Swan v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

The case of Swan v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education had to deal with the issue of bussing segregating the school system based on the Board manipulating boundaries to keep schools segregated by zoning. Even African American children closer to white schools still were forced to be bussed to the predominantly black schools.

Mood court :
Swan: arguments made
- Violated the 14th amendment by forcing African American students to be bussed to different schools based on race
- Separate but equal argument was over turned and needed to be abided by the law
-Besides the 14th amendment other federal laws such as civil rights acts must be obeyed. Money goes into these cases so why ignore the verdicts.
-Unconstitutional and unfair learning opportunities for African American children
-Being forced to be transported to further schools and disrupts everyday life
-Go against the ideals in Brown v. The Board
-Since 1868 our constitution has called for equal treatment under the law
-school system took affirmative steps to cause segregation


Board of Education: arguments
-zoning is not illegal
-Put funds to good use into the schools instead to bussing African Americans to different schools and build up the school system
-Impracticable to try to achieve 100% fairness because someone is always going to feel screwed
-If you don't like it you can move. You are not forced to live where you live.

I argued the side of Swan and I agree with it and the decision. Schools were desegregated for a reason. America needs to get progress in order to get away from the constant racism and discrimination that this county has constantly seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swann_v._Charlotte-Mecklenburg_Board_of_Education

Killings of Unarmed Citizens

Police killings in the United States is an issue that has been recently consuming the press. Most headlines having to do with Police killing those of the African American race. Most people in the news will classify these killings as racially motivated. A lot of recent studies have been taking place to take a look in depth at African Americans being killed by police officers. These finding were as followed.

• Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, nearly twice each week.

• Nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting

• 37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the U.S. population

• Unarmed black people were killed at 5x the rate of unarmed whites in 2015

• Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was killed by police resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime, and only 1 of these deaths (Matthew Ajibade) resulted in convictions of the officers involved. Only one of the two officers convicted received jail time. The officer was sentenced to one year in jail and allowed to serve this time exclusively on weekends.

This country clearly has an issue with police shooting and killing unarmed people. Others countries have numbers as low as 3 people being killed by police shooting. Our country needs to find a solution to this problem. The violence in this country needs to end. Having people murder each other and news headlines only causes chaos. The amount of riots and violence that takes place after these shootings are also an issue. Police violence and retribution after shootings of African Americans is out of control. Races are being pinned up against each other and it is causing nothing but hatred and violence in society. 

http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/

Freedom of Speech on Campus

Freedom of speech on college campuses has long been oppressed. Students who speak out or protests on their campuses are shut down and usually punished in some way. There is a fear among college students to speak out against injustices on campus.

As a college student myself I can relate to the fear of consequences I might face for exercising my freedom of speech on campus. Especially being a High Point University student I have as much rights as dead people. In all honesty prisoners have more rights than I do. High Point University being a private institution rather than government run gives me no right to make a constitutional claim.

High Point University used to have a school newspaper that was student run. However the university decided to no longer use this paper as they thought the students talked about issues the school did not want talked about. High Point being a private institution stopped the student run newspaper and gave it over to the public relations board instead. This was the last bit of freedom of speech and expression that the students had on this campus. There is nothing as students of this campus we can do to get this newspaper back except maybe protest or sign a petition, even then myself and others involved can suffer the consequences inforced by the school .

Seprate is not Equal

Arguably one of the most landmark cases that forever changed this nation was that of Brown v. the Board which in turn also overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision separate but equal. Brown v. the Board made it clear that separate was no longer equal and chose to integrate the school systems. This was a very hard process due to those who objected and used violence to protest fueled by their hate for the African American race. This was a hard process but we can thank those of the past as now school communities, workplaces, etc are all racially diverse.

It's hard to look back on history and remember that no too long ago everyone was separate from each other. White children did not go to school with black children. And it was not until 1954 in the Brown v. Board case that this country realized it needed to change. Times were changing and it could no longer be denied that separate was not equal. The schooling systems for African American children verses white children was unfair and unconstitutional. Growing up I never had to experience any type of segregation based on race. I could play with who I wanted to and not be judged based upon it. I grew up going to school and playing sports with people from all different backgrounds. I believe being surrounded by diversity helped me grow up well cultured and respecting others who are different than I am.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education

Pregnancy Clinics Fight for Their Right to Deny Abortion Information

In January a law was passed in the state of California that said pregnancy clinics had to put up a sign saying that abortion is an option even fir those with low incomes with a phone number to call. However, most pregnancy clinics are refusing to comply with this law as they claim it violates their First Amendment rights.

