Bridge Project Supplement

Good morning everyone,

You all are working hard on your bridge projects for Science, so here is the accompanying Social Studies component of the project:

AGENDA

1. Select 3 bridges from this article: 30 Famous Bridges Around the World.
2. Research the architect of each bridge and find 1 other landmark they designed. 
3. In a comment below:

• Describe the architect's style.
• What aspects of their design help keep their bridges stable and supported?

Keep up the great work, ladies and gentlemen.

The Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883.
It is one of the most famous bridges in the world.

Excerpt: Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings

Here is a link to an excerpt of Leonard Peltier's prison writings.

AGENDA

1. Write a 3-2-1 in the comment section below based on Leonard Peltier's writing.
2. Reflect: Why do you think Peltier decided to publish a book while in prison? What is his purpose in writing?

Biography: Leonard Peltier

Leonard Peltier has been in prison for almost 40 years
for a crime most people believe he did not commit.

Leonard Peltier, an Anishinabe-Lakota Native American, is a federal prisoner serving two consecutive life sentences for the murders of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in 1975. Amnesty International (AI) has studied his case extensively over many years and remains seriously concerned about the fairness of proceedings leading to his trial and conviction. AI believes that political factors may have influenced the way in which the case was prosecuted. Leonard Peltier’s most recent petition for release on parole was denied by the US Parole Commission in 2009, and AI understands that he is not eligible for consideration for parole again until 2024. Given that all available legal remedies have been exhausted and that that Leonard Peltier has now spent over 36 years in prison and is in poor health, AI believes that in the context of these ongoing concerns, the US authorities should order Leonard Peltier’s release from prison on humanitarian grounds and in the interests of justice.

Leonard Peltier was a leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), an organization which seeks to promote and uphold Native American Indian rights. On 26 June 1975, during a confrontation involving AIM members on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler were shot dead. Leonard Peltier was convicted of their murders in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Leonard Peltier does not deny that he was present during the incident. However, he has always denied killing the agents as was alleged by the prosecution at his trial.

A key alleged eyewitness to the shootings was Myrtle Poor Bear, a Lakota Native woman who lived at Pine Ridge. On the basis of her statement that she had seen Leonard Peltier kill Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, Leonard Peltier was extradited from Canada, where he had fled following the shootings. However Myrtle Poor Bear later retracted her testimony. Although not called as a prosecution witness at trial, the trial judge refused to allow Leonard Peltier’s attorneys to call Myrtle Poor Bear as a defense witness on the grounds that her testimony “could be highly prejudicial to the government.” In 2000, Myrtle Poor Bear issued a public statement to say that her original testimony was a result of months of threats and harassment from FBI agents.

In 1980 documents were released to Leonard Peltier’s lawyers as a result of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents contained evidence which might have assisted Leonard Peltier’s case, but which had been withheld by the prosecution at trial. However in 1986, the US Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit denied Leonard Pelter a retrial, stating that: “We recognize that there is some evidence in this record of improper conduct on the part of some FBI agents, but we are reluctant to impute even further improprieties to them.”

In 1991 Gerald Heaney, the judge who presided over Leonard Peltier’s 1986 appeal hearing, expressed his concerns about the case. In a letter to Senator Daniel Inouye, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, Gerald Heaney wrote that he believed: “the FBI used improper tactics in securing Peltier’s extraction from Canada and in otherwise investigating and trying the Peltier case.” He added: “Although our Court decided that these actions were not grounds for reversals, they are, in my view, factors that merit consideration in any petition for leniency filed.”

The US Parole Commission has held a number of parole hearings on Leonard Peltier’s case. However, it has always denied parole on the grounds that Peltier did not accept criminal responsibility for the murders of the two FBI agents. This is despite the fact that, after one such hearing, the Commission acknowledged that, “the prosecution has conceded the lack of any direct evidence that you personally participated in the executions of two FBI agents.”

Leonard Peltier is currently imprisoned in Florida, approximately 2,000 miles from his family in North Dakota. It is a physical hardship for his family to visit him, and almost impossible financially. As a result, he is very rarely visited by his loved ones.

