Given the choice between abiding by unjust laws and freedom, any person would have chosen freedom; given the choice between being killed for learning how to read or being killed for escaping to freedom, anyone would have been morally justified in killing another to prevent that. It would have been nothing less than self-defense in a period of time when even the most advanced government and legal system available could not recognize obviously immoral laws.
Prior to watching this documentary, I knew only that the northern states were free and that the southern states relied on slave labor for the cotton trade. I had no idea that the amount of cotton produced by slave labor in America was actually the main source of cotton used by textile mills in Europe. I was also unaware that even in the northern states relied less directly (but just as surely) on the profits reaped by the immoral slave system in the southern states. It was also frightening to see that, for a long time, the American Congress was deaf to the complaints about
In some ways, the documentary demonstrates how far America has come; however, in other respects, there is something frightening about the fact that the tone of some of today's congressional arguments (such as gay rights) seem to be expressing almost identical positions to those of the northern and southern states over slavery in the 19th century and over civil rights in the 20th century.
I had no idea that black people were brutally assaulted for just sitting on the wrong bench or that the police were part of the problem at that time. The new appreciation for the factual understanding of what the American civil rights era was about scared me in some ways because it reminded me that human beings have a certain natural capacity for illogical group loyalties and prejudices. It is
Their philosophy was that immoral laws could be changed through the constitutional process and that even non-violent and civil disobedience was a form of lawlessness and that it is not acceptable to violate any laws even to achieve justice. 5.) According to Zinn, what were the achievements of the Civil Rights era and what has yet to be achieved? Zinn acknowledges that the United States made tremendous progress in racism. However,
I wonder whether they ever recovered emotionally from the abuses they endured. Do they pretend not to hate white people today? Do they believe that white people today feel the same way about them as they did fifty years ago but only act differently because of the different laws today? When they see white men today who are in their early twenties, do they picture them as being the
But Swiss authorities maintained that transactions conducted in good faith with the Swiss National Bank should be respected. The direct opposition of the sides reached political levels (Castelmur). As a repository of Nazi gold, Switzerland was forced to choose between giving up billions of its money or face international disapproval and sanctions (Sobran 2001). The billions deposited in Swiss banks are believed to belong to victims of the Jewish
(MACV Dir 381-41) This document is one of the first confidential memorandums associated with the Phoenix Program, which details in 1967 the mostly U.S. involvement in counterinsurgency intelligence and activities and discusses the future training and development of South Vietnam forces to serve the same function, that had been supported by the U.S. In civilian (mostly CIA) and military roles. The document stresses that the U.S. role is to
The following is a chart of what the February 2006 crash looked like, according to Bloomberg.com. Source: Bloomberg.com, 2007 According to Bloomberg, this downward crash had a dramatic effect on the U.S. market as well. When one views this chart, it is no wonder that speculators are divided about the reactions of Saudi Investors. This was a devastating crash for many and it will undoubtedly have a dramatic effect on their decisions
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