The claim that the pregnancy clinics are making that putting up this sign is speech that they do not want to say. This is an example of speech-action dichotomy. Now the court is going have to decide if it is speech protected by the First Amendment or action that is not.

Personally, I understand the point the Pregnancy Clinics are making. I do believe it is unconstitutional to make them "say" and give information about a topic that they do not. No one should be forced to say something they do not believe in or just simply do not want to say. This is exactly what the First Amendment protects, our freedom of speech . What we want to say is our decision and no one else's. I also find this law extremely unfair to those running the pregnancy clinics because abortion is against their religion. Not only are these people being forced to say something they do not want want to but they are being forced to say something that violates their morality . This is unconstitutional and I think soon the courts will adjust this law to make it fair for everyone especially because the pregnancy clinics are refusing to comply to it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/us/pregnancy-clinics-fight-for-right-to-deny-abortion-information.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FFirst%20Amendment%20(US%20Constitution)&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection

Thank You First Amendment

As we know, or hope that most of you know, our beloved First Amendment continues to protect the citizens of the United States. There are constantly new court cases taking places because people are having their First Amendment rights violated.

A couple days ago, on April 26th a town over from the one that I currently live in , Paterson NJ was facing a First Amendment dispute. A police officer was seen and noted for holding a sign that was for a certain mayor. The cops's boss denoted him to patrol officer based on the fact that he was making a political statement by doing this.

Mr. Heffernan (the police officer) sued under the First Amendment that his rights were being violated by his supervisor for doing this. This is a valid First Amendment claim because an individual was having their rights violated by a government agency. However , the ruling in Mr. Heffernan's case was he was not exercising his rights and therefore they could not be violated.

This ruling really surprises me, I thought that this case was a for sure win for Mr. Heffernan. The government was punishing him for holding a sign that showed support for a mayor. In my opinion this is harsh and oppressive behavior and unconditional . Workers should not be afraid to be punished in the workplace because of their political views. The First Amendment is in place to protect citizens from having issues like this .





http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/us/supreme-court-first-amendment-police-officer-demoted.html?

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark case that ruled "separate but equal" for segregated train cars. This case went to a supreme court and had a seven to one ruling. Justice Harlan said that by allowing public authority to segregate train cars was a violation of African-Americans constitutional rights. Justice Harlan compared this case to that of Dred Scott and said that one day this ruling will be overturned and struck as unconstitutional just like that of Dred Scott.

It is so clear to see how this ruling was a violation of the 13th and 14th amendments. This also violated the civil rights act. Only one Justice at the time of this ruling could see how wrong it was to separate people on a train by race. At this time period everyone was so blinded by racism that African-Americans were constantly being denied their rights as citizens. We know today that separate but equal was never actually that. It was a deliberate mechanism that tried to take away African-American's rights fueled only by racism and hate. As a country we have made so much progress from the time of the Plessy v. Ferguson case; with that being said progress must continue to happen,  racism is still not eradicated and citizens are denied their rights everyday.

Equal Means Equal

I had what I would consider to be a very unique high school experience. The past four years of my life have been spent at an all girl high school. I fully credit Immaculate Heart Academy for making me the woman I am today. As corny as it many sound I believe in girl power; I believe that I am strong and can do any job an man could do if not even better. I want to be a woman in a position of power. Men once made all the decisions; for the family, and for the country but not anymore.