Leonard Peltier is now aged 69 and in poor health, suffering from diabetes, among other things.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an activist group involved in promoting the rights of “traditionalist” Indians during a period of intense conflict in the 1970s. In the two years prior to the confrontation in which the two FBI agents were killed, more than 60 Indians on the Pine Ridge reservation had been killed, allegedly by paramilitary squads connected to the tribal government, without anyone being brought to justice for the crimes. AIM members who had come to the reservation to assist “traditionalists” opposing the tribal government were also allegedly threatened. Relations between AIM and the FBI were also tense, with accusations that the authorities had not done enough to protect those at risk on the reservation.

The confrontation in which the two FBI agents were killed took place after the agents entered the reservation with an arrest warrant and started following a red pick-up truck. An exchange of gun fire took place. Evidence was presented at trial to show that the agents received multiple shots and were quickly disabled before being shot dead at point-blank range.

Two other AIM leaders were initially charged with the agents’ murders and were tried separately: no evidence was presented to link them to the point-blank shootings. The jury acquitted them on hearing evidence about the atmosphere of violence and intimidation on the reservation and concluded that arguably they might have been acting in self-defense during the exchange of gunfire.

Following their acquittal, the FBI renewed its efforts to apprehend Leonard Peltier, securing his extradition from Canada in 1976, where he had fled following the shootings. At his trial, the prosecution alleged that the gun which killed the agents was his. During post-trial investigations, the defense team discovered a telex message suggesting that Peltier’s gun contained a different firing pin from the one used to kill the agents. This was raised on appeal and a hearing to consider this evidence was held. However during the hearing the significance of the telex was contested by the government, which argued that sufficient evidence had been presented to the jury at trial to show that Leonard Peltier had “aided and abetted” the killings, even if he had not been the actual killer.

Amnesty International believes however that the outcome may well have been different had Leonard Peltier been able to effectively challenge the ballistics evidence linking him to the fatal shots.

Source: Amnesty International

[*] Today's Readings and Reflections!

Good morning everyone. Please write down this objective in your binders:

Objective: Students will read Borderlands / La frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa and reflect on the issue of immigration as it pertains to the Mexico - United States border.

AGENDA

1. Read the biography of Gloria Anzaldúa and comment on one interesting aspect of her life.

• biography in Spanish

2. Read the excerpt of Borderlands / La frontera and complete a 3-2-1 in the comment section.

EXTRA CREDIT

1. Read one of the articles from one of news sites under "Resources."
2. Summarize the article using 5 W's + H.

REMINDER

Final grades will be submitted on Friday, June 13, 2014.
All work must be submitted no later than Thursday at 3:30 PM.

Borderlands / La frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa

Here is an excerpt from Gloria Anzaldúa's book, Borderlands/La frontera.

Click here

AGENDA

Read the excerpt and comment on the post with:

(3) things you learned
(2) things you thought were interesting
(1) question you still have

Resources: Gloria Anzaldua

• Wikipedia: Gloria Anzaldua
• Quotes by Gloria Anzaldua
• Buy books by Gloria Anzaldua
• Women's History About.com: Gloria Anzaldua

Biografía: Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa was an important
feminist and Chicana writer whose
writing became influential to the
women's rights movement.

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa (n. Valle del Río Grande; 26 de septiembre de 1942 - f. Santa Cruz (California); 15 de mayo del 2004), fue una académica, activista política chicana, feminista, escritora y poeta.

Gloria Anzaldúa nace en el Valle de Texas, Estados Unidos el 26 de septiembre de 1942, hija de Urbano y Amalia Anzaldúa. A los once años, su familia se traslada a Hargill, Texas. A los catorce años, sufre la muerte de su padre. Anzaldúa puede lograr una educación universitaria a pesar del racismo, sexismo y otras formas de opresión que ella experimenta en su vida como una tejana de séptima generación (ver entrevista con Karin Ikas). Recibe su grado en la Universidad de Texas-Panamericana, y su maestría de la Universidad de Texas en Austin.

