a lot easier.  I speculate, but maybe I will never know the exact motives unless I actually consult a teacher of my past.

 Even though natives lived there for thousands of years before the europeans even began conquering and settling in the Americas, the environment was also was changing.  Some tribes were forced to disperse after having successful cities with vast canal systems and roadways.  Why were these tribes forced to leave? That is a question on the environment can completely answer.  Looking at examples such as those in America’s past show that the lands and climate can change and no human can do anything to stop those changes from happening.  Therefore, it seems impossible for the environment to be owned or “possessed,” because there is no way to completely control it.