Kondrack

  The First Amendment and Our Democracy Throughout our country's history, the fight for freedom has been a major foundation of our values and intentions as a democracy. Starting most notably from the times of the American Revolutionary war, and of course, involved with the fight for civil rights since 1619 as described by professor Smith . The civil rights movement in the 1900's following the end of slavery is an extremely great series of events to analyze and break down when it comes to the inclusion of the first amendment within our experiences as a country and community. Said events are even still occurring to this day, with an excessive amount of protests across the country over racial inequalities and problems with the underlying system in our government. The major first amendment-related event that comes to my mind before anything else regarding the civil rights movement is without a doubt the Montgomery bus boycotts. This was...

  The Story of the Union's First Black Regiment After starting this film, I was first met with a small biography meant to give the viewer an idea of the main character's situation. This main character is a man named Robert Gould Shaw, who's backstory leading up to his being named colonel and the main events of the film is displayed. This single character perspective does not, however, interfere with the value behind the film, and the focus on the colonel is mildly depleted later on to keep the message in a significant stance. The film is most directly making a point of sharing the story of the first colored men to ever fight for the union, as they were prohibited for decades prior. The team of African American troops takes on challenges with courage and prove themselves to be a worthy regiment among an entirely white union army. This leads up to them leading the charge on Fort Wagner, a Confederate establishment. The black regiment, alon...

  Bakke v. Regents of the University of California Mock Trial: Anti-Affirmative Action (Bakke's Argument) Bakke v. Regents of the University of California was a Supreme Court case which took place in 1978 regarding the topic of affirmative action and other measures of integration's constitutionality. Allan P. Bakke was denied from the University of California, leading him to initiate this case to go against affirmative action. The California State courts originally decided in 1977 that the affirmative action program was not acceptable, striking it down and admitting Bakke into the university, but things changed within the next year as the United States Supreme Court accepted the case after an overwhelming amount of public attention and protest. For my mock trial position arguing in favor of Bakke, I take the stance of claiming that the affirmative action program was racist or a form of reverse-discrimination: "People of the court, I am here today ...