Anzaldúa trabaja unos años como maestra de escuela antes de ir a Austin para obtener su maestría, también completa sus estudios de doctorado en literatura comparativa en la Universidad de Texas en Austin. En 1977 se muda para California donde hace sus escritos, trabaja como catedrática en la Universidad Estatal de San Francisco; la Universidad de California en Santa Cruz; la Universidad Atlántica de Florida; y otras. Ella es la más famosa co-autora de This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981) con Cherríe Moraga, autora de Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Women of Color (1990), y co-autora de This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation (2002).

También escribe Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza en 1987. Entre sus libros para niños está Prietita Has a Friend (1991), Friends from the Other Side - Amigos del Otro Lado (1993), Prietita y La Llorona (1996). Anzaldúa también escribe muchos trabajos de ficción y poesía. Sus trabajos se mueven entre inglés y español al mismo tiempo para converger en una sola lengua. En Borderlands se identifica con múltiples identidades. Su autobiografía "La prieta," se publica en inglés en la obra This Bridge Called My Back, y en español en Esta puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos. Hay que hacer notar que el espacio de Anzaldúa mezcla culturas —sincretismo religioso—, idiomas —inglés y español—, prosa y poesía, así como sexualidad y género.

Por su trabajo, Anzaldúa ha sido muy laureada por This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color con el reconocimiento de "Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award" en 1986. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza es reconocido como uno de los 38 mejores libros de 1987 por Library Journal y uno de los 100 mejores libros del siglo, por Hungry Mind Review y Utne Reader. En 1991, Anzaldúa es honrada con el National Endowment for the Arts como reconocimiento por su trabajo de ficción en 1991 y el Lesbian Rights Award. En 1992, es reconocida con la mención The Sappho Award of Distinction. Ella también es laureada con el Lambda Lesbian Small Book Press Award y American Studies Association (mención vitalicia).

Anzaldúa ha contribuido con la definición de feminismo, así como también en el área cultural de la teoría/ chicana y queer (lesbianas y gays). Una contribución muy especial fue la introducción del término mestizaje para el público estadounidense, que significa la concepción del estado de estar 'más allá'. En sus trabajos teóricos, Anzaldúa invoca una nueva mestiza (“new mestiza”), que ella describe como un sujeto consciente de sus conflictos de identidad y usa el término el nuevo ángulo de visión (“new angles of vision”) con el fin de retar el pensamiento binario en el occidente. El modo de pensar de la “new mestiza” se encuentra ilustrado en el feminismo post-colonial (243).

Mientras que la raza normalmente divide a la gente, Anzaldúa le pide a la gente de diferentes razas que confronte sus miedos a fin de incorporarse a un mundo donde haya menos odio y sea más fructífero para todos. En "La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness", un texto usado en cursos para estudios sobre la mujer, Anzaldúa insiste que el separatismo invocado por los chicanos no ayuda a mejorar la causa, más bien, lo que hace es mantener la división racial estancada en el mismo lugar. Muchos de sus trabajos retan el statu quo del movimiento en el que ella se involucra. La idea de retar a esos movimientos es contribuir a que un verdadero cambio ocurra en el mundo, no exclusivo de algunos grupos solamente.

Anzaldúa es reconocida como una mujer muy espiritual, su abuela fue una curandera. En muchos de sus trabajos ella invoca su devoción a la Virgen de Guadalupe, divinidades Náhuatl/Toltecas, y la mitología Yoruba Orishás Yemayá y Oshún. En sus últimos escritos, ella desarrolla un activismo espiritual para describir como los actores sociales contemporáneos pueden mezclar la espiritualidad con la política a fin de hacer un cambio revolucionario.

Anzaldúa muere el 15 de mayo del 2004 en su casa en Santa Cruz por causas de complicaciones diabéticas, a pocas semanas de terminar su disertación del doctorado en la Universidad de California, Santa Cruz.