This country has struggled since the beginning with treating all persons equal. Besides race, a persons sex has always caused an unbalance between genders. If you read the original constitution women were excluded completely; "all men" nothing that included women. Our opinion and speech was unimportant and didn't deserve a right to vote. So many women fought so hard to gain our rights in this country . We now have the same rights as everyone else but there is still a power imbalance. So few women hold positions of power in government, in the business world, and even with athletics. We've made progress but the United States is still male dominated in many aspects. Equal means equal and the strive for equality will not stop until achieve it.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/former-first-lady-rosalynn-carter/international-womens-day_b_9405192.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

We May Need To Add To The First Amendment

Today anything can be captured in a picture or recorded. This generation is so tech savvy with all of our devices that people can easily capture any moment they desire. Lately, its been the new trend to film those in a position of power to expose them for what they are truly doing. Police officers have been at the height of this issue . Every time I'm watching the news or even scrolling on Facebook I come across at least five new videos of Police Officers being taped while on the job. A lot of the time if the Police Officers are aware they are being recorded they will confiscate the device or erase the footage. 

There was a recent ruling in a first amendment case that does not protect the "filming" of police officers under the first amendment . Those who would film the police and then have their film confiscated or deleted claim that the police were violating their first amendment right. The judge in this instance had ruled that the filming was not protected under the fist amendment. The judge had said "we find no basis to craft a new First Amendment right based solely on 'observing and recording.'"

I agree with the judge that under the first amendment observing and recording isn't protected. It's not technically expressive action so there is a gap in this situation. Maybe our constitution needs another change, it has been done before many times as we evolve as a nation. Today's generation is very different from the time the Constitution was written; there were no cameras, no cell phones, no technology. We are a very technologically advanced society and sometimes changes need to be made or new rights need to be added in order to continue to protect the rights of Americans. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/filming-police-isnt-a-first-amendment-right-federal-judge-rules_us_56d5d57ce4b03260bf783785

Apple Having Their Rights Violated By The Government?

Recently I've been following the news and story of Apple refusing to unlock the one of the shooters phone in the San Bernardo case. Apple is lining up their case as unconstitutional under the first and fifth amendments. I find this case to be very interesting because due to my First Year Seminar class I fully understand how Apple is bringing this up as unconstitutional and how it works. Apple is claiming under the first amendment that the code they need to provide is speech and that they can not be forced to do this under the protection of the first amendment. The FBI is a federal run institution so I agree that under the First amendment apple is and should be fully protected.

In class we discussed a very similar situation to the Apple one. In North Carolina, non-union workers were being forced to pay union dues although they were not apart of it nor supported it. These workers sued under the first amendment by saying them paying the union was action as speech. This action was actually speech because it was non-verbally giving support to the union. Apple is claiming the same argument here; the code they have to provide is expressive speech.

Apple is also claiming under the fifth amendment that the government is violating the right "to be free from arbitrary deprivation of its liberty by government" ( Goldman, Pagliery, Segall). I couldn’t agree more with the argument apple is making under the constitution. 

Apple is having their rights violated directly by the government and they can not be forced to do what the FBI is asking them unless we are planning on rewriting the constitution.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/25/technology/apple-fbi-response/

Has Society Made Progress?

If one thing has control over everyone's life today it's social media. I know social media is something I'm on everyday. I'm not even on social media for entertaining purposes anymore, its now how I get updates for groups, sports, and even academics that I'm involved in. People all over the world are on social media today, even my ten year old sister has a facebook, snapchat, etc. It's crazy how far and dependent people have become on social media.

Lately I've been seeing a lot having to do with the election all over social media, especially on facebook and twitter. I usually come across videos of Donald Trump's campaign or conversations of people attacking each other over social media. The things people say to each other on social media are not only repulsive but makes it seem like we have made no progress since the civil rights era. I read an article about a woman, a black woman who made a tweet about Donald Trump and the backlash she received was just absurd. Her tweet was "It scares me. Especially when I get hate mail alluding to how Trump will "fix" black people. Idk what that means and I am afraid to know." So many people responded to this tweet with racial slurs towards the woman. It made me sad that she was being attacked for expressing her opinion.
In almost every response tweet I read was people telling her to go back to Africa or to get used to living in a country with white power. One person actually said that when Donald Trump wins "to be fair he will give you the choice between slavery or deportation." This behavior makes me wonder if our country has made any progress at all since the civil rights error and even before then. Social makes it so easy for all of the ignorant people out there to attack anyone who is different from their narrow mindset. I hope one day the Internet won't be such a harsh place of people constantly attacking each other

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-tweeted-about-donald-trump_us_56cdd804e4b041136f18fc9a